Few Teams Better than Oklahoma State Over Last 10 Years

One thing we do as sports fans that’s annoying at best and irresponsible at worst is try and determine trajectory based on a single game, possession or month of play. I am the chief culprit here on pretty much every front given that having a website like this lends itself to, well, doing that very thing. And sometimes it works out. Sometimes you’re right. But oftentimes — almost all of the time — it’s best to try and glean takeaways by pulling back and looking at the bigger picture.

For Oklahoma State, that bigger picture has almost always looked rosy during the Mike Gundy era. No matter which 5- or 10-year cross-section you take from Gundy’s time in Stillwater, it’s been pretty great.

Today, with the season just over a week away, I wanted to look at where OSU stacks up nationally over the last five and 10 years just to see how consistently good they have been under Gundy.

5-Year Look

Ranked by win percentage

Clemson: 69-5 (LOL!)
Alabama: 66-6
Ohio State: 61-7
OU: 58-10
App State: 54-12 (never schedule App State)
LSU: 51-14
Georgia: 54-15
Boise State: 52-15
Wisconsin: 52-16
Penn State: 49-17
Notre Dame: 47-17
SDSU: 49-18
Michigan: 47-18
Iowa: 47-19
Washington: 47-20
Memphis: 47-20
Oklahoma State: 45-20
Florida: 44-20

• Washington and Florida are good company, especially when you’ve had two pretty mediocre seasons by your own standards over the last two years.

• Imagine being OU, losing 10 games in five years, and not being all that close to cracking the top three. Insanity.

• Two teams I was surprised to see on this list: Michigan and Penn State. Maybe Iowa, too.

• If you’re in the 50-win club over five years, that’s pretty nasty. OSU has flirted with that a few times but came up a few wins shy this time around.

• I’m curious about how many teams are ahead of OSU in both the 5- and 10-year category. I bet it’s not very many.

10-Year Look

Ranked by win percentage

Alabama: 124-15
Ohio State: 117-18
Clemson: 116-23
Oklahoma: 109-25
Boise State: 107-26
LSU: 103-28
Oregon: 101-32
Wisconsin: 102-34
App State: 61-21
Stanford: 98-35
Georgia: 100-36
Florida State: 96-37
Oklahoma State: 93-37
Notre Dame: 92-37

• To answer the above question: The Power 5 teams that have had better 5- and 10-year records than Oklahoma State are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, OU, LSU, Wisconsin and Georgia. That’s it. That’s pretty insane, fam. Seven schools and all but Wisconsin are the bluest of bloods.

• I wonder what it’s like to lose 15 games in 10 years.

• The big number here is 100. If you win 100 games over 10 years, your program is insane. Only nine on this list have done it, and OSU has an uphill road the next few years with a 11-win season and a 12-win season coming off the books if you’re looking at a 10-year period.

• Again, the long-term work Gundy has done in Stillwater is underrated. Almost nobody has been more productive over the last 10 years than OSU at winning games and stringing together great seasons. And yes, winning titles is difficult, but so is what OSU has done. In any given year Kansas State or Baylor or Auburn can bounce up and snag a conference crown. But to be this competitive over a decade? It’s certainly a rarity.