Oklahoma State Needs Something Positive to Come of Bye Week

Oklahoma State’s bye week is here, and it needs to find some way to use it to its advantage.

This is the final Saturday of the college football regular season that OSU won’t be in action. Finally getting the second bye week of the year after having its first in Week 3, OSU has a chance to reset for the stretch run.

Coming into this season, there was hope that OSU would enter this bye week with somewhere around four and five wins, having a fighting chance at making a bowl game. Instead, OSU was eliminated from bowl contention weeks ago and hasn’t beaten an FBS team this season.

While the final few weeks of the season seem as pointless as any three-week stretch in recent OSU history, the Cowboys still have some incentive to finish the season strong. Above all, keeping some of the top players engaged until the clock runs out in the final game could be the key to retaining some of that talent under a new head coach.

While it’s probably easy for some players and even some coaches to check out during this bye week, it also lends a great opportunity. With so much chaos during the regular season, there is actually a chance that this bye week gives OSU a chance at some stability over the final three games.

This is the first bye week of the season with Doug Meacham at head coach, Clint Bowen at defensive coordinator and Kevin Johns as playcaller. It also comes not long after the transfer portal officially closed, setting OSU’s roster for the remainder of the year.

So, there should be some hope that all of those factors can help the Cowboys as they have two weeks to prepare for Kansas State. Of course, getting a win still seems somewhat far-fetched this season, given how poorly OSU has played throughout the year.

Still, OSU needs to use this bye week to find some positives in some fashion. It doesn’t necessarily need to translate to a win on the field, but it should at least translate to some improvements.

Along with that, these final weeks could be crucial to ensuring a smooth transition to the next era of Cowboy football. With only three games left, this bye week could be a perfect opportunity for OSU to end the season on a high note, but the Cowboys can’t waste their chance.