The Good and Bad of Oklahoma State's Big 12 Schedule in 2025
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Oklahoma State’s schedule has plenty of interesting parts, but it comes with some dramatic positives and negatives.
On Tuesday, the Big 12 released the conference football schedule for the 2025 season. While every team knew its opponents and locations of games, the Tuesday release let teams know their week-to-week schedules. With OSU looking to rebound from its 3-9 season, let’s look at some of the good and bad of the Cowboys’ schedule:
Good: OSU has perfect runway for hot Big 12 start
After OSU faces Oregon in Week 2, it will get a bye week before hosting Tulsa. Following the nonconference finale, OSU will likely be 2-1 as it starts conference play.
While having two of its first three conference games at home last season didn’t matter much, having three of its first four Big 12 games at home in 2025 could make a difference. With so much newness at every spot, the Cowboys getting to face some of the conference’s probable noncontenders on their home field could bode well for getting back to a bowl game.
Bad: Only one bye week in conference play
Bye weeks during conference play have played a significant role for the Cowboys in each of the past two seasons. Last season’s first bye came before nearly knocking off BYU, and 2023’s first came just before OSU’s game against Kansas State that began a five-game winning streak.
With its first bye before the Tulsa game in 2025, OSU is getting the short end of the stick in that area. Considering OSU’s second bye isn’t until November, the Cowboys will play for seven consecutive weeks, stretching from the end of nonconference play into the heat of the Big 12 race.
Good: At least two home games each month
Last season, the Cowboys had a rather unbalanced schedule. After playing three home games in September, they were left with a heavy dose of playing away from Stillwater in October. After playing against West Virginia in Boone Pickens Stadium on the first weekend of October, marking the fourth home game in their first six games, the Cowboys didn’t play another home game for nearly a month.
While the Cowboys underperformed throughout the season, not having a chance to play in front of their fans for the first two games after a bye week was detrimental to OSU’s hopes of turning things around.
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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.