Lack of Familiarity Will Provide Challenge to Oklahoma State in 2026

Oklahoma State is looking to compete in the Big 12 again next season, and it will need to come together quickly.

In this era of college football, there isn’t much stopping teams from making significant turnarounds in a short period of time. Of course, there’s no better example of this than Indiana, the heavy favorite in Monday’s national title game.

Considering the Cowboys have a much richer football history than the Hoosiers, a turnaround from 1-11 to a title contender could be in the mix for the Pokes. With so much talent coming in through the transfer portal, the Cowboys are certainly set to be more skilled on paper than the 2025 team ever was.

With almost no key contributors returning, the Cowboys will basically have an entirely new squad on the field when 2026 kicks off. Overall, that’s a great thing for the program.

While there were a few players who OSU might miss from 2025, hitting the reset button entirely as Eric Morris takes over hard to criticize. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean things will be easy next season.

Even if OSU has the talent to immediately become a Big 12 contender on paper, it still has to turn that into results on the field, which is obviously easier said than done. As the Pokes look to make their presence felt in the Big 12 moving forward, they will need to find ways to quickly build chemistry.

While that is the case for most programs in college football in this era, the 2026 season in Stillwater will particularly challenge that. Not only will OSU’s roster be almost entirely different, but the coaching staff also will be entirely different.

Of course, that second piece will only be the case for this upcoming season, but that doesn’t change the fact that it will make OSU’s hopes of getting results on the field in year one even tougher. While having significant roster changes every season can be difficult, Morris and Drew Mestemaker’s existing connection can make things a bit easier.

Although neither was in Stillwater a year ago, their time together at North Texas should at least provide some level of stability. On the other hand, returning Cowboys who would typically have an upper hand in this situation will be at a slight disadvantage in comparison to those coming along with Morris.

Overall, OSU isn’t in an ideal situation to immediately contend in the Big 12, but its situation also isn’t all that different from the rest of the country’s, and no one in Stillwater will want to make any excuses once the season kicks off.