OSU Football: Looking Back at the Cowboys' Obscure 1900s Matchups
Oklahoma State’s long football history has come with its fair share of odd opponents.
OSU is coming off of a 10-4 season and a trip to the Big 12 Championship. With Ollie Gordon II expected to be in the Heisman conversation next season and OSU hoping to make it back to Arlington, the future looks bright in Stillwater.
However, the Cowboys have not always been a conference contender or nationally relevant. Before the Cowboys came to the forefront of modern college football, they played some interesting opponents.
Although OSU still plays some lesser-known FCS teams, some opponents from the first few decades no longer exist. Particularly in the early 1900s, OSU played a handful of teams that either no longer exist or most people have never heard of.
Among those is Tulsa, but not the Golden Hurricane, which OSU plays regularly in the 21st century. In 1905, OSU lost to the Tulsa Businessmen 6-5 at home.
Known then as Oklahoma A&M, the Aggies scored five points in another game that season, beating Central State from Edmond in their only 1905 victory. Considering football was a seemingly completely different sport than we see today, OSU’s scores from a century ago are filled with oddities.
No matchups exemplify that better than Phillips University in Enid, which has been closed since 1998. OSU split the first two matchups in 1909 and 1910, with neither team scoring more than 14 points. The next two games were a different story.
Phillips lost 112-3 in 1913 and 134-0 in 1914. The 1914 matchup still stands as the most points OSU has scored in a game.
The Cowboys have many other notable matchups from their early days, including games against Norman Naval Air Station, Chilocco Indian College, Pawnee Indian School and Kingfisher. Despite their extensive history of playing many opponents, the Cowboys still have room to grow the list, playing South Dakota State for the first time next season.
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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.