Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant is tackled by a trio of Texas defenders. Bryant is one of OSU's top targets.

It was Bobby Reid who torched Kansas University’s football team last year, passing for 411 yards as Oklahoma State’s starting quarterback in a 42-32 victory in Lawrence.

Barring an unforeseen circumstance, it won’t be Reid doing anything this year. The Cowboys’ starting quarterback is now Zac Robinson, and he’ll be under center today when Kansas and Oklahoma State play at 7 p.m. in Stillwater, Okla.

Reid was injured during the Cowboys’ second game of the season against Florida Atlantic this year, and Robinson quickly took the job for good even as Reid became healthy. This season, Robinson has passed for 1,939 yards and rushed for 471 more.

Robinson’s multi-dimensional game sums up Oklahoma State’s offense perfectly. The Cowboys can win a game with a rushing attack or a passing attack, and the 6-foot-3 Robinson can move the chains either way, too.

But like many dual-threat quarterbacks, one dimension seems to come at the cost of the other.

“His arm gets fatigued more than a quarterback who doesn’t run as much as he does,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “So because of that he’s not been as accurate as he wanted to in the throwing game. But he’s still playing pretty well.”

Having a solid supporting cast – minus an offensive line Gundy says played “very average” against Texas last week – Robinson is able to run the offense without being the focal point of it. He has targets like receivers Adarius Bowman (6-4, 225 pounds) and Dez Bryant (6-2, 210) and a massive tight end in Brandon Pettigrew (6-6, 260).

In addition, All-Big 12 candidate Dantrell Savage at running back takes some heat off of Robinson, who’s still getting acclimated to being a starting quarterback in college.

Reid is now Robinson’s backup, in what is a situation comparable to Todd Reesing and Kerry Meier at Kansas. Reid actually has lined up at receiver more than once since becoming the backup QB, as has Meier.

Robinson, meanwhile, hasn’t disappointed so far. He threw for 430 yards against Texas last week and 234 against Nebraska on Oct. 13. Against Kansas State on Oct. 20, he had three touchdown passes in a come-from-behind victory.

Robinson has thrown just one interception in the last four games, a sign of improvement as his first season as a starter continues. But an honest coach Gundy isn’t 100 percent pleased.

Not yet, anyway.

“Zac has a long way to go,” Gundy said. “He’s been good for our team because he’s played hard, and he’s made some plays. But he still has a ways to go to develop to be what I’d call a really good quarterback at this level.”