Can Bye Week Help Cowboys Build Momentum Going Into Offseason?

Oklahoma State is in the midst of its second and final bye week of 2025, and the rest of the year’s success could hinge on how these next few days go.

The Cowboys haven’t had a successful season on the field by just about any measure, but there might be some hope for OSU to get back on track in the final three games. After a loss at Kansas extended the Cowboys’ losing streak to eight, this bye could easily be something the Pokes capitalize on.

For OSU to get back in the win column, this bye week will need to be close to perfect, which might be possible, given how the Cowboys have performed over the past few weeks. Following the Cowboys’ homecoming loss to Cincinnati, Doug Meacham pointed out how many of the factors that had gone against OSU were going in the right direction, but it simply wasn’t leading to results on the scoreboard.

While the Pokes followed that up with a 42-0 loss against Texas Tech, it was still a much better performance than they would have been expected to put up against a top 15 team just a few weeks earlier. With a 38-21 loss to Kansas that featured OSU leading for most of the first half last week, there is clearly something going right for the Cowboys.

Of course, it won’t mean much this season, even if OSU can string together some improbable wins in the final few weeks. But the plan was never for any success for the Cowboys to translate into something meaningful this season.

All of the momentum OSU might build toward the end of this season will be important for the future of the program. The Cowboys have been out of bowl contention for a couple of weeks now, but next season is still 10 months away, and finding any hope to end this season could kickstart the offseason and give any returning players a slight boost when 2026 kicks off.

Once the offseason begins, none of these final few games will be remembered much. Regardless of the results, OSU will still be trying to get things rolling with its next coach and looking to build a competitive roster.

Considering how the fan base has responded to arguably the worst season in modern OSU history, getting a little bit of momentum to finish the year would be potentially massive going into 2026 and beyond.