Week 4 is upon us in Big 12 country, and what better way to kick off a great weekend of football than some action on Friday night? Oklahoma State hosted Tulsa for an in-state battle in Stillwater.
It was a nice little appetizer to prepare ourselves for Saturday. Between all the excitement and surprises, here are my three takeaways from Friday night in Stillwater.
Zane Flores is Not the Guy
During the offseason, there was a lot of talk about who would be the guy for Oklahoma State. Would it be Hauss Hejny or Zane Flores? Head coach Mike Gundy raved about Zane Flores at Big 12 media days, yet it was Hejny who got the starting job.
Unfortunately, Hauss broke his foot in the opener against UT Martin and will miss some time. Flores has now played in three games and has yet to throw a single touchdown pass. And in his last two games, he has thrown for 249 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions and has completed less than 50% of his passes. For a guy that was talked about a lot during the offseason, Zane Flores doesn’t look ready to be the starting quarterback. But until Hejny comes back, he’s all the Cowboys have.
Where’s the Defense?
After getting their teeth kicked against Oregon, I expected Oklahoma State to come out fired up against Tulsa. However, they got off to a slow start on Friday night as they let Tulsa get points on four of their five drives in the first half.
While they did play much better in the second half, it was too little too late at that point. Oklahoma State’s offense isn’t good at all which puts a lot more pressure on the defense to make plays. And even after just allowing three points in the second half, it wasn’t enough. Plus, there is no reason to give up over 200 rushing yards to a team like Tulsa. To make matters worse, the Cowboys struggled to get off the field in key situations on third and fourth down.
Mike Gundy is Done
Everyone has their breaking point, and I believe I have officially hit that with Mike Gundy. After going winless in conference play last season and having his worst year at Oklahoma State, things aren’t looking much better this year.
The 2024 season was a disastrous one. Gundy made a lot of changes between players and the coaching staff and here we are, just a few weeks into the 2025 season and the product on the field isn’t any better.
I get it, Mike Gundy built Oklahoma State football from the ground up. He is Oklahoma State football. But at some point, it will come to an end, and I think we are at that point. This program is lifeless, has zero juice and I am not sure if there is anything to look forward to with Mike Gundy as the head coach. You have done wonders in Stillwater but after this, it’s best for Oklahoma State to move on. Unless a miracle happens, he should not be brought back next season.
