In our next opponent preview, we take a look at the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
The Cowboys are coming off a 7-6 season and are replacing a ton of talent, especially defensively.
The Cowboys have 57% of their production returning from a year ago, which ranks 89th per ESPN’ returning production metric (ESPN+).
They return 65% of their offense which ranks 66th in the nation, and 50% of their defense, which ranks 101st.
The big loss offensively is quarterback [autotag]Spencer Sanders[/autotag]. When healthy, he was their offense last year. He threw for 2,642 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also ran for 391 yards and eight touchdowns.
It’s no secret that when he wasn’t 100%, the offense struggled mightily and ultimately, the team suffered. They will look to replace him with transfer and former Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman or with Garret Rangel. Rangle saw some action last year in place of Sanders.
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The offensive line has been a major issue for several years. They finished 97th in the nation in rushing last year and, averaged just 3.43 yards per carry.
The offense finished 52nd in total offense and is expected to change up its philosophy by operating from under the center more.
This points to Alan Bowman getting the nod with his experience in an offense that goes under center a lot of the time in the Michigan Wolverines. But he hasn’t played in two years after he was a backup for the Wolverines.
Their top two rushers in, Dominic Richardson and Sanders, both transferred out, so they’ll have to replace that production. Cowboys fans have high hopes for Ollie Gordon.
Gordon showed flashes last year but only ran for 308 yards and two touchdowns.
They do return their top wide receiver Brennan Presley, who had 813 yards but only two touchdowns. However, they lose their next five leading receivers from a year ago.
Defensively they finished 115th in the nation in total defense a year ago. The Cowboys have to replace seven starters, including their top two tacklers Jason Taylor II and Mason Cobb.
They lost eight of their top 10 players in tackles and five of their top seven in sacks.
They are moving to a new defensive scheme under new defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. Unlike Derek Mason and Jim Knowles before him, who ran mostly a 4-2-5 defense, Nardo runs a 3-3-5 defense.
This means Collin Oliver will be moving to linebacker for the Pokes. Head Coach Mike Gundy did mention at Big 12 Media Days he wants the defense to be multiple and run some four-man fronts as well. I’d expect that means Oliver will still line up on the edge plenty.
Oklahoma State is such a hard team to try to predict. If you look at everything they lost and the state of the program, this looks like an average football team, at best
But Gundy usually does his best when there aren’t a ton of expectations. See 2021, where a lot of people picked the Cowboys to finish in the bottom half of the conference standings.
As we sit here today, this is a game Oklahoma should win. However, with it being the last Bedlam for the foreseeable future, and in Stillwater, there would be nothing sweeter for the Cowboys to play spoiler.
Score Prediction: 41-13 Oklahoma
Predicted Record: 8-1
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