Five Predictions for Oklahoma State Athletics in 2026

We’ve just about made it around the big fiery ball in the sky again.

With 2025 exiting stage left, here are five predictions for Oklahoma State athletics in 2026.

1. Cowboy Wrestling Beats Iowa

It’s hard to imagine, but the Cowboys haven’t beaten the Hawkeyes on a wrestling mat since 2019 — the Nick Piccininni pin dual.

OSU has been pulling closer of late, though. After the Hawkeyes won by an average of 19 team points between 2020 and 2023, David Taylor’s Cowboys lost by five in his first year at the head of the program.

Then the Cowboys and Hawkeyes met at National Duals in November and lost by two (made perhaps slightly closer by a forfeit at heavyweight).

Penn State is still atop the modern wrestling world, but OSU getting over the Iowa hump would be but another sign that Taylor and the Cowboys are on the hunt.

2. Cowboy Basketball Makes the NCAA Tournament

I very much enjoy watching Cade Cunningham play basketball, but I’ve grown tired of typing the phrase “since Cade” so much. This current Cowboy squad has made me do it a lot, and I predict in 2026 I will type “this is the first time the Cowboys have made the NCAA Tournament since Cade.”

This team still has its flaws (namely defensively), so I’ll slightly pump the brakes on what the expectations will be in the tournament for now, but I feel confident this group will scrap enough in a tough Big 12 to hear its name on Selection Sunday.

3. Cowgirl Basketball Makes the Sweet 16

This would be the fourth time in program history the Cowgirls made the Sweet 16 after doing so in 1991, 2008 and 2014.

OSU is 12-2 at this point and have been ranked or on the fringes of a ranking the entire season. The schedule hasn’t been the toughest, but in those not-so-tough moments, the Cowgirls have done all you could ask — dominate. They’ve already scored at least 100 points in five games.

OU got them pretty good, but there were portions early in that game where OSU was competitive. (And after seeing OU live, I think the Sooners are quite good).

The Cowgirls started their Big 12 slate with a 28-point win in Cincinnati. If they can finish high in the league again and get a solid seed, I think OSU is capable of going on a little run come March.

4. Cowboy Football Wins A Conference Game (Perhaps More than One)

How quickly can Eric Morris turn around a program that hasn’t won a Big 12 game in two years? I have no clue, especially considering there is still a ton of work to do on the roster. But I do think the Cowboys will be back in the Big 12 win column in 2026.

For one, statistically speaking, that can’t happen three years in a row, right?

Secondly, it just seems like things are modernizing at OSU football on account of the fact the Cowboys have a GM who is younger than some current college players. Parity has been reigning supreme in this NIL era, and with OSU being structured more modernly as a program, the Cowboys should at least be a part of that parity in 2026.

5. Brian Musau Cements OSU Track GOAT Status

Did you know that there is an athlete on OSU’s campus who is perhaps better than any in his team’s history? His name is Brian Musau.

A junior from Machakos, Kenya, Musau has already led national championship-winning teams (plural), won individual national titles (plural) and set an NCAA record.

He was a freshman on OSU’s national title winning cross country team in 2023. Musau was named the Big 12’s Cross Country Runner of the Year that season after he finished first at the Big 12 meet — a meet he has now won three times in three tries after this past season.

That spring, Musau won another national title as part of OSU’s DRM squad. His outdoor 5K time of 13:13.29 was the best in all of the NCAA that year.

As a sophomore during the 2024-25 school year, Musau again won the Big 12 cross country meet before a super spring that saw him win the NCAA 5K indoor and outdoor titles. He also set the NCAA outdoor record in the 5K at 12:59.82.

Then this year, he again led the Cowboy cross country team to a national title. He finished first at the Big 12 meet for a third time and was named Big 12 Runner of the Year for a third time.

If we listed all his accolades, this post would be much longer than it already is, but OSU track coach Dave Smith met with the reporters after the cross country national title, and I asked him sort of where Musau ranks among the program’s all-time athletes.

“Joe Dial, who was a pole vaulter here in the 1980s, has the OSU record for the most points scored at the national championships at over 50 point,” Smith said. “… Then there’s Nick Miller, who was a hammer thrower here in the in the early 2010s with the second most. Brian’s going to overtake those guys I think. He’s close already with two national titles under his belt. I think by the times he leaves OSU, he’ll have more All-American finishes, more conference titles and more national titles than any athlete we’ve ever had.”