Mike Gundy feels your pain, Oklahoma State. So much so that he couldn't self-medicate enough Saturday after a second straight loss.

"I go home. I take double Ambien," the Cowboys coach told reporters this week. "Didn't work. I woke up at 3:17 [a.m.]. I came to work at 3:45 Sunday morning. That's the way it is. ... It's not like I don't understand people's frustration."

A once-promising season has degraded into a two-game losing streak. No. 14 Baylor overwhelmed Oklahoma 45-27 on Saturday. The current 4-3 mark ties for the program's worst after seven games since 2007.

None of the current negativity circling the Cowboys has anything to do with a 20-year-old redshirt sophomore from Canada.

Chuba Hubbard is killing it.

His name makes him easy to remember. Pronounced "Choo-bah," Hubbard's first name means "Gift of God" in Nigerian. That's fitting.

With 1,265 yards, he is the nation's leading rusher -- by more than 300 yards.  His 938 yards after five games was the third-best total by anyone since 2010. Only Bryce Love and Leonard Fournette had more.

Hubbard was the first player this season to surpass 1,000 rushing yards. At his current pace, he'll run for 2,349 yards (counting a bowl game). That would be fifth all time at a school whose patron football saint is the No. 1 guy on that list, Barry Sanders.

How all of it impacts Hubbard, Oklahoma State and the Big 12 is yet to be determined. Just don't blame Hubbard for the Cowboys' recent downturn. In those consecutive losses, he has rushed for 328 yards and five touchdowns.

In short, the next great one has arrived at Oklahoma State.

A combination of speed and power, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Hubbard has carried on a tailback tradition that goes back to at least 1976. That's the year Oklahoma State's Terry Miller led the Big Eight in rushing. The tailbacks that followed at Oklahoma State are a short list for some of the all-time pro and college greats -- Ernest Anderson, David Thompson, Thurman Thomas, Sanders and Justice Hill, a former Hubbard teammate. Hill was the fourth-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in 2019 NFL Draft.

"Before I committed, I heard about Barry," said Hubbard, who three years ago migrated from suburban Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to the desolate plains of Stillwater, Oklahoma. "I knew how special those other guys were. I wasn't too attached to the legacy. It's amazing what they did. Barry was one of the best ever."

Now Hubbard is such a sensation in his native Canada that Wayne Gretzky recently weighed in. Gretzky became a hockey god in the same city (Edmonton) where Hubbard went to high school. Kids around Edmonton that used wear Gretzky's 99 are now sporting Hubbard's No. 30 at Oklahoma State.

"It is absolutely phenomenal for a guy from Alberta playing football where you don't get recognized by many people," said Russell Schoeppe, the University of Alberta's head scout who has followed Hubbard since childhood.

Canadian players have starred in U.S. college and professional football for decades. Canadian tailbacks have been rare.

"When is the last time a Canadian led the NCAA in rushing?" Schoeppe asked. "I don't think it's ever happened."

There's Washington State's Rueben Mayes, who finished second nationally in 1984. British Columbia native Joe Cornish remains Kansas' single-season rushing leader (1,457 yards in 2005).

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The Hubbard story, though, starts with a pee wee football sensation who ran through everyone. As he matured, Hubbard was one of the fastest teenage sprinters in the world. He was probably trending toward the Canadian Olympic team when football intervened. A muscular frame led him to football where Hubbard just seemed to dominate every time he touched the ball.

Around about 11th grade, Hubbard began dominating at Bev Facey Community High School in suburban Edmonton. The question was whether he could get the ball enough for the Falcons, who played Canadian rules -- larger field, 12 players a side, three downs, a game dominated by passing.

Turns out Hubbard was the foundation of the offense. In his three high school seasons, he gained almost 7,000 yards, averaging 15 yards a carry.

"My 11th grade year, within about a week, I think I had 10 offers," Hubbard said. "And then it was 20. I had coaches calling me and texting me all the time. I definitely blew up a little bit. It was a little overwhelming at times."

One persistent Colorado State coach called Hubbard in class. Bewildered, he made an excuse that he had to use the restroom. He went to the cafeteria, took the call, got an offer and returned to class.

In the mail came a dizzying array of recruiting information, most of it familiar to American prospects. To Hubbard?

"What is this? I didn't even talk to them," he recalled. "What does this mean? Is this some secret code or something?"

Oklahoma State quickly became the favorite. Former Pokes running backs coach Marcus Arroyo established a relationship with Hubbard before leaving for Oregon to become offensive coordinator. Gundy was the only head coach who made the trip to Alberta in person. Hubbard's biggest adjustment was getting used to the summer heat in Stillwater.

"The 84-yarder against Kansas State? I saw multiple ones of those in pee wee," Schoeppe said.

That run against the Wildcats on Sept. 29 was part of Hubbard's 296 yards, which remain an FBS single-game high this season.

"I don't think anything compares to college football, to be honest," Hubbard said. "You have stadiums filled with thousands of people, watching football going crazy over it. People are fans for generations. They pass it on."

Talk of a Heisman Trophy for Hubbard has cooled. Quarterbacks are dominating the scene in 2019. There's a reason Gundy is popping double Ambien. That two-game losing streak and 4-3 record won't help the Heisman hype meter.

"Real" Heisman contenders have fit a certain set of criteria. It helps to be in the top 10, a College Football Playoff contender or at least a player on a team with at least, say, nine wins. There's that so-called "Heisman Moment" that goes viral. Given those strictures, the award sometimes doesn't necessarily go to the best player.

The heat in Stillwater was easier to beat than that kind of bias.

Might as well take a good look. There is speculation the draft-eligible Hubbard has only half a season left in the college game that is just starting to notice him. 

"Shout out to the NFL guys," Schoeppe said. "They're not only getting a game breaker, but they're getting tough, tough, tough, tough and intelligence. They're getting the full package."