Oklahoma State Part of a Pretty Exclusive 90-Win Club in the 2010s

With just two games left this decade, it’s time to check in on the Oklahoma State football program’s current standing in the national landscape and legacy over the last 10 years. Both might surprise you.

I grabbed every team that was either already at 90 wins over the last decade or within striking distance with a month to go in the regular season and tried to figure out their max number of wins the rest of the way.

For example, if Ohio State beats Michigan, wins the Big Ten title and then wins the CFP, they’ll add four Ws to their already-impressive 115 victories. Anyway, here’s that list of teams and number of wins since 2010.

• Alabama has averaged 12.3 wins for a decade. Hold me.

• The clear-cut top four of the last decade is Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and OU. That’s tough for Oklahoma State, considering this run by OU coincided with OSU’s best decade of football ever. The result? Two (maybe three) wins against the Sooners.

• Related: Those four teams’ rivals (Michigan, South Carolina, Auburn and OSU) are 10-26 this decade against them and will probably be 10-30 after Saturday. South Carolina (!) has the most wins with four. Auburn has three, OSU two and poor Michigan has one win over Ohio State (but at least that 2010 victory doesn’t count!).

• Michigan is 1-14 since 2004 against Ohio State in case you’re looking for some miserable rivalry company!

• The clear-cut next tier is Wisconsin, Georgia, Oregon, Stanford and LSU. OSU is (strangely?) on their own a little bit. Or maybe on FSU Island with the Noles.

• Imagine being Stanford and coming into the season with 94 wins, knowing you’re going to get to that exclusive 100 club and then having to beat Notre Dame just to get to 99.

• Boise and Northern Illinois. OK. Should they be on the list? I guess, but a 6-6 OSU team dominated Boise last year. Not really sure what to do with that. It’s pretty clear that they’re impressive for what they are, but we don’t need to make it into something it’s not.

• Just consider this for a minute: In one month, the list of FBS teams with the most wins over the last decade will be something like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia, Wisconsin, LSU, Oregon, Stanford, Florida State and Oklahoma State. That is INSANE.

• I need Oregon-Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl like I need oxygen.

• Teams that haven’t reached (and won’t reach) 90 wins this decade: Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan, USC, Virginia Tech.

• Teams that haven’t reached 80: Florida, Iowa, Miami, Nebraska

• Teams that haven’t reached 70: Texas, Georgia Tech, UCLA, Arizona, Tennessee

• Teams that haven’t reached 60: Arkansas, Colorado, Syracuse, Purdue, Iowa State (?)

• Oklahoma State has 24 more wins than Texas in the last 10 years. Twenty-four. The Pokes have 18 more than Nebraska (imagine going back to 1995 and telling yourself this). They have 32 more than Tennessee. Forty-nine more than Colorado (I had to count on my hands for that one!).

• The point is, when you pull the lens back and start to look at the bigger picture, OSU has been super impressive, despite only winning one conference crown. I still think they could be Clemson if they put more effort toward recruiting, but 9.3 Ws, contention for a fistful of conference crowns and one real run at a national title? Yeah, the 2010s were pretty great.