Oklahoma St Cowboys 2026 College Football Preview
Posted July 28, 2026
2025 Recap
Record – 1-11
ATS – 6-6
“Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, or maybe I just don’t want to.”
— Red, The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Cowboys treated the college football world to a horrific performance that’ll go down in the history books as an all-time disaster. The Pokes won their first game over something called UT Martin and then lost the next eleven (!) games in a row — many of them in blowout fashion. They played better in November, but by that point, the curtain had already closed on a season of pure misery.
But hey, let’s get positive! Oklahoma St hired an up-and-coming coach in Eric Morris, who led North Texas to a 12-2 record last year. Let’s check in with the team and see what Morris has to work with in 2026.
Oklahoma St Cowboys 2026 Outlook
OFFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (Big 12):
- Scoring: 14.2 PPG (#16, dead last)
- Total Offense: 292.4 YPG (#16, dead last)
- Rushing: 118.3 YPG (#16, dead last)
- Passing: 174.1 YPG (#16, dead last)
- Sacks Allowed: 23 (#11)
That was tough to watch, and it might have been a more vomit-inducing spectacle than the recent release of Supergirl. That said, once again, we’ll turn to the positive!
The Cowboys are undergoing a North Texas TRANSFUSION and that’s gotta be a good thing since the Mean Green led the nation in scoring in 2025 (45 PPG). QB Drew Mestemaker threw for over 4,300 (!) yards with North Texas last year and he gives the Pokes one of the biggest quarterback upgrades possible. Mestemaker also has impressive THROW GAME weaponry to utilize including North Texas transfer WR Wyatt Young who’s coming off a monster campaign (1,264, 10 TD), along with Wake Forest transfer WR Chris Barnes who’s a slippery dual-threat specimen (547, 3 TD; 13 rush, 143 yards).
The HITS keep COMING when talking about the RB room. Oklahoma St bagged another star from the Mean Green in RB Caleb Hawkins who was a 3rd Team AA last year. Hawkins had a brilliant season as he led the entire nation in rushing TDs (1,434, 6.2, 25 TD), and don’t forget that he was also a big threat out of the backfield (32 receptions, 370, 4 TD). We love the depth behind Hawkins as there are several talented dudes that could make an impact in a supporting role including JMU transfer Ayo Adeyi who booked a 1,000-yard season while with — wait for it — North Texas and head coach Eric Morris back in 2023.
The offensive line boasts well over 100 career starts as a group but the vast majority of the two-deep are transfers, so it may take a while for the guys to figure out how to play together effectively.
DEFENSE
2025 By The Numbers (Big 12):
- Scoring: 33.3 PPG (#16, dead last)
- Total Defense: 418.3 YPG (#15)
- Rushing Defense: 165.9 YPG (#11)
- Passing Defense: 252.4 YPG (#15)
- Sacks: 22 (#12)
Things didn’t go well on this side of the football last year either, but the defense did start to play better down the stretch, allowing a very respectable 17 PPG in the final three weeks of the regular season. New DC Skyler Cassity (North Texas) will essentially be starting from scratch, as the Pokes brought in over two dozen transfers on defense.
The defensive line still looks like a problem area; while they have a light dusting of 300-pound bodies in the interior, there aren’t any proven PENETRATORS on the outside. Maybe Florida St transfer DE James Williams (8.5 career sacks between FSU and Husker Nation) can be the difference-maker they need?
The middle layer looks like the clear strength of the defense as they’ve got several experienced veterans to rely upon, including North Texas transfer LB Ethan Wesloski (104 tackles) and former UCLA Bruin Isaiah Chisom (84 tackles). It’s really hard to know what to make of the secondary, but it doesn’t look great on paper. One guy we’re excited to watch is CB/NB Christian Bodnar, who comes over from Liberty after being a co-winner of the 2025 Comeback Player of the Year Award. Bodnar had a severe brain infection that nearly ended his career in 2024.
SPECIAL TEAMS
We don’t expect much from the special teams group as it’s also undergoing a major transformation, but at least they added a proven transfer in PK Sam Keltner from SMU (14/20 FG, 6/12 from 40+).
Schedule Analysis
Overall – It’s gonna be ugly when Oregon comes to Stillwater in Week 2, but the other two non-conference games should go in the win column (at Tulsa, Murray State). Tulsa upset the Cowboys 19-12 last year, so we don’t think Oklahoma St will sleepwalk through that revenge spot. The Big 12 schedule isn’t doing Eric Morris any favors either. While the Pokes miss BYU, they’ve gotta tangle with Texas Tech at home and face tough road trips to Houston, Arizona St, and Kansas St.
Potential ATS Trouble Spot – at Kansas St (Nov 7)
It’s never easy to play in Manhattan, and this will cap off a challenging stretch where the Cowboys play three of four games on the road (at Houston, at Iowa St, and at K-State). Also note that Oklahoma St is just 2-9 ATS in their last 11 road meetings with Kansas St.
Season Win Total
Market consensus – July 28
Over 6.5 +125
Under 6.5 -155
MEGALOCKS says:
No leanage.
We believe this team will be a lot better than what we witnessed over the last two seasons, but getting to seven wins is a high bar. If we can find a flat 6 with some extra juice on the Over, that’s where we’d look to make a play. We’re not involved in this market as we approach press time.
Note – Our official list of season win total investments will be posted in the blog section of the website.
MEGAmazing Tidbits
Oklahoma State’s PISTOL PETE is modeled directly after the real Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton — a U.S. Deputy Marshal, blacksmith, expert marksman, and frontier figure. In 1923, students saw him riding in Stillwater’s Armistice Day parade and immediately pushed to ditch the generic “Tigers” nickname (borrowed from Princeton) in favor of a cowboy identity based on Eaton. The “Cowboys” nickname and Pistol Pete likeness took hold from that point, though the official costumed mascot wasn’t formalized until 1958. That’s Trivia GOLD, bay-bee.
Since falling to Texas in the 2023 Big 12 Championship Game, the Cowboys enter 2026 on a 19-game (!) conference losing streak.
MEGALOCKS Forecast:
The Cowboys are coming off a pair of ugly campaigns, but there’s definitely hope among the Stillwater faithful heading into 2026. We’ve got high expectations for an offense capable of putting up serious points on most defenses on the schedule. Of course, the big question mark is the OSU defense and how many stops they can realistically generate each week. The schedule only features two truly unwinnable matchups — if they can win their fair share of shootouts, we’ll see them back in a bowl game.
Pistols Firing!