2020 Schedule Preview: Oklahoma State

Cowboys have the talent and the experience to challenge for a Big 12 title, but can they finally break Oklahoma's stranglehold on the conference?

John E. Hoover | Jun 10, 2020

Every Wednesday going into Big 12 Media Days on July 20-21, SI Sooners will break down Oklahoma’s 2020 schedule. Today: Oklahoma State.

Mike Gundy landed the best recruiting class in the country in 2020.

That’s one way to look at Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace — arguably the best running back and the best wide receiver in America — both deciding to return to Oklahoma State this year.

Hubbard is coming off a 2019 season in which he led major college football in rushing (2,094 yards) and ran for 21 touchdowns. It’s the best season by a running back in Stillwater since — you guessed it — Barry Sanders’ historic 1988 season.

2020 Oklahoma Sooners schedule

Sept. 5 — Missouri State
Sept. 12 — Tennessee
Sept. 26 — at Army
Oct. 3 — Baylor
Oct. 10 — Texas
Oct. 17 — at Iowa State
Oct. 24 — Oklahoma State
Oct. 31 — at TCU
Nov. 7 — at West Virginia
Nov. 14 — Kansas State
Nov. 21 — Kansas
Nov. 28 — at Texas Tech
Dec. 5 — Big 12 Championship Game

And Wallace, a first-team All-American in 2018, was having another spectacular season in 2019 when he injured his knee and missed the Cowboys’ last four games. He was runner-up for the Biletnikoff Award as a sophomore with 86 catches for 1,491 yards and 12 TDs, and last year he was at 903 yards and eight TDs on 53 catches through eight games before the injury.

If Wallace returns to form, all Oklahoma State would need to contend for the title of college football’s best offense is for quarterback Spencer Sanders to stay healthy — and cut back on the turnovers.

Sanders completed 63 percent of his passes (155-of-247) for 2,065 yards and threw 16 touchdowns last season. He also ran for 628 yards (4.5 per carry, 57 per game) on 139 carries.

But Sanders couldn’t quarterback the last three games last season after a broken thumb. As a redshirt freshman, Sanders committed 16 turnovers — 11 interceptions, five fumbles — and if the Cowboy offense can clean up that part, OSU will be hard to stop.

Tylan Wallace / Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports

Three offensive line starters (tackle Tevin Jenkins, guard Bryce Bray and tackle Dylan Galloway) and two part-time starters (center Ry Schneider and guard Hunter Anthony) are back, and so is tight end Jelani Woods. Add to that mix West Virginia grad transfer Josh Sills (a two-year starter and second-team All-Big 12 blocker at WVU), and the OSU offensive line is loaded, too.

It’s a good year for long-time wide receivers coach Kasey Dunn to take over as offensive coordinator. OSU’s longest consecutively serving assistant coach since 1962 and Gundy’s top aide for much of his nine seasons (he’s also OSU’s associate head coach) inherits some serious talent as he tries to upgrade the play-calling from what one-year Ivy League transplant Sean Gleeson did in 2019.

Kolby Harvell-Peel / Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports

Jim Knowles is back for his third season as defensive coordinator, and he has the luxury of 10 returning starters — only cornerback A.J. Green is gone from last year’s starting lineup.

Knowles will utilize two of the Big 12’s top playmakers in linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga (100 tackles last year, 15.5 tackles for loss, five quarterback sacks) and Kolby Harvell-Peel (71 tackles, five interceptions, four total fumbles, 13 pass break-ups).

Amen Ogbongbemiga / Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

Also back is safety-turned-linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, who won the team’s defensive MVP award and second-team All-Big 12 accolades last year with 103 tackles, and cornerback Rodarius Williams, who leads the defense with 39 career starts.

The entire defensive line — led by budding star Trace Ford and former Colorado transfer Israel Antwine — is back after combining for 14 sacks and 30 tackles for loss last year.

The bottom line is this Oklahoma State team is as loaded as any Gundy has had since the 2011 team won the program’s only Big 12 championship.

The one pitfall for Gundy and the Cowboys — as it always has been — lies 80 miles to the south.

Mike Gundy and Lincoln Riley / Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma is riding a five-year streak of Big 12 championships, and the Sooners’ grip on the rest of the conference hasn’t loosened in the three years since Lincoln Riley took over for Bob Stoops.

Gundy is now 2-13 against the Sooners (0-3 against Riley), so that’s a hurdle in itself he’ll have to clear if these Cowboys are to live up to their potential.

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Published Jun 10, 2020

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.