10 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 19-12 Loss to Tulsa

STILLWATER — The unthinkable happened on Friday night — Oklahoma State lost to Tulsa at home.

The Cowboys concluded their nonconference schedule with a 19-12 loss to the Golden Hurricane, moving the Pokes to 1-2 on the year with that lone win coming against FCS UT-Martin. Here are 10 thoughts on the game.

1. There Is No Excuse

There is no putting lipstick on this pig. OSU is a bad football team.

Tulsa brought a redshirt freshman quarterback to Stillwater. He was at East Tennessee State last year. It’s Year 1 of the Tre Lamb era of Tulsa football. OSU has to have more NIL than Tulsa. And it’s not like Tulsa has captured lightning in a bottle — it’s coming off losses to New Mexico State and Navy.

Against Oregon, I wondered if this was just Oregon being super good and an OSU quarterback making his first start in an unwinnable atmosphere. But if that 69-3 beatdown didn’t make it obvious that this was a bad OSU team, this game against Tulsa should.

2. This Feels Like the End

There have been times throughout the years where Mike Gundy pulled a rabbit out of his mullet and gotten his program back on track. This doesn’t feel like one of those times.

The 2014 season was rough, but Tyreek Hill ended a five-game losing streak when he returned that punt in Norman to make OSU bowl eligible. The Cowboys went on to beat Washington in that bowl, which propelled the Mason Rudolph era forward.

In 2023, OSU lost to South Alabama 33-7 in Boone Pickens Stadium. It felt like there might not be any coming back from that, but then Ollie Gordon led the Cowboys on a five-game winning streak. OSU finished that year 10-4 and appeared in the Big 12 title game.

This doesn’t feel like either of those instances. This rut the Cowboys have found themselves in has lasted more than a year. It’s included an 0-9 season in conference play, a 52-0 loss to Colorado (part of that 0-9 stretch), a 69-3 loss to Oregon and now a loss to a smaller school that shares the same state with the Pokes.

It feels like a matter of time before the most decorated era of OSU football comes to an end.

3. Oh, and the Whole World Was Watching

If someone in Rhode Island or California or  Louisiana wanted to watch some college football on Friday night, they had two options: OSU vs. Tulsa on ESPN and Iowa vs. Rutgers on FOX. (Iowa put up 38 points, by the way).

So, that took place in front of a national audience. Fun.

4. The First Time OSU Has Lost to Tulsa Since …

OSU last lost to Tulsa in 1998 when the Golden Hurricane beat the Pokes 35-20 in T-Town.

It’s the first time OSU has lost to Tulsa in Stillwater since 1951, when Tulsa beat J.B. Whitworth’s squad 35-7. Here’s a look at what the paper looked like the next day:

The last time that Tulsa beat #OkState in Stillwater?

1951.

Here is the Tulsa World sports cover on that Sunday. pic.twitter.com/v4xQ4bPInw

— Eric Bailey (@EricBaileyTW) September 20, 2025

This comes two weeks after OSU’s 66-point loss to Oregon — OSU’s worst loss since 1907. So, OSU went from breaking an about 118-year old bad record to breaking about a 74-year bad record. Maybe next week it’ll be under 50.

5. Former Pokes Had a Good Day

Although it wasn’t a great day to be a Cowboy, it wasn’t a bad day to be a former Cowboy.

After playing for OSU from 2020 through 2022, Tulsa running back Dominic Richardson made his return to Boone Pickens Stadium on Friday and proceeded to carry the rock 31 times for 146 yards. He ran tough, had a fumble but otherwise just kept putting his shoulder down and falling forward.

Braylin Presley was a Cowboy legacy when he joined the Pokes in 2022. The younger brother of Brennan Presley, Braylin spent just one season in Stillwater before transferring back home to Tulsa. He caught a touchdown — one of only two TDs score in the game — and had 34 receiving yards on two catches. He also ran three times for another 32 yards. It was the first receiving TD of his college career.

Tulsa’s Dominic Richardson and Braylin Presley saw the game against Oklahoma State as revenge.

Here’s what they said after the 19-12 win in Stillwater. pic.twitter.com/qE60J73Z0B

— Jacob Unruh (@jacobunruh) September 20, 2025

6. Will OSU Win Again This Season?

There’s probably not another team on OSU’s schedule who would lose to New Mexico State. Not that college football is totally transitive, but I say that to say, the Cowboys will likely (and deservedly) be an underdog in its nine Big 12 games.

OSU went 0-10-1 in 1991, which is the last time they’ve won fewer than three games in a season.

This is looking way ahead, but there’s a chance OSU’s game against Kansas State on Nov. 15 is some bizzarro-world game. It’s a game that usually features two teams that might not be the best teams in the country but are always sound, solid football teams. But as of writing OSU and K-State are a combined 2-5 with the two wins being against FCS squads.

7. Offensive Identity?

Three games into the year, and I have no idea what OSU’s offensive identity is.

OSU is now averaging 14 points and 324.3 yards per game. The Cowboys have scored just four touchdowns in that time.

The Pokes’ opening drive Friday night felt solid. The Cowboys used tempo. Zane Flores whipped around some quick passes and went 3-for-4 through the air and rattled off a 15-yard run before the drive stalled and the Cowboys kicked a field goal.

It felt like that tempo might be what OSU was trying to do, but after that initial field goal, OSU went punt (three-and-out), punt, punt (three-and-out), punt, turnover on downs, turnover on downs.

8. Since Spencer Sanders’ Injury

Let me take you back to Oct. 15, 2022.

The Cowboys were 5-0 and ranked eighth in the country. They were set to play No. 13 TCU in Fort Worth.

Before that game started, rumors started swirling that Spencer Sanders was nursing some sort of injury. He played that day, but the Pokes fell to the Horned Frogs 43-40 in double overtime. The next week, OSU bounced back with a 41-34 win against Texas, where Sanders again played. But then everything started going downhill.

Sanders played most of the game the next week in Manhattan, where the Cowboys fell 48-0. Sanders missed the Kansas game the next week, where the Jayhawks beat the Garret Rangel-led Pokes 37-16 before KU fans stormed the field celebrating KU’s first bowl berth since 2008.

Gunnar Gundy started the next week, before Sanders returned to the field and led the Cowboys to a comeback win midway through the game. Sanders played the next week, but the Cowboys looked awful in Norman, falling 28-13 in what ended up being Sanders’ final game in an OSU uniform. OSU would close the year with losses to West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Jumping back that game in Lawrence (the first game Sanders didn’t start), OSU has gone 14-19. And that somehow includes a 10-win 2023 season. In that same stretch, OSU has lost 11 of those games by at least 20 points. Two of those losses have come against Group of Five teams.

This 2025 team is new, but this situation isn’t exactly.

9. Shoutout Rodney Fields/Parker Robertson

The one thought about something positive: running back Rodney Fields Jr. and safety Parker Robertson had career games.

Only a redshirt freshman, Fields was banged up to start the season. He played some against Oregon, but this was his first game as OSU’s featured back. He took 17 carries and ran for 113 yards while also catching six passes for another 39 yards. It was the first 100-yard performance of his young career after he showed bright spots last season while running for 99 yards and a touchdown across four games.

A former walk-on redshirt senior, Parker Robertson made 15 (!!) tackles Friday night. He also had 1.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups and forced a fumble that could’ve gotten OSU back into the game had the Cowboy offense been able to capitalize on it.

10. Whatever Happens Next, OSU Needs to Be Aligned

Wherever Oklahoma State goes from here, everyone needs to be rowing in one direction.

Things felt dicey throughout last season, but the disfunction peaked that day of the board of regents meeting.

From the reports that OSU and Gundy were in a standoff to Kayse Shrum’s resignation as OSU’s president to athletic director Chad Weiberg working without a contact, it doesn’t feel like OSU is aligned. Maybe all of those things are independent of each other, but it at least gives the perception that OSU isn’t aligned. And there might not be a worse time in the history of college athletics for things to be out of alignment.

So, it’s time for everyone — head football coach, athletic director, university president and board of regents — to get on the same page. No matter who those people are. And that needs to happen by the time the transfer portal window opens.