Former Oklahoma State coach Kasey Dunn pulls no punches: the star-studded 2011 Cowboys ‘absolutely should have been’ in the BCS National Championship Game.
Did Oklahoma State Deserve To Make The National Championship In 2011?
STILLWATER, Okla. — In a recent episode of the Huddle Up Podcast, former Oklahoma State wide receivers coach Kasey Dunn joined the show and delivered an unfiltered take on one of the most painful “what if” moments in Cowboys football history.
When asked whether the 2011 Oklahoma State team deserved a spot in the BCS National Championship Game, Dunn didn’t mince words. “But it is the truth that Oklahoma State, I mean, we absolutely should have been in that game,” he said, referencing the low-scoring, “baseball game” rematch between LSU and Alabama. “You gotta be kidding me… in the country with Blackmon and Weeden and two first-round draft picks and we don’t get picked to go in that thing. My ass.”
Dunn’s emotion was so evident. As the wide receivers coach that season, he had a front-row seat to one of the most explosive offenses in college football.
Justin Blackmon, the Biletnikoff Award-winning wideout Dunn helped develop, and quarterback Brandon Weeden formed a lethal battery. Both would be selected in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, Blackmon fifth overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars, Weeden later in the first round by the Cleveland Browns. The Cowboys rolled to a 12-1 record, won the Big 12 Championship outright for the first time in decades, and finished No. 3 in the final AP Poll.
Yet they never got their shot at the national title.
The 2011 season was magical until it wasn’t. Oklahoma State opened with 10 straight victories and climbed all the way to No. 2 in the BCS standings behind LSU.
Then tragedy struck. On the eve of their November 18 road game at Iowa State, news broke of a plane crash that killed Oklahoma State women’s basketball coaches Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna. The football team held a moment of silence and played anyway, emotionally drained on a Friday night in Ames. As a heavy favorite, the Cowboys fell 37-31 in double overtime.
That single loss proved fatal in the convoluted BCS formula. Alabama, which had lost to LSU in the SEC Championship, remained entrenched in the human polls.
When the final BCS standings were released, LSU sat at No. 1 and Alabama edged Oklahoma State for No. 2 by the slimmest margin in BCS history, just 0.0086 points (Alabama .9419, Oklahoma State .9333). The Cowboys were left out in favor of an all-SEC rematch.
Dunn wasn’t the only one still bothered by it. Podcast co-host Drew had told him beforehand, “We should have gone to the national championship.” When the host pressed Dunn on the Iowa State game—“double overtime against Iowa State… after a tragedy”—Dunn acknowledged the heartbreak but stood firm. The host agreed: “I thought you guys did enough to get in that game. I will say that.” Dunn laughed it off as rare whining for him, but the frustration was real and shared by generations of OSU fans.
Instead of playing for the title, Oklahoma State faced No. 4 Stanford and future No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Andrew Luck in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl. In one of the most thrilling bowl games of the BCS era, the Cowboys trailed, rallied, and won 41-38 in overtime. It was a fitting game for a team that averaged nearly 45 points per game and proved it could hang with anyone.
Head coach Mike Gundy later said the 2011 squad would have beaten LSU. The controversy over the BCS title game, a snoozer that many called the “national championship of boredom”, only amplified the sense that Oklahoma State had been robbed. That snub is widely credited with helping kill the BCS and usher in the College Football Playoff.
Fifteen years later, the pain lingers for those who lived it. Kasey Dunn, who stayed at Oklahoma State for over a decade and eventually became offensive coordinator, captured the sentiment perfectly on the podcast, sometimes you just have to “pour you another one and get it out.”
For Cowboys fans, the 2011 season remains a bittersweet masterpiece, a team with everything except the final chance it earned. In the court of public opinion and in the hearts of those who wore the orange and black, Oklahoma State absolutely should have been in that game. And no amount of time or BCS math will ever change that truth.