How Oklahoma State Gave Oregon ‘Wake-Up Call’ Per Dan Lanning

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have now joined the Oregon Ducks in the AP Top 25 and Ducks coach Dan Lanning believes the Cowboys gave the Ducks the nudge they needed.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Perhaps Oregon coach Dan Lanning should send the Oklahoma State Cowboys a thank you card for the wake-up call.

The Ducks (3-1, 1-0) opened Big Ten play with a 41-27 win over USC, a victory that pushed the Ducks to No. 15 in the latest AP Top 25, the same one that has the Cowboys (3-1, 1-0 in Big 12) at No. 19 — even though OSU beat Oregon a couple of weeks ago.

That loss to the Cowboys may have helped fuel the Ducks to get back into the right frame of mind for Big Ten play against an old Pac-12 rival, Lanning said to ESPN’s Pat McAfee.

“We had a good wake up call for us early,” Lanning said. “You know that everybody, we're gonna get everybody's best and obviously Oklahoma State has a good team. We have to bring it every single week. I thought our guys have brought it in practice the last two weeks and then we've been able to perform on the field.”

Oklahoma State’s Recent Success Fueled by Oregon Win

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

The pendulum on the Cowboys’ season swung wildly the first two weeks of the season. Oklahoma State — with new head coach Eric Morris and a nearly brand-new roster — went to Tulsa for the opener and ended up getting beat, 24-10. In many ways, that was the Cowboys wake-up call. That left few people picking the Cowboys to beat the Ducks on Sept. 12 in Stillwater — especially after Oregon beat Oklahoma State, 69-3, last year in Eugene.

So when the Cowboys beat the Ducks, 39-31, it was a “shock the world” moment for a program that was 4-20 for the last two seasons and hadn’t won a Big 12 game since the end of the 2023 season. It jump-started the Cowboys new era under Morris.

As the Cowboys enter their bye week, they’re on a roll. Oklahoma State is on a three-game winning streak for the first time since starting the 2024 season with a 3-0 record. The Oregon win helped the Cowboys snap a 21-game FBS losing streak.

The win over West Virginia on Saturday, the one that boosted the Cowboys back into the Top 25, snapped that 18-game Big 12 losing streak and was also the Cowboys’ first Big 12 road win since Nov. 18, 2024, when they defeated Houston.

The victory hasn't had an impact on Oklahoma State’s televised game windows just yet. The Cowboys returned to Boone Pickens Stadium on October 10 to host UCF and that game is set for 11 a.m. central. It will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN 2.

If the Cowboys keep winning, more prime time windows await, like the one they played in on Saturday against the Mountaineers. Of course, if all their 11 a.m. games go like the one against Oregon, it’s doubtful the Cowboys will complain about the lack of prime-time games.