PFB Picks: Predictions for Oklahoma State’s Week 2 Game against Arkansas

An unfamiliar, yet familiar, foe will be at Oklahoma State this weekend.

The Cowboys will host Arkansas at 11 a.m. Saturday on ABC. Despite sharing a border and their campuses being within driving distance of each other, these two programs haven’t met on a football field since 1980.

Here’s how the PFB staff sees this matchup 44 years in the making going.

Marshall Scott

Score: Oklahoma State 35, Arkansas 31

Game MVP: Alan Bowman

Uniform: Orange (Cursive Cowboys) – Orange – White

Thoughts: Give me the Cowboys in a tight one. I think the Razorbacks will justly sell out to try to slow down Ollie Gordon. With as good as that defensive front is and considering some of the Pokes’ struggles in the run game last week, Arkansas could have some success in that area. But in doing so, I think Bowman will do a good job at distributing to the three-headed monster of Brennan Presley, De’Zhaun Stribling and Rashod Owens. I’m also excited to see how Nick Martin and the OSU defense plan on containing dual-threat quarterback Taylen Green. If need be, I think Martin has the speed to keep Green relatively in check. This game should be a lot of fun.

Kyle Cox

Score: Oklahoma State 35, Arkansas 28

Game MVP: Ollie Gordon

Uniform: Orange (Old School Brand)-Orange-White

Thoughts: I’ll take the over and the Cowboys to cover. The Cowboys were pretty clean in their win over South Dakota State, all things considered, and they showed me a lot. I will revert to Ollie Gordon being my MVP pick until further notice. I think he finds a way to break open a couple of big runs against a Razorbacks defense, that has yet to be tested this year and got exposed in the ground game at times last year. If it weren’t worn last week, I’d pick the W-O-W to go with a striped stadium, but this would be just as nice, and the old school brand would be a nice wrinkle to help commemorate Leslie O’Neal’s Ring of Honor induction.

Dekota Gregory

Score: Oklahoma State 37, Arkansas 24

Game MVP: De’Zhaun Stribling

Uniform: Black (Throwback Brand) – Orange – White

Thoughts: Similar to last week, I don’t think Saturday is ever really comfortable for the Cowboys, but they’ll also again pull away at some point in the second half. Arkansas will have more size and talent than South Dakota State, and I know there’s more than meets the eye of its record, but this a 4-8 football team last year and 2024 won’t be much different.

As for MVP, I don’t really have any matchups or stats to support my decision. De’Zhaun Stribling is just a really good player that has to explode at some point, and I think this is the week.

I do have legit reasoning behind my uniform prediction, though, and maybe it’s cheating a bit. But Leslie O’Neal will be inducted into the Cowboy Football Ring of Honor on Saturday, and when OSU posted about it earlier this week, this was the uniform combo O’Neal was wearing in the picture. I expect a nod to the OSU legend.