Trevino's tidbits: Is OSU underrated entering the 2023 season?
Optimism for Oklahoma State football in 2023 appears to only exist in Stillwater.
No matter the fact the team lost 11 starters from last season and brought in a quarterback who has never started a full season, Cowboys fans expect another nine-plus win season.
But if you look anywhere else, premonitions on OSU's season mimic last year's finish.
ESPN's Mark Schlabach wrote the Cowboys will finish seventh in a 14-team Big 12 with a 7-5 record, including a Bedlam victory on Nov. 4.
CBS's Shehan Jeyarajah bet the over six-wins total on OSU, giving the Cowboys eight wins total and only one home loss.
The Action Network's Brett McMurphy predicts OSU will finish the season at the First Responders Bowl.
Earlier this summer, I ranked each game on OSU's schedule based on how difficult the matchup is, but I didn't say what I think their record could be. There's two ways it could go.
The Cowboys could shock the Big 12, and with a favorable schedule, OSU could end the season with around 10 wins. That would take a lot from the starting quarterback — whether its Garret Rangel or Alan Bowman — OSU, like most teams in college football nowadays, will live or die from its quarterback play.
The Hyde to an optimist Jekyll is OSU struggles to figure out Bryan Nardo's 3-3-5 defensive scheme until it's too late, and the offense can't rebound without experience across the field — dropping games it shouldn't and struggling to make a bowl game.
I — like most others who don't bleed orange — foresee a future in the middle. The Cowboys will struggle at first, beating Central Arkansas and an even less experienced Arizona State team comfortably, but dropping early games to South Alabama, Kansas State and Kansas at home, before figuring things out and getting an emotional Bedlam win and ending the season around 8-4 or 7-5.
Predicting the Big 12 hasn't been smart if you're betting money, though. Neither Oklahoma nor Texas has appeared in the conference championship game since 2020. TCU made the national championship game last year after being predicted to finish seventh, and Baylor won the Big 12 after being selected eighth in the Big 12 preseason poll in 2021.
OSU is in the position those teams were. Am I saying they will be in Arlington in December? Not really. Is there a world it happens? Yeah, but until I live in it, I won't believe it.
