Oklahoma State is the Big 12’s only hope for the College Football Playoff

Oklahoma State football will have to carry its bad conference to the College Football Playoff.

The only program left in the Big 12 without a defeat this season is Oklahoma State football.

No, it has not been pretty but Mike Gundy‘s Oklahoma State Cowboys improved to 3-0 (2-0) on the season by obliterating the utterly toothless Kansas Jayhawks. The Pokes won a nail-biter in non-conference play over the AAC’s Tulsa Golden Hurricane, as well as a convincing Big 12 opening victory over Neal Brown‘s West Virginia Mountaineers.

Oklahoma State looks like the best team in the Big 12.

The Big 12 hopes this is Oklahoma State football’s best team since 2011.

Throughout the Gundy era in Stillwater, who interestingly replaced current Kansas head coach Les Miles in 2005 after he left for the LSU Tigers job, Oklahoma State has consistently been a top-three program in the Big 12 and a top-25 program in the country. Though the Pokes rarely beat the arch-rival Oklahoma Sooners in Bedlam, they can get to New Year’s Six bowls under Gundy.

Entering Week 5, there were three undefeated teams in the Big 12, but only Oklahoma State was able to get to the second weekend of October unscathed. Dave Aranda’s Baylor Bears fell at West Virginia in the early-afternoon window. Tom Herman‘s Texas Longhorns ripped defeat out of the jaws of victory at home vs. the TCU Horned Frogs earlier in the day as well. Texas is still not back.

Other perceived quality teams in the Big 12 such as Oklahoma, TCU and the Iowa State Cyclones have already lost this season. The loser in the Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas is a de facto College Football Playoff elimination game. Frankly, every game going forward for the Pokes will be viewed under that microscope. What are the chances Oklahoma State pulls it off?

The good news for the Cowboys is three-fold. One, they don’t have to play Texas or Oklahoma until the second half of their schedule. Oklahoma State could be 5-0 (4-0) possibly by the time they host Texas on Halloween. Two, they have a fantastic offense headlined by running back Chuba Hubbard and wide receiver Tylan Wallace. And three, they seem to have a great defense this year.

While the Pokes try to figure out how to consistently win games with Shane Illingworth at quarterback filling in for an injured Spencer Sanders, Gundy can lean on his stout defense that hasn’t given up more than 13 points in any contest this season. Balance and having to play two tough games early vs. Tulsa and West Virginia at home have this team brimming with confidence.

The last thing Oklahoma State has going for it is something Oklahoma and Texas simply do not have: The benefit of the doubt in the eyes of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. Oklahoma State could lose a conference game this year and still have a shot at getting in, whereas Texas and Oklahoma have to win out and hope for chaos in the rest of the Power 5 for any hope.

Oklahoma has gotten into the playoff field four of the last five years, but has yet to win a single national semifinal because of its lackluster defense. That side of the ball was a big reason the Sooners fell at home to a winless Kansas State Wildcats team last week as the No. 3 team in the nation. Conversely, Oklahoma State is new, exciting and potentially good enough to get in 2020.

It’s not what the Big 12 was hoping for, but Oklahoma State is the best team it’s got.

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