OSU vs. A&M Revisited: 2011

Cowboys win in College Station set the stage for special season

Pat Kinnison - Oklahoma State Maven chief photographer

Oklahoma State’s 2011 season, as glorious as it was, didn’t end completely the way everyone wanted.

The ultimate scenario would have involved a spot in the BCS title game, and then a win. And who knows where the program would be now if that had happened, arguably as it should have happened.

Still, it was a memorable season.

And the Cowboys’ 30-29 comeback win at Texas A&M in Week 4 proved instrumental.

OSU rolled the nonconference schedule, routing Louisiana, Arizona and Tulsa. And coming off a strong 2010 season, with both quarterback Brandon Weeden and wideout Justin Blackmon returning for a final run, the Pokes had the nation’s attention, heading to College Station as the nation’s No. 7-ranked team.

But the Aggies were stout, too, sitting at No. 8 and situated for a major home game, the first pitting top-10 teams at Kyle Field since 1975.

Not everything was ideal for the Cowboys. Defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer had lost his wife Angela the week before, summoned to Stillwater from the Tulsa game as he raced to reach the hospital in time for a final goodbye as she succumbed to a long battle with heart problems.

Spencer wasn’t expected in College Station. But he jetted home from the funeral in Georgia, and with his two sons in tow made the trip to A&M. And he played a major role in the victory, helping right the defense at the half, critical in a rally from a 20-3 hole.

“That's big,” OSU cornerback Justin Gilbert said after the game, “for him to go through what he went through this week and to come with us on the road and stay in tune with us.”

The defense produced three second-half turnovers and Weeden got hot, frustrating the Aggies with a tempo change, eventually throwing for a school-record 438 yards and two touchdowns as OSU reeled off 27 straight points.

The Cowboys marched to a quick drive to open the second half, with running back Jeremy Smith bolting 13 yards for a touchdown. Weeden hit Blackmon and Tracy Moore for scores before the third quarter was over, sending OSU ahead. Quinn Sharp added two field goals in the fourth quarter and the defense did its job.

"The way they handled that situation was beautiful," Mike Gundy said of his team's second half surge. "And the win makes it special. The way they fought back as a group shows a lot about their character and who they are."

The Cowboys would have their character tested again that season, yet in late September in a massive Big 12-opening showdown, they had a signature win that stamped them as contenders.

OSU moved up to No. 6 following the win and stood at No. 2 when it dropped a 37-31 double-overtime loss on a Friday night at Iowa State in mid-November, less than 24 hours after learning women’s basketball coaches Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna had been killed in an airplane crash while on a recruiting trip in Arkansas.

The Cowboys did their best to reestablish themselves as BCS worthy, routing Bedlam rival Oklahoma 44-10 the following week. But the committee voted an LSU-Alabama rematch instead, sending OSU to the Fiesta Bowl, where the Pokes took an overtime thriller from Andrew Luck’s No. 4-ranked Stanford Cardinal.

The Cowboys finished 12-1, No. 3 in the final poll and won their only Big 12 championship.

When OSU and A&M meet in the Texas Bowl in less than a week, it’ll be their first meeting since that afternoon in 2011. The Aggies bolted for the SEC and have done their best to avoid any old Big 12 rivals.