1988 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team

1988 Oklahoma State Cowboys football
Holiday Bowl champion
Holiday Bowl, W 62–14 vs. Wyoming
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#11
AP	#11
1988 record	10–2 (5–2 Big 8)
Head coach	Pat Jones
Offensive coordinator	Larry Coker
Home stadium	Lewis Field (Capacity: 50,440)

1988 Big 8 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#10 Nebraska $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	2	–	0
#14 Oklahoma	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
#11 Oklahoma State	5	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Colorado	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Iowa State	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Missouri	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	7	–	1
Kansas	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	7	–	0			0	–	11	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1988 Oklahoma State Cowboys football team represented the Oklahoma State University in the 1988 NCAA Division I-A college football season. Barry Sanders was in his junior year for the Cowboys.

Schedule

The Cowboys finished the regular season with a 9–2 record. In 1988, in what has been called the greatest season in college football history,^[1] running back Barry Sanders led the nation by averaging 7.6 yards per carry and over 200 yards per game, including rushing for over 300 yards in four games. He set college football season records with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,249 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, of which 37 were rushing (also a record), five consecutive 200 yard games, scored at least two touchdowns in 11 consecutive games, and nine times he scored at least three touchdowns. Sanders also ran for 222 yards and scored five touchdowns in his three quarters of action in the Holiday Bowl, a game that was not included with his season statistics.^[2] Sanders won the Heisman Trophy as the season's most outstanding player.^[3] However, he left Oklahoma State before his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

Date	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 10	Miami (OH)*		Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK		W 52-20	43,200
September 24	Texas A&M*	#18	Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK		W 52-15	50,440
October 1	Tulsa*	#13	Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK		W 56-35	45,100
October 8	at Colorado	#13	Folsom Field • Boulder, CO		W 41-21	41,854
October 15	at #7 Nebraska	#10	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE		L 42-63	76,432
October 22	Missouri	#15	Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK		W 49-21	46,900
October 29	at Kansas State	#12	KSU Stadium • Manhattan, KS		W 45-27	16,000
November 5	#8 Oklahoma	#12	Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK (Bedlam)	ESPN	L 28-31	50,440
November 12	Kansas	#14	Lewis Field • Stillwater, OK		W 63-24	40,100
November 19	at Iowa State	#13	Cyclone Stadium • Ames, IA		W 49-28	38,163
December 4	vs. Texas Tech*	#12	Tokyo Dome • Tokyo, Japan (Coca-Cola Classic)	CBS	W 45-42	56,000
December 30	vs. #15 Wyoming*	#12	Jack Murphy Stadium • San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)	ESPN	W 62-14	60,641
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Central Time.

^[4]

1988 team players in the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Barry Sanders	Running Back	1	3	Detroit Lions
Hart Lee Dykes	Wide Receiver	1	16	New England Patriots

^[5]

Awards and honors

• Barry Sanders, Heisman Trophy^[6]

References

1. Merron, Jeff. "Best individual college football seasons". ESPN. Retrieved 2007-08-12. Marron wrote, The only serious question when composing this list was "Who's No. 2?
2. "1988 Holiday Bowl Summary". Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
3. "Heisman Trophy / 1988 - 54th Award". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
4. http://cfreference.net/cfr/school.s?id=665&season=1988
5. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1989.htm
6. "Heisman Winners". Heisman Trophy. Archived from the original on 16 September 2009.