Josh Pate Reveals Realistic Expectations For Oklahoma State Cowboys Football

College football host Josh Pate has been high on Oklahoma State and new head coach Eric Morris all offseason. He has compared what Morris is doing and their potential from taking over an 1-11 team to the likes of what Curt Cignetti did at Indiana.

Pate has mentioned in the past about the Cowboys contending in the Big 12 right away under Morris.

He was asked on his show this week about if he believes that they could make the College Football Playoff this season.

In his bold predictions segment, one fan suggested that five teams with the word “State” in their name will make the CFP.

Pate then responded with bringing up Oklahoma State, but he simmered his expectations a bit, not going out on a limb to say that they will make the College Football Playoff right away.

"Oklahoma State, I'm higher on them than most, but not that high," Pate said.

While that might be disappointing to hear, the reality is Pate is right. 

There are a lot of similarities between what Morris is doing at Oklahoma State, compared to what Cignetti was able to accomplish at Indiana, but it is still way too early to expect that time of improvement from the Cowboys right away.

Just like Cignetti, Morris brought several key pieces with him from his prior school. Morris has 16 total transfers from North Texas which include quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young.

However, those guys still played at North Texas last season, and to think that basically a team from The American is ready to come into the Big 12 and make the playoff already still feels like a reach.

What Indiana did was the outlier, not the standard. Sure, the Big 12 is a lot easier than what Indiana had to deal with in the Big Ten, but it doesn’t hurt to take a wait and see approach.

If Oklahoma State is an actual College Football Playoff contender, then let’s have that conversation we can have if they beat Oregon. 

A win over the Ducks would grab everyone’s attention and then everything would be open for discussion.

In the meantime, let’s see how this team develops.

The excitement around Morris is real, but they need to prove it on the feel before we get ahead of ourselves and call them a playoff threat. 

Going to a bowl game is a great realistic goal. If they can reach bowl eligibility early, then we can start building the conversations around more things this team can achieve from there.