Oklahoma State Faces Tough Odds Going Into Big 12 Play
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Oklahoma State is hoping to compete in the Big 12, but rising to the top might be out of the Cowboys’ reach.
As Steve Lutz navigates his second season in Stillwater, there haven’t been too many bumps in the road so far, sitting at 12-1 with just one more game before Big 12 play. While OSU looks to be in a good position going into its first conference battles, the odds aren’t in the Cowboys’ favor when it comes to competing with the best the Big 12 has to offer.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Cowboys are tied for the eighth-best odds to win the conference in the regular season at +15000 alongside West Virginia. Going into conference play, the Big 12 heavyweights are unsurprisingly still ahead of the Cowboys and seem to have a much better shot at taking the conference crown: Arizona (+170), Iowa State (+200), Houston (+370), BYU (+700), Kansas (+1100), Texas Tech (+3000), Baylor (+5000).
Of course, all those odds are really saying is that the Cowboys will have a tough road throughout Big 12 play and likely won’t have the capacity to overcome adversity as well as those other teams. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why OSU’s odds are so low compared to some of the teams at the top is because of just how good those squads are on the national scale.
Arizona and Iowa State, the two favorites to win the Big 12, are still undefeated going into conference play. The Wildcats have +4000 odds to finish the regular season undefeated, while the Cyclones come in at +5000. Essentially, the oddsmakers believe there’s clearly a better chance that one of those teams goes unblemished throughout the regular season than OSU has of finishing the conference schedule at the top of the Big 12 standings.
Considering the Pokes have had some tough matchups in nonconference play and recently took their first loss against Oklahoma, it makes sense that the Cowboys aren’t exactly seen as ready to compete at that elite level. Along with the Wildcats and Cyclones being in the running for an unbeaten regular season, DraftKings has three Big 12 teams among the top seven in its national championship odds.
Still, there’s a reason why the games are played on the court and not on paper, and the Cowboys might just be ready to take a huge next step.
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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.