Mussatto: What is Mike Gundy's secret to beating Texas? Whatever it is, it works.

STILLWATER — As Mike Gundy fielded questions Monday from the media, Gundy’s dogs barked from the hallway outside of the pressbox.

“That must be Sarkisian around here,” said Gundy, not skipping a beat.

The thought of Gundy’s dogs catching Texas coach Steve Sarkisian snooping around the football offices at Boone Pickens Stadium caused quite the laugh, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe Sarkisian was looking for some of that secret sauce Gundy has used to smoke the Longhorns for a decade-plus.

But really, what has been Gundy’s secret to beating Texas?

Oklahoma State has won nine of its last 13 meetings with Texas since 2010. Since 2015, the Cowboys have won six of eight against the Longhorns.

More: How did Oklahoma State Cowboys turn the tables in football series against Texas Longhorns?

Now comes another OSU-Texas game, this one at 11 a.m. Saturday in Arlington, Texas, for the Big 12 Championship.

The Longhorns, playing for a College Football Playoff bid, are 15.5-point favorites.

“I would rather go into this game with some success over the history (of the series) than go into this game and have been 0-16 against them, unless you just wanted to play the odds and think eventually you were going to win,” Gundy said.

But history isn’t going to help the Cowboys block T’Vondre Sweat and the Longhorns on Saturday.

“These are new teams,” Gundy said. “Particularly with the portal now, next year’s team won’t really be this year's team because there will be so many changes I’m guessing. And this year's team doesn’t tie in a lot to the teams that we’ve had two, and three and four and five and 10 years ago.”

What hasn’t changed, though, is the talent disparity that’s forever been in the Longhorns’ favor. The Cowboys have done more with less while the Longhorns have done less with more.

This season is no different. The Longhorns had eight players make first team All-Big 12. The Cowboys had two — Ollie Gordon II on offense and Nick Martin on defense.

Led by Martin, Sarkisian said OSU’s linebacking corps is the best Texas has faced all season. Note that Texas also played Alabama and Oklahoma.

More: Is Oklahoma State football the best coaching job in new-look Big 12? Cowboys have company

OSU’s Gordon was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, and Texas’ Sweat was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

In Big 12 history, 36 Longhorns have won individual awards compared to 27 Cowboys, which is even closer than recruiting rankings would suggest.

“They’ve been this way for a long time,” Gundy said of Texas’ talent.

In pure roster talent, according to 247’s composite recruiting rankings, Texas ranks sixth nationally behind Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Clemson. By the same metric, Oklahoma State ranks 55th. Just behind Northwestern, UCF and Boston College, and just ahead of Oregon State, Minnesota and Vanderbilt.

“I’ve got a ton of respect for Coach Gundy and what he’s been able to do this year,” Sarkisian said at his press conference.

On Wednesday, Gundy was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the second time (2021) in the last three seasons, with his coach of the year honors coinciding with OSU’s two trips to the Big 12 Championship Game.

This time, Texas awaits.

If nothing else, recent history is on OSU’s side.

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy knows secret to beating Texas