Oklahoma State Cowboys football

The Oklahoma State Cowboys football program represents Oklahoma State University–Stillwater in college football. The team is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Cowboys are led by Mike Gundy, who is in his seventh year as head coach. Oklahoma State plays their home games at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Facilities
Oklahoma state plays in Boone Pickens Stadium on Lewis Field in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Lewis Field was built in 1913 but had no permanent seating until 1920. At that time the field was repositioned from north-south to an east-west configuration to avoid the strong prevailing winds of northern Oklahoma. To this day Boone Pickens Stadium is one of a very few major college football stadiums with an east-west configuration. The first addition came in 1924 with the concrete and steel portion of the stadium and by 1930 the capacity had risen to 13,000. By 1947 with addition of rows on the south side the capacity grew to over 30,000. In 1971 with a donation of over 2.5 million from T. Boone Pickens the stadium again was expanded and at that time held 50,440. Starting in 2003 Boone Pickens donated over 200 million dollars to the university to renovate the stadium yet again.

History
The Oklahoma A&M Aggies (also referred to as the Tigers) joined their first conference for the start of the 1915 season, the Southwest Conference. In 1925, the Oklahoma A&M program joined the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In 1928, the MVIAA split into the Big Six Conference and the Missouri Valley Conference. A&M was the only large school that joined the smaller MVC. In 1956, A&M announced it was joining (or rejoining, depending on one's view) what had become the Big Seven for the 1958–59 academic year. As part of a transition period, the Cowboys went independent for two years. On May 15, 1957, Oklahoma A&M changed its name to Oklahoma State University. They officially became a part of the renamed Big Eight Conference in 1958. In 1996, OSU joined with the other Big Eight schools and four schools from the old Southwest Conference to form the Big 12 Conference.

The current head coach is Mike Gundy (37–27 and 2–2 in bowl appearances). During Gundy's playing career, the Cowboys enjoyed their greatest success, including two of the only three 10-win seasons in school history. Also during this era, in 1988, in what has been called the greatest season in college football history, Barry Sanders led the nation by averaging 7.6 yards per carry and over 200 yards per game, including rushing for over 300 yards in four games. He set college football season records with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,249 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, of which 37 were rushing (also a record), five consecutive 200 yard games, scored at least two touchdowns in eleven consecutive games, and 9 times he scored at least three touchdowns. Sanders won the Heisman Trophy as the season's best player. This success came at a price, however. Only days after the end of the school's second straight 10-win season, OSU and the NCAA released the results of an unusual joint investigation. The report detailed a staggering litany of misconduct dating to before the Johnson era, principally involvement in a "bidding war" for high school phenom Hart Lee Dykes. The Cowboys were slapped with four years' probation, a three-year bowl ban and a two-year ban from live television. However, the most serious long-term sanction was a limit of 20 scholarships from 1989 to 1992. As a result of the sanctions, the Cowboys only had one winning season from 1989 to 2001.

The OSU football program is in the process of establishing itself as a major college football contender, participating in 18 bowl games overall and five in the last six years. There have been 32 All-Americans to play for the Cowboys, with many coming from ranks of running backs. The Cowboys have won nine conference championships and the team has had one Heisman Trophy winner and two members go onto the NFL Hall of Fame.

Les Miles era (2001–2004)
In 2001, the Oklahoma State job became vacant when Bob Simmons resigned and a search produced Les Miles and Mike Gundy as the finalists. Miles was hired as head coach and Gundy was brought aboard as offensive coordinator. In his first year, Miles would achieve a 4–7 record. In the regular season finale, his underdog Cowboys would defeat the reigning National Champion Oklahoma Sooners in Norman 16–13. In 2002, Miles would post a 7–5 regular season record. The Cowboys would again defeat the Oklahoma Sooners. The team would go on to three straight bowl games in Miles's last three years as head coach and when Miles left in 2004 to take the LSU job.

Mike Gundy era (2005–present)
Mike Gundy was named immediately as Miles' successor and the 22nd head coach at Oklahoma State. His first season saw the expulsion of eleven players from the team and the Cowboys struggled to a 4–7 record winning only one Big 12 conference game. In his second season, the Cowboy offense began to click and the Cowboys would finish 7–6 including a victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Independence Bowl. In 2007, the Cowboys again posted a 6–6 regular season record and a bowl win over the Indiana Hoosiers in the Insight Bowl. After their second straight bowl appearance, Gundy was rewarded with a contract extension through the 2013 season.

After posting a 9–3 regular season record in 2008, Coach Gundy received a new seven-year contract worth $15.7 million. The contract, which extends through the 2015 season, was taken into effect on January 1, 2009. Gundy's tenure as head coach of the Cowboys has seen the rise and expansion of not only his football program, but the football facilities as well. The Cowboys began the 2009 season ranked #9 in the country in the AP Top 25, but the dreams of a miracle season were crushed when the Pokes lost 45-35 to the unranked Houston Cougars at home the following week, and later finding out that star wide receiver Dez Bryant was ruled ineligible for the remainder of the season, for lying to the NCAA about having contact with 8-time pro bowler Deion Sanders, which wasn't an NCAA violation in the first place. The following year, Oklahoma State hired Offensive Coordinator Dana Holgorsen from the University of Houston. In 2010 coach Gundy recorded the first ever 11-win season in Oklahoma State history. What was supposed to be a rebuilding year turned into the best in school history.

Under Gundy there have been a series of NFL quality wide receivers to come through Boone Pickens Stadium. These include Adarius Bowman, Dez Bryant, and Justin Blackmon.

On December 3, 2011, the Cowboys won their first Big-12 Championship in school history with a 44-10 victory over rival Oklahoma in the Bedlam Series. The nationally third-ranked Cowboys eventually went on to win the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl by beating fourth-ranked Stanford in overtime, 41-38, on January 2, 2012.

Logos and uniforms
The Cowboys had four main uniform combinations that they wore throughout the football season for the past few seasons. For the 2011 football season, it was revealed that Nike had created new uniforms for the Cowboys. They now have three different helmet options in either gray, black, or white. Their jerseys and pants consists of black, orange, grey and white, with a different combination being able to be worn every week of the season. The Cowboys debuted their new gray uniforms for the first game of the season.

2011 Season
Many combinations of the all new Nike uniforms have been worn this season. Kicking things off against Louisiana the Cowboys showed up in white-grey-white. While hosting Arizona we saw white-black-black, only to see white-white-black at Tulsa. At Texas A&M they donned grey-white-grey; against Kansas, black-black-orange; at Texas, black-white-black; and against Missouri, white-white-white. In years past, homecoming signaled an all orange occasion, but this season the Cowboys faced Baylor in grey-orange-grey. They concluded their regular season finale with an inspiring black-orange-black combination.

Oklahoma
The first Bedlam game was held at Island Park in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It was a cold, and very windy day with the temperatures well below the freezing mark. At one moment in the game when the Oklahoma A&M Aggies were punting, the wind carried the ball backwards behind the kicker. If the Oklahoma A&M squad recovered the ball it would be a touchback and if the University of Oklahoma squad recovered it, it would be a touchdown. The ball kept going backwards and rolled down a hill into the half-frozen creek. Since a touchdown was at stake, members of both teams dove into the icy waters to recover the ball. A member of the OU team came out with the ball and downed it for a touchdown, eventually winning the game 75–0.[2] Thus was the beginning of Bedlam.

Author Steve Budin, whose father was a New York bookie, has recently publicized the claim that the 1954 "Bedlam" game against rival OU was fixed by mobsters in his book Bets, Drugs, and Rock & Roll (ISBN 1-60239-099-1). Allegedly, the mobsters threatened and paid off a cook to slip laxatives into a soup eaten by many OU Sooner starting players, causing them to fall violently ill in the days leading up to the game. OU was victorious in the end, but their 14–0 win did not cover the 20-point spread they had in their favor. However, many people involved in the 1954 contest do not recall any incident like the one purported by Budin to have occurred. The University of Oklahoma leads the Bedlam Series in football 82–17–7.

Tulsa
All time series, Oklahoma State leading 40–27-5, winning the most recent match up in 2011, 59-33. Since 1990 Tulsa is 3-9 versus Oklahoma State with the Cowboys scoring at least 36 points in each of the last four contests. The Cowboys have a twenty game home winning streak against Tulsa. The last time Tulsa won in Stillwater was 1951.

Conference (seasons as member)

 * Independent (1901–1914)
 * Southwest Conference (1915–1924)
 * MVIAA (1925–1927)
 * Missouri Valley Conference (1928–1956)
 * Independent (1957–1959)
 * Big Eight Conference (1960–1996)
 * Big 12 Conference (1997–Present)

Individual honors

 * Heisman Trophy
 * Barry Sanders, 1988


 * Maxwell Award
 * Barry Sanders, 1988


 * Walter Camp Award
 * Barry Sanders, 1988


 * Ray Guy Award
 * Matt Fodge, 2008


 * Fred Biletnikoff Award
 * Justin Blackmon, 2010
 * Justin Blackmon, 2011


 * Lou Groza Award
 * Dan Bailey, 2010

Year by year records (win, loss, tie, conference record in parentheses)
523–522–40 TOTAL
 * 1950– 4–6–1
 * 1951– 3–7
 * 1952– 3–7
 * 1953– 7–3
 * 1954– 5–4–1
 * 1955– 2–8
 * 1956– 3–5–2
 * 1957– 6–3–1
 * 1958– 8–3 — Bluegrass Bowl vs. Florida State 15–6 (W)
 * 1959– 6–4
 * 1960– 3–7 (2–5)
 * 1961– 4–6 (2–5)
 * 1962– 4–6 (2–5)
 * 1963– 1–8 (0–6)
 * 1964– 4–6 (3–4)
 * 1965– 3–7 (2–5)
 * 1966– 4–5–1 (4–2–1)
 * 1967– 4–5–1 (3–4)
 * 1968– 3–7 (2–5)
 * 1969– 5–5 (3–4)
 * 1970– 4–7 (2–5)
 * 1971– 4–6–1 (2–5)
 * 1972– 6–5 (4–3)
 * 1973– 5–4–2 (2–3–2)
 * 1974– 7–5 (4–3) — Fiesta Bowl vs. BYU 16–6 (W)
 * 1975– 7–4 (3–4)
 * 1976– 9–3 (5–2) — Tangerine Bowl vs. BYU 49–21 (W)
 * 1977– 4–7 (2–5)
 * 1978– 3–8 (3–4)
 * 1979– 7–4 (5–2)
 * 1980– 4–7 (3–4)
 * 1981– 6–6 (3–4) — Independence Bowl vs. Texas A&M 16–33 (L)
 * 1982– 4–5–2 (3–2–2)
 * 1983– 8–4 (3–4) — Bluebonnet Bowl vs. Baylor 24–14 (W)
 * 1984– 10–2 (5–2) — Gator Bowl vs. South Carolina 21–14 (W)
 * 1985– 8–4 (4–3) — Gator Bowl vs. Florida State 23–34 (L)
 * 1986– 6–5 (4–3)
 * 1987– 10–2 (5–2) — Sun Bowl vs. West Virginia 35–33 (W)
 * 1988– 10–2 (5–2) — Holiday Bowl vs. Wyoming 62–14 (W)
 * 1989– 4–7 (3–4)
 * 1990– 4–7 (2–5)
 * 1991– 0–10–1 (0–6–1)
 * 1992– 4–6–1 (2–4–1)
 * 1993– 3–8 (0–7)
 * 1994– 3–7–1 (0–6–1)
 * 1995– 4–8 (2–5)
 * 1996– 5–6 (2–6)
 * 1997– 8–4 (5–3) — Alamo Bowl vs. Purdue 20–33 (L)
 * 1998– 5–6 (3–5)
 * 1999– 5–6 (3–5)
 * 2000– 3–8 (1–7)
 * 2001– 4–7 (2–6)
 * 2002– 8–5 (5–3) — Houston Bowl vs. Southern Miss 33–23 (W)
 * 2003– 9–4 (5–3) — Cotton Bowl Classic vs. Ole Miss 28–31 (L)
 * 2004– 7–5 (4–4) — Alamo Bowl vs. Ohio State 7–33 (L)
 * 2005– 4–7 (1–7)
 * 2006– 7–6 (3–5) — Independence Bowl vs. Alabama 34–31 (W)
 * 2007– 7–6 (4–4) — Insight Bowl vs. Indiana 49–33 (W)
 * 2008– 9–4 (5–3) — Holiday Bowl vs. Oregon 31–42 (L)
 * 2009– 9–4 (6–2) — Cotton Bowl Classic vs. Ole Miss 21–7 (L)
 * 2010– 11–2 (6–2) — Alamo Bowl vs. Arizona 36–10 (W)
 * 2011– 12–1 (8–1)- Fiesta Bowl vs. Stanford 41-38 (W)