Should Oklahoma State Care About Expectations for 2025?

Oklahoma State has been one of the most interesting teams in the country since Mike Gundy took over, but 2025 presents a unique challenge.

After making 18 straight bowl games and securing a winning record in each of those seasons, the Cowboys’ luck came crashing down in 2024 with a three-win campaign. After being projected as a potential College Football Playoff team, the Cowboys failed to win any Big 12 games and knew they needed to make some major changes in the offseason.

Regardless of how 2024 went, OSU already knew it would be seeing some significant changes in the offseason. With most of the Cowboys’ top contributors in their final year of eligibility, there was always going to be a much different looking team when 2025 rolled around.

Still, the bad season in 2024 also pushed away some of the Cowboys’ top potential returners, such as De’Zhaun Stribling and Kendal Daniels. Add in a new coaching staff for the Cowboys under Gundy, and the 2025 season has become nearly impossible to predict.

That also means that OSU probably shouldn’t listen to the expectations of the outside world.

A new year

2025 should be viewed simply as the first year of a new era in Stillwater. Sure, the 2024 season was a disaster, but the program has changed so drastically over the past few months that it’s impossible to place much of the blame for last season on the folks in the building in August.

That also means it’s impossible to use 2024 to get an accurate depiction of what the 2025 season might look like. It can be easy to get lazy and say that OSU won three games last year, made some changes and will be slightly better in 2025.

Of course, sometimes the lazy prediction turns out to be true, and the Cowboys could absolutely be in the five-win range when mid-November rolls around. Still, the Cowboys also know that they have no reason to listen to anyone outside of the walls in Stillwater.

Considering they were projected as a Big 12 contender last year and didn’t win any conference games, the Cowboys know that their expectations should only come from within. OSU surely wants to have a better season and has a plan in place to make that happen, but it can’t dwell on the idea that it only needs to be slightly better.

If the Cowboys get caught up in national expectations and view simply making a bowl as a successful season, they could miss out on a much more special year.