Oklahoma State Scheduling Matchup at Oregon Worth the Risk

Oklahoma State is set for battle against one of the top teams in the country early next season, and it shouldn’t regret the matchup.

Last season, OSU was one of the worst teams in college football, going 3-9 and failing to win a Big 12 game. With the 2025 season under three weeks away, the Cowboys are looking to bounce back and return to their winning ways.

As the Cowboys look to get back on track, they will get the pleasure of traveling to Eugene for a matchup against a top 10 Oregon team. Obviously, playing one of the top teams in the country on the road isn’t exactly a great recipe for success.

Still, OSU can’t back out of its agreement to play the Ducks, and it shouldn’t feel bad about putting the game on the schedule, even if it goes poorly. In this era of college football, there is a strong debate about the importance of premier nonconference matchups, but the Cowboys haven’t wavered from their philosophy on the matter.

The right move

OSU chose to schedule Oregon to boost the program’s nonconference strength of schedule. When the Cowboys and Ducks agreed to the home-and-home back in 2018, the teams were hoping the matchup could boost each program’s hopes of making the four-team playoff, as the Big 12 and Pac-12 each had issues with being left out.

Now in 2025, the playoff features 12 teams, Oregon is in the Big Ten, the Big 12 is unrecognizable and many teams around the country are trying to avoid matchups like these. Still, the Cowboys made the right call to get the Ducks on the schedule.

OSU’s commitment to playing a premier nonconference opponent doesn’t begin or end with this 2025 game at Oregon, either. With matchups against Arkansas, Alabama and Nebraska in the future, OSU isn’t afraid to set up a potential big matchup before Big 12 play.

Although it might make sense for some teams around the country to try and avoid these matchups, OSU’s hopes of making the College Football Playoff could depend on these games at some point. Considering the Big 12 is often viewed as the worst power conference in the sport, OSU could certainly use a nonconference boost to its strength of schedule, which is essentially the same philosophy the Big 12 used when requiring these types of matchups for the first time back in the 2010s.