Oklahoma State has been one of the safest bets in football the past decade, finishing every year with a winning record and averaging 9.4 wins per season. The Cowboys dipped a little bit after losing Mason Rudolph and James Washington last year, but still finished 7-6. Now, they try to get back into the Big 12 title hunt, but must do it with a new quarterback again.
Offense
All-American wideout Tylan Wallace is back after racking up 12 touchdowns and nearly 1,500 yards on a 17.3 yard per catch average in 2018. Slot men Dillon Stoner and Landon Wolf return after combining for almost 1,000 more, and RB Chuba Hubbard returns after becoming the starter late last year and averaging six yards a touch. His highly efficient backup, LD Brown, returns as well, as do four guys on the line with starting experience.
That leaves the quarterback spot. Here is where we run into some question marks. Dru Brown transfers in from Hawai’i after being the Rainbow Warriors’ starter for most of the last two years. He’ll be challenged by redshirt freshman Spencer Sanders, a dual-threat with a big arm.
The question mark at QB makes a prognosis tough, but pretty much everyone else is back so they may surpass last year’s numbers on offense.
Defense
Defensively, Oklahoma State was eaten alive in 2018, fielding an incredibly young defense against some of the best offenses in the country. The good news about fielding young defenses? A lot of the key pieces are back.
Corners AJ Green and Rodarius Williams were inconsistent last year but ended up combing for 22 passes defended and should improve over the offseason.
On the line, pretty much everyone is gone, but the Cowboys bring in JUCO transfer Sione Asi, Colorado transfer Israel Antwine, and Bowling Green transfer Kyle Junior to bolster the middle. Mike Scott and Brock Martin, who combined for four sacks as backups last year, will move into starting roles on the ends. The defense should improve with experience.
2019 Outlook
CSD Prime expects a big step forward this year for the Cowboys to borderline-top 25 status. Whether they can climb higher than that is probably mostly up to quarterback play, but the schedule is about as favorable as you could ask for, and they could get back to that nine-win average with a victory in their bowl.
Schedule
| Date | Opponent | OPp. rank | Proj. Margin |
| 30-Aug | At oregon state | 101 | 8.6 |
| 7-Sep | mcneese st | nr | n/a |
| 14-Sep | at tulsa | 98 | 8.3 |
| 21-Sep | at Texas | 14 | -7.0 |
| 28-sep | kansas state | 54 | 7.6 |
| 5-Oct | at texas tech | 60 | 2.2 |
| 19-Oct | baylor | 50 | 6.5 |
| 26-oct | at iowa state | 31 | -1.6 |
| 2-Nov | tcu | 25 | 2.9 |
| 16-Nov | kansas | 96 | 13.4 |
| 23-Nov | at west virginia | 42 | -0.0 |
| 30-Nov | oklahoma | 6 | -8.2 |
Average Projected Record: 7.5 wins, 4.5 losses (5.0 wins, 4.0 losses)