Who Will Be Oklahoma State's Biggest Rival in Eric Morris Era?

Oklahoma State is still searching for its next premier opponent.

Over the past two seasons, OSU has been among the worst teams in college football. From entering 2024 expected to compete for a College Football Playoff spot to ending 2025 on a 20-game FBS losing streak, things went downhill fast in Stillwater.

Still, there is some hope that new coach Eric Morris will be able to turn things around and get the Cowboys back to the top of the Big 12 and college football. Alongside getting back into the upper echelon of the sport, igniting a rivalry could be a big step in that process, but finding that rival could be difficult.

Of course, Oklahoma will always be the Pokes’ top rival regardless of whether the game is on the schedule or not. Despite Morris’ clear interest in renewing the matchup against the Sooners, scheduling conflicts for both sides have made a Bedlam matchup in nonconference play nearly impossible.

So, naturally, finding a Big 12 team to ignite a rivalry against makes the most sense, with a matchup against one of the other seven remaining teams from the 10-team era likely taking over that rivalry label. To get a true rivalry going, the Cowboys would need to be playing important games against another consistently good team, leaving just a couple of clear options.

Kansas State under Collin Klein could certainly be on the table. While a decade ago, it was Mike Gundy and Bill Snyder battling it out in critical Big 12 matchups, Klein and Morris could forge the next iteration of that rivalry.

Still, there probably won’t ever be much animosity between two schools that are similar and have clearly had plenty of respect for each other over the years. However, there is another Big 12 team that has some clear rivalry juice for the Pokes.

Texas Tech is sitting at the top of the Big 12 landscape and was the conference’s only team to make the College Football Playoff this season, and should be the frontrunner to be OSU’s top rival if it can get back in the Big 12 title race. Considering the banter between the two fanbases and the sudden rise of Joey McGuire’s squad, this could be a matchup to watch for years to come.

Add in that Morris played his college ball in Lubbock, and there are simply too many layers in this matchup to ignore the potential for a rivalry. Sure, it might take some time for OSU to get good again and this rivalry to develop, but as long as Bedlam isn’t on the slate, Texas Tech could prove to be OSU’s premier opponent in most seasons.