OK State targets first Big 12 win with defensive weakling Texas Tech on deck

Late November games with low-level stakes aren't a familiar concept to Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

Late November games with low-level stakes aren't a familiar concept to Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

And in a season that began with the Red Raiders and Cowboys plotting a big impact in the new-look Big 12 Conference, they're both surprised to be here.

But that's the backdrop when they meet after notable missteps by the Red Raiders. The season has been unraveling for most of the last two months for the Cowboys.

Neither team is in contention for the conference championship game with two weeks to go.

Texas Tech (6-4, 4-3) has dropped three of its last four league games after a promising start. Oklahoma State (3-7, 0-7) is pushing to the finish of its worst season since coach Mike Gundy's debut in 2005.

"I'm as frustrated as anybody else," said Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire, who has guided his team to a third straight bowl-eligible season in his third season. "It's frustrating to me the opportunities that we've let get away because we haven't been good enough on game day."

Gundy can certainly relate.

The Cowboys finish with a losing record for just the second time in his 20-year tenure and an 18-year bowl game streak won't make it to 19.

Ranked in the preseason Top 25, Oklahoma State began the season 3-0 with a solid victory against Arkansas but a wave of injuries has yielded seven losses in a row - four by 21 points or more.

The Cowboys lost defensive starters Collin Olliver, Nick Martin and Cameron Epps to season-ending injuries. They head into Saturday ranked last in the Big 12 in total defense, allowing just a tick under 500 yards a game, and next-to-last in scoring defense with foes averaging 31.9 points.

Texas Tech is the only team that has given up more points: 35.1 per game.

The Red Raiders have been effective with the ball in their hands. They rank second in the league with 441 yards per contest and are the Big 12's highest-scoring offense at 35.5 points a game.

So the challenge is daunting for the Cowboys, who hit mid-November playing out the string for the first time since Gundy took over.

But Gundy expects his team's effort to be at the same level the program has expected since he grabbed the reins at his alma mater and built one of the most consistent programs in the Big 12.

"It's competition, same thing that I would say each week, and that when these guys walk on campus, they should be committed to themselves and to the team and then to whoever helped get them here and their family, or whoever raised them and put a lot into them," Gundy said. "The most important thing that they can do is continue to train and work and stay together and compete, which they have."

--Field Level Media