How Does Oklahoma State Perform in Homecoming Games?

By Ryan Breeden

October 28, 2021

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STILLWATER – This week Oklahoma State is celebrating its centennial rendition of “America’s Greatest Homecoming”. With this Saturday being the 100th homecoming game in OSU’s history, I wanted to take a look at how the Cowboys have performed in those games throughout program history.

On the surface, the all-time record is misleading compared to recent history. In 99 homecoming games OSU is 55-38-6, but there were some dark days in the 50’s, 60’s and early 2000’s. A more accurate stat is the 10-3 record since 2007 with the pokes outscoring their opponents 389-259 in those games.

As for this year’s team, there isn’t a whole lot of returning experience on offense from the most recent homecoming game, which was a 45-27 loss to Baylor in 2019.

Everyone in the offensive box score except Spencer Sanders, Dezmon Jackson and Logan Carter are either gone or hurt.

Sanders’ stat line that game was 18-32, 157 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT and 2 fumbles lost.

However, the defense returns 7 members from the 2019 unit. Wasn’t the best day for them though. They gave up 530 yards. Obviously this year’s defense is very different than that one was.

This will be the 12th time Oklahoma State plays Kansas for its homecoming game. In the previous 11, OSU’s record is 4-7, but 5 of those losses came in the 50’s and 60’s too. The most recent of those meetings was in 2015, but most people don’t remember the score to the game as much as they do what happened that morning.

Oklahoma State won 58-10, but that was the day of the homecoming parade accident at the intersection of Hall of Fame and Main that killed 4 people and injured 46, so more pressing things to worry about that didn’t involve football on that day.

Mason Rudolph dominated that game by the way. 30-36 (83% comp pct) for 305 yards and a touchdown. That was the same game James Washington made that one-handed catch in the corner of the endzone. It was also the second year of OSU’s new-found homecoming game tradition.

In 2014’s game when OSU hosted West Virginia, the equipment staff busted out the “bronc rider” logo on classic white helmets as a tribute to the 1967-1968 uniforms. That tradition stuck and Oklahoma State has done it every homecoming game since then. In the throwback games, Oklahoma State is 4-2 with losses to West Virginia in that very first game and then Baylor in the most recent game.

What do you think Oklahoma State will wear this Saturday? Let me know what you think. I personally would love to save the all-black Barry Sanders era uniforms saved for the TCU blackout game when Barry will get put in the ring of honor, so let me see these helmets from the 1950’s that were redesigned by Chris Knox:

Last little note, Mike Gundy is 14-5 overall in homecoming games. 10-5 as a coach and 4-0 as player. So history is on his side in this weekend’s matchup. And this has nothing to do with homecoming, but Kansas hasn’t won a Big 12 road game since November 29, 2008, against Missouri. So there’s also that…..

Here’s the uniforms by year: