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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/jimbobbypaul on 2023-07-29 19:59:46.
Main hub thread with the full 131 rankings
Oklahoma State comes in as the 4th ranked Big 12 team, just barely in front of BYU. Going into his 18th season with the Cowboys, coach Mike Gundy is the 2nd longest tenured coach in the FBS currently. He may no longer be 40 (he’s 55), but he’s still a man, and is almost solely responsible for getting Oklahoma State this high, posting a 156-75 record and coaching OSU to 7 of their 10 double-digit win seasons. And actually, he was the starting QB for 2 of the other 10+ win seasons in 1987 and 1988! So technically, he’s had a hand in 9 of OSU’s 10 double-digit win seasons. Other notable coaches over the last 40 years are Les Miles (2001-04) and Jimmy Johnson (1979-83).
Best Seasons and Highlights
1. 2011: 2. Oklahoma State: 12-1 (54.994) 2. 2021: 6. Oklahoma State: 12-2 (39.292) 3. 2010: 9. Oklahoma State: 11-2 (37.104) 4. 1988: 11. Oklahoma State: 10-2 (31.168) 5. 2013: 17. Oklahoma State: 10-3 (29.526) 6. 2016: 12. Oklahoma State: 10-3 (28.412) 7. 1984: 8. Oklahoma State: 10-2 (27.655) 8. 1987: 12. Oklahoma State: 10-2 (26.294) 9. 2017: 16. Oklahoma State: 10-3 (24.658) 10. 2020: 17. Oklahoma State: 8-3 (22.008) 11. 2015: 24. Oklahoma State: 10-3 (21.642) 12. 2008: 27. Oklahoma State: 9-4 (16.340) 13. 2009: 27. Oklahoma State: 9-4 (15.603) 14. 2012: 26. Oklahoma State: 8-5 (14.532) 15. 2003: 28. Oklahoma State: 9-4 (13.371) 16. 1983: 26. Oklahoma State: 8-4 (12.656) 17. 1985: 29. Oklahoma State: 8-4 (10.142) 18. 2002: 35. Oklahoma State: 8-5 (6.444) 19. 2004: 33. Oklahoma State: 7-5 (4.961) 20. 2019: 39. Oklahoma State: 8-5 (4.754) 21. 2007: 42. Oklahoma State: 7-6 (4.552) 22. 1997: 36. Oklahoma State: 8-4 (3.133) 23. 2006: 43. Oklahoma State: 7-6 (1.556) 24. 2018: 46. Oklahoma State: 7-6 (1.411) 25. 2022: 61. Oklahoma State: 7-6 (-6.617) 26. 2014: 64. Oklahoma State: 7-6 (-7.258) 27. 1986: 51. Oklahoma State: 6-5 (-8.117) 28. 1998: 52. Oklahoma State: 5-6 (-8.352) 29. 1999: 62. Oklahoma State: 5-6 (-11.334) 30. 2001: 73. Oklahoma State: 4-7 (-17.430) 31. 1992: 72. Oklahoma State: 4-6-1 (-19.940) 32. 1996: 74. Oklahoma State: 5-6 (-22.930) 33. 1990: 76. Oklahoma State: 4-7 (-22.961) 34. 1989: 74. Oklahoma State: 4-7 (-24.177) 35. 1995: 70. Oklahoma State: 4-8 (-25.482) 36. 2005: 87. Oklahoma State: 4-7 (-25.804) 37. 1994: 81. Oklahoma State: 3-7-1 (-27.773) 38. 1993: 85. Oklahoma State: 3-8 (-31.790) 39. 2000: 92. Oklahoma State: 3-8 (-35.919) 40. 1991: 96. Oklahoma State: 0-10-1 (-50.245) Overall Score: 29317 (27th)
- 284-198-3 record
- 1 conference title
- 16-10 bowl record
- 16 consensus All-Americans
- 72 NFL players drafted
The age old question will be answered. In 2011, did Oklahoma State or Alabama deserve to make the National Championship game? I had Oklahoma State finishing #2 overall in 2011 compared to their #3 AP Poll rank, but did they finish #2 overall at the end of my regular season too? OSU’s 2013 season (#17 JB Poll finish) was deemed greater than their 1984 season (#8 JB Poll finish), which goes to show you how damn good the top teams were in 2013. Oklahoma State’s most recent season, 2022, comes in as just the 25th best as they finished ranked #61, collapsing after a 5-0 start. Consensus All-Americans we won’t discuss below are DB Rod Brown (1984), RB Thurman Thomas (1985) who ran for 12,000 yards in the NFL, DL Leslie O’Neal (1985), TE Alonzo Mayes (1997), WR Rashaun Woods (2002) who left as the NCAA’s 3rd all-time leading receiver, WR Dez Bryant (2008) who had 1480 yards and 19 TD on just 87 catches, OT Russell Okung (2009) who was the 6th overall pick in his draft, WR James Washington (2017) who formed one of the best QB-WR connections in Big 12 history with Mason Rudolph, and RB Chuba Hubbard (2019) who ran for over 2000 yards. Top NFL players include RB Barry Sanders, RB Thurman Thomas, DT Kevin Williams, DE Leslie O’Neal, DT Jamal Williams, WR Dez Bryant, and OT Russell Okung.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1991 (0-10-1 overall, 0-6-1 Big 8)
In 1988, Oklahoma State led the nation in scoring with 48.7 PPG, led by Heisman winner and record-setting RB Barry Sanders. Just 3 years later, in 1991, they’d rank 2nd to last in the country with 9.6 PPG under 1st-year offensive coordinator Duke Christian. The team in general was pitiful. Their one non-loss came at midseason in a 6-6 draw with Iowa State, who finished 3-7-1. They scored 7 points or less 7 times, and had losses of 3-30 to Arizona State, 3-40 to #2 Miami (FL), 7-41 to 3-7-1 Missouri, and 0-31 to Kansas. The defense actually played pretty well for going up against the 3rd toughest schedule in the country, giving up just 13 points to #21 finisher Tulsa, 6 to Iowa State, 16 to #14 Colorado, and 21 to #18 Oklahoma. QBs Kenny Ford and Brent Scott combined for an impressively inept 9 TD and 23 INT. Duke Christian was fired, but it might not’ve all been his fault—after he was fired, he sued head coach Pat Jones, having been under the impression that he would stay on staff for at least 2 years and wouldn’t have Jones interfering with play calling. Christian may have been on to something, as Jones’ offenses averaged just 14.6, 15.8, and 16.4 PPG the next 3 years without Christian.
5. 2013 (10-3 overall, 7-2 Big 12)
Okie State was entering year 2 of the Clint Chelf/JW Walsh era at QB, which surprisingly wasn’t too far of a dropoff from Brandon Weeden when it came to scoring points. A 3-0 start included solid non-conference wins over eventual 7-6 Mississippi State and 7-5 UTSA, before losing to West Virginia, dropping to #21. From then on Oklahoma State would run through a tough Big 12 schedule, beating 8-5 Kansas State, #15 Texas Tech, and #24 Texas, improving to 9-1. #11 Oklahoma State hosted #3 9-0 Baylor, and in one of the biggest surprises of the season, sicced the Bears 49-17 to take 1st place in the Big 12. Clint “Choo Choo” Chelf had a career performance of 370 passing yards 3 TD 0 INT, as well as a rushing TD and a catch for 48 yards. #6 Oklahoma State would win the Big 12 title as long as they could beat #18 Oklahoma, but despite leading 24-20 with just 20 seconds left, gave up a 7 yard TD and then a 0 second TD when trying laterals to lose 24-33, finishing 2nd in the conference. They had a tough Cotton Bowl matchup against #9 Missouri, losing 31-41 on a last minute 73 yard fumble return for TD, and finished #17 in the final rankings. Chelf and Walsh combined for 3502 passing yards 26 TD 13 INT along with 663 rushing yards and 10 TD. CB Justin Gilbert was a consensus All-American with 7 interceptions, and was the 8th overall pick by the Cleveland Browns, who’d draft Johnny Manziel 14 picks later.
4. 1988 (10-2 overall, 5-2 Big 8)
Barry Sanders Barry Sanders Barry Sanders Barry Sanders. The 1988 season is THE BARRY SANDERS YEAR. I think people knew he was good going into the season, but he was Thurman Thomas’ backup up until 1988, did they really know he was THIS good? Oklahoma State, also led by QB and future head coach Mike Gundy and All-American WR Hart Lee Dykes, opened up 4-0 with huge performances from Sanders. Barry destroyed Tulsa for 304 rushing yards on 33 carries, and through the first 4 games, had 813 rushing yards and 13 TD. Oh, and he also had an additional kick return TD and punt return TD. #7 Nebraska’s offense was too much in a 42-63 loss, but Barry still got 189 rushing yards and 4 TD, starting to run away with the Heisman at that point. 2 weeks later he broke his season-high with 320 rushing yards in a 45-27 win over Kansas State, now up to 1476 rushing yards and 22 TD in just 7 games! OSU came up short, 28-31 against Barry Switzer’s #8 Oklahoma, dropping the winning TD pass on 4th and 16, but Barry still had 215 rush yards. The 3 game stretch to end the regular season was Barry’s finest—Oklahoma State won out, averaging 52.3 PPG with 312, 293, and 332 yard rushing performances by Barry. He was actually awarded the Heisman before his final regular season game, attending the ceremony via video call from Tokyo at 8 AM local time, where OSU was set to take on Texas Tech. Barry won the award, then had a season best 332 rushing yards and 4 TD in the 45-42 win. In the bowl against #15 Wyoming, Barry had 222 rushing yards and 5 TD in just 3 quarters, and those stats didn’t even count for the season because bowl game stats didn’t count back then.
Oklahoma State finished #11 in the AP Poll, leading the nation with 48.7 PPG. Barry ran for an obscene 2628 yards and 37 TD on 7.6 YPC, in just 11 games. That’s an average of 239 rushing yards a game!!! He also had 5 games of 290+ rushing yards, and if we extrapolate his yards per game average over a 13 game schedule, that’s over 3000 rushing yards in one season. QB Mike Gundy would finish his career as OSU’s all-time leading passer, throwing for 2163 yards 19 TD 12 INT in his 2nd to last season. WR Hart Lee Dykes was a consensus All-American, leading the Big 8 in receptions/yards/TDs for the 3rd straight season with 74 catches for 1278 yards and 14 TD.
3. 2010 (11-2 overall, 6-2 Big 12)
I actually wrote about Justin Blackmon and 2010 Oklahoma State when I was in 6th grade, so I’m tempted to just post that for this section. Not like my writing’s improved much since then anyway. For 2 years from 2010-11, QB Brandon Weeden and WR Justin Blackmon terrorized colleg…
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