Will Oklahoma State Drop Out of the Top 25 After Loss at West Virginia?
Winning isn’t easy, and maintaining a spot in the top 25 is even harder.
On Saturday, No. 24 Oklahoma State lost to No. 24 West Virginia 54-37 at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown. The Cowgirls lost for only the fourth time this season but fell to 2-2 in games as a ranked team.
OSU’s first loss as a ranked team came a couple of weeks ago when it handed Houston its first Big 12 win. After losing their first game as a ranked team in seven years, the Cowgirls rattled off three-straight wins, including a win against No. 9 TCU, which helped them vault back into the top 25.
Holding the No. 24 spot for the second time in three weeks, OSU took care of business against Arizona State on Wednesday before heading to West Virginia for a rematch against the Mountaineers. OSU won a thriller against the Mountaineers in the teams’ first meeting and that win pushed OSU into the AP poll for the first time.
However, the Cowgirls couldn’t replicate the same magic they had in Gallagher-Iba Arena. With turnovers plaguing the Cowgirls, they never got into a rhythm offensively and struggled to make the game tight in the second half.
Of course, OSU is far from a flawless team, but its flaws were on full display against West Virginia and will almost certainly take the Cowgirls back to unranked. While the last time OSU was unranked, it only took a week to get back in the top 25, and it faces a tougher road this time.
Like the last time OSU was out of the rankings, it will face a quality opponent. Last week, it was a win against TCU, but next week, the Cowgirls will have to try and knock off No. 11 Kansas State. The main problem facing the Cowgirls in that matchup is they will be off until that game on Saturday.
While only having one game to get back into the rankings could make that task difficult, it could be a perfect storm for the Cowgirls.
The Wildcats play on Sunday at Kansas and host TCU on Wednesday. While one of the top teams in the country should be focused when it comes to Stillwater, OSU could benefit from the toll of a potential top 15 battle in Manhattan only three days earlier.
In any case, OSU has proven itself to be one of the best teams in the Big 12, and its performance against West Virginia doesn’t change that, regardless of whether the Cowgirls enter the next game with a number next to their name.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.