A chance to solidify a campaign to a second straight Big 12 championship game awaited the Cowboys football team.
A win against Texas a week earlier eased the sting of a double-overtime loss to eventual national runner-up TCU. Beat Kansas State and the Cowboys would still be sitting pretty at 7-1.
Didn’t happen.
The ninth-ranked Cowboys left Bill Snyder Family Stadium 48-0 losers – a historic loss that sent the Cowboys spiraling from College Football Playoff contention to a 7-6 finish, tying the program’s worst record in 17 seasons.
Worse, that created a theme for many of OSU’s athletic programs during the 2022-23 school year, especially among the highest-profile sports.