OSU football team is sitting pretty now

Safe to say, Gundy wasn't going to tell the Cowboys the truth. Which was this: the loss of Weeden and Blackmon to the NFL would have “depleted” the Cowboys.

Now that Weeden and Blackmon have decided to remain Cowboys, Gundy is free to shoot straight.

2011 can be a special season for OSU. A very special season. Even more special than 2010, when State set a school record for victories (11) and posted its first top-10 finish (coaches poll) since 1984.

“If they wouldn't have returned, I doubt we'd be in anyone's top 40,” Gundy said. “Selfishly, it's good for Oklahoma State. Keeps us from being depleted. Puts us in great position.”

Weeden, OSU's first all-conference quarterback since the Missouri Valley days, and Blackmon, the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner as the nation's top receiver, indicated they were a package deal. One would stay if the other would. One would leave if the other did.

And Blackmon admitted he was close to leaving. But now he's back for another season, and so is Weeden, and despite a rugged schedule (at Texas, at Tech, at Mizzou, at A&M, Bedlam at home), the Cowboys appeared loaded for 2011.

Preseason top-10 is likely. So is being picked second in the new-order Big 12, which could set up yet another all-marbles Bedlam showdown, again at Boone Pickens Stadium.

“It's going to be like before the Georgia game” that opened 2009, Gundy said of the upcoming offseason. “Everybody's going to want to talk to me. Now we have all the answers again. Which is great for Oklahoma State.”