Head to Head vs. Blue-Bloods, Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State Don't Take a Backseat

STILLWATER – You saw the picture there of Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy dealing with the showers that fell throughout last season’s final regular season game with West Virginia. Gundy and his Oklahoma State program have been one of the top ten Division I college football programs in wins the past decade.

Rank	School	Wins from 2013-2022
1.	Alabama	126
2.	Clemson	121
3.	Ohio State	116
4.	Georgia	109
5.	Oklahoma	103
6. (tie)	Notre Dame	94
6. (tie)	Boise State	94
8.	Wisconsin	92
9.	LSU	90
10.	Oklahoma State	89

Now, the 247 Sports folks came up with a list of the 16 schools that have a better than 50 percent makeup on the scholarship roster (85 limit) of blue chip players, recruits that ranked in the four or five-star category. I’m on record as not being a huge fan of the star system, but I do recognize that the majority of those prospects are among the most talented.

My problem has always been with the folks that determine the stars. Some are really good evaluators, but many would struggle to put together a good “Pop Warner” football team. That said here is the 247 Sports list of Division I teams with the highest percentage of four and five-star talent.

Division I College Football Teams with Greater than 50 Percent of their Roster 4/5-star Talent

1.	Alabama	90%	9.	Oregon	67%
2.	Ohio State	85%	10.	Notre Dame	65%
3.	Georgia	77%	11.	Florida	64%
4.	Texas A&M	73%	12.	Miami (Fla.)	61%
5.	Clemson	72%	13.	Penn State	55%
6.	LSU	71%	14.	Michigan	54%
7.	Oklahoma	70%	15.	USC	52%
tie	Texas	70%	16.	Auburn	51%

It is worth mentioning that Texas A&M, Miami (Fla.), and Auburn did not even go to bowl games last season. That is truly embarrassing!

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Gundy and his staff have recruited enough talent to go to a bowl game every year since 2006.

Okay, so here is how we work Oklahoma State into the research. We checked and Oklahoma State’s current roster is made up of nine percent of 4/5-star recruiting talent. About what you might expect as Oklahoma State is typically ranked somewhere from 25-45 in recruiting rankings. Last season they were much lower despite having some fairly talented signees including Nebraska All-State quarterback and record setter Zane Flores and highly regarded Utah running back Sesi Vailahi.

Over the last 10 years Oklahoma State is tenth in wins among Division I (FBS) football, so how have they done against the blue-bloods in the sport? Here is our research.

Oklahoma State football vs. Top Talented Programs in College Football from 2013-2022

Opponent	Wins	Losses
Oklahoma	2	8
Texas	7	3
Miami (Fla.) - 2020 Cheez-It Bowl	1	0
Notre Dame - 2022 Fiesta Bowl	1	0
Totals (2013-2022)	11	11

Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy were actually 89-40 over that span and the 11 wins and 11 losses to the most talented teams, based on recruiting, represented 12.3 percent of the wins during that period and 27.5 percent of the losses in the decade.

Here are some other accomplishments over the past few years lauded in list season by the folks at College Football Report.

College Football Report

Top record as an underdog