The 2024 college football season has been a year of firsts for many reasons, but in Big 12 country, it’s the first year that Texas and Oklahoma aren’t in the league that they called home for almost 30 years.
The Longhorns and Sooners left the Big 12 to join the SEC this season, and their departures coincide with the league adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah.
While the new kids on the block certainly bring their own reasons for excitement, the Big 12 had a few programs in place that felt like they might immediately jump to the top of the new-look league’s hierarchy.
One of those programs is Oklahoma State. The Cowboys, which were picked among the top three Big 12 contenders in 2024, have gotten off to one of their worst starts of the Mike Gundy era, going 0-4 in their first four Big 12 games and 3-4 overall.
Their in-state rivals, which Gundy won’t face in the regular season for the first time in his career, aren’t doing so well either, with a 4-3 (1-3 SEC) record to this point.
Naturally, Gundy was asked to comment on the state of the Sooners, who are less than 24 hours removed from firing their offensive coordinator, Seth Littrell. The ever-candid head coach didn’t mince words in his reaction, either, though it probably wasn’t what the reporter asking the question was hoping for.
It’s an appropriate response from a 20-year head coach that is facing a four-game losing streak — something he’s dealt with on just two occasions prior to this season.
Oklahoma State is coming off perhaps the most heartbreaking loss of its season thus far after BYU scored with 10 seconds left to sneak out a 38-35 comeback victory on Friday night to drop OSU below .500 for the first time this year.
The Pokes will hope to get back on track this weekend when they head to Waco to take on the Baylor Bears in a battle of 3-4 teams. Baylor is coming off its first Big 12 win of the year, a 59-35 victory over Texas Tech.
