Oklahoma State Could be Looking at a Rebuilding Season in 2025
This isn’t the football season the Oklahoma State Cowboys could have foreseen entering their 2024 campaign. They were coming off of a 10-4 2023 season in which they played for a Big 12 Championship and followed that up with a victory over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl.
The anticipation for the 2024 season was all the buzz prior to the start of the year. They had 1,000-yard rusher Ollie Gordon II returning as well as a star-studded offensive unit. Oklahoma State bid farewell to Oklahoma and Texas who hit the road to the SEC. The Big 12 was supposed to be Oklahoma State’s to lose and many felt they were the early front runner to win the Big 12 Conference Championship.
They started the 2024 season with three straight non-conference victories, and they rolled into the start of Big 12 Conference play, and no one could have predicted what was about to happen. A narrow loss to Utah in the Big 12 opener set the tone for the rest of the season.
Following their conference opening loss to Utah, Oklahoma State dropped their next eight football games and finished the season at the bottom of the Big 12 Conference with a 3-9 record.
Unlike a season ago, Oklahoma State won’t have the luxury of entering next season with a ton of seasoned veterans. The Cowboys are headed for an unlikely rebuilding season as they say goodbye to some key upperclassmen.
Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon hasn’t officially announced his intention to enter the upcoming NFL Draft, but all signs are pointing in that direction. Gordon could have easily been a first round pick a year ago and he all but can’t pass up that opportunity again.
Ollie Gordon and Brennan Presley ahead of likely their last games as Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/DYCCxd0hze
— McClain (@McclainBaxley) November 29, 2024
He finished the season with a respectable 880 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns. The 6-foot-2 Gordon would likely be an immediate impact player at the next level. He has alluded to possibly returning to Stillwater but the writing on the wall says NFL.
Edge rusher Collin Oliver was set to become Oklahoma State’s all-time career sack leaders before he suffered a foot injury early in the season. Olliver only played two games this season and recently accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl. With his announcement to play in the Senior Bowl, Oliver announced the end of his playing days as a Cowboy. He is projected to go on day number two of the NFL draft.
45 unforgettable plays of the Mike Gundy era
— Tyler Wheat (@TylerWheat7) August 12, 2024
#19- 2021 Bedlam inside BPS. OU drives late and the game is down to a 4th &10 with 14 seconds left. Collin Oliver falls down on the play, crawls at Caleb Williams to get the sack and put the Pokes in victory formation.
37-33 final pic.twitter.com/0Bck28LVRK
Wide receiver Brennan Presley left a legacy at Oklahoma State that will be hard to duplicate for future Cowboy wide outs. He leaves OSU as the all-time reception leader. Presley is also the only Oklahoma State Cowboy to produce four straight 1,000 all-purpose yardage seasons. Presley is predicted to be a late round draft pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
Now the Cowboys will have to hit the recruiting road in what could be the most important recruiting classes in recent years. Can they find the next Gordon, Oliver, or Presley? Only time will tell.
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Taylor Skieens has been an avid sports journalist with the McCurtain Gazette in Idabel, Oklahoma for seven years. He holds the title of Sports Editor for one of the oldest remaining print publications in the state of Oklahoma. Taylor grew up in the small lumber town of Wright City Oklahoma where he played baseball and basketball for the Lumberjax.