Oklahoma State Deserves More Respect Despite Suffering First Loss
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Oklahoma State has one of the best records in the country, but it still clearly has a lot to prove.
In the second season of Steve Lutz’s tenure as OSU’s head coach, his team is off to a 9-1 start. While a loss against Oklahoma on Saturday tarnished the previously perfect record his team had after a month and change, Lutz and company are in a great position with Big 12 play looming.
Over the next few weeks, the Cowboys will wrap up nonconference play with three more contests, all appearing to be easy wins for the Pokes on paper. With a 9-0 start and a potential 12-1 record when the conference opener comes around, it’d be more than reasonable for the Cowboys to have some lofty expectations for the rest of this season.
Sure, the defense needs to play better and the offense can become a bit too dependent on isolations, as Lutz pointed to after OSU’s first loss, but the Cowboys have a sturdy foundation to build on when Big 12 play comes around. However, not everyone believes in the Cowboys’ hopes of competing for the top spot in the Big 12 standings.
Of course, OSU will be a longshot to get to the top of the Big 12 regardless of how well they play, given the ridiculous depth of the conference, particularly at the top. Yet, the Cowboys might be getting a bit disrespected in that conversation anyway.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, OSU’s odds of being the Big 12’s regular season champion are +12500, tied with Kansas State for 11th-best odds. Iowa State, Arizona, Houston and BYU are the favorites to win the conference unsurprisingly, but the Pokes probably deserve to be a bit higher after what they’ve shown to start the season.
Sitting above only four teams in conference odds would have been a reasonable spot for OSU to be in before the season began, but after a 9-0 start, it simply seems a bit disrespectful to the Cowboys. In all likelihood, any bet on the Cowboys to win the Big 12 in the regular season would be a losing one, but OSU not even being able to crack the conference’s top 10 is somewhat surprising, even after Saturday’s loss to the Sooners.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.