Holiday Bowl : Oklahoma State, Wyoming Will Be Offensive

SAN DIEGO —  Take a good, long look tonight at the 12th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys and Barry Sanders, their first Heisman Trophy winner.

Because for those who don’t live in Stillwater, Okla., or spend their autumns following the Cowboys around the Big Eight Conference, this could be your last chance for a while.

The Cowboys are about to ride off into the muted sunset of a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. probation.

Their ESPN-televised appearance in the 11th Holiday Bowl against No. 15 Wyoming at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium figures to be the last national and postseason exposure that Sanders and the rest of the Cowboy underclassmen see anytime soon.

“From what we hear, this will probably be the last bowl game that I’ll ever be in,” said Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State’s junior quarterback. “We’ll probably be off TV, too. Of course, we don’t know anything about (the probation), but if I had to take a guess, I’d guess that.”

The impending announcement of NCAA sanctions casts an uncomfortable edge on what otherwise promises to be an exciting game.

These Cowboys--Wyoming and Oklahoma State share the same nickname--have potent offenses.

Oklahoma State (9-2) is the country’s highest-scoring team, averaging 47.5 points a game; it has scored 40 or more points in 10 of 11 games. Wyoming (11-1) averages 41.4 points.

“This game is a tossup because the offenses are so powerful,” Sanders said. “It will be a high-scoring game.”

Sanders not only has fact; he has history on his side.

Last season at Wyoming, Oklahoma State won, 35-29, as the teams combined for 38 fourth-quarter points. Such dramatics would be par for a game that annually has produced some of the closest finishes of the bowl season.

Of the previous 10 Holiday Bowls, half have been decided by a point, including the past three. Four others have been determined by 7 points or fewer. Only Ohio State’s 47-17 rout of Brigham Young in 1982 was not close.

Wyoming knows this as well as any team. In last year’s game, it watched Iowa overcome a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win, 20-19.

That was Wyoming’s first Western Athletic Conference title and bowl appearance since 1976.

“We were content with just making it out here last year,” said senior quarterback Randy Welniak, who watched last year’s game while recovering from shoulder surgery. “Our attitude was: It would be nice to win, but at least we made it here. This year we are coming here with a whole different approach. We’re a little more businesslike.”

The elements, starting foremost with Sanders, are gathered again for another big-play affair.

Sanders is completing a junior season in which he broke or tied 24 NCAA records, including a record 2,628 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns.

But he has help.

Gundy completed 64.8% of his passes this season, best in Big Eight history, and his 2,163 yards passing brought his career total to 5,794, third in conference history.

Most of those yards (1,278) went to Hart Lee Dykes, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound All-American receiver. Dykes caught nearly half of Gundy’s completions (74) and 14 of his 19 touchdown passes.

Oklahoma State’s only losses came in its highest scoring (63-42 at Nebraska) and lowest scoring (31-28 to Oklahoma) games.

The offense averaged 515.2 yards per game and the defense allowed 454.5, much more than Wyoming, which allowed 288.7.

Wyoming was undefeated in the WAC for the second straight season. But it was humiliated by No. 14 Houston, 34-10, in a nonconference game in which the Cougars recorded 16 sacks. The loss, which ended Wyoming’s national-leading 19-game regular-season unbeaten streak and spoiled hopes of an unbeaten season, came a week after a 51-6 victory over Texas El Paso clinched a Holiday Bowl berth.

“Houston really knocked us off our high horse,” said Wyoming tackle Pat Rabold, the WAC’s defensive player of the year. “We have a good record and everything, but we play in the WAC. We’re not a great team; we’re not that much better than everyone else.”

Whereas Oklahoma State comes in with such stars as Sanders and Dykes, Wyoming counters with Paul Roach, Rabold and quarterback Welniak--a 61-year-old coach and his medical wonders.

Both Rabold (back fusion) and Welniak (rotator cuff) are fifth-year seniors finishing their college careers after operations that threatened to end their playing days. And Roach, who also serves as athletic director, is his second year of a job he took when Dennis Erickson fled to Washington State after one season at Wyoming. Roach, 59 at the time, had been out of coaching for 6 years and never had served as a head coach.

All he has done is lead Wyoming to a 21-4 record and its first consecutive WAC titles since 1966-68.

Holiday Bowl Notes

Kickoff is at 5 p.m. . . . Wyoming reports three injuries--wide receiver Ted Gilmore (knee), outside linebacker Mike Schenbeck (shoulder) and offensive guard Shawn Wehrer (knee). But all are expected to be available.