No. 7 Oklahoma St gears up for Aggies

A full night of rest, and then some, has done the Oklahoma State Cowboys some good - so much so that coach Mike Gundy isn't concerned about the fatigue factor heading into one of his team's biggest games of the season.

Gundy said Monday that any hangover from the Cowboys' bizarre 59-33 win at Tulsa on Sunday will be long past by the time No. 7 Oklahoma State (3-0) visits No. 8 Texas A&M (2-0) on Saturday afternoon in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams.

Weather delays meant the Oklahoma State-Tulsa game - originally scheduled for a 9 p.m. Saturday kickoff - didn't begin until 12:15 a.m. Sunday. The game lasted until 3:35 a.m. and the Cowboys didn't arrive home until about 6 a.m.

''The players are more resilient,'' Gundy said. ''They're younger. Their bodies can make that change.''

Even after being up all night, many Oklahoma State players didn't immediately go to sleep. Safety Daytawion Lowe said he was too wired after the game to try to rest for a few hours.

''By the time I got home, I still was up,'' Lowe said. ''I was looking at ESPN. I probably looked the same thing twice until I realized I'd already seen that. So I turned it off and went to sleep.''

Gundy said as coaches were grading film from the game, they noticed a significant drop-off in the Cowboys' performance after building a 45-6 lead early in the third quarter. And he noted Tulsa rushed for 365 yards, which ''didn't have anything to do with the time we played.''

''I thought we played pretty well in the first half,'' he said. ''We didn't play very well against the run throughout the game. We were really soft. . I thought in the second part of the third quarter and the fourth quarter, guys just went through the motions.''

Gundy didn't want to say that was due to fatigue, noting Tulsa's players had to play under the same circumstances.

Gundy - who went home and slept for about two hours before returning to the office to start preparing for the Texas A&M game - opted to keep the Cowboys on their regular schedule despite the unusual situation.

Players went through a light practice session Sunday and had Monday off, which has been the Cowboys' routine. He said players looked remarkably fresh Sunday considering the circumstances, an assessment the players seconded.

Quarterback Brandon Weeden said he was grateful that the game against Texas A&M will have a more reasonable start time of 2:30 p.m.

''Day games are fun,'' Weeden said. ''2:30 in the afternoon is a lot better than midnight.''

It was suggested to Gundy that the Cowboys' experience at Tulsa would be good preparation should Oklahoma State join the Pac-12 Conference. Gundy didn't disagree.

''Honestly, that's true, especially if you're playing on the West Coast,'' Gundy said. ''If you finish the game out there at 10ish or 11ish, that's 12ish or 1ish here, and then you've got a three-hour flight, so you're looking at 4 or 5 in the morning'' getting back to Stillwater.

Gundy reiterated he'd like to see the Big 12 stay intact and said Oklahoma State decision-makers had asked his opinion on the subject. University regents will meet Wednesday to discuss Oklahoma State's conference affiliation.

''I trust the people making decisions are doing it for the right reasons,'' he said. ''At some point, maybe all this will clear up and we can talk about football . and we can let this go. But there's a lot happening.''