The Oklahoma State Cowboys haven’t had a losing season since 2005. Gundy’s streak will be put to the test this season. A lot of question marks on the offensive and defensive side of the football makes it hard to see where this Cowboys team will end up in 2023. This is the most amount of questions that Gundy has had to answer in a long time. Here is my preview for the 2023 Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Offense
This might not be the usual Mike Gundy offense that we’ve been accustomed to seeing in the Big 12. They lost Spencer Sanders to Ole Miss via the transfer portal and without him last year, this offense really struggled. However, they bring in Alan Bowman from Michigan. If the Cowboys want to see some success from Bowman, they need to hope that he has some left in the tank from his Texas Tech days. Bowman only played six games with the Wolverines, but he should look a lot better in the Big 12 this season. Oklahoma State has a ton of receivers that have come and gone via the transfer portal. However, they do bring back their number one receiver from last year in Brennan Presley. Presley led the team in receptions, receiving yards and all-purpose yards. The Cowboys also brought in De’Zhaun Stribling (Washington State) and Arland Bruce IV (Iowa) from the transfer portal. These two transfers should come in and make an impact for the Cowboys.
With the passing game in question, we might see the Cowboys go run-heavy in 2023. They have a talented running back room led by Ollie Gordon II. Oklahoma State’s running back room also has Jaden Nixon and Michigan State transfer Elijah Collins. These three are going to be a solid group for the Cowboys in 2023. The Oklahoma State offensive line is going to be a big reason why this running attack will be successful in 2023. They are a veteran group and added left tackle Dalton Cooper from Texas State to get that offensive line better. I think the Oklahoma State offense is going to surprise a lot of people in 2023.
Defense
Oklahoma State is taking a page out of rival Iowa State’s playbook and moving to a 3-3-5 defense. There are some strong personnel fits for this Cowboys defense even with all the changes from a season ago. The big playmaker up front for the Cowboys has to be now outside linebacker Colin Oliver. Oliver totaled 16.5 sacks and 23 tackles for a loss in his last two seasons playing defensive end. With Oliver moving to linebacker, he has more room to make plays and I think that’ll be beneficial for the Cowboys defensively. A name that is going to be great for the front six of Oklahoma State is Justin Wright, the transfer linebacker from Tulsa. He is going to come in and contribute and be a real playmaker for this Oklahoma State defense.
In the secondary, they are a little thin at the cornerback position. However, having five defensive backs out there helps the secondary get stronger. This secondary is led by All Big-12 Defensive Freshman Of The Year and Freshman All-American Kendal Daniels. He is the leader of the secondary and is going to take his game to another level in 2023. Two more names that I like are the two other starting safeties Lyrik Rawls and Trey Rucker. I think both of these names will help strengthen this secondary for a long, hard-fought Big 12 season.
Win Total Bet
The win total bet is set at 6.5 on the FanDuel Sportsbook, with the over odds set at -124 odds and the under set at +102 odds. I like all the doubt that is on this team. This makes me like the Cowboys that much more. They will figure out their offensive issues early on and coast over the win total here with some comfort. I am taking the over 6.5 win totals at -124 odds for one unit. Bowman takes a step in the right direction being back in the Big 12. This new style of defense favors the Cowboys and leads them to yet another winning season under Mike Gundy.
Schedule Predictions
Win vs Central Arkansas (1-0)
Loss at Arizona State (1-1)
Win vs South Alabama (2-1)
Loss at Iowa State (2-2)
Win vs Kansas State (3-2)
Win vs Kansas (4-2)
Loss at West Virginia (4-3)
Win vs Cincinnati (5-3)
Win vs Oklahoma (6-3)
Loss at UCF (6-4)
Win at Houston (7-4)
Win vs BYU (8-4)