Oklahoma State football is unofficially the best football team in Oklahoma.
It was ugly, but Oklahoma State football has a better record than Oklahoma football thus far.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys improved to 2-0 (1-0) on the season by beating a feisty West Virginia Mountaineers team at home on Saturday evening. Couple this with the arch rival Oklahoma Sooners falling at home to the Kansas State Wildcats and the Pokes are the only team of this bunch without a blemish this season. 2-0 is 2-0, but this isn’t the 2-0 they were expecting.
Oklahoma may be eliminated from the playoff by the time Bedlam arrives.
At this time, Oklahoma State can unofficially claim itself as the best team in Oklahoma because the Cowboys beat the AAC’s Tulsa Golden Hurricane last week and the Sooners lost at home to K-State. It’s not much, but maybe it’s something? At the very least, Oklahoma State has shown an ability to win tight ball games with a B-minus effort. If they get it going though, look out, Big 12!
The other good thing going for Oklahoma State is the Big 12 is wide open. An Oklahoma defeat this early in the season has them on life support. No team has looked particularly dominant in this Power 5 conference. While it may hurt its chances of getting a team into the College Football Playoff, if a team goes undefeated out of it, why can’t it be someone like Oklahoma State?
With Shane Illingworth starting at quarterback, the Cowboys defeated the Mountaineers, 27-13. Though he was outplayed by his counterpart Jarret Doege, he leaned on his two running backs LD Brown and Doak Walker hopeful Chuba Hubbard. They both went over 100 yards on the ground and scored a touchdown. Wide receiver Tylan Wallace had six catches for 78 yards in this win.
Overall, Oklahoma State may not be able to win pretty games at home, but it still amounts to a W in the win column. Though quarterback play has to improve, what are you going to do when your presumptive starter gets hurt early in the season opener vs. Tulsa? Then again, if the defense plays like this, maybe the Pokes can win the Big 12 for the first time since 2011? It could happen.
Oklahoma State may fall soon in Big 12 play, but for now, it’s 2-0 on the year and looking decent.
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