Oklahoma State Upset: Why Cowboys Should Not Have Been Forced to Play Friday

Let me open by saying that the Oklahoma State Cowboys absolutely should not have lost to the Iowa State Cyclones last night. If Oklahoma State was a championship-caliber team (which they were and still are), they cannot lose to a 5-4 opponent. The Cowboys gave up over 500 yards to the Cyclones, and turned the ball over five teams (with three interceptions from Brandon Weeden). Worst of all, they blew a 17-point lead, which is very hard to do with that offense.

That being said, the Cowboys still got a raw deal in having to play the game last night. With the deaths of Oklahoma State women's basketball head coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna in a plane crash just the day before, there is no doubt that the tragedy weighed heavily on the hearts and minds of every Cowboy everywhere Friday.

I'm sure some will argue that the football players are only marginally affected by the death of a coach of a different sport whom many of them have likely never even met. While I would disagree with this, as a Virginia Tech fan who felt the pain of the 32 students (all of whom I did not know) who were tragically lost in the 2007 shooting, it doesn't necessarily matter.

Because the coaching staff was undoubtedly affected by the tragedy. The death of someone you can relate to (a coach with a coach, a student with a student) always affects people in a more profound way.

Budke and Serna died on a recruiting trip. With the numerous flights coaches make for recruiting and games each year, there's no doubt an event like this will stick in the backs of all the Oklahoma State coaches' minds for a while, especially with the tragic plane crash which claimed the lives of 10 members of the Cowboys' men's basketball program just a decade ago.

Moreover, head coach Mike Gundy, who knew Budke on a personal level (as all head coaches at a major college program do), was certainly distracted coming in to last night's game. As we have learned from the toll college football coaching has taken on guys like Urban Meyer, this job takes every ounce of your being. You need an absolutely clear head to do the job effectively. And Gundy's head couldn't have been clear last night.

It's terribly unfortunate to see the Cowboys' BCS championship hopes dashed in such a fashion. I love seeing new teams fight their way into the championship game, and the Cowboys, who have never even been to a BCS game of any kind, were on track to do so. It's important to remember that some things are more important than football.

That logic should have been used to reschedule last night's game, and now it must be employed by Cowboys' fans in dealing with the football loss, in conjunction with the much worse loss of two members of the Cowboys family.