Tulsa HC Believes Golden Hurricane on Same Level as Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State might have lost its biggest rivalry to conference realignment, but another is slowly climbing the ranks.

Last season marked the first year of an annual series with Tulsa that will keep the rivalry going for the foreseeable future. It was also fitting that the first installment of this series came in the first year Oklahoma wasn’t on the schedule.

Of course, the rivalry against the Golden Hurricane isn’t likely to be competitive anytime soon. With the Cowboys still looking to be a factor in the Big 12 title race for years to come and Tulsa in the midst of a full rebuild in the American, it’s difficult to imagine a situation where the two programs are on equal footing. 

However, Tulsa head coach Tre Lamb doesn’t seem to think it’s all that far-fetched. Despite the fact that the Golden Hurricane haven’t won a game against the Cowboys since 1998 and haven’t won in Stillwater since 1951, Lamb was quick to throw his program on OSU’s level, specifically when it comes to recruiting.

“We have money in the bank, we have NIL, we have rev-share,” Lamb said. “There’s no reason we can’t compete with the Oklahoma States of the world and the Kansas States of the world. We don’t need those people coming in our backyard and taking our players.

“Is it gonna be hard to beat Oklahoma on a kid or an SEC team? Yes, absolutely. But we wanna be able to compete with everybody else.”

While the Golden Hurricane would obviously love to keep the players in their backyard, Oklahoma and the SEC might not their biggest threat. As OSU continues to pile up top recruits from Oklahoma for its 2026 class, the Cowboys have emerged as the top recruiting squad as they enter a new era with Doug Meacham and Todd Grantham taking over as coordinators.

As Lamb prepares for his first season with Tulsa, he might have just given the Cowboys some premier bulletin board material for their nonconference matchup on Sept. 19. With a Friday night matchup in Stillwater this season, the Golden Hurricane are hoping for a much closer contest than the 45-10 OSU win in Tulsa last season, which also stands as OSU’s most recent win.

The idea of OSU-Tulsa becoming a legitimate high-profile rivalry seems far-fetched for now, but if Lamb and company can begin to win the recruiting battles in the 918 and begin to compete for conference championships, there might be a fun in-state rivalry brewing.