STILLWATER — It’s been nearly 15 years since Oklahoma State faced a new conference opponent. But today, when Texas Christian University makes the trip up to Stillwater, the Cowboys will get their first look at one of two first-year Big 12 Conference foes.
“It’s a little different. I’ve been playing for four years now so it will be a little different going up against guys that I’ve never competed against,” said senior offensive lineman Lane Taylor.
“We’re not familiar with their players,” running back Joseph Randle said. “We can watch film on an Iowa State, but we kind of knew what they was like because we’ve played against them before. We don’t have that kind of feeling for TCU. All we can gather is what we see on tape. But our coaches do always say that the eye in the sky don’t lie.”
Getting to face another Texas-based university brings some nostalgia for some of the Cowboys, especially with the amount of Texas natives on the OSU squad.
“I’ve always wanted to play TCU. I always thought it would be fun,” said Taylor, who is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area where the TCU campus is located. “I’ve always thought that they should be in our conference — they kind of go with the rest of us with their location and everything. So it will be exciting to play them.”
Sophomore linebacker Lyndell was actually recruited by TCU. Johnson, who is from Plano, Texas has several high school friends on the Horned Frog team.
“I know a lot of people that go there that I played against in high school, so I’ll be doing some trash talking with them during the week then get the opportunity to go out there in the game and showcase myself,” Johnson said.
While it will be different for the players, OSU coach Mike Gundy said his coaching staff is already well familiar with the TCU players.
“We know who they are,” Gundy said. “We recruit the same players. Their philosophies haven’t really changed that much. I mentioned their defense earlier. Their offense is we are going to spread you out and run speed option, run some reverses, play pass, run inside zone, read zone, throw the ball downfield, run some nakeds on the perimeter. That part stayed consistent.”
For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.
