Cowboys Parade into Lawrence for Saturday's Game

In an old school procession that tops anything seem back in the bus days of the Big Eight Oklahoma State were seeing America on their way to Lawrence to play the Jayhawks.

LAWRENCE, Kansas -- In a major throwback to the days of the old Big Eight the Oklahoma State Cowboys got on the bus and road through northern Oklahoma past Ponca City into Kansas past Wichita and the Cessna and Boeing factories into the Flint Hills of Kansas where the site of the plane crash that killed legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. It was an old school bus ride that Cowboys teams coached by Jim Lookabaugh, in the 60s with Phil Cutchin, right on into the 70s and 80s with Jim Stanley and Jimmy Johnson. The difference was back then you were seeing two or three charter buses. Thanks to COVID-19 and the need for social distancing these Cowboys were on eight, yes, count them eight buses. As the first few buses unloaded at, ironically, the same hotel that many of those teams stayed in overnight before the games, the last two buses were still out in the street waiting to get into the parking lot.

The Oklahoma State team left the West End Zone of Boone Pickens Stadium on Friday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. and they arrived at the team hotel, Lawrence Double Tree Inn, at 5:30 p.m. It was a non-stop trip from Stillwater. In the old days the Cowboys teams would stop in Wichita for a meal, usually at a restaurant called Kelloggs. This was a non stop trip as the Cowboys had a walk thru at Boone Pickens Stadium and then ate lunch at the training table at the stadium and boarded the buses, which had the usual snacks and beverages to hydrate on the trip to Lawrence. 

The 2020 season for the Cowboys was built for a pandemic with road trips to Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Baylor, and TCU. All of them could be bus trips, but the Cowboys will fly to Waco for the Baylor game on Oct. 17. They will bus to all the others with one exception. Oklahoma State football director of operations Mack Butler told Pokes Report that if the Cowboys are in the Big 12 Championship Game then following the regular season finale at TCU they will fly home to speed up rest, recovery, and coach's preparation for the Big 12 title game. It's a charter flight Butler hopes he gets to book. 

The players seemed none the worse for wear and they were able to space out on the bus trip to Lawrence. 

Oklahoma State (2-0) is a 23-point favorite over Kansas (0-2) for the 2:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN. The Oklahoma State Cowboys Radio Network will be on the air live from David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium at 12:30 p.m. with the extended pregame show. 

The game has a number of angles with Oklahoma State having won 10-games in a row over Kansas with the last loss to KU in 2007 at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Cowboys have won eight games in a row in Lawrence,but some of those have been too close for comfort and against teams Oklahoma State was heavily favored to beat. 

The Cowboys have a strong defense, maybe the best in Stillwater since 1984. It is early, but the Cowboys sixth in the nation on scoring defense, 14th in the FBS in rushing defense, and 15th overall in total defense. The defensive line is three deep at each position. This week starting linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga called himself and Malcolm Rodriguez 1A at linebacker and back-ups Devin Harper and Calvin Bundage 1B. The secondary is also deep.

They will face a Kansas team that has five skill players with NFL caliber speed and explosion with running backs Pooka Williams and Velton Gardner and receivers Andrew Parchment, Kwamie Lassiter II, and Stephone Robinson. The Jayhawks "home run" ability on offense is respected by the Cowboys defense and several said they are looking forward to the challenge of the Kansas speed. 

From a "isn't this odd" category is that because of injury for Oklahoma State, injury and ineffectiveness for Kansas, both teams could be starting true freshmen quarterbacks from outside Los Angeles, Calf., in Lawndale's Jalon Daniels for the Jayhawks and the Cowboys' Shane Illingworth out of Norco, Calf. Both freshmen started their teams' last contests.