Oklahoma State Football Opens Eric Morris Era Against Tulsa

Oklahoma State Football Opens Eric Morris Era Against Tulsa

Oklahoma State football begins a dramatically different era Saturday as new head coach Eric Morris leads the Cowboys into their 2026 season opener against Tulsa.

The Cowboys enter the season after one of the largest roster transformations in major college football history. OSU added 91 newcomers, including 66 transfers, as Morris attempts to rebuild a program that did not win a conference game during the previous two seasons. Saturday's game will be played at H.A. Chapman Stadium in Tulsa, with kickoff scheduled for 2:45 p.m. on ESPNU.

Oklahoma State Football Begins New Era Under Eric Morris

Morris becomes the 25th head coach in Oklahoma State history when the Cowboys take the field Saturday.

OSU hired Morris from North Texas, where he steadily rebuilt the Mean Green and produced a 12-win team in his third season. His offenses produced three of the four highest single-season total offense averages in North Texas history.

The hiring was significant for another reason. Morris became the first sitting head coach hired by Oklahoma State since 1969 and the first sitting FBS head coach ever hired to lead the Cowboy program.

Fans can follow the program and Saturday's matchup through Oklahoma State Athletics.

The scale of the rebuilding project is difficult to overstate.

The Cowboys brought in 91 new players, representing roughly 79% of the 115-player roster. OSU says that is believed to be the largest group of newcomers assembled by a major college football program, surpassing the 87 newcomers Colorado brought in during 2023.

Among those newcomers are 66 transfers, a group ranked No. 7 nationally by both The Athletic and 247Sports. The incoming transfers brought more than 45,000 snaps of Division I experience with them to Stillwater.

Cowboys Get Immediate Rematch Against Tulsa

Saturday also gives Oklahoma State an immediate opportunity to erase one of the most painful results from last season.

Tulsa defeated Oklahoma State 19-12 at Boone Pickens Stadium in 2025, snapping a nine-game OSU winning streak in the series.

The Cowboys now travel to Tulsa looking to return the favor.

The matchup is the 80th meeting between the two programs, with Oklahoma State holding a 44-28-5 advantage in the series entering Saturday.

It is also the first time since 2000 that Oklahoma State has opened a season at Tulsa and only the third time in 19 years that the Cowboys have started a season with a true road game.

Morris already knows the opponent well.

While coaching North Texas, he went 2-0 against Tulsa, defeating the Golden Hurricane in both 2023 and 2024.

Tulsa coach Tre Lamb, however, enters Saturday with a 1-0 record against Oklahoma State after last year's victory in Stillwater.

Information about the Golden Hurricane program and Saturday's game is available through Tulsa Athletics.

A Cowboy victory would also end an 11-game overall losing streak, the longest in Oklahoma State program history. At the same time, OSU enters the game having won 11 consecutive season openers, creating two very different streaks that could collide Saturday.

New-Look Cowboys Bring Experience Despite Massive Roster Turnover

Morris did not simply add players. He brought a significant part of the system that made North Texas successful with him.

There are 21 former North Texas players on the Oklahoma State roster, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young.

Mestemaker enters the season having passed for at least 200 yards in 15 consecutive games, while Hawkins has scored multiple touchdowns in six of his past seven games.

Defensively, linebacker Ethan Wesloski arrives from North Texas after recording 113 tackles in 2025. He earned second-team All-American Conference honors and has been named to the 2026 Butkus Award watch list, which recognizes the nation's top collegiate linebacker.

Offensive lineman Tyler Mercer, another transfer with North Texas experience, is listed at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds and is part of the rebuilt Cowboy offensive front.

The Cowboys will not return to Boone Pickens Stadium until September 12, when they host Oregon in the first home game of the Morris era. Single-game tickets for that matchup have already sold out.

OSU's complete season schedule is available through the 2026 Oklahoma State Football Schedule.

For a program coming off consecutive seasons without a Big 12 victory, Saturday represents much more than another season opener.

It is the first test of a nearly complete rebuild, a chance to avenge last year's loss to an in-state opponent and the official beginning of the Eric Morris era.

With a new coaching staff, 91 newcomers and a roster built heavily through the transfer portal, Oklahoma State football will finally get its first indication Saturday of whether all that change can bring winning football back to Stillwater.

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