Injuries are always to be expected in football, but Mike Gundy believes State of Oklahoma has been particularly hard hit this year. The Cowboys have seen several stars fail on defense, including linebackers Colin Oliver And Niek Martin and safety Cameron Eps.

With so many key players behind them, the Cowboys currently sit in last place in the Big 12 with an 0-5 conference record, just one season after finishing second in the league. During his press conference on Monday before Saturday’s game against Arizona State, Gundy called it an “unusual” year full of injuries.

“You’re always going to have some of that, but this was very unusual for us,” the coach said. “Especially in defense, with the goals we have scored. Offensively, I wouldn’t say it’s an unusual year. You will always have some. But it was definitely a defensive side for us.”

Oklahoma State had one of its worst defensive performances of the season in the 38-28 loss to Saturday Baylor. Gundy opened his press conference by stating that the Cowboys had 21 missed tackles in that game, which led to 285 yards for the Bears.

OSU ranks 133rd out of 134 FBS teams in total defense and 102nd in scoring defense. The Cowboys haven’t had a losing season since Mike Gundy’s freshman year in 2005, but would need to win three of their last four games to become bowl eligible. Then it would also have to win its bowl game to avoid finishing below .500.

While injuries have certainly been a major problem this season, it’s hard to pin the blame for OSU’s struggles on them. The Cowboys are still relatively healthy on offense, but have had quarterback and running back woes Ollie Gordon has not published the same figures as a year ago.

That said, three of OSU’s losses this year were by 10 points or less. If the squad had been in a better position health-wise, some of them might have gone the other way.