COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Oklahoma State salvaged a bad week with a huge victory.
Zac Robinson threw two touchdown passes and the 15th-ranked Cowboys overcame the absence of their top two playmakers to beat Texas A&M 36-31 on Saturday.
Oklahoma State played without All-America wide receiver Dez Bryant, who was ruled ineligible by the school last week for lying to the NCAA about contact he made with a former NFL player. Oklahoma State was also missing star tailback Kendall Hunter, the Big 12’s leading rusher in 2008, who sat out with an ankle injury.
Robinson completed 14-of-25 passes for 279 yards, Keith Toston rushed for 130 yards and Beau Johnson ran for two touchdowns as the Cowboys won at Kyle Field for only the second time since 1983.
On top of the news about Bryant and injuries to Hunter and other key players, Robinson found out on Wednesday that his 87-year-old grandfather had died of cancer.
“It was a heck of a week,” Robinson said. “Any time there are distractions and things that go on that you can’t control, you find out a lot about yourself and your team. I couldn’t be more proud of how everybody responded to it, stayed loose and just kind of kept playing.”
Jerrod Johnson threw three touchdown passes for the Aggies and set a Big 12 record by extending his streak of consecutive passes without an interception to 228.
No. 19 Okla. 33, Baylor 7
NORMAN, Okla. — Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford threw for 389 yards and a touchdown in his return from a shoulder injury and Chris Brown had two short scoring runs.
Bradford broke former Heisman runner-up Josh Heupel’s school record with the 14th game of his career with at least 300 yards passing, and he could have had even bigger numbers if the Sooners’ receivers didn’t have trouble handling his passes.
Bradford had a career-high 22 incompletions, but at least six of those came on drops. A few other passes also hit off his receivers’ hands.
Bradford had been out for a month with a sprained AC joint in his right, throwing shoulder and had hoped to return Saturday so he would have a game under his belt before next weekend’s rivalry game against No. 2 Texas.
Brown’s touchdown runs of 1 and 4 yards in the second quarter put Oklahoma up 14-0, but the Sooners couldn’t get into the end zone on their first four trips inside the 20-yard line in the second half.
Jimmy Stevens kicked four field goals to tie a school record held by Jeremy Alexander and Garrett Hartley before Bradford finally connected with Adron Tennell in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard TD with 4:03 to play.
Third-stringer Nick Florence started at quarterback for Baylor for the second straight week. He threw for 220 yards on 22-of-41 passing, with one touchdown and one interception.
Texas Tech 66, Kansas St. 14
LUBBOCK, Texas — Steven Sheffield threw for 490 yards and seven touchdowns in his first career start, and the Wildcats entered Texas Tech territory only once in the first half and punted five times.
The Red Raiders’ backup quarterback was 33-for-41 and finished with touchdown passes of 52, 6, 4, 72, 28, 12 and 25 yards — to five receivers.
It was the second time this season that a Texas Tech quarterback notched seven passing touchdowns. Taylor Potts, out with a concussion this weekend, threw seven TD passes in a 55-10 rout of Rice.
