Making a Bowl Game Not Enough for Oklahoma State in 2025
In this story:
The Cowboys are looking to win at least six games next season, but that might not be the correct benchmark of success.
Oklahoma State won only three games last season and finished without a conference win. Now, with the 2025 season just around the corner, OSU is in need of a much better performance.
Under Mike Gundy, the Cowboys have made a bowl game 18 times, coinciding with 18 winning seasons. With only two truly bad years in 20 seasons, the Cowboys have had it good under Gundy.
Of course, in this evolving world of college football, it seems that everything about what has been done lately. And lately, the Cowboys have turned into one of the worst teams in the Big 12.
While it was only one season of awful football, there is something to be said about ensuring bad seasons don’t stack. In fact, it’s critical to the success of the program.
Ensuring recruits that it was simply a down year with rough circumstances is easy to do after a three-win season that saw your top defensive stars end their season in September. However, if the Cowboys can’t rebound from that year and put together a winning campaign, it will be difficult to find consistent positive momentum in the following months.
So, that begs the question of what a truly successful year in Stillwater would look like. The general consensus is just about getting the Pokes back to a bowl game, but the optics look much better with a winning season instead of a losing season, even if it features 13 games.
While the regular season stamp of success might in fact be six games, the Cowboys need a seventh win. Whether that comes in a bowl game or features a 7-5 regular season, the Cowboys can’t afford a situation where they have another losing record.
Returning to the postseason has been the goal that has been laid out for OSU throughout the offseason, but if that postseason appearance doesn’t secure the Pokes a winning record, it could be all for not. Sure, it would be nice to see OSU make it back to a bowl, but without a winning record, things could still feel the same this time next year.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.