ESPN Analyst Believes Cowboy Football's Ceiling Could Be Higher Than Expected

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have had an amazing start to 2026.

The past two seasons, OSU has been considered one of the worst teams in football, as it has a combined record of 4-20 over the past two years. In this stretch, the Cowboys were not victorious in one conference bout, and last year failed to even win against an FBS opponent.

Looking into this next season, however, has been a completely different story for the Cowboys. OSU made one of the best coaching hires of the offseason by bringing in Eric Morris after his amazing run at North Texas last season.

Because of the migration from Morris and his staff, Oklahoma State has had one of the best portal classes imaginable. OSU has landed 54 commits and is ranked as the No.6 portal class in the nation by 247Sports. All the signs are showing that the Cowboys will start to move back in a positive direction, but some think they could shoot for higher than just competing.

ESPN writer and analyst Bill Connelly recently projected which teams would make the 2026 College Football Playoff bracket, and he claimed a team with a losing record last season had to make the playoffs. The team Connelly chose for this role was the Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Connelly admitted this was a stretch and that it was still a long shot for the team from Stillwater to do a complete 180 in just one season.

“But they made a potentially dynamite hire in Eric Morris – one of my favorite hires of the cycle,” Connelly said. “And he has basically imported his dynamite North Texas offense, bringing in 17 former Mean Green players including stars in QB Drew Mestemaker, RB Caleb Hawkins and WR Wyatt Young. OSU will score plenty of points in 2026, and if the Cowboys’ close-games luck flips as well, they could be a huge turnaround story.”

He would go on to say the Pokes would go home in the first round, but there is no doubt that just a spot in the college football playoffs would get Cowboys’ fans excited.

The Pokes have a lot to accomplish before the CFP comes into the picture, but they are acquiring the weapons to do so. Morris and the transfers he has acquired have brought hope for this upcoming season, and are clearly making headlines all over the college football world.

The countdown to Sept. 5 is officially underway as the Cowboys look to start their season with a get-back win against Tulsa, and hopefully look to take the first step to one day making it to the College Football Playoff.