When Daniel Burton was in high school, the Oklahoma City, Okla., native would wake up early on Saturdays in the fall and head north to Stillwater to root for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. 

On Oct. 4, Burton will be heading south to Stillwater, but this time, once he gets inside Boone Pickens Stadium, he won’t be rooting for the Cowboys. 

Burton, a redshirt sophomore on the ISU offensive line, was raised an Oklahoma State fan by his parents. Both of his parents graduated from Oklahoma State and used to be season ticket holders, but gave them up when Burton signed with Iowa State out of high school. 

Oklahoma State had recruited Burton when he was a prep, but never offered him a scholarship. When Oklahoma State didn’t offer, Burton said he took on a bit of a different mindset. 

“If I can’t play for them, I’d love to play against them,” Burton said. 

Last season, Burton played against Oklahoma State as a redshirt freshman when they visited Jack Trice, but he did not get to play against the Cowboys in 2012 as he was redshirting. 

Oct. 4 will be the first time that Burton will play inside the stadium he traveled to so often as a young fan. He did have a chance to play in Boone Pickens Stadium in high school, but it just wasn’t in the cards. 

“That’s where the [state high school] championship game is held,” Burton said. “But the old Putnam City North Panthers never made it that far.”

Daxx’s Deep Ball

He’s not quite Baylor’s Bryce Petty, but Oklahoma State quarterback Daxx Garman is still worth the price of admission. 

Garman, who was thrust into the starting position after J.W. Walsh went down with an injury, leads an Oklahoma State offense that is averaging 39.8 points a game and is just coming off a victory against Texas Tech in which Garman threw for 370 yards and four touchdowns and two interceptions.

What stands out is that all four of those touchdowns throws were longer than 30 yards (33, 39, 47, 50).

“I think he’s a very good football player that throws a very good deep ball and that’ scary,” said ISU coach Paul Rhoads of Garman’s ability to throw the long ball. “He throws a really good deep ball with lot of touch and they throw it a lot of times during a game.”

Garman is averaging 10.68 yards per attempt, which ranks him sixth in the country, and is ranked 11th in passing efficiency. Adding to those stats is his average of 18.96 yards per completion, he is the second best in the country. 

Oklahoma State has thrown the ball 87 times in the three games Garman has competed in, meaning the ISU defense, who has had an interception in each of the last two games, will have plenty of opportunities to get a jump on Garman and the Cowboys, whose lone loss came in week one to then No.1 Florida State. 

“They’re only loss is to the No.1 ranked team in the country and they played the full 60 minutes to get to that point,” Rhoads said. “They know how to win and they’ve done good job of getting that accomplished through the first four games.”