By PAUL J. WEBER
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Oklahoma State players insist their full attention is on Arizona for the Alamo Bowl. Not the Cowboys losing their offensive coordinator two weeks ago. Or their two stars possibly headed to the NFL early.
So there are no distractions, right coach Mike Gundy?
"There are some distractions. But I'm glad they feel that way," Gundy said.
There's perhaps no sense in pretending the 16th-ranked Cowboys (10-2) don't have other issues besides Wednesday night's game against Arizona (7-5). A victory would give Oklahoma State its first 11-win season in school history, but those most responsible for this unexpectedly successful run may not be around long to celebrate.
Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen will leave next month for West Virgina, where he was hired this month as the coach-in-waiting. Quarterback Brandon Weeden and wide receiver Justin Blackmon may be playing their final game at Oklahoma State if they leave for the NFL draft.
Blackmon, the Biletnikoff Award winner and Big 12 player of the year, says he won't make his decision until after the bowl game. Same goes for Weeden, the 27-year-old former professional baseball player who broke most Oklahoma State passing records in his first year as a starter.
Weeden said he doesn't want to have any regrets. But the junior arrived at the Alamo Bowl with his conscious clear about one thing: that the Cowboys, after having the nation's top offense and some of college football's biggest stars, didn't squander their best shot at the Big 12 title.
The Cowboys fell to the Alamo Bowl, instead of playing their first Big 12 championship game, after losing their final game in a wild shootout with Oklahoma.
"The two games we did lose (Oklahoma and Nebraska) they were very, very good football teams," Weeden said. "We accomplished a lot of goals we set before the year. I'll look back and say I was able to play with guys like Justin Blackmon and (running back) Kendall Hunter. Just to say I was in the same huddle with them."
Arizona came to Texas to bury the recent past, too.
The Wildcats saw their conference ambitions much more gradually slip away than Oklahoma State's while being stuck in a tailspin over the final month. A November that began with them 7-1 and ranked 13th ended with four straight losses.
"It's been a long time since we've had a win, but that doesn't mean we haven't played well over the last month of the season," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said. "We're not far off. our players have not lost confidence in what they're doing."
If Arizona can complete a Stoops sweep -- it was Oklahoma's Bob Stoops who toppled the Cowboys in their last game -- the Wildcats will secure a third consecutive eight-win season. They'll also have their second bowl victory under Mike Stoops, whose only other one in his seven seasons came in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl.
Last year, Arizona was trounced by Nebraska 33-0 in the Holiday Bowl. This time the Wildcats are the first Pac-10 team in the Alamo Bowl since 1994. The game ended its 15-year run with the Big Ten.
"Getting embarrassed a year ago was a tough feeling for us. We've never not competed," Stoops said. "That's not what our program is about. I look for us to compete in a much better way tomorrow night."
Win or lose, this Oklahoma State team might be remembered as much for its phenomenal offense as being one of the surprises of the season. The Cowboys began the season picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 south after losing stars like quarterback Zac Robinson and wide receiver Dez Bryant.
Instead, the Cowboys wound up being even better. Oklahoma State finished the season edging unbeaten and No. 2 Oregon for the top offense in the nation (537.6 yards per game), overwhelming opponents while putting together the first 10-win regular season in school history.
Much of that credit goes to Gundy hiring Holgorsen. Weeden and Blackmon said their decision whether to return won't be influenced by Holgorsen's departure, and Hologorsen said it isn't his place to talk them into staying or going.
Like his quarterback wants to do, Holgorsen said he isn't going into his final game at Oklahoma State with any regrets.
"We didn't win (the Big 12). That's disappointing. But we did some things that have never been done around here," he said. "There's plenty of things to be proud of. You don't want to sit there and dwell on what didn't happen. Just try to be excited about what did happen and move on from there."
