What Would a Win on Friday Mean for Oklahoma State?
The Oklahoma State Cowboys head into game No. 4 of their Big 12 schedule searching for something. Following an 0-3 start in their conference schedule, the Cowboys are in dire need of a shift in momentum.
The tables are set for the Cowboys to salvage the 2024 football season. They face off against an extremely tough BYU Cougar football team this week in what is shaping up to be a massive game for the orange and black. Oklahoma State has been licking its wounds following a three-game losing streak, but with the bye week in the rearview mirror, the Cowboys have their sights set on the Cougars of BYU.
How important is Friday’s matchup with BYU? Let’s first consider what the remainder of the schedule looks like for the Cowboys. BYU enters the contest ranked 13th in the nation. They are riding a six-game winning streak including a perfect 3-0 mark in the Big 12 Conference. The Cougars have quality wins over No. 17 Kansas State, Baylor and Arizona. BYU is currently in the driver’s seat of the Big 12 Conference.
An upset has to be brewing for the Cougars, and what better team to pull it off than the Cowboys of Oklahoma State? A win on Friday for Oklahoma State could completely change the tide of momentum. The Cowboy magic from a season ago is somewhere inside the 2024 team, and Friday is the perfect time for that magic to emerge once again.
With a win on Friday, Oklahoma State won’t be completely out of the storm, but the remainder of the schedule seems a bit more manageable. All of the remaining five games on the schedule outside of this week’s matchup against BYU, are against unranked football teams. Arizona State and Texas Tech will likely sneak into the rankings soon, but both of those squads have yet to hit the meat of their Big 12 schedule.
The Cowboys are still looking at winnable football games against Baylor, TCU and Colorado. If they can somehow sneak out a win against either Texas Tech or Arizona State then they could easily be rolling into bowl season with seven plus victories.
All of that hinges on Friday night in front of a national audience. A victory over the Cougars and the Cowboys head into in their final five games with a wave of momentum and bowl game aspirations. A loss and they are once again left picking up the pieces of a likely sub-par season.
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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.