Music to listen to: Early in the Morning by The Gap Band
I was going to go with Garth Brooks since he went to OK State, however it was impossible to find a song of his on YouTube so I’ll take Tulsa’s finest, The Gap Band, to fill this slot and everyone is a winner.
State of Oklahoma State football: Barry Sanders is arguably the best player to ever play college football. His 1988 campaign of 2,628 rushing yards and 39 touchdowns are still records and his exploits paced a Cowboys’ squad that finished the year with a record of 10-2 and the peak of Oklahoma State football until the past two seasons. Even Sanders never got to experience an 11-win season like the Cowboys had in 2010 or a 12-win campaign Oklahoma State posted last year. With the loss of Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon from the offense, the question is whether the Cowboys can permanently surpass their rival Oklahoma like they did last year and become a perennial national title contender.
What I like: The running back combination of Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith combined for more than 1,800 yards rushing last season and will be relied even more this season with the incorporation of true freshman Wes Lunt as the new starting quarterback. The receiving corp will continue to produce, even though you will see more equal distribution of the ball without the vacuum of Blackmon occupying the majority of balls being thrown to him. The special teams should be in solid hands with senior Quinn Sharp handling punting and kicking responsibilities.
What I don’t like: Starting a true freshman is always tricky but Lunt was an early enrollee and spent and entire spring and summer training with the team so I consider him more of a redshirt freshman. However, he’s still a freshman who hasn’t thrown a pass in a college football game so struggles are to be expected.
The defense took advantage of turnover opportunities last season and even led the nation in turnover margin. However, the unit also ranked 107th in total defense. West Virginia and Oklahoma are going to score at LEAST 30 points on the unit this season if things didn’t change in the offseason and that may be too much to overcome.
Uniform/Mascot Grade: B+
I’m a big fan of the orange and black combination. I would like to see the Cowboys wear more orange and lean away from the black and grey color schemes that they’ve begun to incorporate over the past few season. I also don’t want to see another color helmet besides white with the “OSU” lettering.
Pistol Pete is another mascot that seeks to enter the dreams of little children and cause nightmares but he does get bonus points for carrying a live weapon with him. Firearms are ALWAYS acceptable for mascots.
Schedule:
9/1 Savannah State
9/8 at Arizona
9/15 UL Lafayette
9/29 Texas
10/13 at Kansas
10/20 Iowa State
10/27 TCU
11/3 at Kansas State
11/10 West Virginia
11/17 Texas Tech
11/24 at Oklahoma
12/1 at Baylor
I could see the Arizona game being a tricky contest for the Cowboys but the talent level should rise for them in a road victory. The final two games on the road, especially the contest at Oklahoma may determine if Oklahoma State can produce a third consecutive double-digit win season.
Current/Former Co-Ed that I would like to attend a box social with OR random fact about school:
The “talent” pickings for the school weren’t strong so I’ll leave you with the fact that Stillwater, Oklahoma is a member of Tree City USA. I’ve also heard that Eskimo Joe’s is a nice establishment because a t-shirt told me so.
Final thoughts: OK State was a bad road game at Iowa State away last season from playing for the national championship. While the Cowboys aren’t close to that mark this year, there are still pieces to produce a solid season. If Lunt avoids turnovers and the defense continues to produce turnovers, OK State may be playing for another Big 12 title on Nov. 24 at Okhahoma. However, the difficult schedule will produce a few losses.
Prediction: 8-4, 5-4 Big 12
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
Preseason Top-25:
The Sports Inquirer 
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