Oklahoma State Football: What went wrong for the Cowboys in 2020?

Oklahoma State football’s failures in 2020 might lead to a long road ahead for the Cowboys. What went wrong for this team?

This was supposed to be Oklahoma State’s year. Everything was in place.

A star quarterback in Spencer Sanders that would set the world on fire. His top target, receiver Tylan Wallace, possibly the best receiver in Stillwater since Justin Blackmon (no offense to James Washington). An elite running running back in Chuba Hubbard that can produce against even the best of defenses. Almost everyone returned to a defense that saw major improvements last year and was set for another even biger jump in 2020.

Oklahoma was perhaps its most vulnerable since 2014 as they were starting a quarterback that for the first time in years hadn’t had starting experience as a transfer. Texas is Texas and even though everyone always thinks their “back” are a beatable program that you just know is going to slip up in a game they should win. Iowa State was a threat, that’s a home game. Even former powers TCU and Baylor are down, Kansas State and West Virginia were somewhat of a mystery and Texas Tech and Kansas are total non-factors.

Everything was leaning in Oklahoma State’s favor. It was their year. They had the talent. They have the coach. Even uncontrollable outside factors were on their side. So how did they use all of these benefits?

Well, it’s Dec. 11 and they’re not even ranked in the Top 25.

The preseason No. 15 ranked as high as No. 6. The Cowboys started 3-0: they defeated Tulsa in an ugly defensive slugfest that knowing what we know now doesn’t look as bad as it did. A two-score win over West Virginia in which the offense underwhelmed was next, followed by a beatdown of Kansas.

Then Iowa State came to town, and in a hard fought game, Oklahoma State came away with the win. For the most part, things were going according to plan.

Elsewhere in the Big 12, Iowa State had lost to Louisiana, part of a trio of bad conference losses to the Sun Belt. Texas had lost to TCU, who had already lost to Iowa State. Oklahoma went down to Kansas State, who had already lost to Arkansas State.

In much simpler terms, the Big 12 was a mess, the Cowboys were the conference’s only College Football Playoff hope and they’d been spotted a game or two advantage in the standings.

And then the bottom completely fell out.

Since that win against Iowa State, Oklahoma State has lost three of their last five games with their regular season finale coming up on Saturday against a pesky Baylor team that at 2-6 is much tougher than their record shows.

So what went wrong?

You could argue that the Mike Gundy OAN controversy that really divided the team, in particular star running back Chuba Hubbard, who threatened to boycott the team unless changes were made in how things were thought of within the program. Eventually changes were made following a team discussion, Gundy apologized and the program became one again. Although, you’d have to question whether those emotions ever did truly disappear.

You could also say that this dates back to 2018, as the Cowboys have been a disappointment since the end of 2017. From 2015-17, Oklahoma State went 30-9 and were regularly a threat to any team they faced, in conference or out. Since then, they’re just 20-14 and have lost games that the 2015-17 teams wouldn’t have lost on their worst day. Inconsistent play and defensive struggles have been a major contributor to that record. Those issues also sound familiar to 2020.

Or you could blame the obvious: the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out spring practice, modified fall practice and brought questions as to whether the season would even happen. In reality, it’s a fair assessment, but Oklahoma State isn’t the only team to face those challenges.

On the field, the Cowboy offense, the reason for most of the optimism surrounding the program, hasn’t lived up to expectations. It’s difficult to gauge their performance on the stat sheet in terms of rankings because the number of games played is all over the place, ranging from 10 to two.

But Oklahoma State is in the bottom half of nearly all offensive statistics. In points per game the Cowboys are 67th in the country. They’re 55th in yards per game, ranked just ahead of Eastern Michigan. To put that in perspective, Oklahoma State hasn’t ranked outside of the top 25 in yards per game since 2014. It should be no surprise they went 7-6 that season.

Their feared rushing attack is 45th in yards per game, which isn’t terrible but definitely isn’t what the Cowboys expected. But that’s okay because the loaded passing offense makes up for it, right? Wrong. The Cowboys are ranked 73rd in passing yards per game with just 219.8 yards per game, a trend that has gotten worse since last year’s 224. Prior to that, Oklahoma State had not been outside of the top 10 or averaged less than 300 yards per game since 2014. The last time Oklahoma State averaged less than 220 passing yards per game? 2009.

But the injuries that the Cowboys have endured might just be the biggest reason.

The problems start up front. Oklahoma State has played 12 different offensive line combinations this year. Injuries have played a big part in that since game one when two linemen went down against Tulsa. At this point, the line is basically being held together by spit and glue, including walk-ons getting significant playing time.

Spencer Sanders was also injured for a while, missing games against Kansas and West Virginia, both wins. He hasn’t been the same since. Hubbard has only played in one game since November 7 and he’s barely practiced in that time.

That leads us today, where a legitimate Big 12 threat and darkhorse playoff contender sits at 6-3 and unranked. So how does this effect the team going forward?

It’s doubtful that Gundy is on the hot seat after this season, but it has to be getting uncomfortably warm. The documented on-field struggles of the last three years, including this year in which everything had lined up nearly perfect combine for reason for question. And that’s not even including off the field issues. Between that and the aforementioned OAN controversy, the heat is on.

Meanwhile, the other Oklahoma school keeps plugging along as the dominant force they are. Even with two losses, they’re heading to the Bug 12 Championship game this year. They’re certainly the more stable and consistent program in the state. Even Iowa State has passed Oklahoma State and they’re heading for success as long as Matt Campbell is there. Texas can’t be dormant forever and TCU is due for one of their 10-win seasons under Gary Patterson, who can no doubt pull in great recruits.

It’s too early to say with confidence, but given the state of the Big 12 as well as the Oklahoma State program, this could very well be the end of the Cowboys’ run at the top of the conference.

Either way, 2021 is a big season for the future of Oklahoma State football. But first, the Cowboys can’t look past Baylor this Saturday. With National Signing Day coming up next Wednesday, Dec. 16, a strong performance against Baylor could swing things in the favor of the Cowboys heading into a crucial 2021.