2023 Ultimate College Football Preview-Oklahoma State

Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.

2022 Recap:

It was an underachieving year for the boys from Stillwater. There were a lot of expectations going into the 2022 year and the Cowboys fell short. They finished the year at 7-5 and a loss in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl to an average Wisconsin team. The most underachieving part of the Cowboys was the offense which finished the year at 49th in points per game. They had a lot of talent back including QB Spencer Sanders, it just never clicked all the way. The Cowboys started off hot, winning 6 of their first 7 games. They ended losing 5 out of the last 6 and to the lower tier teams in the Big 12, like West Virginia and Kansas. I don’t care how good of a year Kansas is having, Oklahoma State should never lose to them.

Head Coach:

Oklahoma State has one of the longest tenured and most respected coaches in college football. Mike Gundy has been in Stillwater for 22 years, and has been Head Coach for the last 18 years. He has only had one losing season, the first in his entire time at Oklahoma State. That is pretty damn impressive to do at any school, to not have a few years of now bowls. He is 11-6 in bowl games, winning 3 Big New Years Six games. While in Stillwater he has 1 conference championship, 2 conference coach of the year and 1 coach of the year for all schools. In one of the top 3 best conferences in football that is very impressive from a school like Oklahoma State. I don’t mean any offense by that, but they have to play powers Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas Tech every year. His .675 wining percentage is up at the top of active coaches in college right now. When you think Oklahoma State football, you think Mike Gundy, his mullet, and this famous speech. This is a reason why he gets players, he backs them up.

Key Players:

Usually this is the part of the college football preview I talk about the QB. I don’t think Oklahoma State knows who will be QB1 next year. Both Garret Rangel and Gunnar Gundy played sparingly last year and are at 2 and the 3 on the depth chart now. Both were no very impressive in their time under center. The listed QB 1 right now is Alan Bowman, a transfer from Michigan. Look I don’t think this kid is the answer either. He could not beat out Cade McNamara for the 2nd string in Michigan or JJ McCarthy for 1st. I think both of those players are unbelievably overrated. That being said, I really don’t think Bowman is the guy for the Cowboys and one of the 2 backups will be playing before long. Whoever is playing QB does have leading WR Brennan Presley back. Last year Presley had 67 catches for 813 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bryson Green and his 36 catches for 584 yards and 5 touchdowns is also back to help the carousel of QBs. The top 2 tacklers from last season have moved on but the leading tackler coming back is SLB Xavier Benson. Last year he had 76 tackles with 4 of them being tackles for a loss. Keep your eyes out for Redshirt Sophomore Safety Kendal Davis who had 3 interceptions, 71 tackles and 3.5 TFL’s last year. The defense is very young but talented and deep.

2023 Prediction:

Looking at the Cowboys non-conference schedule, I would call it tricky not hard. They should handle Central Arkansas easily. We don’t know how good Arizona State is going to be with new coaches and QB, plus it is on the road. While I think they will also beat South Alabama at home, they shouldn’t sleep on the Jaguars, they are a tough team that goes up tempo and can play defense. The best is 3-0, the very worst is 1-2. The road conference games are not the toughest in the Big 12. I think 4-0 is definitely on the table for the Cowboys at worst they might drop one of those games. The home games are a lot more difficult with the only 2 games Cincy, and BYU would I say are definite wins. I think 4-1 is possible more likely 3-2 in home conference games. I think the 7 or 8 wins is the best for the Cowboys next year. They will struggle at QB again this year, and the schedule is more difficult then you would think i think 7-5 is very likely and 8-4 would be a good year for them. I just see too many games that are potential losses and the offense not being up to par. I don’t think this was a negative college football preview, more of a right down the middle team.