Oklahoma State Needs to Make Emphatic Statement Against Tulsa in Week 4

Oklahoma State needs a big response against Tulsa to prove it can be a winning team.

Last week was a disaster on all fronts for Mike Gundy’s squad. After winning an unconvincing matchup against an FCS team in Week 1, OSU clearly didn’t belong on the same field as Oregon.

While the Ducks are considered by many to be a national title contender, and perhaps even the favorite, OSU’s performance in Eugene can only be nicely described as embarrassing. Overall, it simply looked like OSU was far from a competent football team in any area.

Considering the Cowboys made some significant changes in the offseason after going 3-9 last year, Week 2 was a bit of a slap in the face for OSU fans who had invested their time, energy and, in some cases, money, into the program over the past several months. With all that being said, it was only one game, which wasn’t even against a conference opponent.

Sure, OSU shouldn’t have the same expectations as some random MAC school when it comes to playing top-tier teams, but that’s where the program is at right now. Still, it has plenty of opportunity to rebound, and it must start with an emphatic win over Tulsa.

Simply beating the Golden Hurricane in a similar fashion to OSU’s win over UT Martin in Week 1 won’t do anything to show the Cowboys are in a position to compete against Big 12 teams. After what the Cowboys showed at Oregon, they need to have a vintage performance against the only in-state rival on their schedule.

While a 45-10 win against Tulsa last season clearly didn’t mean much, that type of performance needs to be the expectation next Friday. Absolutely nothing this team has shown through two weeks makes a performance of that caliber likely or even reasonable, but if OSU can’t put some clear separation between it and a bottom-feeder Group of Five team, then what reason would fans have to tune in against real competition in Big 12 play?

Sure, the “Loyal and True” mantra will always hold some weight in Stillwater, but the simplest rule in sports is that the team has to prove it is worthy of support. If Gundy and company can’t show OSU is still a clear tier above Tulsa in the college football hierarchy, Boone Pickens Stadium might look just as empty as the typical Cowboy basketball game in Gallagher-Iba.