OSU insider: Schedule could help OSU's bowl chances

Let's face it, the Oklahoma State football team is not going to win the national championship this season.

Commitments

DE Tyrell Higgins (Samuel Clemens HS, Schertz, Texas), 6-3, 254

OL Jason Hannan (Waxahachie HS, Waxahachie, Texas), 6-3, 270

Source: Scout.com

Sizing up the schedule

Sept. 2: Missouri State, 6 p.m.: Coached by former Kansas coach Terry Allen.

Sept. 9: Arkansas State (Little Rock, Ark.), 6:05 p.m. Indians' safety Tyrell Johnson named preseason Sun Belt Defensive Player of Year by The Sporting News.

Sept. 16: Florida Atlantic, 6 p.m. Howard Schnellenberger returns to Oklahoma.

Sept. 23: at Houston, 8 p.m. Quarterback Kevin Kolb has started 36 straight games; has 9,155 career passing yards.

Oct. 7: at Kansas State, TBA Bill Snyder leaves, Cats beef up schedule: UCLA and Miami are on the schedule in the next five years.

Oct. 14: at Kansas, TBA Freshman quarterback Kerry Meier threw for 184 yards on a 16-of-28 effort in spring game.

Oct. 21: vs. Texas A&M, 6 p.m. Aggies defense ripped for 25 or more points eight times last season.

Oct. 28: vs. Nebraska, 6 p.m. Will learn a lot about Huskers in their Sept. 16 game at USC.

Nov. 4: at Texas, TBA The Longhorns may have decided on a quarterback by this one.

Nov. 11: vs. Baylor, 6 p.m. Remember last year when Bears led OSU 38-7 in second quarter?

Nov. 18: at Texas Tech, TBA Former quaterback Sonny Cumbie accounted for 71 touchdowns last season ... in Arena League.

Nov. 25: vs. Oklahoma, 1:30 p.m. Sooners have won last three against Cowboys

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.

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