What Oklahoma State’s Latest Preseason Rankings Tells Us About National Perception

As more preseasons rankings come in, it’s becoming clear how the country is perceiving the Oklahoma State Cowboys going into the season.

Oklahoma State head coach Eric Morris. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

So far this preseason the Oklahoma State Cowboys have gotten plenty of attention, but no outside polling or rankings have been bold enough to put them in the preseason Top 25.

The USA Today Coaches poll had the Cowboys receiving votes. The NFF-FWAA Super 16 had the Cowboys getting one vote. The Associated Press preseason poll comes out next week and it’s unlikely they’ll be ranked there either, though votes are possible.

CBS Sports released its Top 138 on Wednesday and the Cowboys were not ranked in the Top 25. But their ranking is informative of how outsiders perceive the improvement in the program after last year’s 1-11 season and coaching change.

Oklahoma State’s CBS Ranking

Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Cowboys were not listed among their biggest movers. But Oklahoma State was ranked No. 44 in its preseason rankings. The site didn’t provide its final rankings from last season when the Cowboys won one game. But as a point of reference, ESPN’s final SP+ rankings for 2025 had Oklahoma State at No. 121 out of 136 FBS teams.

It’s not the same methodology, but it does show just how much better the Cowboys seem to outside analysts entering this season.

The Big 12 teams listed ahead of Oklahoma State at CBS Sports were Texas Tech (No. 8), BYU (No. 16), Utah (No. 24), Houston (No. 26), Arizona (No. 30), TCU (No. 31), Kansas State (No. 34) and Arizona State (No. 41). That put the Cowboys ninth in the league’s pecking order.

OSU will get a chance to play Texas Tech, Houston, Kansas State and Arizona State this season, so the Cowboys can prove they’re better.

But the rankings show just how impressed college football analysts are with what new head coach Eric Morris has done in the offseason. He was hired to replace Mike Gundy in December after he led North Texas to the American Conference championship game. He bought into using the transfer portal to quickly make the program better, as he brought in nearly 90 transfers, including nearly 20 from his former school.

Among those UNT transfers are quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young, all of whom were nationally ranked performers at their positions last season and should boost the OSU offense.

Preseason rankings aren’t worth much. But for Oklahoma State is trying to turn things around and get the fan base energized behind a new head coach, any little seed that’s planted helps move the Cowboys forward. If they are at least THIS good this season, then it should be a fun season in Stillwater and it should lead to a stronger program in the long term.