10 Thoughts on Oklahoma States’ 45-27 Loss to Baylor

BOX SCORE
PHOTOS

STILLWATER — A wild week in Stillwater ended with Doug Meacham leading the Cowboys into Boone Pickens Stadium for their Big 12 opener.

Oklahoma State lost to Baylor 45-27 on Saturday in what was the first game since longtime OSU coach Mike Gundy was fired earlier in the week. Here are 10 thoughts on the game.

PFB+ Sale: PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link

1. It Was at Least Sort of Fun

The Cowboys lost by 18, but in terms of entertainment, Saturday’s game was a step forward from the handful of uncompetitive beatdowns that have taken place at OSU’s expense of late.

I was talking with someone before the game about how revered OSU’s trip to Provo was last year just because of how competitive the game was.

Losing by 18 points isn’t the standard at OSU, but considering the Cowboys’ now 12-game FBS losing streak has featured six games where OSU has lost by at least 20 points and six games have seen the Cowboy offense fail to reach 20 points, this loss was at the very least more appeasing to the eyes.

It’s was a bit like watching an Adam Sandler comedy. It’s probably not going to win any major awards, but you’re not going to have a terrible time watching it.

2. An Offensive Refresh

With Mike Gundy cutting his coaching teeth as an offensive coordinator, every time the OSU offense has struggled (which has been a lot the past two years), speculation has started about whether Gundy allows his offensive coordinator full control of the offense.

It might be harsh to jump to that conclusion after just one game, but it’s undeniable that the Cowboys’ offensive gameplan was as creative as it’s been in some time.

Interim coach (and OC) Doug Meacham earlier this week was calling for his team to have some fun, and fun it was.

We’ll get into some of the fun aspects throughout these thoughts, but how’s this for how different the offense was:

OSU had 349 yards of total offense in the first half Saturday. It’s the most yards the Cowboys have put up in a first half since Nov. 13, 2021 (TCU).

3. Secret Weapon Sam Jackson V

Sam Jackson was the star of the Cowboys’ spring game, but (like a lot of OSU’s offense), he was limited in the early portions of the season.

That changed with Meacham, who recruited Jackson to TCU as a quarterback.

Jackson, now a receiver, had just two catches for five receiving yards Saturday, but that tells a minimal part of the story. He was constantly involved in motion, often times getting the ball with the option to throw.

The former TCU and Cal quarterback threw four times for 46 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown came on a double pass where Flores hit Jackson behind the line of scrimmage before Jackson heaved it downfield to an uncovered Josh Ford.

Some trickery for the TD 👀

6⃣➡️1⃣8⃣➡️4⃣0⃣@OGandE | 📺: ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/bsUKk9HenD

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) September 27, 2025

Jackson also had nine rushing yards.

At the very least, he’s going to give opposing defenders something to think about when he’s on the field, which can only help as OSU continues to bring the inexperienced Flores along.

4. Wendell Gregory Is an Issue for Opposing O-Lines

OSU has to find a way to keep Wendell Gregory in Stillwater.

A redshirt freshman transfer from South Carolina, Gregory didn’t necessarily have an eye-popping stat line Saturday, finishing with three tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss, but he was so disruptive.

He forced multiple holding calls because the Baylor tackles were having a hard time keeping Gregory in front of them. He also blew up an attempted fourth-down run by instantly being in the backfield. He didn’t finish that fourth-down stop with the tackle, but he diverted the ball carrier enough for his teammates to get free and make the play.

He’s a certified dude and is quickly climbing the charts of most impactful players on the team.

5. But the Defense as a Whole Left Much to be Desired

With that being said, this obviously wasn’t the ideal day for Todd Grantham’s defense.

Baylor scored 45 points and gained 612 yards. The D had its opportunities, but OSU could not get off the field on third down.

A 3rd-and-6 ended in a 49-yard run. A 3rd-and-7 ended in a 9-yard pass. Perhaps the biggest backbreaker of them all was a 3rd-and-11 in the fourth quarter that ended with a 35-yard pass. Stops on any of those, and who knows what happens?

Going with that, big plays were a killer. The Bears had nine pass plays of at least 15 yards and five rushes of at least 10 yards.

The offense looked better Saturday than it had all season, so maybe the defense can make a similar jump. But it’s going to be tough for the Cowboys to win another game giving up 40+ points and 600+ yards.

6. Punting Decisions

Another takeaway fans were going to have from this game was what Meacham did in fourth downs around midfield.

Without going back and looking at every fourth down over the past X number of seasons, Gundy definitely had the stigma of being conservative in those scenarios. Meacham showed some early aggression but did punt once late.

On 4th-and-4 from the Baylor 39 in the first quarter, Meacham didn’t seem to even think about punting it (or attempting a 56ish-yard field goal). The Cowboys got up to the line of scrimmage and forced a Baylor timeout. The OSU offense then returned to the field, and Flores completed a pass to Fields that came up a yard short of the marker. Baylor scored seven plays later.

On 4th-and-6 from the OSU 49-yard line in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys elected to punt it as a smattering of boos echoed through the stadium. I think that punt feels less bad if OSU hadn’t ran the ball on 3rd-and-10 to set up the 4th-and-6. But you could also argue that given it was the fourth quarter and the Pokes were down, they should’ve stayed aggressive.

The result was the same, though — a Baylor touchdown. This TD drive was a back-breaker. Baylor took 5:29 off the clock, going 89 yards in 10 plays. That gave the Bears their 45-27 lead and left the Cowboys just 6:31 to overcome that.

7. Penalty Problems

The officials will have to ice their shoulders on Sunday because of all the flags they threw.

This is an area where OSU teams have historically been good under Gundy. So much so his “Discipline and Toughness” moniker is plastered all around.

But eight OSU penalties resulted in 100 yards for Baylor. For what it’s worth, Baylor also had eight penalties for 60 yards.

The one that stands out the most was Gavin Freeman’s holding call on what would’ve been a Flores touchdown run. Having said that, I’m not sure Flores scores if Freeman doesn’t hold, but I think Flores would’ve at least gotten the first down on third down.

It’s an area that will need to be cleaned up for the Pokes.

8. Trent Howland Reemerges

When Trent Howland has been handed the ball in an OSU uniform, it has usually gone well for the Pokes. The issue has been they haven’t handed him the ball all that much.

Perhaps Saturday was his undeniable turning point.

Howland finished with 16 carries for 84 yards and two touchdowns against Baylor. In OSU’s first three games this season, Howland carried just six times for 31 yards — all of which came against Oregon.

That means a guy who has run for 5.2 yards a carry this year couldn’t even get a carry in two of the Cowboys’ games.

Howland, who Dave Hunziker labeled ‘The Joliet Freight Train’ because of his 6-foot-2, 247-pound frame, was good last season for OSU, as well. In a year in which the Cowboys struggled to run the ball, Howland finished the 2024 season averaging 5.6 yards across 41 carries. That yards per attempt number led Cowboys with at least 10 carries by nearly a full yard.

Oh, and as Bobbie Miles’ grandfather once said:

Howland threw a ball to Royal Capell in the third quarter that nearly ended in a touchdown (Howland took it in himself the next play).

In short, handing Howland the rock has been free yards, and it looks like OSU is finally willing to take advantage of that fact.

9. A Freshman Name to Know: Royal Capell

Speaking of …

It has to be tough being a true freshman in the transfer portal era because more often than not coaches would probably prefer a guy with college experience.

OSU brought in six wide receivers from the transfer portal this offseason, but despite that, true freshman Royal Capell has carved himself out a little bit of a role.

Capell had played 25 offensive snaps entering Saturday’s game against Baylor, according to PFF. He had a six-yard catch against Oregon and a six-yard run against Tulsa.

Capell got the ball again Saturday catching that 13-yard pass from Howland and finishing with four catches for 27 yards.

Some background: Capell is listed at 5-foot-10, 205 pounds. Out of Cibolo-Steele High School, Capell was the No. 880 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking for the 2025 recruiting class. He also had offers to Oregon, Oklahoma, Baylor, Cincinnati, Duke, Missouri and others.

10. What A (Surreal, Somber, Exciting?) Week

The Mike Gundy era ending as abruptly as it did is a sad close to an outstanding chapter.

It would’ve been much more storybook for the greatest coach in the program’s history to get a happy ending, but look to Gary Patterson or Bill Belichick to see that legendary coaches don’t always get that storybook ending.

No one will sniff the accomplishments of Gundy in Stillwater for some time. It’s impossible. He won 170 games. That’s more wins than Mike Leach. It’s more than Barry Switzer. And Gundy won all of those games in Stillwater.

Gundy built a program from just another Big 12 team into a nationally relevant winner. Put his statue outside of the stadium. Name the field after him. Put him in every hall of fame he is eligible for.

With all that said, OSU had to find a way to step into the modern era of college football before it was too late. The program had not just grown stale but fallen from a yearly relevant winner into a team that struggled to stay competitive.

OSU had turned into a DVD player in a world of streaming; an iPod in a world of iPhones. For its time, those were awesome and you could still use them, but it’d be far from efficient.

This week has brought a wide range of emotions in Stillwater. An entire generation knew nothing but Gundy as the Cowboys’ coach. All normal-aged college kids right now either weren’t born or had just been born when Gundy took over. It’s surreal to think anyone but him would man the OSU sideline.

It’s sad that it didn’t end cleaner. His firing came on a Tuesday after he spoke at a news conference the day before. It came a handful of days after OSU students chanted for his firing during OSU’s home loss to Tulsa. It stinks that it ended that way.

This week has also been exciting, though. For the first time in more than two decades, the OSU job is open. And because of Gundy, the job is in a much better place now than it was when he took it. It now doesn’t have to be a job that someone takes while looking for another job — ala Les Miles to LSU. Gundy proved you can win long term in Stillwater.

There’s a game I’ve played way too much of over the past two years called Cyberpunk 2077. In that, there’s a line that reads “Not a single thing in this world isn’t in the process of becoming something else.” It’s a scary thought, but true. Change is inevitable. You must go forward.

All week, I’ve tried to wrangle all of those feelings into some sort of column and really couldn’t.  So, what I’ve come up with here at the end of 10 Thoughts is that it’s been a surreal, sad, but exciting week.