Roundtable: Can the Cowboys Win the Big 12?

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What a whirlwind two weeks it’s been.

A week ago, we were resetting expectations for Oklahoma State’s season after a loss to Tulsa. Now, we’re wondering just how far in the other direction the pendulum has swung. The PFB writing staff got together Thursday morning to get a temperature check on things after the Cowboys’ win against Oregon.

Tyler Waldrep: What position/stat impressed you guys the most about Saturday’s win? For the sake of conversation let’s say you can’t just say “Drew” although Drew’s rushing would be fair game.

Kyle Cox: It has to be the offensive line for me. They owned the line of scrimmage and, for the most part, controlled a defensive front full of future NFL players. No sacks for Oregon. OSU outrushed the Ducks almost 3:1. The biggest deficit, seemingly, coming in, was a major factor in the win.

Marshall Scott: I think the sacks were what surprised me most on both sides of the ball. OSU had four sacks to Oregon’s goose egg a week after the Cowboys struggled in protection against Tulsa. All we talked about all last week was how good Oregon’s D-line was.

Then on the other side of the ball, the Cowboys’ pass rush made things quite uncomfortable for the Ducks and kept that Oregon offense behind the chains all day.

Tyler: Yeah, live, I was probably most impressed with the offensive line performance. It was definitely the thing that surprised me the most. On rewatch I noticed more issues at various points.

All stuff you’re happy to live with considering the talent Oregon has on that side of the ball, but stuff that could become frustrating if we find out that’s just who this line is regardless of who it plays. Given the jump in play you both noted, I do wonder how much of this performance against Oregon was just those guys needing to figure out some communication issues they occurred at Tulsa.

Funny enough after rewatching I think my top unit shifted to the defensive line. Especially where the pass rush was concerned, I thought too that they played much better. However, both DE James Williams and DC Skyler Cassity had huge reactions to that line of thinking. They said the gameplan week 1 was well executed from a pass-rush standpoint. The only thing I can figure is that OSU wasn’t hunting for sacks as much and preferred to play contain.

Marshall: Yeah, some of me wonders too if even if they executed the gameplan against TU, perhaps they honed in on a better gameplan against the Ducks. I imagine with essentially the whole team coming together for the first time, you find out what the group is good at as things progress.

Kyle: I know that the Oregon camp said OSU was showing some defensive looks that they weren’t expecting. I wonder if there was some form of Cassity & Co. saving some of their playbook for Oregon. Not that that should be an excuse, but maybe something there.

Tyler: Probably because of how Oklahoma State performed in the trenches (and Drew living up to our preseason expectations) we’ve all said something like “anything is possible now” since Saturday.

Can this team really win the Big 12? Is that the right conversation to have now or what do you still need to see to buy into OSU as a true Big 12 contender in 2026?

Marshall: I sorta think they can. We’ll find out a lot about Texas Tech on Friday night, but the Red Raiders through two games haven’t looked like the world-beaters they were expected to be. And — even if Oregon is down from where it has been — if you can beat the Ducks, you can surely hang with any team in this league.

Think it comes down to consistency. Will this group revert to the team that lost to Tulsa or was that a one-off? I think everything we thought before the season is back on the table, but I’m going to be a little more cautious with my optimism until this group proves it a few more weeks.

Kyle: I think it’s a fine conversation to have because we are just reacting to what we’ve seen. I think it would pay off in stress dividends for fans to be a bit more measured. We’ve see a high high and a low low. What does it look like in the middle? That’s what we will learn through October, I guess.

I think we can learn a lot from this weekend, to be honest. There should be no version of OSU settling a bit coming into Murray State. If they come in focused, acting like they’re terrified for anything that resembled the Tulsa trip, I’ll feel that much better about this team’s constitution.

Tyler: I agree with Marshall, except I’ve abandoned all caution. Given Dante Moore’s talent and the other future NFLers on that Oregon roster, I just think Oklahoma State should at least be able to hang with everyone else on its schedule.

I could see Texas Tech waking up this week and reverting back into the giant we all probably expected, but even then OSU should have the talent necessary to be a threat in that game.

Given the conversation about Oregon tipping signals I should probably scale back a little bit, but not having BYU or Utah on the schedule makes it tough to imagine this team being dominated by anyone it faces in Big 12 play (unless we see more self-imposed mistakes like TU). I’m not predicting this team runs the table, just that it can and should probably have a realistic chance to finish with only one or two conference losses if it plays up to Saturday’s new standard.

Kyle: I would agree that they have the talent. And now that they’ve pulled off the unbelievable, the expectations should be much higher. Maybe I’m just jaded from every 2014 and 2015 and, to a lesser extend, 2022 season that got dashed against the rocks down the stretch.

Tyler: As Kyle pointed out, Murray State shouldn’t be testing OSU this weekend.

Assuming the Cowboys do show up the right way and turn this thing into a blowout what (specifically) do you need to see to feel confident OSU is continuing to move in the right direction as a potential Big 12 contender?

Kyle: I think they should control the line of scrimmage and limit mistakes. Just steady Eddie, controlled football. Big plays are nice too. But no mistakes and no injuries…

Marshall: Kyle’s section in his Three Things post laid out how OSU has left these FCS games a little closer than expected of late. I want to see OSU go in and dispatch this team like a team with Big 12 title aspirations should. I’m not sure that means covering a 55.5-point spread because that’s a crazy number to look at, but I think it’ll have been a successful game if I’m writing about how some young depth pieces looked playing in the second half after the game.

Kyle: Agreed. I want to see Grant Jordan and/or Brodie Vehrs sling it around BPS for the first time.

Marshall: Precisely. I want to get excited about watching KD Jones run.

Tyler: Marshall read my mind here.

I’d love to see a backup running back have real juice for an extended sequence. Caleb Hawkins is good, but I worry about him holding up for nine Big 12 games if he has to touch the ball 25 times each week.

I also want to see multiple receivers or tight ends make plays through the air. We already know Wyatt Young and Justin Bowick are great, and we probably don’t even need to see Chris Barnes do it to believe it.

This is the kind of game where a receiver buried a bit deeper in the rotation should show up with either a huge statline or one incredible play. That to me, would show me Oklahoma State has the depth needed to put everyone on notice.