Oklahoma State Value Shows Up in The Athletic's Conference Realignment Draft

STILLWATER – For the past two weeks since the new first broke in the Houston Chronicle of Texas and Oklahoma working toward and getting membership in the Southeaster Conference within a week of that news breaking Pokes Report has been detailing why Oklahoma State fans should be confident their school will have a seat in the Power Five dining room. Oklahoma State doesn’t have the brand of a Texas or Oklahoma in football. However, they have vastly outperformed Texas head-to-head and overall in the past decade. This is all about football, football brand, and the eyeballs that a school can bring to television and enhance the negotiating power for a conference with regard to football television rights. It is the big money.

Thursday morning Oklahoma State athletics director Chad Weiberg sent out a letter to Oklahoma State fans detailing why they should feel confident, but at the same time imploring to continue to do their part and buy season tickets. The bragging on the football program was nice because it was needed, and Cowboys fans need to hear it. The national media seems stubborn about putting that out there.

Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma State football worthy of bragging and the brand is bigger than some want to admit.

“Thanks to the hard work and generosity of so many, the Oklahoma State brand has never been stronger and it is our brand that will pave our path forward,” Weiberg wrote getting to something that Mike Gundy has preached about holding up football. “It is a brand forged by the sustained success and national prominence Cowboy Football has achieved under Coach Gundy’s leadership. Since 2010, OSU Football is 12th nationally in total number of wins and is one of just three programs in the country with a streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons and bowl appearances. Oklahoma State is one of only 10 Power Five football programs with more than 100 wins since 2010 and has been ranked in the Top 15 of the Associated Press poll in 11 of the past 13 seasons. OSU Football has reached the Top 10 of the AP poll in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2020, finishing as high as third.”

Robert Allen - Pokes Report

The Athletic conference draft story.

Okay, it is good to brag a little, especially when it is true. However, it is one thing to get verification from a national media outlet. The Athletic published a story on Thursday where they had eight of their writers that write with varying specialties on college football. Stewart Mandel, Sam Khan Jr., Max Olson, Chris Vannini, Andy Staples, Nicole Auerbach, Ari Wasserman, and Matt Fortuna participated in a draft of 10 teams each to form their own personal conference. Mandel drew first pick and then at the bottom with Fortuna, in very fantasy draft style, the second round went from Fortuna back to Mandel.

The example is Mandel took Ohio State with his first pick and then 14 picks later took Wisconsin with his second selection. Eight teams going in each round and big brands Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas, and Michigan went in the first round. USC, LSU, Florida, Texas A&M (still overrated), Florida State, Auburn, Penn State, and Wisconsin in the second round. My honest opinion is Oklahoma State (football prowess, brand, and television attraction) deserves to be rated (picked) in the range of 25-30. Remember, this is all about football!

Oklahoma State was the second pick in the fifth round (34th pick overall). A little low in my book, but still more than certain to guarantee a Power Five position in the realignment of college football. Some teams drafted ahead of Oklahoma State by The Athletic staff that I question include Stanford, Kentucky, UCF, Arizona State, Indiana, Ole Miss, and NC State. Seven schools there and take them out and the Cowboys would have been the 27th selection.

The draft does show the Big 12 scenario of Texas and Oklahoma having the bigger brands and well above the rest of the conference. Oklahoma State was picked 34th. Here is where the rest of the Big 12 remaining teams were selected.

The surprise here to me and it is a good one is that Kansas State was looked at as the fifth best valued school in the Big 12. I like seeing that. As we expected, Baylor and Kansas were the two lowest valued schools in the eyes of The Athletic staff and Pokes Report had projected that.