Series History: OSU-KSU Have Played a Shocking Number of One-Possession Games

Oklahoma State gets Kansas State in the Little Apple this weekend, where they’ve won just twice (2010 and 2016) since Barry Sanders was galloping around Stillwater in 1988. This would have been good information to have before I picked the Pokes to win this weekend.

Overall, two programs that have mirrored each other in a lot of ways have played a lot of tight ones over the years. Here’s a look.

• Overall series: OSU leads 39-25
• Under Gundy: OSU leads 6-4
• Longest streak: OSU — 11 games (1947-1962)
• Biggest rout (OSU 56-3 in 1975)

In the Gundy era, OSU has scored 340 points and Kansas State 366 points. The average margin of victory in that time has been 8.8 (and that includes a 34-point rout in 2014 in Manhattan).

Additionally, seven of the 10 games these teams have played since Gundy took over in 2005 have been within seven points. Four (!) of them have been within four points (OSU is — maybe surprisingly — 3-1 in those four games).

The most famous of the games in that span was probably the 2011 earthquake game –which lives on in current home games with Kirk Herbstreit’s stunned, eyes-popping face on OSU’s new jumbotron.

I just watched the highlights from that game, which was probably not good for my attitude toward OSU football in 2018. Justin Blackmon, by the way, had 13 for 205 and a pair of TDs that night. Freak city.

Overall, Gundy has struggled with Kansas State as much as anyone outside of Texas and OU. His 6-4 record against the Wildcats is his third “worst” against any Big 12 team, just behind his 8-5 record against Baylor.

Gundy Against the Big 12 (updated after ISU)

• Kansas: 10-1
• Texas Tech: 11-3
• Iowa State: 8-3
• TCU: 4-2
• West Virginia: 4-2
• Baylor: 8-5
• Kansas State: 6-4
• Texas: 6-7
• Oklahoma: 2-11