Let's face it, the Oklahoma State football team is not going to win the national championship this season.
But the Cowboys could very well play in a better-than-decent bowl game.
Let's face it, OSU's non-conference schedule doesn't lend itself to helping the Cowboys win a national championship.
But it does lend itself to helping OSU to a good bowl game.
Positive results against the likes of non-conference, non-head turners Missouri State, Houston, Arkansas State and Florida Atlantic won't send the Cowboys shooting up the BCS rankings, but that's OK. That kind of schedule-making isn't supposed to.
"The goal for this year is to get our team back in a bowl game," said Oklahoma State's Dave Martin, who is the senior associate athletic director and in charge of setting OSU's football schedule.
If not admirable, it's certainly an attainable goal. After all, OSU hasn't been a top-shelf BCS dweller the past few seasons, but the Cowboys have been notable, going to three bowl games in the past four seasons. Yet, crafting a BCS schedule that sports fangs wouldn't make much sense. In fact, unless you know your team is going to challenge for a national championship, there's no reason to front-load a schedule with world class opponents -- especially when you have a still-new coach in place.
"I think that one of the things any time you have a change in coaching is try to schedule your pre-conference and find out what kind of talent you have," Martin said.
