Two Voters Explain Casting Ballots for Oklahoma State in AP Top 25 Preseason Poll
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No one expected the Oklahoma State Cowboys to be ranked in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll that was released on Monday.
But, based on the USA Today Top 25 coaches poll and the FWAA/NFF Super 16 preseason polls, there was an expectation that the Cowboys might receive votes — and they did. OSU received eight votes.
Those eight votes came from three members of the AP voting panel — Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News, Dylan Sinn of the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette and Jamar St. Cyr of WJXT-4 television.
Oklahoma State on SI reached out to all three via direct message on X (formerly Twitter) or e-mail and received responses from Sinn and Wilner. Each provided their reasons for giving a vote to the Cowboys before the season begins.
Dylan Sinn, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
Sinn covers college football for the Journal-Gazette, including Indiana, Notre dame and Purdue. Sinn didn’t just throw in the Cowboys at No. 25. He ranked Oklahoma State at No. 19, making him responsible for six of the eight votes in the poll. He is, as one might expect, bullish on the Cowboys. He explained why.
“In the era where coaches can import almost entire rosters it's not particularly surprising anymore to see a team change its fortunes entirely in a single offseason,” he wrote exclusively to Oklahoma State on SI. “That's what I believe OSU has done here with the addition of the three most important pieces from what was the No. 1 SP+ offense in the country last year (an opponent-adjusted metric!). I was wildly impressed with Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins at UNT last year and the defense is likely underrated to start the season with Skyler Cassity giving OSU a version of "continuity" on that side of the line of scrimmage too. I'm excited to see how big of a national profile LaDainian Fields can build once OSU is back on the radar.
“Overall, OSU strikes me as having the highest ceiling of any team in the Big 12 outside of Texas Tech and BYU. Whether they'll hit it in Year 1 under Eric Morris remains to be seen, but a lot of pieces are in place already.”
Jon Wilner, San Jose Mercury-News
Wilner covers college football for the Mercury-News. Wilner responded to our request for context with his short paragraph on why he ranked the Cowboys at No. 25 in his online column explaining his vote after the poll was released on Monday.
“Our top sleeper pick is coming off back-to-back winless seasons in Big 12 play. (That's not easy in any conference.) Quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who followed coach Eric Morris from North Texas to Stillwater, should be one of the best in the nation and a high NFL draft pick. The Cowboys get Texas Tech at home and miss BYU and Utah. Could they win the Big 12? The likelihood is non-zero.”
The Cowboys will play three teams schedule in the Top 25 this season — Oregon on Sept. 12, Houston on Oct. 17 and Texas Tech on Nov. 14.
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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