Oklahoma State’s trip back to Tulsa on Saturday comes with a strange kind of symmetry. H.A. Chapman Stadium was the site of one of the Cowboys’ last convincing moments before everything went sideways, and now it’s where they get another crack at the Golden Hurricane after more than 700 days without an FBS win.
The last time OSU played in Tulsa, Alan Bowman put together a huge day, throwing for 396 yards and five touchdowns in a 45-10 rout. That game looked like the kind of springboard a 10-win team could ride into the next season.
Instead, it turned out to be the final FBS victory for the Cowboys. Since then, the number has gotten ugly fast: 721 days have passed, and OSU has gone 0-20 against FBS opponents in that stretch.
That backdrop gives this series a very different feel than the one-sided recent run might suggest. Oklahoma State still owns the overall edge at 44-28-5, and it has controlled the matchup over the last decade, winning 10 of the past 11 meetings. The first game between the schools came in 1914, when OSU won 13-6 in Stillwater.
But the latest chapter is the one that still hangs over this rivalry. In last year’s meeting in Stillwater, Tulsa beat the Cowboys 19-12, and the game never really let OSU breathe.
After a field-goal trade, the Golden Hurricane grabbed a 10-3 lead in the first quarter. The Cowboys’ offense never found a real rhythm, and Tulsa stretched it to 19-3 in the fourth before OSU finally scraped together a couple of late scores.
It was Tulsa’s first win over Oklahoma State since before Y2K, and its first in Stillwater since 1951.
Four days later, Mike Gundy was gone after 21 years on the job, and the coaching search that would eventually lead to Eric Morris began.
The numbers in Tulsa are a little more surprising than they might seem at first glance. OSU is 21-16-2 in the city, even though Tulsa owns the all-time lead there.
Still, the Cowboys’ last loss in Tulsa came way back in 1998. They also dropped games there in 1995, 1991, 1989 and 1986, while the longest losing streak on the road in the series was five straight in the 1930s.
Oklahoma State has actually won four straight in Tulsa dating back to 2000.
The draw has shown up often enough, too. OSU and Tulsa have tied five times, which trails only Oklahoma’s seven ties against the Cowboys. Those two schools are also the opponents Oklahoma State has played most often in program history.
And this isn’t a one-off anymore. The schools are in the middle of an eight-year scheduling agreement that has them meeting every season through 2031.
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