NC Oklahoma News

Oklahoma State football ended 2022 by extending its school record streak of winning seasons to 17 years – an active run that only two other FBS schools can claim.

The Cowboys' season was hindered by injuries as 17 Cowboys with multiple career starts under their belts missed playing time, but despite that they finished with a 7-6 overall record and a 4-5 record in Big 12 play that was enough to rank in the top half of the conference standings.

Highlights from the year included a season-high ranking of No. 7 in the Associated Press poll, leading the nation in fewest penalties, a Homecoming win over Texas and an All-America season from safety Jason Taylor II.

The year started with convincing wins in the three non-conference games to open the season, including a 58-44 Thursday night win over Central Michigan to mark Mike Gundy's 150th career victory as head coach, a 34-17 win over Arizona State in the first matchup with the Sun Devils since 1993 and a 63-7 over the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in the first meeting between the programs.

After a bye week to close out September, the Cowboys opened Big 12 play on October 1 at No. 16 Baylor in a rematch of the 2021 Big 12 Championship. OSU jumped out to a 23-3 lead early in the second half and finished with a 36-25 win to mark its third victory in the past four games against BU. The impressive double-digit win over the previously unbeaten Bears propelled the Cowboys to No. 7 in both the AP and coaches polls heading into the following matchup against Texas Tech.

Against the Red Raiders, OSU overcame a 23-31 third-quarter deficit by rallying to score 18 unanswered points and earn a 41-31 win. The result moved the Cowboys to 5-0 as they joined Ohio State as the only FBS teams in country to start 5-0 and win each of those games by double-digits.

The win set up OSU's biggest game of the season as the Cowboys traveled to Fort Worth to take on the undefeated and eventual national runner-up TCU Horned Frogs. The Cowboys jumped out to a 24-7 lead early in the second quarter and held a 14-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, but TCU came back to tie the game in the final minutes before edging out a 43-40 win in double overtime to hand OSU its first setback of the season.

Homecoming awaited next, as the Cowboys rebounded by overcoming a 14-point deficit to earn a 41-34 win over the No. 20 Longhorns. OSU also set a program record by recording its first game in school history with 0 total penalties on the stat sheet. When compared to 14 penalties for the Longhorns, it marked the first time in more than 20 years that any FBS team finished a game with no penalties while pressuring its opponent into at least 14. It also pushed Oklahoma State's overall record to 6-1 before a two-game road stretch in Kansas.

OSU dropped both of those games, first falling to eventual Big 12 champion Kansas State and then dropping a tough matchup at Kansas to a team that went on to play in its first bowl game since 2008.

The Cowboys got back into the win column the following week as they erased another second-half deficit to knock off Iowa State at Boone Pickens Stadium. The victory was OSU's 14th consecutive home win to mark the longest streak in school history to date.

The final two games of the regular season were at Oklahoma and at home against West Virginia, but an injury-laden roster couldn't engineer a win in either game.

With seven wins in the regular season, the Cowboys earned their 17th consecutive bowl bid as they squared off against Wisconsin for the first time in program history. The Guaranteed Rate Bowl matchup took place in Phoenix on December 27 at Chase Field, home of the MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.

In a back-and-forth the battle that came down to the final minutes, OSU fell to the Badgers 24-17, to close out the year with a 7-6 overall record to mark its 17th straight winning season.

Several Cowboy garnered postseason accolades for their performance during the year. In addition to Taylor's Walter Camp All-America honors, he was also honored as a semifinalist for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award and as a first team All-Big 12 selection by the coaches and AP.

He was joined as an all-conference pick by kicker Tanner Brown (coaches and AP), linebacker Mason Cobb (coaches and AP), offensive lineman Hunter Woodard (AP), safety Kendal Daniels (coaches) and defensive ends Brock Martin (coaches) and Collin Oliver (coaches). Daniels was also honored as the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year and Brown was honored as a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award.

In the NCAA rankings, the Cowboys boasted an FBS-top four ranking in third down defense for the third consecutive season (No. 3 - 31.2%), ranked in the FBS-top 10 in tackles for loss per game for the third-straight season (No. 9 - 7.4), had an FBS-top 20 passing offense for the first time since 2018 (No. 20 - 279.5) and ranked No. 11 in kickoff returns with an average of 23.61 yards per return, in addition to leading the nation in fewest penalties (46) and fewest penalties per game (3.54).

Individually, Brown ranked No. 3 in the FBS with a field goal percentage of 95.7 (22-23) and was one of just two FBS players to attempt at least 20 field goals with only one miss. Taylor II ranked No. 3 with six total interceptions and was also No. 3 with 6.2 solo tackles per game, while quarterback Spencer Sanders finished No. 14 in the FBS with an average of 303.3 yards of total offense per game. Daniels was also fourth among all FBS freshmen with three interceptions and fifth with an average of 5.5 tackles per game.

The Cowboys also earned headlines in the classroom as the 2022 Academic All-Big 12 Football Team included a conference-best 29 Oklahoma State players on the first team and four garnered second-team honors to combine for 33 total spots on the team. OSU's Alex Hale, Aden Kelley and Logan Ward were also three of just 14 players in the league honored with a 4.00 grade point average. 

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