At this point, the outcome of an Oklahoma State Cowboys football game is almost too easy to predict: early creativity infused with energy keeps the score close, followed by an inability to sustain any success before getting blown out. That’s exactly what happened again on Saturday as the Cowboys tried their best to play the Houston Cougars in a close game, but once again, the result was another big loss. Still, you don’t have to look very hard to see at least some slow progress in a couple of areas. Let’s break the game down.
Early Bag of Tricks Not Enough to Sustain Cowboy Offense
Interim head coach Doug Meacham has found success early in games by offering a level of creativity that Oklahoma State football hasn’t seen in years. The number of trick plays attempted in each of Meacham’s games as head coach is probably somewhere close to Mike Gundy’s number in the last decade of his tenure in Stillwater. That only takes you so far, though.
With backup quarterback Zane Flores ruled out, the Cowboys turned to receiver Sam Jackson V at quarterback. Meacham and Jackson have some history from both of their times at TCU, and the plan worked for about a quarter. After a rough couple of plays to open up the game, Jackson found Gavin Freeman for a third-down conversion, and two plays later, wide receiver Shamar Rigsby hit Rodney Fields Jr. on a double-pass for a 63-yard touchdown to give Oklahoma State an early 7-0 lead. That was as good as it would get for the Cowboy offense, though.
Got a few tricks up our sleeve 😏@OGandE | 📺: TNT pic.twitter.com/dMHLwsg1XW
— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) October 11, 2025
After the initial success from a trick play, the Cougars adjusted and anticipated, and Oklahoma State couldn’t get anything done on offense. Noah Walters, a midseason transfer at quarterback, hit Gavin Freeman at the very end of the game for a 33-yard touchdown to wrap up a 75-yard drive, but if you take away that drive in garbage time and the trick play, the Cowboys accounted for just 87 yards of total offense in their other 9 drives. Their next longest drive was 5 plays and 39 yards that ended in a missed field goal attempt. It wasn’t just rough; it was almost impossible for Oklahoma State to do anything offensively.
Trick plays are fun, and sometimes they help win a game, but if that’s all you’ve got in your bag, you’re not going to win many games, especially against quality conference foes. If Oklahoma State can’t figure out how to march down the field at least occasionally, their already low odds of winning a game at some point this season might as well drop to 0.
Defense Finds Small Wins
Houston came into the game averaging 27.2 points per game, so giving up 39 points to them doesn’t exactly feel like success on any level. However, it could’ve been a lot worse had the Cowboy defense completely folded.
The Cougars had the ball for 36:28 of game time, a whopping 13 minutes more than the Cowboys, and it wasn’t for lack of defense. Oklahoma State’s defense forced a Houston punt just twice, but four times Houston made its way to at least the Cowboy 30-yard line before being held to a field goal, and two of those were in the red zone. While that’s not much, it is something to feel good about when you consider what the defense has allowed already this season.
On 3rd down, Houston converted on just 5-of-14 attempts, although they did convert on 2-of-3 fourth downs. Still, at this point in this season, any type of progress is something to be celebrated. With the upcoming schedule, it will be interesting to see if the Cowboys can continue to make progress or return to the likes of the Oregon game. With balanced offenses like Cincinnati and Texas Tech on the horizon, there’s a good chance it gets better before it gets worse.
Section 231
Despite the continuous losing and poor play, the Loyal and True fanbase has stayed on course. In the second half of yesterday’s game, there wasn’t much to celebrate, but a group of Cowboy fans still found a way to make the game fun. It all started with a single fan in Section 231 removing his shirt (supposedly due to a $10 bet) and swinging it around his head, but by the end of the game, the one man had grown to nearly three full sections in the crowd full of shirts off bodies and swinging overhead.
An important part of surviving a season like this as a fan is to remember to enjoy the little things. You can’t win them all, and at this pace, the Cowboys aren’t going to win any more at all, but perhaps we can all learn a lesson from the man who started the fun in Section 231 and just appreciate what we do have.
Hosting the Bearcats
Next up for the Cowboys is ranked opponent #24 Cincinnati. After opening up the season with a 20-17 loss to Nebraska, the Bearcats enter at 5-1 as one of 3 remaining Big 12 teams undefeated in conference play. The Bearcats feature a balanced offense and a decent defense, and they are sure to be another big challenge for the struggling Cowboys.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM on Saturday night, and it will be streamed on ESPN2.