OSUâ€™s Bowman To Miss Final 2 Games Of Regular Season

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman will miss the remainder of the regular season with an injured right knee.<br/><br/>The Cowboys' leading receiver with 61 receptions

Monday, November 12th 2007, 7:47 am

By: News On 6

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman will miss the remainder of the regular season with an injured right knee.

The Cowboys' leading receiver with 61 receptions for 932 yards and seven touchdowns this season, Bowman injured the knee when he was hit by Kansas cornerback Aqib Talib after he made a catch for a 3-yard loss in Saturday's 43-28 loss to the Jayhawks.

"I would prefer to not talk about the injury just for the fact that I'm sure he would not appreciate that. It is a knee injury. It is not severe, but he is out for the year," Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said Monday at his weekly news conference.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Bowman ranks 18th in the nation with an average of 93.2 yards receiving and he's considered a prime NFL draft prospect. In a game against Kansas last season, Bowman caught 14 passes for a Big 12 record 300 yards and four touchdowns.

"You're going to miss his presence on the field. There's just no way around saying that we're going to have another guy that's going to do exactly what A.D.'s done because that's not possible for us right now," offensive coordinator Larry Fedora said.

Gundy said it's possible Bowman would be able to return if the Cowboys (5-5, 3-3 Big 12) were to win a sixth game and qualify for a bowl game. Oklahoma State closes the regular season with road games at Baylor this Saturday and at No. 3 Oklahoma on Nov. 24.

"I think he's got a three-week injury," Gundy said. "Again, I'm guessing on that. It may be earlier than that, but I'm doing the best I can."

Without Bowman, the Cowboys have a significant drop-off at wide receiver. The senior had double the amount of catches and receiving yardage as Oklahoma State's second leading receiver, tight end Brandon Pettigrew.

Freshman Dez Bryant had a career-best eight catches for 155 yards and one touchdown Saturday against Kansas, while senior Tommy Devereaux caught his first career touchdown pass and Damian Davis made his first career reception.

"We don't really have to tie into one guy, but obviously we would prefer to have Bowman in our offense," Gundy said.

"He gives us some flexibility and some things we can do with big plays that when you lose him, it's a fact that you're going to lose some big-play capability. But we do have some other players that can step up."

Bryant, who has 27 catches for 424 yards and four touchdowns this season, figures to be the Cowboys' next best receiving threat.

Sophomore Jeremy Broadway, who was suspended last game, has 13 catches while Devereaux has six and Seth Newton has four.

"We've just got to find some way to just mix it up and just keep the defense spread out so all the other guys can get open for us," Devereaux said.

After Bowman was injured in the second quarter, the Cowboys went three-and-out on their next three possessions before the shock wore off and they were able to rally for two late touchdowns.

"Once that happened, you could see a couple of eyes get big," Devereaux said.

Bowman currently ranks fourth in school history in receptions (121) and yardage (2,773) despite playing only two seasons at Oklahoma State after transferring from North Carolina, where he was kicked off the team after a possession of marijuana citation that was subsequently dropped.

Gundy said Bowman is on track to graduate this semester.

"He's going to leave here and have an opportunity to play at the next level and have a degree, which makes me feel really good because at some particular point it'll be over with and he'll have to go out there and earn a living and get a real job," Gundy said.

"He's been an awesome lift for us. Bowman was a guy who had some difficult situations for us when he came here, and he's done well since then. Obviously to be able to earn a degree and have the career he's had here on the field gives you a good feeling as a coach because that's really what we're in the business to do."