Eric Morris Eyes Critical Building Block for Oklahoma State Football vs. Iowa State

The Oklahoma State Cowboys can return to college football’s postseason this year, but head coach Eric Morris’ goals are much higher.

Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Playing college football in late December or early January became commonplace for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Head coach Eric Morris wants that back.

A bowl game would be the first step, even as Morris acknowledges that a bowl game isn’t his ultimate ambition. Some of that is due to the shifting landscape of college football.

Still, on Tuesday, he acknowledged the importance of getting back to a bowl game for the first time in three seasons as the Cowboys prepare the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday.

“I think anytime you earn a right to play in the postseason, that's just it's big for your program,” Morris said.

The Importance of Postseason Play (In Whatever Form)

Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Eric Morris. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With a victory over Iowa State, Oklahoma State would be bowl-eligible. The last time the Cowboys went to a bowl game was in 2023 under then-head coach Mike Gundy. The Cowboys went to the Big 12 Championship game and lost to Texas, followed by a bowl appearance.

It was the last of 18 consecutive seasons with a bowl game for the Cowboys under Gundy. To Morris, clinching a bowl berth would give the Cowboys at least one more football game to play. But there are other positives, especially as he develops a team that has an experienced starting lineup but a young pipeline behind it that must be developed for 2027 and beyond.

“If we can get there, then it allows us to continue to practice these guys and develop a bunch of these young guys, which is going to be big for our program,” Morris said.

Bowl games aren't exactly old hat for Morris. He began as head coaching career at Incarnate Word, where the postseason is the 24-team playoff. The Cardinals qualified twice. When he took the job at North Texas in 2023, the Mean Green fell short of a bowl game his first season.

North Texas then went to a bowl game each of the next two seasons, though Morris did not coach the Mean Green in their bowl game last season after he took the job at Oklahoma State.

Aside from the extra practices and the extra development time, he knows that game is a reward for players, especially the ones that have been here a while like defensive end Jaleel Johnson, who is in his fifth year at the Cowboys and remembers going to that 2023 bowl game.

Still, Morris knows the landscape is changing. College football is moving to a 24-team playoff in 2027, assuming all sides approve the format. Morris knows the expanded playoff will change the dynamic of what the Cowboys will seek every year.

“it's going to change even more going to 24 teams in this new playoff structure,” Morris said. “So, the postseason is going to look different?”

It’s not clear what will happen to the bowl game system when the expanded playoff is implemented.

Morris wants to chase championships at Oklahoma State, not bowl berths. The Cowboys still have a chance to make it to the Big 12 Championship game. But next season that championship game may go away with the new playoff format.

The goals are changing within college football, and Morris is trying to build a program that can adapt. Getting to the postseason is the goal, no matter what that looks like.