What Would Make for a Disappointing Season for Cowboy Football?

Oklahoma State’s 2024 campaign was so rough that it’s difficult to imagine things going worse next season, but anything is on the table.

Over the course of the 2024 season, OSU quickly went from being a favorite to win the Big 12 to the worst team in the conference. The Cowboys failed to earn a single conference win, which prompted major changes in the offseason.

While Mike Gundy is still around, the Cowboys changed coordinators, made significant moves with the rest of the coaching staff and had a roster overhaul featuring dozens of transfers. With all of those moves over the past few months, OSU should surely be able to have a much better year in 2025.

Of course, the season takes place on the field, not on paper. If last season took place on paper, the Cowboys might have been a College Football Playoff team, but it, of course, went much worse.

Considering OSU was a Big 12 favorite and finished without a conference win, the Cowboys were a clear disappointment last season. Now with OSU only being projected to win somewhere around five to six games, having a legitimately disappointing season might be difficult to imagine.

So, naturally, the question is what would have to go wrong for the Cowboys to have a disappointing season in 2025. The simplest answer is just having a losing season and missing a bowl game.

After 18 straight years of winning seasons and bowl appearances, consecutive years without either would be a disappointment. However, with OSU being projected to finish in the 6-6 range already, a 5-7 year wouldn’t be the utter disappointment it would be in some seasons.

To have a truly disastrous season, the Cowboys need to finish with no more than four wins and be out of bowl contention by the second half of November, much like last season. Any repeat of last season would be a clear sign for concern, but simply improving by one win wouldn’t mean much either.

At the very least, a five-win season would seem like progress, given it would likely include three Big 12 wins. In any case, the Cowboys would love to avoid any talks of disappointment when November comes around, but if last season taught us anything, it’s that there is no predicting OSU football.