OSU Notebook

's nothing major at all.”

•Defense stays fresh: The OSU defense kept a steady stream of defensive players rotating.

Part of the reason was to combat Texas Tech's high-octane offense with fresh players, and part of it was due to a minor foot injury that Martel Van Zant suffered in practice. He split duty at defensive back with Calvin Mickens and Quinton Moore.

"It was fun watching them,” Robinson said of his defensive teammates. "They were flying around. You could tell they definitely wanted it.”

•Offensive line changes work: The season-ending injury to center David Washington forced the Cowboys to re-tool their offensive line.

Andrew Lewis moved from left guard to center. David Koenig filled the void at left guard, moving from right guard and opening a spot for Steve Denning to come off the bench.

The changes worked.

The Red Raiders never sacked and rarely hurried quarterback Zac Robinson. The Cowboys also rushed for 366 yards behind an offensive line with three players at new positions.

"That's something that lots of people tend to overlook because of how the game played out,” offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said.

Lewis and Robinson only had one bad exchange.

"Other than that, he was pretty dang solid through the game,” Fedora said. •Newton shows off arm again: Seth Newton has completed just as many passes as he's caught in his Cowboy career.

He's a receiver, by the way.

Newton completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Broadway on a reverse early in the fourth quarter.

"I felt really comfortable with that play,” Newton said. "We've had that in pretty much all year. Saw B-way, and as soon as I let go of it, I knew if he didn't lose it in the sun or anything, it was going to be a touchdown.

"It felt pretty good.”

•A little less orange power: The Boone Pickens Stadium crowd for Saturday's game against Texas Tech was smaller than for the Florida Atlantic game a couple weeks ago.

Attendance for the Cowboys' Big 12 opener was 37,850, a few hundred smaller than the crowd of 38,176 for the home opener.

By Jenni Carlson and Darnell Mayberry

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