Was Saturday Oklahoma State’s Worst Loss of the Mike Gundy Era?

Recency bias would say that Oklahoma State’s loss to South Alabama on Saturday night was historically bad.

Falling 33-7, the Cowboys were dominated at home by a Sun Belt school that didn’t have a football program until 2009 and has only been in the FBS since 2012. OSU had 208 yards of total offense to South Alabama’s 395. OSU had 381 punt yards.

There have been plenty of amazing wins in the Mike Gundy era — Fiesta Bowls, Bedlams, games against Texas, Missouri in 2008 — but Saturday’s calamity started a discussion of whether this was the worst loss on the Mike Gundy era.

The recency bias might make it hard to definitively say for sure, but here is some of its competition.

2022: Kansas State 48, Oklahoma State 0

The Cowboys went to Manhattan last season at 6-1, fresh off a win against Texas in Stillwater. But then everything changed.

Using then-backup Will Howard in place of an injured Adrian Martinez, K-State had 495 yards of total offense to OSU’s 217. The Cowboys had more punt yards (279) than offensive yards.

The Cowboys’ leading rusher was Gunnar Gundy — who went in late for an injured Spencer Sanders and ran for 27 yards. Deondre Jackson was OSU’s leading running back with 20 rushing yards. His longest run was five yards.

It was also seemingly the major turning point of a season that saw the Cowboys climb to No. 7 in the AP Poll before finishing 7-6.

2016: Central Michigan 30, Oklahoma State 27

The officials blew a call to give Central Michigan an untimed down that resulted in a Fail Mary win, but one could certainly argue a team with Mason Rudolph, James Washington and Justice Hill shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place.

Cooper Rush has stuck in the NFL, proving he is a good quarterback. He threw for 368 yards and four touchdowns that day.

Team stats were fairly equal, though CMU did outgain OSU 418-338. The Cowboys were also a woeful 1-for-11 on third down while Central Michigan was 8-for-15.

2007: Troy 41, Oklahoma State 23

Another Sun Belt team from Alabama, Troy finished 8-4 in 2007, and the Trojans thumped OSU when the Cowboys came to town.

This was a young OSU team, featuring a sophomore Zac Robinson, a freshman Dez Bryant and a freshman Kendall Hunter. Adarius Bowman and Brandon Pettigrew were also on this roster. So no matter the youth, it feels like those names shouldn’t have had trouble with the Troy Trojans.

Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook (now a police officer at a high school) threw for 371 yards that day and had three total touchdowns. OSU had 335 punt yards. Troy had 562 yards of total offense.