Bill Haisten is Right. Oklahoma State - Alabama Series Almost Definite to Be Scrapped
STILLWATER – Without getting too deep, I’m like every other interested or tied-in individual with Oklahoma State football. I was crazy excited about the agreement between Oklahoma State and Alabama for a home-and-home football series in 2028 in Stillwater and then in 2029 at Alabama. I love the fact that Oklahoma State fans can claim perfect records (1-0) against college football traditional bluebloods in Alabama (34-31 in the 2006 Independence Bowl) and Notre Dame (37-35 in the 2023 PlayStation Fiesta Bowl). That is pretty cool. I didn’t mind the scheduling with Alabama and, like many including the Tulsa World’s Bill Haisten, thought we might have a pair of match-ups between Hall-of-Fame coaches Nick Saban and Mike Gundy.
Not only will that match-up not happen, but I agree with the column from Haisten in the Tulsa World that the games themselves will not take place.
The series was announced in the summer of 2021 and big-time series with Oregon, Arkansas, Colorado and Nebraska were announced as well in that same time frame. Oklahoma State football was a top 15 program and recognized as such, which made them an attractive school to schedule. Television would be excited about those contests. Momentum could be seized and resumes enhanced with a nonconference win over Oklahoma State.
The transfer portal and NIL/revenue sharing has changed college football a lot. Some schools, blueblood or not, have handled those dynamics well and others have been drained and rendered floundering because of them. Alabama’s Nick Saban retired and went to ESPN Game Day because of the changes and Mike Gundy was dismissed after losing 11-of-12 games, in part, due to not handling the new dynamics.
Of those featured nonconference match-ups scheduled by Oklahoma State, Oregon will be completed on Sept. 12 this season when the Ducks return the 69-3 drubbing last fall in Eugene to Stillwater.
Arkansas was the last huge win for Mike Gundy in his tenure as the Cowboys beat the Razorbacks in Boone Pickens Stadium 39-31 in overtime on Sept. 7, 2024. New head coach Eric Morris will return that game on Sept. 11, 2027. There are two others scheduled with Arkansas; Sept. 18, 2032 in Stillwater and Sept. 10, 2033 in Fayetteville. Those two and the Alabama home-and-home are seriously threatened by the SEC adding a ninth conference game starting this upcoming season.
Most schools are going to look for a three-game non conference schedule to have one Power Four opponent and two either Group-of-Six or FCS opponents. In 2028 Alabama has Ohio State on the schedule and in 2029 they host Notre Dame. The Crimson Tide will not dump those games, the backlash would be gigantic. They will likely buy out the Oklahoma State series.
Arkansas has only Tulsa along with the Cowboys in 2027. Oklahoma State is the only nonconference game scheduled for 2032 and 2033. Honestly, my thought is that Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Tulsa should all play each other every nonconference. Those trips are bus trips and with proximity guarantee full stadiums.
Back to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys nonconference schedule with Colorado is already off the books as Colorado joined the Big 12 and is now a conference foe.
I don’t see any problem with the Nebraska series. The Big Ten already plays nine conference games and the OSU-Nebraska games scheduled give each program a P4 opponent in the non conference.
