The Big 12 on Tuesday — finally — released the conference schedule for the 2023 season. And my, oh my, OSU’s schedule is interesting.

You can find the full schedule here, of course, but I’ve got some additional thoughts I need to fire off below.

Let’s dive in.

1. No traditional Big 12 Texas teams

A truly odd thing that may never happen again moving forward but will happen in 2023: OSU will not play any of the traditional Big 12 teams from the state of Texas. So no Texas, no Texas Tech, no TCU and no Baylor. The only conference game against a team from the state is new member Houston, slated for Nov. 18 in Houston. (Houston, by the way, will have 10 (!!!) games played in the state of Texas next season.)

2. Early bye

This is anecdotal and highly based on recency bias, but OSU’s early bye — on Sept. 30 — feels like a brutal beat. That means OSU will play exactly one conference game then immediately go into its bye week before playing eight consecutive weekends in league play to close the year. Insane. OSU had a September bye this past season as well and completely ran out of gas. Since 2015, byes have come early to mid October (excluding last year, obviously). It’ll be the first time since the 2012 season that OSU will play only one conference game then immediately jump into bye week. Maybe it winds up mattering, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s a brutal sprint to the finish over the last two months with no time to take a breather in between.

3. Bedlam in November

Bedlam has almost always been played in November so it landing on the schedule in November is itself not a surprise, but the game landing as the first of four (!) games in November is certainly of note. The Nov. 4 date is the earliest the rivalry game will be played since 2017 — the 62-52 year in Stillwater. Mark your calendars now because most likely this will be the last Bedlam football game played inside Boone Pickens Stadium for a long time.

4. That start!

The nonconference schedule for OSU is pretty soft, but boy did the Big 12 swerve the opposite direction in setting up OSU’s opening to league play! It faces Iowa State in Ames to open things up, then to bye week, then reigning conference champion Kansas State comes to town on a Friday. The middle schedule lightens up a bit but the beginning of the schedule — and the end, which we will get to in a second! — sets up a potential 0-2 start. My money would be on OSU being underdogs in both of those first two games and possibly three of its first four with Kansas coming to Stillwater after the K-State game followed by a road trip to Morgantown to face West Virginia the next week.

5. That finish!

The last five weeks of the schedule for OSU is almost entirely new territory outside the Bedlam game the first week of November. In that span OSU will face every single new conference member with two of them on the road and two of them at home, culminating with a home regular-season finale vs. BYU on Nov. 25. Get a load of this five-week stretch to close the season:

Date	Opponent
Oct. 28	Cincinnati (Homecoming)
Nov. 4	Oklahoma
Nov. 11	at UCF
Nov. 18	at Houston
Nov. 25	BYU

The only other Big 12 team to draw matchups against all four Big 12 newcomers is West Virginia, though WVU will play those four games in a span of six weeks as opposed to OSU, which will face all four in a five-week span.

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

STILLWATER, Okla. – Home dates against Central Arkansas, South Alabama, Kansas State, Kansas, Cincinnati, Oklahoma and BYU headline the 2023 Oklahoma State football schedule that was announced Tuesday.

The Big 12 schedule release is usually a formality, but not for the 2023 season.

It’s no longer a nine-game round robin with UCF, Houston, Cincinnati and Houston set to join the league this upcoming season. The Big 12 is up to 14 teams for at least this year before OU and Texas find a way to the SEC. Oklahoma State won’t play everyone every year any more, but without further ado, here is a look at the Cowboys’ full 2023 schedule.

Date	Opponent
Sept. 2	Central Arkansas
Sept. 9	at Arizona State
Sept. 16	South Alabama
Sept. 23	at Iowa State
Sept. 30	Bye
Oct. 6	Kansas State
Oct. 14	Kansas
Oct. 21	at West Virginia
Oct. 28	Cincinnati (Homecoming)
Nov. 4	Oklahoma
Nov. 11	at UCF
Nov. 18	at Houston
Nov. 25	BYU

Nov. 4’s Bedlam should be the last one in Stillwater for the foreseeable future and might be the last Bedlam regardless of location for the foreseeable future. Even if Oklahoma stays in the Big 12 through the 2024 season, that Bedlam game would be in Norman. A win would mean the Cowboys closed out the Bedlam series with consecutive wins at home after beating OU in 2021.

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

Bedlam Round 2 comes Wednesday in Norman.

After beating the Sooners in Gallagher-Iba Arena, the Cowboys are after their first Bedlam sweep since the 2020-21 season. Oklahoma State also comes in having won five of the past six against the Sooners. Here is a preview of Wednesday’s matchup.

Viewing Info

Time: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Location: Lloyd Noble Center in Norman
Watch: ESPN2 (Mark Neely, Fran Fraschilla)

Team Stats

	Oklahoma State	Oklahoma
Record	12-9	12-9
Points Per Game	68.8	68.5
Opponent Points Per Game	63.1	64.8
Field-Goal Percentage	44%	48%
Opponent Field-Goal Percentage	38%	42%
3-Point Percentage	33%	37%
Free-Throw Percentage	71%	74%
Rebounds Per Game	37.0	32.2

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Projected Starters

Oklahoma State	Class	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
John-Michael Wright	Senior	6-1	9.1	2.7	1.8
Avery Anderson	Senior	6-3	11.0	3.6	3.4
Bryce Thompson	Junior	6-6	11.1	2.6	2.2
Woody Newton	Junior	6-9	4.9	3.4	0.2
Kalib Boone	Senior	6-9	11.3	5.2	1.1

Oklahoma	Class	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
Grant Sherfield	Senior	6-2	17.0	2.6	3.4
Milos Uzan	Freshman	6-4	6.1	2.7	3.3
Jalen Hill	Senior	6-6	10.5	5.7	0.9
Jacob Groves	Senior	6-9	8.0	2.6	1.1
Tanner Groves	Senior	6-9	10.2	7.5	1.8

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Series History (OU leads 141-104)

Season	Winner	Score	Location
2022-23	Oklahoma State	72-56	Stillwater
2021-22	Oklahoma	66-62 (OT)	Norman
2021-22	Oklahoma State	64-55	Stillwater
2020-21	Oklahoma State	79-75	Stillwater
2020-21	Oklahoma State	94-90 (OT)	Norman
2019-20	Oklahoma State	83-66	Stillwater
2019-20	Oklahoma	82-69	Norman
2018-19	Oklahoma	70-61	Stillwater
2018-19	Oklahoma	74-64	Norman
2017-18	Oklahoma State	71-60	Kansas City

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Big 12 Standings Entering Tuesday

Team	Conference Record	Overall Record
Texas	7-2	18-4
Kansas State	6-2	18-3
Iowa State	6-3	15-6
Kansas	5-3	17-4
TCU	5-3	16-5
Baylor	5-4	16-6
Oklahoma State	3-5	12-9
West Virginia	2-6	13-8
Oklahoma	2-6	12-9
Texas Tech	1-8	12-10

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

STILLWATER — When the Cowboys head to Norman on Wednesday, they won’t be short on storylines.

Oklahoma State plays Oklahoma at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Lloyd Noble Center with the Bedlam rivals each planted on the NCAA Tournament bubble entering the game. Mike Boynton met with reporters Monday to discuss the matchup. Here are some things that stood out.

Finding the Magic Formula

With Moussa Cisse out of the Cowboys’ lineup, Mike Boynton has opted to stretch the floor with Woody Newton the past four games, and it’s worked.

With Newton in the starting lineup, OSU is 3-1 (three conference games and the Big 12-SEC Challenge) after starting Big 12 play 1-4. Newton hasn’t exactly set the world ablaze, averaging nice nine points a game as a starter, but he his ability to shoot from 3-point range paired with OSU upping the tempo has spaced things out and allowed for more of a free-flowing offense.

Kalib Boone has been one of the biggest benefactors of this, scoring 16 points a game since Newton has started. Newton drawing an extra defender to the 3-point line gives Boone more space to work his post offense.

The Cowboys have also averaged 72.5 points since Newton’s introduction to the lineup after averaging 59 points a game through their opening five Big 12 games.

With that, though, the Cowboys have lost a bit on the glass. In Big 12 games where Newton starts, OSU’s average rebounding margin is -5.7. In the first five Big 12 games of the year, it was -5.0. It was better Saturday against Ole Miss, with OSU outrebounding the Rebels by 10, but it was particularly bad in Austin, where OSU was outrebounded by 14 against Texas.

Boynton said he is in search for the “magic formula.”

“I think the immediate thing that you realize is people have to defend [Newton] outside the 3-point line,” Boynton said. “We talked about it in the offseason, Kalib and Moussa (Cisse) and Tyreek (Smith) all worked on their jump shots, but none of them were going to be that 3-point stretch [center] that maybe they one day will become. It’s not where they are right now. So when you play with two guys that are traditionally paint players, it actually in some ways helps the defense. It gives you advantages that you can rebound better because you got more guys in there with size and length. But, again, you have to make 3s in this game. … Woody being able to stretch the floor and make a 3 gives us a different look. Him being the most natural cutter and passer as a [power forward] also helps us in terms of our offensive flow.”

Boynton at 99 Wins Heading into Bedlam

Boynton enters Wednesday’s Bedlam matchup with a 99-82 career record, meaning he can hit the century mark in the rivalry matchup.

At 41, Boynton has long said he isn’t going to coach long enough to break any records, but he would be just the fifth coach in OSU’s history to crack the century mark:

Henry Iba — 653
Eddie Sutton — 368
Travis Ford — 155
Paul Hansen — 107

Boynton said he doesn’t want to coach when he is 65, so what does 65 look like for Mike Boynton in 24 years?

“I hope I’m still alive, first and foremost,” Boynton said. “But probably spending time with my kids, maybe grandkids at that point. Maybe actually enjoying that I’m married and spending some time with my wife. I don’t get to do those things all that often now, but obviously we got some time before we get there.”

Moussa Cisse ‘Moving Better’

Moussa Cisse played 7:32 in Oklahoma State’s 82-60 win against Ole Miss on Saturday and looked as healthy as he has in a game since suffering an ankle injury against West Virginia on Jan. 2.

Cisse sat our the Cowboys midweek matchup against Texas last week, and Boynton said the goal is for Cisse to come back and to be able to play as long a stretch as possible — not to use him as quickly as possible and risk further aggravation.

“He’s moving better,” Boynton said. “Obviously we took some precaution with him on Saturday in terms of number of minutes, but checking on him after the game and then [Sunday], he’s feeling better. He’s moving fine. We obviously got to get through another day of practice here so we can get caught up to speed. It’s one of the things that people just don’t quite understand outside, being in the process, it’s not just missing the games. The practice time is important. The rhythm in practice, we continue to add things. We coincided with changing a lot of our offense with him not being in the lineup. So him adapting to the things we’re doing now is a part of what goes into him being able to come back and be effective. He’ll continue to work with our trainers and strength coaches to get that ankle stronger and more durable.

“The most important thing for me is to have him for as long as stretch as possible. And not just in and out of the lineup because we think he’s that kind of difference maker that can give you a chance to maybe do what Baylor is doing, which is run four, five, six wins in a row off and put yourself in a good position to finish the season strong.”

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news.

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OSU Bullets

• Here’s the most in-depth piece looking at Cowboy Football’s offseason (CBS Sports)

• Something that stuck out from new defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo’s resume – at two places, he’s transitioned from another style of defense to the the 3-3-5 (NewsOK)

Coaching Division I would be really nice, FBS even better. But he’s got the skills and experience doing what he’ll need to do in Stillwater

• Ahead for Cowboy Basketball this week – Wednesday’s game in Norman at 8 p.m. where OSU will have a chance to sweep the Sooners and a Saturday home game against TCU at 1 p.m.

• Lots to play for – Cowboys and Cowgirls could secure some bids:

As of this a.m. @OSUMBB is No. 43 in the NET and @OSUWBB is 44 in the RPI. Both programs have a lot to play for entering the stretch run. #okstate #gopokes

— Kevin Klintworth (@KKlintworth) January 30, 2023

• OSU is moving up in the latest Joe Lunardi Bracketology – closer to being in but work to do.

#OKState moved up two spaces in latest bracketology. Now the third team out of the field. https://t.co/0TFi4jhGqm

— Jacob Unruh (@jacobunruh) January 30, 2023

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Non-OSU Bullets

• This is fun – didn’t know how iPhone widgets worked before this article
• The gifts of thin places (faith-based)

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

STILLWATER — There might not be room in this town state NCAA Tournament for the Cowboys and Sooners.

Oklahoma State and Oklahoma play at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Lloyd Noble Center with both teams planted squarely on the bubble of The Big Dance. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Sooners as the last team in entering Monday. Meanwhile the Pokes are among the first four out. An OSU win (and Bedlam sweep) could flop the two in Tournament standing. A loss could make it all the more difficult for the Pokes to overtake the Sooners down this final 10-game stretch of the regular season.

“I don’t know if it can increase the importance [of Bedlam] more than than it already is,” OSU coach Mike Boynton said. “The bubble talk is still, in my mind, fairly early. Probably a couple of weeks from now I think there’ll be a little bit more clear a picture in two weeks. We’re not quite halfway through league play yet, so the truth of the matter, when you look through the league with 10 games remaining, there’s is 10 great opportunities to prove that you belong in that conversation, and you got to be ready to play well to garner that attention.

“So, I don’t put as much stock in the bubble talk at this point as much as I do it being a really important road game for us, one that certainly wouldn’t hurt as we move toward having those type of conversations.”

Although it still might be early to pencil in NCAA Tournament teams, it hasn’t felt as if both of the state schools have been in such a bubble scrap since the 2017-18 season, Mike Boynton’s first year.

That one somehow didn’t go in the Pokes’ favor after OSU went 2-1 against OU in the regular season, beating the Sooners in their final regular season tilt before beating them again at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. Both teams finished with 8-10 Big 12 records, but OSU got the nod in conference tournament seeding because of tiebreakers. But even after all of that, the committee decided it wanted to watch Trae Young and the Sooners, a team that lost eight of 10 entering the Tournament, get bounced in the first round by Rhode Island.

That was before the NET rankings were implemented. Back then, RPI was the fad. The final 2017-18 RPI ranking had OU at No. 53, and OSU at No. 83 — somehow.

The NET this season is more favorable to the Pokes entering this matchup. Entering Monday, Oklahoma State is ranked 43rd in the NET. OU is ranked 56th. The NET isn’t the end-all, be-all, but as one of the major metrics the committee looks at, that should fare better for the Pokes than what the RPI did back in 2017-18.

That’s further exemplified by how close these Bedlam teams are in the RPI compared to the NET entering Monday.

RPI	NET	Team	Record	Quad 1	Quad 2	Quad 3	Quad 4
64	43	Oklahoma State	12-9	2-6	2-2	3-1	5-0
63	56	Oklahoma	12-9	4-7	2-2	2-0	4-0

As most things described as a “metric,” the NET isn’t the easiest thing to understand. Here is an in-depth thing explaining it in further detail, but the differences between the RPI and the NET come down to the amount of components factored in. The RPI has three components: a team’s winning percentage, average opponent’s winning percentage and average opponent’s opponent’s winning percentage. The NET factors in game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, offensive and defensive efficiency, and quality of wins and losses.

It feels like a bunch of 1s and 0s. Enough for one to go crazy trying to keep track of, but for Boynton, the metric will take care of itself as long as his team plays well on the hardwood.

“I don’t know if I quite understand [the NET] yet,” Boynton said. “Here’s what I know: we play in the toughest league in the country, and so usually if you get to .500 in this league, you’ll be in pretty good shape for being able to continue to play good basketball. That’s not the goal, but that’s a real thing out there. I mean, we had a 7-11 team [Iowa State] in our conference make the Sweet 16 last year. So this league prepares you for the opportunity to compete in the national tournament. What the numbers go into it? I don’t know. It’s not something I look at daily. I’ll glance at it occasionally. I think our numbers are still fairly competitive with teams that are in that conversation. The most important thing you can do is prepare well, which gives you a chance to play well in these games.”

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

Oklahoma State coach John Smith announced on his radio show tonight that Reece Witcraft has been making the descent to 125 pounds and will wrestle at the weight for the first time this weekend.

Trevor Mastrogiovanni had started the season at 125 for the Cowboys before missing the past four duals. True freshman Zach Blankenship took over in his absence recently. Mastrogiovanni is 13-5 this season and 47-16 overall in his time at Oklahoma State. Blankenship was 8-1 in tournaments but went 0-4 in dual starts.

Witcraft was the starter for the Cowboys at 133 during his true freshman season and was an NCAA qualifier for the Cowboys before the tournament was canceled because of COVID. He also started in the 2020-21 season during Daton Fix’ suspension and up until his return. Witcraft is 15-4 this season, wrestling in tournaments and an extra match at the Cowboys’ dual against Columbia. In his career, Witcraft is 46-20.

Oklahoma State is 9-2 after beating Northern Iowa and falling to No. 4 Iowa State this past weekend. The Cowboys wrestle Michigan at the Bout at the Ballpark at 7 p.m. Friday in Arlington and return home to wrestle Missouri at 2 p.m. Sunday.

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news.

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OSU Bullets

• The Pokes went to the last match at No. 4 Iowa State with a chance to win the dual but fell to the Cyclones (PFB)

• What’s a 3-3-5 defense and how does Bryan Nardo fit in Stillwater (TulsaWorld)

• Five thoughts from Saturday’s dominant win over Ole Miss – nobody told Ole Miss hero Marshall Henderson it wasn’t going to be much of a game (PFB)

• Pokes ranked 22nd best uniforms in CFB (247)

• The O’Colly roasted Spencer Sanders on Saturday (O’Colly)

• Josh Sills is the only Cowboy headed to the Super Bowl this year:

A trip to #SuperBowlLVII is on the line. #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/R1s2Fd4LHk

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) January 29, 2023

• Super interesting to see yards per play numbers on all of Gundy’s offensive coordinators:

Gundy era offenses ranked – Yards/Play:

17 (Yurcich) 7.4
11 (Monken) 7.2
12 (TM) 7.0
08 (Gundy) 7.0
10 (Dana) 6.9
16 (MY) 6.7
07 (Fedora) 6.5
15, 18 (MY) 6.4
19 (Gleeson) 6.4
06 (LF) 6.3
13 (MY) 5.9
20 (Dunn) 5.6
21 (KD) 5.5
09 (MG) 5.4
14 (MY) 5.4
22 (KD) 5.3
05 (LF) 4.7

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) January 30, 2023

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Non-OSU Bullets

• “On our need to be displaced” is terrific
• Solid idea in this “right now list”

“You’ll feel better once you get started.”

James Clear

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

Coming off a win over Northern Iowa on Saturday night, Oklahoma State wrestled the top-ranked dual team in the Big 12 on Sunday at Iowa State and fell, 18-11.

The dual opened at 125 with Zach Blankenship falling to Caleb Fuessley. Daton Fix answered with a win at 133 to tie things back up at 3 heading into the 141-pound match.

That’s when things got a little weird. Carter Young wrestled a great match vs. Casey Swiderski getting a third-period rideout and a penalty point to win 3-0. The penalty point was assessed for Swiderski kicking Young while trying to escape. Both coaching staffs made their voices heard regarding the kicks leading both teams to get a team point deducted, making it 5-2 Oklahoma State going into 149.

Paniro Johnson used a quick tilt in the second period to score two and eventually beat Victor Voinovich 3-1 and tie the dual back up at 5.

Kaden Gfeller had a fun one with and Jason Kraisser. After a few scrambles didn’t lead to scores, Gfeller got a reversal and rideout in the third to win 3-1 and put OSU back in the lead. The teams continued to exchange blows as NCAA Champion David Carr beat Wyatt Sheets 5-3.

At 174 and 184 each team had a shot at bonus points but were unable to get it. Dustin Plott beat Julien Broderson 13-7, and Iowa State’s Marcus Coleman beat Gavin Stika 7-2 to tie the dual at 11.

Luke Surber used some great counter shots to get to Yonger Bastida’s legs but was never able to finish and fell 7-2 at 197. This set up the heavyweight match to decide the dual. Oklahoma State needed to win by at least four points in the HWT match to win the dual as Iowa State held match points criteria in a tiebreaker. The Cowboys sent out Kyle Haas vs. Sam Schuyler, but Haas was unable to get anything going offensively and fell 10-1

• 125: Caleb Fuessley (Iowa State) DEC Zach Blankenship (Oklahoma State) 10-4
• 133: Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) DEC Zach Redding (Iowa State) 8-3
• 141: Carter Young (Oklahoma State) DEC Casey Swiderski (Iowa State)
• 149: Paniro Johnson (Iowa State) DEC Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State) 3-1
• 157: Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) DEC Jason Kraisser (Iowa State) 3-1
• 165: David Carr (Iowa State) DEC Wyatt Sheets (Oklahoma State) 5-3
• 174: Dustin Plott (Oklahoma State) DEC Julien Broderson (Iowa State) 13-7
• 184: Marcus Coleman (Iowa State) DEC Gavin Stika (Oklahoma State) 7-2
• 197: Yonger Bastida (Iowa State) DEC Luke Surber (Oklahoma State) 7-2
• HWT: Sam Schuyler (Iowa State) DEC Kyle Haas (Oklahoma State) 10-1

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.