Following two brutal seasons, Oklahoma State’s opener at Tulsa under Eric Morris is their most vital game since 2023 Bedlam.
TULSA, Okla. — For Oklahoma State football fans, the last true “must-win” atmosphere with national stakes came on November 4, 2023, when the Cowboys upset rival Oklahoma 27-24 in the final conference Bedlam football game.
Since then, the program has endured two of the most painful seasons in more than two decades. The 2024 campaign ended 3-9 (0-9 in the Big 12), and 2025 was even worse at 1-11 (0-9), capped by an early-season home loss to Tulsa that ultimately led to Mike Gundy’s firing in September 2025 after 21 years as head coach.
Now, on September 5, 2026, a new chapter begins. Eric Morris, the former North Texas coach renowned for developing quarterbacks and building explosive offenses, will make his Cowboys debut on the road against Tulsa at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
This is not just another season opener, it is the single most significant game for Oklahoma State since that 2023 Bedlam thriller because it represents the first step in proving what the administration is promising with the Eric Morris hire.
The roster has undergone a near-total transformation. More than a handful of newcomers dot the 2026 depth chart, including a staggering 62 transfers that ranked among the nation’s top classes.
Morris and his staff hit the portal hard, importing proven weapons on both sides of the ball to complement a handful of returning pieces and several high-school signees.
The offense, in particular, looks loaded with playmakers, namely Drew Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins, capable of the kind of up-tempo, high-scoring attacks Morris orchestrated at North Texas.
For fans who watched the Cowboys rank near the bottom of the Big 12 in scoring and total offense the past two years, this incoming slew of talent is the first real reason for optimism in years.
The stakes are amplified by the down-the-road venue and the opponent’s trash talk. Tulsa coach Tre Lamb has not let fans forget the Golden Hurricane’s 19-12 upset in Stillwater in 2025.
During a Tulsa basketball game in February 2026, Lamb grabbed the microphone and boldly declared, “We’ll beat their a– again.” The comment lit a fire under among many Cowboy fans and added personal stakes to what many already view as a measuring-stick game for the new coaching staff.
A dominant performance on Tulsa’s home field would do more than silence the “little brother” narrative. It would immediately invigorate a fan base, student body, and alumni network that has suffered through back-to-back losing seasons rarely seen since the early 2000s.
For boosters writing NIL checks and season-ticket holders debating whether to renew, a thorough road beatdown would signal that their investment is being matched by results on the field.
Morale across the program would surge. Players who endured the 2024-25 struggles would feel validated, recruits watching from afar would see a rising power, and the entire athletic department would gain momentum heading into a challenging Big 12 slate.
Even more importantly, a blowout victory could set the tone for the very next week when the Oregon Ducks visit Boone Pickens Stadium on September 12.
Starting 1-0 with style against a motivated in-state foe would give Morris’s squad confidence and belief that the new system works. It would send an unmistakable message to the rest of the conference…the Cowboys are no longer rebuilding, they are reloading.
The 2026 season is not guaranteed to end in a trip to Arlington, Texas or the College Football Playoffs, but it carries the promise of relevance, and at least a bowl birth.
After two of the bleakest years in modern program history, Oklahoma State finally has fresh leadership, elite talent via the portal, and a legitimate chance to shock the college football world.
The journey starts September 5 in Tulsa. For a fan base starved for winning football, nothing has mattered more since the last time the Bedlam lights were on the Cowboys in November 2023.