Biggest Reason to Believe in and Doubt Oklahoma State Football in 2026
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This is the biggest season of Oklahoma State Cowboys football in some time. But it’s the biggest for all the wrong reasons.
The Cowboys jettisoned program legend Mike Gundy last season, and it didn’t help the team, as they finished 1-11 and winless in Big 12 play. After going winless in Big 12 action in 2024, Oklahoma State is 4-20 in the last two seasons.
That forced the Cowboys to hire a new head coach for the first time in more than 20 years. Eric Morris turned North Texas into one of college football’s best stories last season and now has the chance to do it again with the Cowboys. But he flipped nearly the entire program, luring nearly 90 transfers and selling him on his version of what OSU football could be.
Cowboys fans want a reason to believe and not doubt. Here’s the biggest reason on both sides.
Biggest Reason to Believe
Morris has planted the seeds for optimism around the program, and it has plenty to do with his brand of football. The Air Raid offense, or his version of it, turned the Mean Green into a 12-win team last year. Nearly 20 of those players followed him to Stillwater, including the three most important players to the turnaround — quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young.
This team — specifically the offense — looks more talented than a year ago. Players at the most important positions have track records that last year’s starters didn’t. Yes, many of those track records are at a Group of 6 school. But, they put those numbers up in the same offense. The belief is that it will translate at this level.
Oklahoma State fans want to be excited by something. They have had precious little to cheer about the last two seasons. In 2025 the program was more famous for college students taking their shirts off and swinging them around. Morris wants to put that behind the Cowboys. With this offense and this talent, he and the Cowboys can do that. In addition, this offense gives Oklahoma State the best chance to overachieve on expectations this season.
Biggest Reason to Doubt
The defense. That’s almost always the reason at Oklahoma State, right? The Cowboys have had great defensive players. They’ve had great defensive coordinators. But that great defense from season to season hasn’t always been there. It’s fair to doubt that the defense won’t hold the team back from bigger things if the offense does the job.
Skyler Cassity did great things at North Texas last year as defensive coordinator. But the program was still middle of the road in key defensive categories. Was that talent or scheme? Does that change with a higher level of talent pulled through the portal? Or did he max out last year in Denton?
There is precious little continuity on that side of the ball. Of course, there is little continuity in the program. But it matters more with the defense. Typically, defense is in a better place than offense at the start of a season. The Cowboys could be in the opposite mode — the offense may be ahead of the defense. How long it takes Cassity and this defense to gel is of concern. So is the production level. Outside of a couple of players, no one on the defensive side produced like Mestemaker, Hawkins and Young did on the offensive side. Does this unit have any players that can blow up like those three? Perhaps cornerback LaDainian Fields?
The defense is the biggest reason to doubt what the Cowboys can achieve this season. And only time will tell if it’s right or wrong.
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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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