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9 Things to Know about the Oklahoma State-Texas A&M Texas Bowl

Here are some things to watch for come Friday evening.

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It’s almost time to strap in for the final game for the next nine months on Friday evening as Oklahoma State takes on Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl in Houston. If you’re like me and have been delving deeper into putting together dollhouses and LEGOs over the last week than cover-2 defenses and QB matchups, then this will be a good primer heading into the season finale.

Nine things you need to know about this matchup. Let’s go.

1. S-E-C? Mike Gundy is 4-4 against the mighty SEC in his time as head coach in Stillwater. Here are the records by winning percentage.

Alabama: 1-0
Georgia: 1-1
Missouri: 1-1
Ole Miss: 0-2

That Alabama stat is just the best. Here’s the list of teams with a winning record against Alabama since Gundy took over in 2005: Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Utah. The entire list!

2. Best Bowl Team: A reminder that OSU is one of the all-time great bowl teams among teams with 20+ games played. You can argue the validity or importance of this stat, but facts is facts.

3. WR3: I’m curious about how many people can name who is currently No. 3 in receiving yardage for OSU this year. I … don’t think I could have unless I first read it in the game notes. It’s Landon Wolf, who has all of 185 yards. That’s wild. In 2017, the receiver who came in seventh in total yardage (Justice Hill) had 190 receiving yards. Strange times in Stillwater.

4. Streaking: Here’s a good one from OSU’s media relations folks: Only six college football teams enter the 2019 bowl season with a chance to win bowls in four straight years: Oklahoma State, Alabama, Appalachian State, Louisiana Tech, Wake Forest and Wisconsin. Here’s another one: Only 10 teams have had a winning record every year this past decade. Two are playing in this game.

• Bama
• Boise
• LSU
• OU
• OSU
• Penn State
• SDSU
• A&M
• Washington
• Wisconsin

5. Nine Dubs: If OSU wins on Friday, that’s nine 9-win seasons in its past 12. Texas A&M has five total this century.

6. ?: Chuba has rushed for 100 in 10 straight games. That’s twice as many as anyone else in the country other than Malcolm Perry, who is working on a streak of eight. It’s also the third-longest streak in OSU history. Terry Miller had a 19-gamer from 1976-1977, and Barry hit 12 in a row in 1988. Dantrell Savage also had a 10-gamer in 2007.

7. Top-Five Tacklers: Malcolm Rodriguez (7.8) and Amen Ogbongbemiga (7.3) are both in the top five in the Big 12 in tackles per game. They’ve accounted for 23 percent (!) of OSU’s total tackles in 2019.

8. Best of the Not Best: No. 25 Oklahoma State is the second-highest ranked 4-loss team in the country (USC is No. 22), and Texas A&M is the highest-ranked 5-loss team in the country. I have no idea what this means, but it seems notable going into Friday.

9. Last Five: OSU held its last five opponents well below their season scoring average going into that given game. Here are the numbers.

• Iowa State: -8.6
• TCU: -4.5
• Kansas: -12.1
• WVU: -7.6 (and they were averaging 20.6 a game!)
• OU: -11.3

A&M averages 30 a game. If OSU holds them in the 25 range, they should have a shot, depending on what they get out of Sanders and how the OL holds up against the Ags.

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