Bounce-Back Season in 2025 Could Propel Oklahoma State to Long-Term Success

Oklahoma State is hoping to have a bounce-back season in 2025, and it’s hoping it can kickstart a successful new era in Stillwater.

Over the past few seasons, OSU football has been somewhat stagnant. While Mike Gundy’s teams have managed to earn winning seasons and make bowl games in 18 of 20 years, there is no doubt that the program was trending in the wrong direction, even before last year’s disaster.

Going into 2024, the Cowboys were expected to compete for a Big 12 title and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Of course, the team managed to win only three games and lost every conference matchup instead.

While that result felt shocking in the moment, it likely shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the Cowboys were unable to make some noise. In 2023, the Cowboys simply had everything come together at the right time and made a spectacular run.

With Ollie Gordon running through anyone in his way, OSU managed to secure a few one-score games to earn 10 wins. Going into 2024, everyone saw that 10-win mark and a large majority of the team returning and penciled the Cowboys into the Big 12 Championship.

Of course, that disregarded that it was also the same core that lost to South Alabama and was trounced by UCF. That version of the team came out much more in 2024 as teams better planned for Gordon’s rushing attack.

2024 was also an example of OSU needing to begin a new era. Even though the stats didn’t necessarily point to a sustainable winning formula, the Cowboys couldn’t move on from Kasey Dunn or Bryan Nardo immediately after a 10-win campaign.

Considering OSU’s history, it has to be reactive in these situations, not proactive. With Dunn and Nardo doing just enough on the scoreboard to keep their jobs into 2024, everything came crashing down all at once, leaving OSU needing to make significant changes.

With the Cowboys making some moves that have likely been needed for years, they might have a chance to begin a new era. With Gundy still at the helm, some of those same issues could persist regardless of who’s around him. However, it might also be enough to get a more inspired version of the longtime head coach and push OSU back into the national spotlight.