I was living in Wyoming, first year after graduation and listened to the game on the radio. Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders (edited) were the OSU running backs. Guess NIL was in a different form then.

Tonight will not be as bad as this was.

Saturday, September 24
1988
Home
Stillwater, OK

W52-15

Gig'em and BTHOosu

jrgypsum said:

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I was living in Wyoming, first year after graduation and listened to the game on the radio. Thurman Thomas and Barry Switzer were the OSU running backs. Guess NIL was in a different form then.

Tonight will not be as bad as this was.

Saturday, September 24
1988
Home
Stillwater, OK

W52-15

Gig'em and BTHOosu

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???
I'm going to need to see the tape on this one.

Are you sure it wasn't Barry Alvarez?

Lol - my bad

Barry Sanders

Thermal destroyed us, we kept Barry Switzer in check...

SinKiller said:

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Thermal destroyed us, we kept Barry Switzer in check...

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Thurman Thomas played for the Bills in 1988. It was all Barry Sanders. 20 carries for 157 yards (without playing in the 4th quarter). Scored 3 TDs, including a punt return.

OSU had a heck of a run at rb with sanders and Thomas

Sadly, I was there. IIRC, Sanders scored on a punt return, a long run, and a long pass. It was a long day.

I was at that game as well.

A bad day for the Ags in what what a lousy season

7-5 with a silly loss to Alabama that should not have been played.

NCAA sanctions.

Sherrill resigned at the end of the season.

88 was not a banner year for us.

bert harbinson said:

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Sadly, I was there. IIRC, Sanders scored on a punt return, a long run, and a long pass. It was a long day.

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There were a bunch of long days in Sherrill's last season, apparently other teams were still getting their licks in..

The non-conference schedule kicked our ass in '88

Nebraska (11-2) in the Kickoff Classic
@ LSU (8-4, SEC co-champs)
@ oSu (10-2)
Alabama (9-3)...was supposed to be September 17 (the week before Okie State), but Alabama decided to not come then because Hurricane Gilbert was in the same hemisphere (their starting QB was injured at the time, I believe). Game got moved to December 1, the Jackie Sherrill saga was wrapping up and we faded late.

The only one of those games that was remotely competitive was the Nebraska game.

Didn't Thurman Thomas make his debut against us a year or two earlier at Kyle when Barry got dinged up? I tend to confuse facts with bad memories. Probably a coping mechanism

twk said:

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SinKiller said:

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Thermal destroyed us, we kept Barry Switzer in check...

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Thurman Thomas played for the Bills in 1988. It was all Barry Sanders. 20 carries for 157 yards (without playing in the 4th quarter). Scored 3 TDs, including a punt return.

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Thus me not listing a year, it's a joke...I actually watched the game you mention though, if I'm not mistaken on HSE PPV or some similar low rent feed...

Yeah that is the year he won the Heisman by rushing for 2628 yards and 37TD that year in 11 games. The rushing record probably will never be broken. He also rushed for 222 yards in the bowl game but those stats at the time did not count.

that was a rough night in Stillwater...

but the Ags had a lot of success there in subsequent years

winning in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2004, and 2006

the 2000 and 2006 wins were nail-biters with some good fortune along the way

CowDog said:

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I was at that game as well.

A bad day for the Ags in what what a lousy season

7-5 with a silly loss to Alabama that should not have been played.

NCAA sanctions.

Sherrill resigned at the end of the season.

88 was not a banner year for us.

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No, that game against Alabama absolutely should have been played, in September when it was scheduled. That hurricane went to Mexico, but Bama used it as an excuse to not get beat when they had a couple of star players out with injury that were conveniently available in December.

Remember that one time when ol' whatshisname blocked OSU's extra point and we won the game?!?! That was in Stillwater too…

Their starting QB being the most prominent

Chicken Curry and the Hurricane Bowl

I was at the game with some buddies.

And Hart Lee Dykes was the wide out.

In 1988 A&M's out of conference games were against Nebraska, LSU, Alabama, and Oklahoma State.

Yep. Bama with Derrick Thomas. Okie St with Barry Sanders. Played the best offensive & defensive players in the country in OOC.

Just a tad different back then vs 2 directional schools, 1 bad FCS team and 1 solid to occasionally good P5 team.

The Aggies played the 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Heisman Trophy winners, and won 4 of those 5 games

dixichkn said:

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Their starting QB being the most prominent

Chicken Curry and the Hurricane Bowl

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Wasn't a LB out in September? Who then had a monster game in December. Can't recall the name but was a big name player at the time, then had a good NFL career.

A post above mentions Derrick Thomas, which is who I was thinking of.

Rusty Aha said:

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In 1988 A&M's out of conference games were against Nebraska, LSU, Alabama, and Oklahoma State.

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those 4 teams had a combined W-L record of 38-11 --- an insane non-conference schedule

I prefer to recall the 1981 Independence Bowl where the Ags beat Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys 33-16 with Gary Kubiak and Johnny Hector leading the way. Tom Wilson was fired afterwards and Bum Bright replaced him with Jackie Sherrill.

overall 1988 was a very weird season

A&M actually outgained OKState that night 477 yards to 351, but the Ags turned the ball over 5 times.

A&M only threw 4 TD passes all season against 17 interceptions -- a dreadful ratio to say the least

the Ags committed a total of 34 turnovers during the 12-game season

John Roper and Aaron Wallace combined for 29 sacks in 1988 --- they were great

A&M's field goal kicker was only 6 of 12 for the year

SA-AG72 said:

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I prefer to recall the 1981 Independence Bowl where the Ags beat Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys 33-16 with Gary Kubiak and Johnny Hector leading the way. Tom Wilson was fired afterwards and Bum Bright replaced him with Jackie Sherrill.

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That was a cold night in Shreveport.

I was at that game. Jimmy Johnson was the coach. They had that Defensive end that was illiterate and played a number of years in the pros. I think he played for the cowboys. I also remember it being freezing that morning but the local kids were running around barefooted at the gas station. The girls were too.

MD20/20 said:

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SA-AG72 said:

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I prefer to recall the 1981 Independence Bowl where the Ags beat Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys 33-16 with Gary Kubiak and Johnny Hector leading the way. Tom Wilson was fired afterwards and Bum Bright replaced him with Jackie Sherrill.

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That was a cold night in Shreveport.

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It was freezing and then the long drive back to San Antonio in my buddy's Toyota pickup.

MD20/20 said:

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SA-AG72 said:

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I prefer to recall the 1981 Independence Bowl where the Ags beat Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys 33-16 with Gary Kubiak and Johnny Hector leading the way. Tom Wilson was fired afterwards and Bum Bright replaced him with Jackie Sherrill.

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That was a cold night in Shreveport.

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Try Curtis Dickey.

Graduated in 88. Listened to the game on the radio. On the couch and dozed off for what seemed like 30 seconds. We were down 14-0.

Southlake said:

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MD20/20 said:

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SA-AG72 said:

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I prefer to recall the 1981 Independence Bowl where the Ags beat Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys 33-16 with Gary Kubiak and Johnny Hector leading the way. Tom Wilson was fired afterwards and Bum Bright replaced him with Jackie Sherrill.

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That was a cold night in Shreveport.

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Try Curtis Dickey.

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Nope. His last year was '79.

CowDog said:

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I was at that game as well.

A bad day for the Ags in what what a lousy season

7-5 with a silly loss to Alabama that should not have been played.

NCAA sanctions.

Sherrill resigned at the end of the season.

88 was not a banner year for us.

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Hurricane Bowl. Lost Bucky the week before at tu when we were up 28-0 in the second. Held on to win 28-24 in Austin

CowDog said:

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I was at that game as well.

A bad day for the Ags in what what a lousy season

7-5 with a silly loss to Alabama that should not have been played.

NCAA sanctions.

Sherrill resigned at the end of the season.

88 was not a banner year for us.

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Um…if we went 7-5, it was as on point of a season for A&M as you can get. Over the course of our history, we are much closer to a 7-5 program than we are either a 9-3 or a 3-9 program.