The Calendar turns to March next week which means spring football practices will soon be upon us. With the first wave of changes coming to the Big 12 next fall the pressure is on for the Cowboys to put themselves in position to not only take on the newcomers but to potentially become one of the flagship programs after the departures of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024. Oklahoma State hasn’t won a Conference championship since 2011, when they finished with an overall record of 12-2, but they were literally inches away in 2021. With Mike Gundy at the helm as the longest tenured coach in the Big 12, there are a few pressing matters that he, and his staff, will need to address this spring.
Gundy and the Cowboys have had mixed results in the Big 12, and ending a conference championship drought that spans more than a decade won’t be easy…but it also won’t be impossible. Here are six areas of focus that could help lead the Pokes back to prominence in 2023.
Find Some Guys Who Can Tackle
Linebacker Mason Cobb was brilliant at getting to the point of attack. He racked up double digit tackles three times last season and placed second on the team in total tackles with 96. His 16-tackle performance against TCU was his best outing of the season and helped take the Horned Frogs to the wire in Ft. Worth.
However, when the transfer portal opened up on December 5th, Cobb was the first Oklahoma State player to enter. He has chosen to spend his remaining time as a college athlete at USC, which leaves a massive gap at the second level of the defense. To make matters worse, Jason Talylor, who led the team with 99 tackles in 2022, is off to the NFL. That leaves linebacker Xavier Benson as the team’s leading returning tackler (76 total tackles) in 2023.
If the Cowboys are going to have more success this fall then they absolutely need to fill the holes left behind by the transfer portal. In all Oklahoma State lost four key contributors from their defense due to the transfer portal. Cobb, defensive end Trace Ford, safety Thomas Harper, and corner Jabbar Muhammad are all gone…as well as defensive coordinator Derrick Mason who announced last month that he’s taking a sabbatical from coaching.
At the start of last season, there were a lot of expectations on this team, especially after finishing 2021 with a 12-win season, which tied the record for the most wins in school history. On the topic of 2021, it’s worth remembering that it was their high defensive productivity that helped the Cowboys come within inches of winning their first Big 12 title in a decade. They’ve got to find the right guys on defense, be it on campus already or through the portal, in order to get back to where they can challenge for the Big 12 again.
Remain Disciplined
Oklahoma State’s win over Texas last season will be remembered for multiple reasons but most notably it’ll be the penalty issue that carries the conversation well into the future. The Longhorns were flagged 14 times in penalties that were accepted as opposed to the Cowboys who didn’t have a single penalty stick against them. The Pokes were flagged for a first-quarter OSU holding penalty, but it was declined, and another Cowboys holding call was offset by a Texas foul. The end result was a 41-34 win for O-State and the extra 120 yards gained through the 14 Texas penalties were a huge part of that one-score victory.
On average Oklahoma State surrendered just 33.54 yards per game due to penalties while their opponents were nearly twenty yards higher at 53.31. Those are the types of factors that go into determining favorable point spreads. The Cowboys need to continue to play clean football to find favorable situations that could produce a win in tight games.
Find Team Unity
We’ve already talked about the impact of the transfer portal but it’s a much deeper issue than previously discussed. Oklahoma State has lost 16 players to the portal and has gained 13. That’s a lot of new faces before we even get to the 2023 recruiting class. It’s no secret that the Cowboys didn’t have a unified locker room at the end of the season and now the question is will it improve this fall? A unified locker room could absolutely lead to an improvement in team play. They need to use the spring to establish more of a bond, and ensure the team is unified moving forward.
Find A Deep Threat
I’m seriously not trying to beat a dead horse here but if there was a united affected more than any other by the transfer portal then it’s the receivers. Bryson Green, John Paul Richardson, and Stephon Johnson Jr. all entered the transfer portal in a 24-hour span this offseason. Adding to that is Braydon Johnson who has declared for the NFL Draft and the Cowboys are down four of their top five receivers from a year ago.
Help is on the way through a trio of receivers coming out of the portal but Talyn Shettron has to be the early frontrunner to become the next star in Oklahoma State’s passing game. After being ranked as the No. 126 overall prospect (No. 19 receiver) in the 2022 recruiting class, Shettron was lightly used last season, catching 3 passes for 31 yards and a score.
Avoid Complacency
During his 17 years leading the Cowboys from the sidelines, Mike Gundy has made Oklahoma State one of the most consistent in college football. Gundy has guided OSU to a 149-69-0 record (68.3 pct.). Before Gundy, OSU had made 16 bowl appearances in their 104-year history, but with him at the helm, the Cowboys had made 16 in 17 years, the exception was 2005, which was his first season as head coach.
The danger for the Cowboy coaching staff is complacency. Gundy is the winningest coach in OSU history and seems to be able to write his own ticket within the athletic department. Concerns have arisen within the fanbase that complacency has led to the inability to make adjustments, change strategy, and handle personnel issues. I’m not sure that I’m fully on board when it comes to this being the root of the issues OSU has faced but there’s no denying that there are issues there and we can’t fully write off the fact that complacency is a real threat.
Focus On The Defense
Well here we are once again coming back around to a topic that we’ve already addressed but this is a huge factor for the Cowboys this offseason. Last year OSU allowed 178 rushing yards, 257 passing yards, and nearly 29 points per game to its opponents. Those aren’t great numbers and the 4.7 yards per carry that opponents averaged is particularly atrocious.
Last month Gundy added Bryan Nardo to his staff as the new defensive coordinator and additionally promoted Joe Bob Clements to co-defensive coordinator. The combinations of players departing, players arriving, and new coaches added to the staff should make the defense a priority area of focus through spring ball.
Conclusion
While it is evident that 2021 was a big year for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, it’s time to move past that. There have been so many changes within the player personnel and the coaching staff that the run to the Big 12 championship game is now just a distant memory. This year will bring about a rebuild to the program which presents challenges but also has the opportunity to lay the foundation for another run at winning the conference. From 2010 to 2017 the Cowboys produced six seasons of at least 10 wins. Since 2017 they’ve only produced one season of 10 wins or more. Yes, that was 2021 and now it’s time to get back to that standard.