Greg McElroy makes case for Oklahoma State to bounce back in 2025

Oklahoma State had its worst season in its two decades under Mike Gundy, and worst overall since 1991, by going 3-9 overall. A year later, though, the Cowboys could be back and start a new bowl streak by this season’s end.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy recently tiered the Big 12 on ‘Always College Football.’ He has the ‘Pokes in tier four, titled as ‘Bowl-Bound’, along with Cincinnati and UCF.

“I also think (Oklahoma State) will get back to the postseason this year,” McElroy said.

That being the case, McElroy realizes he’s expecting that from the Cowboys despite not knowing what they are with so many changes to the program, namely with 40 additions, as part of nearly 70 transactions in total, from the NCAA Transfer Portal. He at least knows who they have in their two coordinators, who are new as well, but doesn’t yet see how it’s all going to come together team-wise in Stillwater.

“There are some people that are very knowledgeable about some of the transfers that have been brought in for Oklahoma State, and they believe they can be a legitimate contender this year. I’m not there just yet,” McElroy said. “There’s too many unknowns right now.

“Massive overhaul amongst the staff. You bring in Todd Grantham as the defensive coordinator, who has tremendous experience at Florida, at Georgia, in the NFL, at Alabama. He’s been around for a while, so I love that addition. And Doug Meacham is the offensive coordinator, a guy that’s going to air raid and go vertical and try to make sure that there’s a lot of stress being put on the opposing defense. I like the coordinator hires, but I don’t, at this point, know exactly what the personnel is going to look like when playing together. I can identify them, individually, from their previous destination. But, collectively, what will it look like?”

Because of that, both new coordinators have a lot of work to do under Gundy. That’s after the Cowboys’ defense last season bottomed out in allowing 35.6 points and 500.6 yards per game, while the Cowboys’ offense posted only 27.2 points and 374 yards last year.

“The defense? Let’s be real. That was the biggest issue the last couple years. They gave up a million yards. They gave up over 35 points a game. They were one of the worst defenses in the Big 12 the last couple years,” McElroy said. “Now, if they can get that ironed out and get that group to play better, that should be really helpful.

“I’m cautiously optimistic about what they have at quarterback, whether it’s redshirt freshman Zane Flores – I think it’ll be Hauss Hejny who comes in, transferring from TCU. I think he’s likely to be the guy at this point. But there’s just too many unknowns kind of around them to feel great about what things could look like here throughout the season.”

That’s a whole lot of uncertainty for a team that he’s expecting to double its amount of wins from last year to this one. Still, McElroy must think those answers will come out at some point, with him anticipating a bowl berth again for Oklahoma State.

“I think they’re bowl-bound, for sure. I think they have enough talent to go and contend and win at least six,” McElroy. said. “But, after a big culture reset that we’ve seen this year, it’s hard to identify what exactly what this team might be able to do on the higher end of the Big 12.”