STILLWATER – The way the CFP Committee worked and the way the selection rolled through the bowl eligible Big 12 teams, Oklahoma State has landed in the 2023 Tax Act Texas Bowl, which will be played in NRG Stadium kicking off at 8 p.m. (CT) on ESPN. NRG Stadium will also be the site later of the CFP National Championship Game. The Cowboys will play Texas A&M (7-5) of the SEC. It is Oklahoma State’s 30th bowl game in the program’s history.
Oklahoma State finished ranked No. 20 in the final College Football Playoff Rankings. The Cowboys dropped a couple of spots following their 49-21 loss to Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game.
The Longhorns win over the Cowboys helped to springboard them into the CFP Championship Top Four. The No. 3 ranking with a berth in the semifinal held in the Sugar Bowl against No. 2 Washington.
Oklahoma landed in the Valero Alamo Bowl against a resurgent Arizona team. Kansas State was locked in by the folks in Orlando, Fla. to play Notre Dame in the PopTarts Bowl. Oklahoma State had been to Orlando twice recently to play Virginia Tech in 2018 and then in 2020 against Miami, Fla. Iowa State is playing Memphis in the LIberty Bowl. Texas Tech will play California in the Independence Bowl. Kansas will play UNLV in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
Oklahoma State has gone bowling over the years three times in Houston and this will make the fourth. Oklahoma State celebrated the 1983 Bluebonnet Bowl win over Baylor 24-14 in the Astrodome on Dec. 31, of that year. Rusty Hilger and Ernest Anderson helped spark that victory under head coach Jimmy Johnson.
In 2002 Houston Bowl the Cowboys dumped Southern Miss 33-23 in what is now NRG Stadium.
The last trip to Houston was for the Texas Bowl in 2019 and the Cowboys with a back-up quarterback in Dru Brown nearly beat Texas A&M before falling 24-21. That makes this year’s game a rematch of the 2019 contest.
This will be a rematch of that 2019 edition of the Texas Bowl.
Oklahoma State is 10-17 all-time vs. Texas A&M. Mike Gundy and the Cowboys sent the Aggies out of the Big 12 and into the SEC with four straight losses in the last four meetings as conference opponents in 2008-2011. There was the bowl meeting in 2019. A bowl meeting in the snow, yes snow in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. in 1981 33-16.
Under Pat Jones and with soon to be Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders the Cowboys beat Texas A&M in the biggest margin either way in the series 52-15. Oklahoma State won the first ever meeing 3-0 in 1913 before A&M won the next six until an OSU win in 1954.
Mike Gundy is 4-4 in his head coaching career against Texas A&M.
Texas A&M has Elijah Robinson as their interim head coach after firing Jimbo Fisher and paying him a $77-million buyout and then hiring former defensive coordinator and Duke head coach Mike Elko as their new head coach. It is unclear how the Aggies will approach the bowl game.
"I am so proud of these young men for their effort and commitment to me, our staff, Texas A&M and to each other," interim head coach Elijah Robinson said. "Any transition is difficult, but this Aggie team is a brotherhood. I know they will give great effort and we look forward to the TaxAct Texas Bowl and we have great respect for the Oklahoma State Cowboys."
A&M finished the year 7-5 with non conference wins over New Mexico (52-10), Louisiana-Monroe (47-3), and Abilene Christian (38-10) with a non conference loss to Miami, Fla. (33-48). In SEC play the Aggies beat Auburn (27-10), Arkansas (34-22), South Carolina (30-17), and Mississippi State (51-10). They lost in games to Alabama (20-26), Tennessee (13-20), Ole Miss (35-38), and LSU (30-42).
Again, the game will be played on Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 8 p.m. (CT) and televised on ESPN.
