Series History: Oklahoma State and Houston Have a Long History

The Cowboys and Cougars have only been Big 12 mates for three years, but they’ve got a long history.

No. 18 Oklahoma State heads to No. 20 Houston for a primetime matchup on Saturday night. This maybe the first time these teams have met in a ranked-on-ranked matchup, but there have been some significant games between the two.

Let’s take a look at series history between OSU and Houston.

Capsule

Overall record: UH leads 11-10-1
Neutral site meetings: N/A
Meetings in Stillwater: UH leads 6-5
Meetings in Houston: Tied 5-5-1
Past 10 meetings: OSU leads 6-4
First meeting (1951): UH defeated OSU 31-7
Most recent meeting (2025): UH defeated OSU 39-17

A Long History

The two teams were also conference mates in the Missouri Valley from 1951-56. Houston was 5-1 against the Cowboys during that span. The two teams continued to play on a semi-regular basis playing nine times from 1957-70. OSU was 6-2-1 during that time. The schools reunited splitting home-and-home matchups in 1986 and 1987, and then played in 2006, 2008 and 2009 in nonconference matchups before the Cougars joined the Big 12 in 2023.

Big 12 Welcome (2023)

Oklahoma State welcomed Houston to the league with a 43-30 win in 2023. The Cowboys fell behind 23-9 in the second quarter before Brennan Presley and Ollie Gordon went off.

Presley reeled in 15 catches and 189 yards, both career highs, while Gordon racked up 164 rushing yards and three scores. The Cowboys outscored the Cougars 24-7 in the second half en route to a road win that set them up to be able to make that Big 12 Championship appearance against Texas.

The Dez Breakout Game (2008)

Cowboy faithful had already seen what Dez Bryant could do as a freshman the year before, but this was the breakout game for the nation’s best receiver.

The Cowboys had taken care of Washington State in Week 1 and now opened their 2008 home slate with a visit from the Cougars.

Zac Robinson threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns. All of those scores (and most of those yards) went to Dez. His 236 receiving yards is still No. 4 on the list for most in a game by a Cowboy. Dez also had a 71-yard punt return for a TD. His 311 all-purpose yards in that game is ninth all-time at OSU. Running back Kendall Hunter chipped in 210 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.

The Cowboys hung 56 points and gained 699 yards on the Cougars, but they trailed 16-14 at the half thanks to some big plays by future All-American still current NFL player Case Keenum. Keenum threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns and picked up 81 rushing yards.

But after throwing an interception in the second quarter, Robinson led OSU to seven-straight touchdown drives to finish the game. How about that for some offensive efficiency.

OSU would go on to start 7-0 that season including a win at No. 3 Missouri. The Cowboys’ only losses were to No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Texas Tech and No. 3 Oklahoma. They fell to No. 15 Oregon in the Holiday Bowl, but.