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Greatness once again eludes Oklahoma State after tough OU-OSU loss

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Austin Hays shows frustration after dropping a pass on fourth down. The Cowboys lost 58-23 to Oklahoma on Nov. 28 at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Sooners won the Big 12 title from this win.



J.W. Walsh woke up Saturday knowing some dreams were within reach.

“College GameDay” was in town. A Big 12 title was on the line. And so were OU-OSU bragging rights.

Walsh was starting at quarterback as Mason Rudolph dealt with a foot injury that left his mobility severely limited. This is what Walsh had dreamed of, what he had worked for since the start.

“Very emotional day,” Walsh said. “Woke up today ready to go, and then as we went through walkthroughs and meetings, I could just feel the emotions building up. Senior night was a big deal. When I walked out, I saw my mom. She was crying, and that was hard just because you see her crying, and I’ve got all these emotions built up.”

OSU might have beat Oklahoma, sent the fans storming onto the field as the Cowboys captured only the second outright conference championship in school history. They could have gone to a major bowl game, even made one last statement to the College Football Playoff committee.

Isn’t it pretty to think so?

Instead of getting a rare taste of glory, OSU was sent to the locker room licking deep wounds after a 58-23 thrashing at the hands of Baker Mayfield and the No. 3 Sooners.

Walsh wasn’t perfect, but he played well given the circumstances. He threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He ran for 50 more yards.

But he was left wanting more, and so was a fan base that ends the 2015 regular season still reaching for the mountaintop.

“Everyone’s pretty down in the locker room right now, because No. 1, you don’t want to lose when you’re playing for the Big 12 championship,” Walsh said. “You don’t want to lose the last game of the season, especially to OU. Everyone was pretty down, but you had the sense everyone was going to play when it’s time to get ready for bowl practices. We’ve done that all year, and we’ll continue that.”

If there is anything to say about this year’s Oklahoma State team, it’s this: There was never a dull moment.

The Cowboys came from behind to win, including at times where it seemed unlikely. They played great in flashes and horrible in others.

But they kept winning, even capturing a victory against TCU that put them in the College Football Playoff conversation. Thing was, it didn’t end as planned. Losses to Baylor and OU spoiled the fairytale. That’s an unfortunate reality in the history of Oklahoma State, and it happened again Saturday.

“Looking at it overall, we’re not happy with how it came out tonight, but we had a good season,” linebacker Seth Jacobs said.

Coach Mike Gundy can relate on a smaller scale. He thought he entered this game with a solid coaching scheme.

It never translated to the field.

The Cowboys were down 21-10 early in the second quarter, and it only got worse from there.

“You put plans together and sometimes they just don’t work as good as you want to, and it’s just not fun, but it happens,” Gundy said.

By the fourth quarter, the stands cleared out. The dream was dead. These Cowboys were good, but they won’t be remembered as great. That title remains elusive.

The search for a silver lining, though, isn’t hard. At 10-2, OSU still had one of the best regular seasons in school history. The Cowboys will go to a respectable bowl game, and they’ll come into next year locked and loaded, ready to do it all again.

“Tonight, I was disappointed because the score and the way it ended will take away some from what the players were able to accomplish this year,” Gundy said. “Selfishly, being the coach of these guys, they lost when both teams were ranked top-10 in the country.