How Week 3 Bye Could Help Oklahoma State Get Back on Track

The Cowboys need to use this time to their advantage.

Oregon defensive backs Sione Laulea, right, and Aaron Flowers trip up Oklahoma State wide receiver Shamar Rigby as the Oregon Ducks host the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sept. 6, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State looked awful in Eugene, but it has a full week to regroup.

Over the past several seasons, the Cowboys have seemingly had bumps in the road that made most question if the team was ready for the moment. Of course, this season’s moment came early, with the Cowboys falling in Week 2 by 66 points.

There have certainly been mixed results with how the Cowboys respond to adversity over the years. Considering almost everyone in the building is new outside of Mike Gundy, there is simply no way to know how this squad might respond.

Still, that’s where a timely bye week can come in handy. Sure, it might seem like it’s too early to have a bye week after playing only two games, but the Cowboys could certainly use some extra time to get things back on track before finishing nonconfernce play and beginning the Big 12 slate.

In recent years, the Cowboys have used their bye weeks quite well. In 2023, OSU beat Kansas State out of a bye to rip off a five-game winning streak. Even last season, a bye week before facing BYU gave the Cowboys a resurgence before the Cougars outmatched Gundy’s squad in the final moments.

Over the past several seasons, the Cowboys have needed these bye weeks desperately, which falls in line with what OSU is dealing with in 2025. Of course, there is no perfect way to use bye weeks, but Gundy has two decades of experience in Stillwater and some experienced coordinators around him, so there might be a formula to follow for the Pokes.

Most importantly, OSU needs to address its biggest problems in the simplest ways. As Gundy said after Oregon, the Cowboys didn’t do things simply enough and continued to put themselves in bad positions. 

So, the Pokes don’t need to try and reinvent the wheel; they simply need to find a wheel in this bye week. Getting ready for Tulsa means more this season than most under Gundy.

It’s felt like Tulsa has never been a true challenger to the Cowboys in the past two decades, but this season is as close as any.

Finding ways to make Zane Flores comfortable or get at least some production in the run game while fixing the technical issues on defense is all OSU needs to have a successful bye week. Still, the success of the bye week will ultimately be determined by what the Cowboys look like when they step back onto the field in Week 4.

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