Eric Morris didn’t need anyone to explain what Saturday meant to Oklahoma State. He could feel the weight of it the moment the Cowboys walked off the field after beating West Virginia.
The number he chose to share with his team said plenty: 1,036 days since Oklahoma State last won a conference game. That was the drought, and Morris wanted his players to understand exactly how long they’d been carrying it.
The veterans who had lived through the losing knew. The handful left from the 2023 streak knew.
And one player in particular, defensive end Jaleel Johnson, got the message directly.
Johnson is the only captain from last year’s team and a fifth-year Cowboy, which made him the natural face of what Saturday represented. Morris said he made sure to point out the reaction.
“There was the biggest smile on that kid’s face, and I made him take a picture of it,” Morris said to reporters on Saturday. “Hopefully, we'll post that this week, and you'll be able to see how big his smile and how beautiful it was.”
For Oklahoma State, the win over West Virginia was more than just the first Big 12 victory under Morris. It snapped an 18-game conference losing streak and gave the Cowboys a 3-1 record, 1-0 in Big 12 play. It also marked their first Big 12 road win since Nov. 18, 2023, when they beat Houston, 43-30.
The road back has been a long one. Oklahoma State’s last Big 12 win before Saturday came on Nov. 25, 2023, a 40-34 double-overtime victory over BYU at Boone Pickens Stadium. That season still ended with a trip to the Big 12 Championship Game, where the Cowboys lost to Texas.
Then came the slide. It started on Sept. 21, 2024, with a 22-19 loss to No.
12 Utah. Oklahoma State was ranked No. 14 that week and stayed ranked the next week before falling at Kansas State, 42-20.
The rankings disappeared after that, but the losses didn’t. The Cowboys dropped their final seven league games, including a three-point loss at BYU, and finished 3-9 after a 52-0 shutout loss to No.
25 Colorado.
The 2025 season was even uglier. Oklahoma State went 1-11, with the only win coming in the opener against UT Martin. Long-time head coach Mike Gundy was fired three games into the season, Doug Meachem took over as interim coach and couldn’t get a win, and Morris was brought in from North Texas to lead the program forward.
Since the loss to Tulsa, the Cowboys have beaten nationally ranked Oregon to end a 21-game losing streak against FBS teams. They followed that with wins over Murray State and West Virginia, giving Oklahoma State its first three-game winning streak since the start of the 2024 season. The Cowboys are back in the AP Top 25, just one day shy of two years since their last ranking.
Morris understands the mood around the program, from the fan base to the players to the path still ahead. He says he got a preview of what could happen from one of the program’s biggest names.
“Brandon Weeden told me, ‘Hey coach, if you get this thing going, you'll be surprised. You light a match underneath this thing, it'll catch on fire and be incredible, like you've never seen.’”
In Other News...
Drew Mestemaker Is Giving Oklahoma State Fans A New Reason To Believe
Drew Mestemakers latest outing gave Oklahoma State another sign that the offense has found something worth watching. Against West Virginia, the Cowboys quarterback kept pushing the ball downfield and came away with a performance that fit the kind of season he has already built, one that includes leading the nation in passing yards in 2025 and winning the Burlsworth Trophy.
The West Virginia game only added to the buzz around him, with Mestemaker completing 20-of-27 throws for 389 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. His Heisman case is no longer the kind of distant long shot it once was, and the rising national attention gives Oklahoma State fans a fresh reason to keep believing theres more coming from their quarterback and, by extension, the rest of the offense around him. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Just Proved It Can Win Even With One Major Problem
Week 4 of the 2026 college football season offered a clearer look at just how unsettled the Big 12 race has become. Oklahoma State finally got into the conference win column with a victory at West Virginia, Cincinnati pulled out a comeback over Kansas State, and UCF backed up its rise with a defense-driven upset of TCU, a result that fit the week's theme of contenders finding different ways to survive.
For the Cowboys, the broader picture matters because this is the kind of weekend that can reshape a league schedule in a hurry. A team that had been stuck in a long conference slide got relief at last, and the win came with the kind of offensive support that had been missing during the rough stretch. In a Big 12 where momentum can flip fast, Oklahoma State at least gave itself a chance to build on something real. [Read more 🡒]
UCF Just Proved It Can Win Even When Everything Gets Tough
Big 12 play in Week 4 kept moving in a direction Oklahoma State fans know well this fall: games got messy, and the standings got a little harder to read. Around the league, Texas Tech, Baylor, UCF, Houston, Utah, Oklahoma State, Arizona and Cincinnati all came away with wins, and the weekend offered plenty of evidence that surviving conference play often matters as much as style points.
For the Cowboys, the most meaningful part of the day was simply getting back on the winning side in league play. It came in a road setting that has been unkind to them in recent years, and it gave Oklahoma State a much-needed jolt as the Big 12 race begins to take shape. The result also fit the broader theme of the week, where several teams found ways to win even when the path there was anything but smooth. [Read more 🡒]