STILLWATER, Okla. — Nebraska senior left guard Greg Austin’s right knee has slowed him since he injured it during his freshman season.

Now his left knee is a concern.

 The 6-foot-1, 295-pound native of suburban Houston probably won’t play this coming week against Missouri and likely will be questionable for Nebraska’s Nov. 11 game at Texas A&M, said the player’s brother.

Tyrone Austin said his brother suffered stretched ligaments in his left knee early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State. The family originally feared a ligament tear.

Greg Austin left the game and didn’t return. After the loss was in the books, he accepted hugs from family members and went to the team bus with the aid of crutches.

With Kurt Mann still recovering from mononucleosis — he played in a reserve role Saturday — Austin is Nebraska’s only senior starter on the line.

Taylor under pressure

Nebraska offensive line coach Dennis Wagner wanted to see video of Saturday’s game before making any detailed assessment of the line play. However, he said, “Any time you give up (five) sacks, it’s not good.”

Taylor was sacked three times in the fourth quarter after Nebraska fell behind 34-23.

“Any time you’re in a position where you have to throw, the defense is going to pin its ears back,” Wagner said.

Said Nebraska coach Bill Callahan: “There were instances when the protection could’ve been better. Zac got beat up a little.”

Not-so-special teams

Throughout the past week, Callahan emphasized to his team the need for strong special-teams play against Oklahoma State.

“It’s going to be rough (today), because we felt like we let Coach down,” said Nebraska special-teams wizard Brandon Rigoni, a senior from Lincoln Southeast.

Especially damaging to Nebraska was Perrish Cox’s 39-yard kickoff return that set up an Oklahoma State touchdown near the end of the first half.

The Cowboys finished with 112 yards on five kickoff returns, an average of 22.4 yards. They entered the game with a nation-leading average of 30.37 per return.

Meanwhile, Nebraska sophomore place-kicker Jordan Congdon missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt in the third quarter and also was wide on the PAT following the Huskers’ final touchdown.

If all that weren’t enough, Nebraska also botched the snap on an extra-point attempt.

Playing hurt

Nebraska junior linebacker Lance Brandenburgh played with a cast on his left arm because of a bone chip, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said.

In addition, linebackers Steve Octavien (ankle, hamstring) and Corey McKeon (knee, ankle) were held back some in terms of number of plays, Cosgrove said.

“I didn’t want to lose them for the season,” the coach said. “I wanted to try to keep them healthy and try to get mileage out of them.”

McKeon suffered his injuries two weeks ago at Kansas State.

“He’s better, but he’s still not where he needs to be,” Cosgrove said. “We’ll be ready to go next week.”

Taylor up charts

With 241 passing yards, Taylor now has 2,065 this year. It marks the sixth 2,000-yard passing season in school history. The fifth occurred last year, when Taylor threw for 2,653 yards.

Taylor’s 4,718 career passing yards rank second on Nebraska’s all-time list behind David Humm’s 5,035 yards from 1972-74.

In addition, Taylor’s 18 touchdown passes this season are two shy of Tommie Frazier’s school season record.