3 Things the Oklahoma State Cowboys Can Learn from Last Season’s Losses
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For many reasons, the Oklahoma State Cowboys would like nothing more than to put last year’s 1-11 season in the rear-view mirror.
New head coach Eric Morris has done everything possible to turn the page. New coaching staff. A new roster. A new outlook. But he likely turned on the tape of every game the Cowboys lost last year — all 11 games.
Call it a post-mortem. Call it learning more about where the program came from. Call it a teaching experience for him and his staff.
Here are three lessons that Oklahoma State’s new staff and roster can learn from last year’s team.
Talent and Depth Matters
The Cowboys didn’t have nearly enough of it last season. Frankly, the talent pool dwindled for two seasons after Oklahoma State reached the Big 12 Championship Game in 2023 for the second time in three years. Gundy didn’t keep up with the times — or his NIL budget couldn’t keep up. Or both.
OSU hast lost 20 of its last 24 games due in part to a dearth of talent and depth. That’s something Morris worked hard to correct this offseason. He brought in nearly 90 transfers, including nearly 20 from his former school, North Texas, to ensure the program improved its talent and depth across the board.
On paper, these Cowboys look better than a year ago. The regular season will show whether the talent and depth Morris accumulated this offseason will pay off.
Closing the Deal Matters
As bad as Oklahoma State’s season was in 2025, it could have been better. Look back at the losses to Tulsa, Kansas State, UCF and Iowa State. All were by a touchdown or less and all were games that the Cowboys had the opportunity to win. But they couldn’t get it done in the fourth quarter. OSU’s inability to finish drives that could tie or win the game was glaring.
Looking bat at Morris’ record last year the Mean Green blew a lot of teams out. But they won an overtime game against Western Michigan, beat Army in overtime and outlasted San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl, 49-47 Morris didn’t coach that game but most of his UNT transfers played in it.
The Mean Green were much better at winning close games than OSU was a season ago. Morris learned that skill in Denton and needs to carry it with him to Stillwater.
Defense Matters
Morris will be the first to tell you he’s an offensive guy. He joked at Big 12 media days that when his career is over, that he is going to go become a defensive analyst somewhere to learn more about that side of the ball. He’s trusting defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity to turn things around.
The Cowboys were No. 114 in total defense after allowing 418.3 yards per game. They were No. 124 in scoring defense after allowing 33.33 points per game. All Cassity has to do is start there to turn Oklahoma State into a solid defensive team. If the offense is as good as everyone believes it will be, then solid is all the Cowboys will need. But OSU learned a hard lesson last year that it doesn’t want to repeat.
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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