Things We Learned From Oklahoma State’s Loss To Tulsa

Well... That didn't go how we thought it would go, did it?

After spending the last few months trying to convince ourselves that Oklahoma State football was going to look more like 2011 OSU rather than 2025 OSU, I think the hopes may have been a little too high.

Oklahoma State's 2026 Fresh Start

While there was plenty of optimism up to halftime, the Pokes just couldn't get it done, 0-1 for a 2026 start.

Tulsa, man, again...

It's not surprising. Not that anyone really expected Tulsa to win a bitter rematch. I didn't. I actually thought Oklahoma State would take care of business Saturday and we'd spend the next week talking smack about the Oregon Ducks and their very real struggle with Boise State.

Instead, we're sitting here trying to figure out how Oklahoma State put up serious numbers and still lost by two touchdowns.

You saw what I saw. This wasn't some game where the Cowboys got completely blown off the field. They had the ball a lot. They ran 86 plays to Tulsa's 57. They had more first downs. They had more total yards. They just couldn't turn any of that into points.

And when they did have chances, they kept finding new and interesting ways to give the ball back, as if Coach Morris is trying to carry the Gundy play-calling tradition into a new era.

No offense to either, I thought Gundy's OC play-calling was worth far more in entertainment than scoring points coming from behind. The way he'd get super-animated and have that look like he's going to toss his cookies right there on the sideline with 12 seconds left on the clock, truly thinking an 9-person lateral might actually work... Priceless.

Just OSU things.

The four turnovers were huge, but they shouldn't have meant the game. And while they've been building a good team with their Ivy-ish league NIL donations, it's Tulsa man...

Eric Morris And Oklahoma State's Rebuild

We knew there were going to be growing pains with this team. New coach. New system. A whole bunch of new players. Nobody expected Eric Morris to walk in and suddenly have everything figured out. But there are more than a few pretty vocal fans who would feel perfectly fine carrying on that other Gundy tradition, offering walking papers after losing to Tulsa, again.

As awful and not "loyal and true" as that sentiment is, if Tulsa could dethrone the King of Stillwater, it could absolutely happen again to who could end up being a really expensive interim place-holder if some of the most vocal boosters had their say.

On the optimistic side of the ball, we have only one direction to move the program. Up. Better. It literally cannot be worse.

Is that some harsh optimism? Probably, but when you pay $7 million for an unknown arm described as a cannon, and it squibs the first couple of shots, it's okay to question the salesman.

Also, this isn't one of those "Leave them kids alone" moments. This is the NIL era. They get paid to play. They're professional players. All is fair.

That being said, I think it was probably the best this new team could do with the months they had to get ready.

While some fans are already writing off the new coaching staff, they deserve some time to get pistols firing again. We're on year zero of a massive rebuilding effort.

It has been 724 days since OSU had an FBS win.

Just think of it as the 90s again in Stillwater. We'll win the unexpected games and still somehow lose the easy ones, and perhaps by 2027 or 2028, we might start to see our Pokes in that Big12 title game again.

Have faith. Coach Venables didn't have instant success when he took over a powerhouse Sooner team. It's going to take time, but we'll get there eventually. Of course, on that note, nobody knows if OU is looking good either. UTEP is basically a community college.

Go Pokes!