Oklahoma State's Hopes of Playing Spoiler Taking on New Meaning

The Cowboys can be a problem for their opponents, but not in the way they originally thought,

Nov 1, 2025; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Oklahoma State Cowboys head coach Doug Meacham during warmups prior to a game against the Kansas Jayhawks at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Cowboys have three games left, and none of them will be as important as originally thought.

Coming into this season, it was always a question mark whether the Cowboys would be able to make it to a bowl game or even be competitive in Big 12 play. After falling to Oregon 69-3 and suffering a home loss to Tulsa, that question was answered rather quickly.

Mike Gundy’s firing sent shockwaves through Stillwater, but that was only because he was head coach for two decades. The firing itself was unsurprising and almost certainly the right move, but it put the rest of the 2025 season into a freefall.

Sitting at 1-8 in the midst of its second bye week, Oklahoma State is still searching for a win against an FBS team for the first time in 14 months. With a bowl game out of the question and a losing season almost guaranteed heading into Big 12 play, OSU still got to look ahead to the final weeks of the season, with some hope that it could still be a factor in the conference title race.

Of course, that’s because Kansas State and Iowa State both come to Stillwater later this month. As preseason Big 12 favorites, the Wildcats and Cyclones were expected to both potentially be in a heated race for the conference title.

Much like OSU, this season hasn’t gone according to plan for either of those schools. With a matchup against Kansas State coming first, the Cowboys will still have a chance to play spoiler.

However, playing spoiler against the Wildcats won’t be about trying to keep them out of the Big 12 title race. Instead, playing spoiler against the 4-5 Wildcats will be about trying to keep them out of a bowl game. 

A road trip to UCF a week later will present a similar challenge potentially, with the Knights sitting at 4-4 going into their final four games. Meanwhile, Iowa State will likely have secured bowl eligibility by the time it heads to Stillwater for the season finale. However, all it would take are losses to TCU and Kansas to extend their losing streak to six to make the Cyclones’ bowl hopes rely on a win in Boone Pickens Stadium. 

Entering this season, those matchups against Kansas State and Iowa State looked to potentially be similar opportunities to the 2018 Cowboys’ matchups against Texas and West Virginia. Yet, all sides have been far worse than they hoped, and these games have taken on a much different meaning.

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