Published: October 03, 2008 10:48 am            

No. 21 Cowboys host struggling A&M

Oklahoma State sophomore Shane Jarka glanced at his wrist, and suddenly his bracelet took on a deeper meaning.

Since the beginning of the season, the Cowboys have been wearing rubber orange bracelets with black lettering that reads, “Big 12 Champs, Dec. 6, 2008.” With conference play getting underway Saturday, OSU can take the first step toward achieving that goal.

“We really believe we can be the Big 12 champs if we put all of our hard work and desire into it,” Jarka said. “We just have to keep making strides. A lot of our players are becoming more dependable, more reliable and have a better knowledge for the game.”

The Cowboys have already made their way back into the national spotlight. This week, they entered the Top 25 rankings at No. 21, marking their first appearance in the poll since Les Miles’ final season in 2004.

“We’re never satisfied,” said OSU redshirt freshman Deron Fontenot. “The one thing Coach has always told us is to stay hungry. We’re excited but if we lose one game, we’re right out of it. We have to keep staying motivated in order to keep moving up.”

O-State’s first challenge as a ranked squad comes Saturday when Texas A&M visits Boone Pickens Stadium at 6 p.m. Though the Aggies (2-2) are struggling under the direction of first-year coach Mike Sherman, they’ve had OSU’s number in recent years.

During Mike Gundy’s first season in 2005, A&M capitalized on seven turnovers and crushed the Cowboys, 62-23.

The following year, the Aggies blocked an extra-point attempt in overtime and escaped with a 34-33 victory in Stillwater.

Last season, O-State jumped out to a 17-0 advantage in College Station but the Aggies rallied and captured a 24-23 win.

“It was just a horrible feeling,” said junior lineman Andrew Lewis. “You learn you can’t make stupid mistakes, and you have to play hard all four quarters. You never know when mistakes can come back and bite you. It’s time to get back at these guys.”

Junior DeMarcus Conner added, “It’s always going to be on your mind that the team beat you, but you shouldn’t go out there looking for revenge, because you would be too worried about the revenge and not the task at hand.”

The Aggies, who lost to Arkansas State in their season opener at Kyle Field, rank dead last in the Big 12 in scoring offense and are 115th in the nation in rushing defense.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys are seeking a 5-0 start for just the eighth time in program history.

“I think our football team is better now than we have been in the last few years at this time,” Gundy said. “The mental aspect of the team and their chemistry and how they care about each other is more important than most people realize.

“I’ve coached on teams that weren’t very good and probably played a lot better and won more games than they should have. And then I’ve coached teams that should have won more games but they really didn’t care as much about each other. I like where we’re at right now as a team.”



Warming up

It was apparent at Monday’s weekly press conference that Gundy is becoming more comfortable with the media.

The fourth-year boss provided a handful of one-liners and gave a memorable response when asked who would win a game between this year’s OSU team and the 1988 squad, which featured Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders.

“The ’88 team would blow them away — the quarterback’s a hell of a lot better,” said Gundy, who was O-State’s QB from 1986-89.

        

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