Injuries are always to be expected in football, but Mike Gundy believes Oklahoma State was hit particularly hard this year. The Cowboys had to miss several stars on defense, including linebackers Collin Oliver And Nick Martin and security Cameron Epps.

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

“You will always have some, but this was very unusual for us,” said the coach. “Especially in defense with the hits we took. Offensively, I wouldn’t say it’s an unusual year. You will always have some. But it was definitely a defensive performance for us.”

Oklahoma State had one of its worst defensive performances of the season in Saturday’s 38-28 loss Baylor. Gundy opened his press conference by saying that the Cowboys had 21 missed tackles in that game, which resulted in 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 debut 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 under .500.

While injuries have certainly been a major issue this season, it’s difficult to place all of the blame on OSU’s problems. The Cowboys were still relatively healthy on offense, but had issues at quarterback and running back Ollie Gordon has no longer put up the same numbers as it did a year ago.

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