Throwback Thursday: Mike Gundy’s 50th Victory Almost Didn’t Happen

In honor of Mike Gundy’s 50th birthday last weekend, it only seemed right to look back at his 50th win as the head coach of Oklahoma State. Luckily, it just so happened to be one of the craziest games OSU has ever played. Not because of the score, but because it almost never kicked off.

For those who don’t remember, on September 17th, 2011, OSU was in Tulsa set to kick-off against the Golden Hurricanes in the third week of the season. The game had been scheduled to start at 9:10 p.m. (because T.V.) but due to a storm system that rolled into town, didn’t officially kick off until 12:16 a.m. Central time on September 18, 2011.

Had the game suffered one more lightning delay, it would have been canceled.

Instead, fans who didn’t have a ticket were allowed to enter the rain soaked Tulsa stadium for free and enjoy some late night early morning football.

As to be expected after a three-hour delay, the Cowboys came out a little sluggish. On the opening drive, Brandon Weeden threw an interception that the Golden Hurricanes turned into three points. That seemed to jolt the Cowboys awake. Justin Gilbert returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and OSU never looked back.

OSU led 31-6 at halftime, and 45-6 midway through the third quarter before Tulsa ripped off three touchdowns on their next three possessions. It didn’t help Tulsa any that they lost their starting quarterback to injury in the first quarter.

When the game officially ended, the score was 59-33 and the clock read 3:35 a.m.

“When we won the game, everybody’s obviously very excited about the game but everybody’s just walking around like zombies,” Weeden said. “Everybody’s pretty fatigued.”

Notes from the game:

• Justin Blackmon’s NCAA record run of 14 triple-digit receiving yard games ended this night. He totaled 57 yards and a touchdown.

• The NCAA doesn’t keep records for latest start or finish times, but this one had to have been in the top 3.

• On a sad note, this was the game then defensive line coach Glenn Spencer lost his wife Angela. He had to rush back to Stillwater and missed the game.

• Fun fact! This year’s season opener is the final game of a three game deal that included the 2011 game in Tulsa and the 2010 game in Stillwater. This year’s game was supposed to have been played a few years ago, but was rescheduled for either the Mississippi State game or the Florida State game. I can’t remember which.

• Just hours after this game was over Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced they were leaving the now defunct Big East football conference for the ACC. Speaking of Pitt, we play them Week 3 this season!

• The kickoff attendance of the game was an estimated to be 18,000 to 20,000. Can you imagine waiting three hours at TU’s stadium until after midnight to watch a college football game?

• If Oklahoma State beats Tulsa this year, the six-game win streak will be the largest for either team in the series.