Oklahoma State football faces uncertainty prepping for a Texas A&M team in roster upheaval

STILLWATER — Imagine studying for a test but the material changes almost on a daily basis.

That’s how Oklahoma State football practices feel right now as the 20th-ranked Cowboys try to prepare for a Texas A&M team in upheaval prior to the Texas Bowl at 8 p.m. Wednesday inside NRG Stadium in Houston.

Texas A&M fired head coach Jimbo Fisher in November. Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino took a new job not long after. Interim head coach Elijah Robinson spends his off days recruiting for his next employer, Syracuse, where he’ll be the defensive coordinator.

More than a dozen Aggie players have entered the transfer portal and a few more have declared for the NFL Draft. The rest of the remaining coaches are searching for their next job.

For Oklahoma State, this is more like preparing for a season opener than an end-of-year bowl.

Trying to dissect who the Aggies will put on the field, and how they will be used, seems mostly futile.

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“You don’t know who’s gonna be playing,” OSU quarterback Alan Bowman said. “It’s gonna be in and out. There’s some guys going to the NFL Draft, some guys that’ll be in the portal. There’ll be some guys playing that we haven’t seen as much.”

With the transfer portal window open until Jan. 2, movement is still happening.

“I saw they had another wideout leave a day or two ago, but I don’t know if he’s playing in the bowl,” OSU head coach Mike Gundy said Wednesday. “We just have what’s left on paper.”

And on game tape, but even that can be deceptive.

“They were different at the end of the year when Jimbo wasn’t there and Petrino was, and then when Petrino wasn’t there,” Gundy said. “So we don’t have any idea what they’re doing.”

For players who study the tendencies of particular individuals, the uncertainty of the Aggies’ personnel has limited what can be learned, but they have to prepare for the schemes they see on tape.

“They’re gonna be what they are. They’re gonna do what they do,” Bowman said. “It’s just gonna be different numbers playing. So we’ll have to get used to that in the first quarter, see who’s out there for warmups. It’s gonna be interesting to see who’s gonna be out there to start the game for them, for sure.”

Even that can be tricky for the OSU defense, which will be going against new personnel in many key positions, but also a different offensive play-caller.

“They may wanna chuck the ball all game, going four wide,” OSU linebacker Collin Oliver said. “Or they may wanna use what they have with the tight ends still, and the O-line, and try to run us down. It’s up in the air, but you have to attack it like any other week and prepare for anything.”

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With that uncertainty, the Cowboys have spent a large portion of their bowl practices focused on their own schemes, rather than the work that would usually be dedicated to the game plan for Texas A&M.

That includes deep rotation through the depth chart, getting young players extra work, the way they typically would in a spring practice.

Star running back Ollie Gordon II, who was dealing with minor injuries late in the season, says the spring-like approach to practice has helped him and others.

“I feel like it’s helping us rejuvenate our bodies,” the Doak Walker Award winner said. “We’re getting back to where we were at the beginning of the season, where everybody can be healthy and firing on all cylinders.”

Some college coaches have said they plan to approach their bowl like an NFL preseason game, focusing on getting snaps for a variety of players, rather than relying on their starters the way they would in a typical game.

But Gundy isn’t ready to go down that road.

“I don’t feel that way about it,” he said. “Our practices are to benefit the long term of the organization, and then we’ll be a little more specific down at the bowl.

“I wanna practice well. I wanna play well. And I wanna find a way to win the football game. Now, that doesn’t mean playing some young players you can’t win the game. But we’re not in a preseason rotation.”

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Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.

Texas Bowl

No. 20 Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M

KICKOFF: 8 p.m. Wednesday at NRG Stadium in Houston (ESPN)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football faces a Texas A&M team deep in roster upheaval