Weeknight Matchups Could Give Oklahoma State Built-In Boost

Oklahoma State has some interesting decisions to make with its schedule moving forward.

College football is only about a month away. With Week 0 set to kick off in only four weeks, it’s easy to begin looking ahead to another incredible season for one of the nation’s favorite sports.

With Mike Gundy returning for his 21st season in Stillwater, the Cowboys are in a position to make their way back to a bowl game in 2025. After 18-year streaks of winning seasons and bowl appearances were snapped by last season’s 3-9 campaign, OSU is looking for all the momentum it can get going into next season, which could explain the beginning of its schedule.

Over the first few weeks, OSU’s nonconference slate won’t look much different than usual outside of a bye week before Big 12 play. The Cowboys will host an FCS team and a non-power conference team while traveling to face a Power 4 squad.

That nonconference formula has been OSU’s go-to for much of the past decade, so nothing will be out of the ordinary for the Cowboys there. However, there will be some unusual game settings.

College football is best known for dominating Saturdays with high-flying action and upsets across the country. With so many games on, it can be hard to focus on just one, especially for a casual fan.

That could give OSU a bit of an upper hand with its nonconference slate. While its matchup at Oregon will draw a Saturday afternoon audience on CBS, its two other nonconference games will have a better chance to draw in viewers than it typically would by playing a couple of weeknight contests.

With UT Martin slated for a Thursday and Tulsa for a Friday night, the Cowboys will be in primetime in Boone Pickens Stadium for a couple of matchups that would be entirely overlooked otherwise.

Of course, just because OSU is playing on a Thursday doesn’t mean the entire nation will be watching its game against UT Martin. But that does mean OSU has less competition and a better chance for exposure.

As the Cowboys move into this new era of college football, exposure is as important as ever, and having some nonconference games on weeknights to begin the year could be incredibly beneficial for the program moving forward.