OSU To Meet Oregon In Holiday Bowl

Oklahoma State fans liked it the last time Mike Gundy led a team into Qualcomm Stadium (which was known as Jack Murphy Stadium at the time). Gundy was a junior quarterback for Oklahoma State when it defeated Wyoming in the 1988 Holiday Bowl. Gundy will become the first person to participate in the game as a player and a coach when Oklahoma State faces Oregon in the 2008 Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30.

Kickoff for the nationally televised game (ESPN) is scheduled for 7 p.m. (Central time).

Oklahoma State, which finished the regular season with a 9-3 record (with the losses coming to No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Texas Tech and No. 3 Oklahoma), will be making its third consecutive bowl appearance under Gundy, and the school's sixth postseason bowl trip in the last seven years.

The Cowboys have a two-game winning streak in bowl games, defeating Alabama, 34-31, in the 2006 Independence Bowl, and earning a 49-33 victory over Indiana in the 2007 Insight Bowl.

OSU will be facing Oregon, also 9-3, for the first time in school history. The Ducks finished 7-2 and in second place in the Pac-10 Conference.

With Gundy quarterbacking, Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders running the ball, and All-America receiver Hart Lee Dykes catching the 1988 Cowboys set a school record with their 62-point performance in the win over Wyoming 20 years ago.

Gundy completed 20-of-24 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a 17-yard pass from Sanders to set up another score in front of a crowd of 60,718 at what was then called Jack Murphy Stadium on Dec. 30, 1988.

Sanders, who was playing his last game for the Cowboys before leaving a year early for the NFL, rushed for 222 yards and five touchdowns. Dykes caught 10 passes for 163 yards, including a 25-yard TD pass from Gundy in the fourth quarter.