Bye Week Comes at Perfect Time for Ailing OSU Team

Oklahoma State’s running back room was so thin this week in practice because of lingering injuries, Mike Gundy said Saturday after the team’s win over Kansas State that he even fielded some snaps at the position to fill out some depth.

“Chuba didn’t practice this week,” he said of OSU’s All-American tailback, who logged just seven total touches for 35 yards. “And [LD Brown] didn’t practice much all week. Practiced a little Thursday, and that’s about it.

“I worked a little bit at tailback,” he added, seemingly joking but with a half-serious, sly smile.

Brown led the backfield with 110 yards rushing on 15 attempts, but he, like Hubbard, showed a noticeable limp on several occasions in the game. In one breakaway first-down run, Brown came up gimpy and hobbled out of bounds, willingly giving up green grass as it appeared the check engine light came on.

“We were pretty beat up,” Gundy said of the team overall, which was missing Kolby Harvell-Peel, Tylan Wallace and Jake Springfield, among others.

“We had a number of guys not practice this week on offense, and it showed today. Quite a few of them just played without even practicing, and that’s extremely difficult.

OSU just had an unexpected double-bye prior to the Iowa State game three weeks ago, but hitting a rest stop couldn’t come at a more opportune time for the dinged-up Pokes. With Bedlam on deck two weeks from today, there are a littany of bumps and bruises that need healing in what may be a Big 12-deciding showdown. By then the hope is that those who missed the game Saturday, and those that were dinged up during the game, will recover with expeditiously.

“It was a good win for our team,” said Gundy. “Looking forward to a week off where we can get a little recovery with our guys.”