One week ago, Oklahoma State fans felt a little optimistic after the Cowboys showed some life against Baylor just a few days after firing head coach Mike Gundy. Sure, they didn’t win, but the game was within one score for the majority of the first three quarters, and for the first time in what felt like years, the offense had some creativity. A lot of that optimism came to a screeching halt on Saturday, however, when the Cowboys traveled to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats.
Coming into the game, Arizona had not only one of the best defenses in the conference, but also in the country, and that was on full display against Oklahoma State, as the Cowboys couldn’t get anything going. While the Wildcats ultimately scored 41 points against the Cowboys, the defense did a decent job at times, so perhaps that’s something to feel good about. Let’s break it down.
The Offense Falls Flat Yet Again
Zane Flores has been dealt a tough hand. Sure, he’s a Division 1 quarterback, but moving from backup to starter for a team full of issues can’t be easy. Still, after not turning the ball over for the last couple of weeks—especially after a decent outing in the Baylor loss last week—it felt like he was finding some rhythm. That was not the case against the stout Arizona defense.
Flores didn’t play the full game, but most of it, and in his time, he completed just 9-of-20 passes for 47 yards, 0 touchdowns, and an interception. He did have a nice 27-yard scramble, but he finished the game with only 18 total yards on 6 carries. But nobody really got it going on the ground for the Cowboys.
Since Rodney Field Jr. had a breakout game against Tulsa a couple of weeks ago when he ran for 113 yards on 17 carries, he’s only carried the ball a combined 14 times for 70 yards in the last two weeks. As a team, the Cowboys managed just 89 yards on the ground on 31 carries for an abysmal 2.9 yards per carry average.
The Cowboys are not good, and that’s not likely to change any time soon, but it would be nice if they could at least put together some decent possessions, especially when they’ve been gifted good field position.
Give the Defense Some Credit
Despite Arizona scoring with ease at times, the Cowboy defense did look like it had made some strides. After a number of guys transferred out this last week, the depth was depleted at a number of positions, but guys still stepped up and made plays at times.
Arizona racked up 478 yards on offense, more than triple what Oklahoma State was able to do. Quarterback Noah Fifita completed 28-of-38 passes for 376 yards and 5 touchdowns. The Wildcats were dominant through the air, and that was largely due to the Cowboys’ secondary giving up 11 pass plays of at least 15 yards, 4 of which were touchdowns.
On the bright side, the Cowboys held the Wildcats to just 45 rushing yards on 33 attempts. 7 different guys accounted for at least half a sack for a total of 6, and Fifita literally had to make several spectacular plays just to escape the pass rush. Linebacker Wendell Gregory had a particularly solid game with 3 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. The Cowboys also forced a couple of turnovers as Parker Robertson had an interception, and LaDainian Fields picked off a pass and ran it back for a touchdown.
LaDainian Fields with a pick 6️⃣ in the 4th for @CowboyFB #Big12FB | 📺 TNT, truTV, HBO Max pic.twitter.com/JGHrvMJmoW
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) October 4, 2025
Still, there’s a lot of work to do, or it’s going to be a very long season in conference play. After Houston next week, the Cowboys host Cincinnati before traveling to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech. The Bearcats and the Red Raiders have 2 of the top 3 offenses in the Big 12 right now. It could get worse before it gets any better.
Hosting Houston
Next week, the Cowboys host the Houston Cougars, who started the season 4-0 before getting blasted at home tonight by Texas Tech. The Cougars have played solid defense aside from their meeting with the Red Raiders, but the offense isn’t much better than Oklahoma State’s.
According to ESPN.com’s Matchup Predictor, the Cowboys have just a 17.6% chance to win, which is probably their best odds to win a game the rest of the season. It’s going to take a lot of progress in a short amount of time for that to happen, but perhaps they can at least make a game out of it.