2026 Week 1 Preview: Oklahoma State Cowboys @ Tulsa Golden Hurricane
· Yahoo Sports
Game notes
- Time and date: Saturday, September 5 at 3:45 p.m. ET
- Network: ESPNU
- Location: Chapman Stadium — Tulsa, OK
- Spread: Oklahoma State (-13.5)
- Over/under: 59.5
- All-time series: Oklahoma State leads, 44-29-5
- Last meeting: Tulsa 19, Oklahoma State 12 — September 19, 2025
- Current streak: Tulsa, 1 (2025)
Setting the scene
A fateful Friday night in Stillwater altered the trajectory of college football in the state of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma State won all 10 matchups over Tulsa from 1999 through 2024. But last September, the Golden Hurricane left the Boone Pickens Stadium crowd speechless, dropping 19 consecutive points on the Cowboys in a seven-point victory. That result was the final moment of Mike Gundy’s 21-year tenure as Oklahoma State’s head coach.
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The Gundy era was an unquestionable success, but Oklahoma State turned the page. The Cowboys hired 40-year old offensive guru Eric Morris, who had North Texas one win away from the College Football Playoff in 2025.
Tulsa counters with a young head coach in Tre Lamb. The 36-year old claimed his first FBS victory over Oklahoma State last September, and this year, he aims to replicate the feat on his home field.
Oklahoma State Cowboys outlook
After UMass’ Thursday night victory over Rutgers, Oklahoma State owns the longest losing streak in the country. The Cowboys have dropped 11-straight games, including 20 consecutive to FBS opponents. Their last FBS win? Sept. 14, 2024, which was the last time they played at Tulsa.
Oklahoma State is far from the team that stumbled to a 1-11 finish a year ago. First-year head coach Eric Morris brought 19 players from his former stomping grounds of North Texas, highlighted by some of the best skill position talent in the country.
The Cowboys will debut North Texas transfer quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who led the nation in passing yards (4,379) and tied for second in passing touchdowns (34) in a breakthrough 2025 campaign. It was Mestemaker’s first season as a starting quarterback since ninth grade, and he already showcased NFL Draft-caliber skills. He completed at least 72 percent of passes in eight of 14 games and became the first quarterback since 2020 to record 600 yards in a single outing.
Mestemaker will operate alongside his top weapons from Denton. Caleb Hawkins ranked atop the FBS in rushing touchdowns (25) in a spectacular true freshman campaign last fall. The versatile running back also ranked fifth in rushing yards (1,434), averaged 6.2 yards per carry, and contributed 370 yards in the receiving game.
Another weapon at the star quarterback’s disposal is Wyatt Young, who ranked third nationally with 1,264 receiving yards in 2025. His 295 yards against Rice were the most in a single game by any receiver, and he averaged 18.1 yards per catch as a lethal deep threat. Young will line up alongside former Mean Green receivers Miles Coleman and Terrence Lewis, as well as transfers from other sources including Justin Bowick (Illinois), Chris Barnes (Wake Forest), and Rodney Harris II (Ohio).
Morris captained three top-6 total offenses and three top-12 passing offenses in three seasons at North Texas, while working with three different starting quarterbacks. His ability to maximize skill position talent is undeniable, but the key to Oklahoma State’s offense is the restructured line. North Texas ranked 19th nationally in fewest sacks allowed, while producing the No. 2 passing offense. Johnny Dickson III is the only Mean Green transfer starting on the frontline, and he’ll be joined by other experienced linemen such as Jacob Sexton (Oklahoma) and Tyler Mercer (Kansas).
The other question is, how will Oklahoma State’s defense look? North Texas struggled mightily on that side of the ball until hiring defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity, who worked wonders at Sam Houston in 2024, before drastically improving the Mean Green in 2025. Cassity’s defenses rely heavily on takeaways, and his last two defenses finished top-7 nationally with at least 27 turnovers produced.
While Oklahoma State’s first-team offensive is comprised exclusively of transfers, the defense still has holdovers from the Mike Gundy era. Defensive end Jaleel Johnson and defensive tackle Iman Oates will be essential to producing stops at the first level, especially after the team lost its lead pass rusher Wendell Gregory in the offseason.
LaDainian Fields is another defender running it back in Stillwater. The cornerback was responsible for two of Oklahoma State’s six interceptions last season — a metric which should improve given Cassity’s recent history in spearheading turnover production.
Outside linebacker Ethan Wesloski is the leader of the North Texas contingent on defense, coming off a well-rounded season of 113 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and an interception, while starting safeties Quinton Hammonds and Evan Jackson combined for four interceptions and 97 stops in Mean Green colors last season.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane outlook
Tulsa earned a headline-grabbing win over Oklahoma State last September, but the Golden Hurricane still faced regular struggles throughout 2025. They finished 4-8 in Tre Lamb’s first year at the helm and only secured one one-point win in conference play.
The Golden Hurricane were a very young team last year, but continuity plays significantly into the team’s favor in 2026. Tulsa retained eight starters, and of them was the hero of last September’s victory in Stillwater. Quarterback Baylor Hayes made his third FBS start that night, throwing for 219 yards and a touchdown in a hostile road environment. Now, he’s a redshirt sophomore with a year of experience under his belt, arriving into 2026 with 2,158 passing yards, 188 rushing yards, 12 passing touchdowns, and six interceptions in a Tulsa uniform.
Tulsa saw massive turnover in its skill position groups, losing 1,000-yard rusher Dominic Richardson, all-conference tight end Brody Foley, and the two most productive wide receivers. The Golden Hurricane primarily leaned on the run game last season, ranking 27th in the FBS in rushing attempts per game. However, with new personnel and a new offensive coordinator in Kevin Barbay, anything is on the table in 2026.
Still, Tulsa reloaded with a horde of experience tailbacks. Damari Alston (Auburn), Trequan Jones (Old Dominion), DJ McKinney (New Mexico), and Seth Davis (Mississippi State) all saw substantial action at their prior stops, and the Golden Hurricane will likely rotate three of four running backs to start the season, before determining a clear RB1.
The first-team receivers are all incoming transfers too. David Wells Jr. (Oregon State), Oran Singleton Jr. (West Virginia), and Jimmy Calloway (Tulane) each bring veteran presence to the room. No Tulsa wide receiver eclipsed 418 yards receiving last year, and the Golden Hurricane hope one of these newcomers steps up to buck that trend. The passing game also requires a Foley replacement, and Tulsa will break in 6’5”, 240-pound redshirt freshman Luke Tevis, who played in the final four contests last year but didn’t record any stats.
The offense features four linemen that logged at least four starts in Tulsa uniforms last season, led by left tackle Cam East who started eight contests. The offensive line hopes to replicate its success from last year’s matchup. On the Friday in Stillwater, Oklahoma State did not register a single sack in 36 dropbacks, while the line paved the way for 205 rushing yards on a 4.8 average.
There’s room for improvement on defense after Tulsa finished 94th in points allowed per game and 90th in yards allowed per game. However, the Golden Hurricane start the season with one of the strongest secondaries in the American Conference. Cornerback Elijah Green returned to campus after generating a first team all-conference nod, picking off a league-high five passes while batting down another seven. Safeties Zach Williams and Devin Robinson, who combined for 124 tackles and 10 pass breakups, are the other returning starters in a loaded defensive backfield.
While Green did his part in forcing turnovers, the rest of the team needs to follow. Tulsa finished a minus-9 in turnover margin in 2025, and generating a stronger pass rush is the logical solution. The Golden Hurricane don’t return any of the six players who registered more than one sack last fall, so they’ll look to Appalachian State transfer defensive end Thomas Davis as the main source of pressure against Mestemaker.
Other names to monitor on defense, especially when Oklahoma State runs the ball, are graduate linebackers Chris Thompson Jr. and Devin Hightower. Thompson was expected to play a key role in the 2025 defense but missed the entire season due to an ankle injury, while Hightower contributed a team-high 81 tackles a year ago at UAB.
Prediction
Tulsa may have homefield advantage this time, but Oklahoma State’s drastic improvement will exceed almost every edge the Golden Hurricane had in the prior year matchup.
The Cowboys feature the reigning FBS passing leader with explosive skill position talents all around him — a far cry from the Oklahoma State team that ranked 134th in scoring offense and only posted 12 points on Tulsa last September. Defensively, the Cowboys kept some of their best players while complementing them with ready-to-go transfers.
To stage the upset, the Golden Hurricane need to overwhelmingly dominate the Cowboys’ offensive line and force Mestemaker into multiple turnovers. South Florida and Tulane were the only teams that mastered that approach last year, and it’s no conicidence those were the Mean Green’s only losses in 2025.
Overall, Oklahoma State’s dynamic offense will prove too overwhelming for the Golden Hurricane to keep pace with. The Cowboys start the Eric Morris era with a comfortable victory and snap the nation’s longest losing streak — against the most recent FBS opponent they defeated.
Prediction: Oklahoma State 49, Tulsa 20