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There are no bad matches. This dual should rock.

No. 5 Oklahoma State hosts No. 3 Iowa State at 2 p.m. Sunday in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The lowest ranking in either team’s starting lineup is No. 16, so no matter which Cowboy and Cyclone are on the mat, it ought to be a scrap. But for the sake of the exercise, here are what I consider the Top 3 potential bouts of the dual.

3. 149: No. 12 Casey Swiderski (OSU) vs. No. 6 Jacob Frost (ISU)

Casey Swiderski spent the first three seasons of his college career as a Cyclone, earning All-American status in 2024. But on Saturday, he’ll be on the opposite side of the mat from his former team.

After Friday night’s dual against Northern Iowa, Swiderski was asked about his thoughts going into a bout against Iowa State.

“They better be ready,” he said. “That’s pretty much it. We’re gonna be ready. We’ll rise to the occasion. This is Cowboy country, and we’re gonna defend it.”

Need I say more as to why this match is on this list?

After his win Friday night, Swiderski is up to 9-5 on the year. He started 0-4. Some of those losses seemed a little head-scratching at the time, but all five of Swiderski’s losses are to guys currently in the Top 16 of the 149-pound weight class, with three of those guys being in the Top 5.

An All-American at 141 pounds last season, Frost is 11-3 this season and has won his past three via bonus points.

Their most notable common opponent this season is Stanford’s Aden Valencia (No. 11 nationally). Swiderski lost to Valencia 13-3 to open the season. Frost then beat Valencia 4-3 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, but Valencia got that win back, beating Frost 4-3 at the start of the month.

2. 133: No. 12 Jax Forrest (OSU) vs. No. 3 Evan Frost (ISU)

Jax Forrest’s toughest test as a college wrestler to date will happen Sunday.

Evan Frost, the younger brother of Jacob Frost, was an All-American in 2024 as a redshirt freshman. He made it to the NCAA quarterfinals that year before Daton Fix beat him in tiebreakers.

Frost is 12-1 this season with his lone loss being a 4-2 decision to stud Ohio State freshman Ben Davino. Frost has a nice win against Iowa’s Drake Ayala on his mantle, as the Cyclone beat the two-time national finalist 11-5 in the Cy-Hawk Dual.

Forrest is up to 7-0 after beating Julian Farber via a 19-4 tech fall on Friday night. Six of Forrest’s wins have ended early, as he has four tech falls and two pins to his name.

Forrest’s only close bout to this point came in Ames of all places against a guy who is trying find eligibility to become a Cyclone. Forrest beat two-time U23 world champ Reineri Ortega 4-0 in the Cyclone Open final.

As far as rankings go Frost is by far Forrest’s toughest test to date, as the Cowboy’s highest ranked win is Farber, who is No. 25.

1. 141: No. 2 Sergio Vega (OSU) vs. No. 3 Anthony Echemendia (ISU)

Sergio Vega and Anthony Echemendia each attended Sunnyside High in Arizona, but Echemendia is in his fifth year of college wrestling while Vega is in his first.

Echemendia has dealt with myriad injuries throughout his career, but when he has been healthy, he’s been good. He was an All-American in 2024, taking fifth at NCAAs. He also won a Big 12 title that season.

Echemendia is 13-1 this season with the lone blemish coming to two-time defending champ Jesse Mendez, 5-1. Echemendia has won his past five bouts with bonus points — one major and four techs. His best win of the year was a 15-2 major decision against Iowa’s Nasir Bailey. That’s a common opponent for the two, as Vega beat Bailey 3-0 at National Duals in what was Vega’s fourth college match.

Vega is up to 11-0 in his freshman season after beating Max Brady 14-3 on Friday. Vega’s best wins are against Nebraska’s Brock Hardy, earning a 13-2 major against Hardy at National Duals before pinning him at the dual in Lincoln.

No. 5 Oklahoma State vs. No. 3 Iowa State

When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Watch: ESPN+

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

STILLWATER — Earlier this week, Marshall went through and made predictions for each game. Without tipping his exact picks, it’s safe to say he’s optimistic about 2026.

Given Marshall’s history of predictions, can we really trust that guy? (Totally kidding, boss, please keep the paychecks coming!)

However, sportsbooks literally do this for a living. While it’s too early for win totals or conference odds, national championship odds are up on FanDuel.

Using those reveals a couple of things about Oklahoma State’s 2026 schedule.

1. Marshall Was Right

FanDuel puts Oklahoma State’s odds of a national championship next season at +60,000 (as in a $100 bet pays out $60,000). While that’s not very good, it does put the Cowboys in a three-way tie for eighth in the conference.

If you assume Oklahoma State wins all games against teams with worse odds at home and all teams with significantly worse odds on the road, then the Pokes will go 7-5 overall and 5-4 in conference play in 2026.

In 2025, four Big 12 teams went 5-4 and finished tied for seventh place in the conference. One of those teams, TCU, even cracked the final AP Poll, finishing 25th.

Under normal circumstances, a middle-of-the-pack finish and an outside chance as a top 25 end-of-season ranking wouldn’t be worth writing about, but if Eric Morris can do that in year one, then what would year two look like?

2. Maybe 7-5 Isn’t Good Enough

According to the odds, the three biggest swing games for the Cowboys are the following:

Oct. 17 at Houston (+60,000)

Nov. 21 at Arizona State (+40,000)

Nov. 28 vs Kansas (+75,000)

Let’s start with the Jayhawks. Of the three games, the home finale is the only win projected based on our odds system. The Cowboys feel like a team that will get better as the season progresses, given all of the changes Morris and company should experience.

Kansas faces BYU the previous week, and the Cougars have the second-best national championship odds in the conference. So KU coming off what should be a tough one and then having to put up with a crowd of excited Cowboy fans sounds like a recipe for a win.

To be fair, the Cowboys don’t have a gimme the week before, either, facing Arizona State. Speaking of the Sun Devils, they could end the season on cruise control, facing Colorado, UCF (road), Oklahoma State and Arizona (road) in consecutive weeks to wrap things up.

Arizona State is well-coached, but if this team were to take a week off, then a home game right before the big rivalry clash might just be it. Of course, even FanDuel doesn’t really know how these teams are going to do. By the time November rolls around, the Cowboys might be more than capable of handling Arizona State’s best, but for now, let’s just pretend FanDuel knows all and continue looking for external reasons the results could shift in spite of the odds.

Which brings us to a Houston team facing the Cowboys during the middle of its absolute worst three-game schedule.

The week before the Cougars travel to Kansas State, which is projected to do better than them by a significant amount. The week after hosting OSU, Houston travels to Utah, which is projected to do much better than Kansas State.

Oklahoma State faces UCF and Colorado at home on either side of this one, and both of those teams don’t project well according to national championship odds.

If the Cowboys and Cougars are really on similar levels, then the schedule could cancel out Houston’s home-field advantage and put this into true coin-flip territory.

3. Things Get Dark Late

You don’t need AI to know back-to-back-to-back weeks at Kansas State, vs Texas Tech, at Arizona State is the toughest part of Oklahoma State’s schedule.

For what it’s worth, the odds agree and project Oklahoma State to lose all three. Considering the Cowboys feel like a 7-5 or 8-4 team overall, that means Oklahoma State could very well be 7-1 or 6-2 when that three-game swing starts.

Late last year, it was clear Oklahoma State didn’t know how to win games. In theory, that shouldn’t be an issue this year, and maybe that will help the Cowboys weather the late storm. If nothing else, the Cowboys could be the talk of college football before they crash back down to earth in November.

4. The Big 12 Did OSU Some Favors

Teams get to dodge six Big 12 teams a year, and Oklahoma State missed a few doozies.

Here are the conference teams Oklahoma State won’t play:

BYU: +8,000, 2nd in Big 12

Utah: +10,000, 3rd

Zona: +22,500, 5th

TCU: +40,000, T6th

Baylor: +60,000, T8th

Cincy: +100,000, T11th

FanDuel believes the Big 12 has three teams competing for playoff spots in 2026, and the Cowboys get to skip two of them.

Six Big 12 teams tied for the longest odds FanDuel would give out. Of those, Oklahoma State gets five of them on the schedule, and three of those games come on the road, where the Cowboys will presumably need more help.

To make things even better, Oklahoma State opens conference play with two of those longshots (West Virginia and UCF). As always, the Big 12 is sure to get messy once things get going, but for now, Oklahoma State’s draw seems relatively good.

5. Oklahoma State Has a Near-Perfect Schedule

Pretty much everything else was building to this. The Cowboys’ schedule feels like the perfect mix of winnable games combined with opportunities for fun.

Let’s look at the week-by-week schedule with the odds attached to remember how good or bad these teams project to be, with wins bolded and swing games italicized.

1. At Tulsa (+100,000)
2. Vs Oregon (+950)
3. Vs Murray State (FCS team)
4. At West Virginia (+100,000)
5. BYE
6. Vs UCF (+100,000)
7. At Houston (+60,000)
8. Vs Colorado (+100,000)
9. At Iowa State (+100,000)
10. At Kansas State (+20,000)
11. Vs Texas Tech (+1,400)
12. At Arizona State (+40,000)
13. Vs Kansas (+75,000)

The Oregon and Texas Tech games jump out. FanDuel has those teams ranked fifth and eighth, respectively, according to national championship odds.

It’s definitely possible those turn out to be miserable Saturdays for OSU fans, but we saw the worst-case scenario in 2025, when those teams outscored the Cowboys 111-3. Surely things can only go up from there.

Plus, you can’t have truly unforgettable moments in the regular season without running into a Goliath, or in this case, two. If Oklahoma State manages to hang with either of those teams, national respect for the Cowboys will surge. And if they get beaten by 14-plus points, well, that was what everyone expected, so it’s not like Morris and the program have anything to lose.

Plus, both of those games are at home. Look back at the schedule and tell me you’re not excited for The Walk, the tailgating scene and the excitement inside BPS at kickoff as every Orange-clad fan wonders what if.

Regardless of the result itself, facing the Red Raiders easily offers OSU more to gain and slightly less to lose than facing either BYU or Utah. So Oklahoma State got the best possible draw from the conference’s top three.

Add in the already-covered nice mix of perceived lower-tier conference opponents and the spots the swing games fall, and it feels like a recipe for a much-needed fun fall.

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

The Cowgirls head into the back half of their conference slate against one of the worst teams in the league, but Big 12 wins can’t be taken for granted.

Fresh off a nice win over BYU in Stillwater, Oklahoma State hits the road to face an Arizona team that’s lost five straight and has one Big 12 win. But the Cowgirls can’t look past the Wildcats.

Five of the Cowgirls’ remaining nine games are on the road. Four those last nine are against teams in the top half of the league, and that includes matchups against currently ranked teams Texas Tech (21) and West Virginia (22).

All that to say, wins are not going to be easy down the stretch as OSU tries to buttress its tournament resume, so they need to take care of business in Tucson.

Viewing Info

Time: 3 p.m. Sunday
Location: McKale Memorial, Tucson, Arizona
Watch: ESPN+

Team Stats

	Oklahoma State	Arizona
Record	17-5 (6-3)	10-10 (1-8)
Points Per Game	85.9	7
Opponent Points Per Game	61.8	61.5
Field-Goal Percentage	47%	42%
Opponent Field-Goal Percentage	41%	36%
3-Point Percentage	36%	31%
Free-Throw Percentage	77%	69%
Rebounds Per Game	39.6	42.6

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Last Game Starters

Oklahoma State	Class	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
Haleigh Timmer	Senior	5-11	13.7	3.3	2.0
Micah Gray	Senior	5-8	15.1	1.7	2.0
Amari Whiting	Junior	5-10	10.3	5.7	3.2
Achol Akot	Junior	6-1	10.4	7.9	1.9
Stailee Heard	Junior	5-11	11.2	5.4	2.7

Arizona	Class	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
Lani Cornfield	Senior	5-6	13.4	3.8	7.2
Sumayah Sugapong	Junior	5-7	8.2	3.8	2.3
Nora Francois	Senior	6-2	6.5	4.5	1.6
Mireia Jurado Pla	Freshman	6-0	4.0	2.7	0.9
Kamryn Kitchen	Sophomore	5-9	4.5	1.6	0.8

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Series History (3-0)

Season	Winner	Score	Location
2024-25	Oklahoma State	83-64	Stillwater
1994-95	Oklahoma State	64-40	Tucson
1981-82	Oklahoma State	75-61	Las Cruces, NM

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Big 12 Standings

	Big 12 Record	Overall Record
TCU	8-1	20-2
Baylor	8-1	19-3
Texas Tech	7-3	20-3
West Virginia	7-3	17-5
Oklahoma State	6-3	17-5
Utah	6-3	15-6
Arizona State	5-4	18-4
Colorado	5-4	14-7
Iowa State	5-5	17-5
BYU	4-5	15-6
Kansas	4-5	15-6
Cincinnati	3-6	8-13
Kansas	3-7	13-9
UCF	2-7	10-10
Arizona	1-8	10-10
Houston	0-9	6-14

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

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Way-too-early week comes to a close with a look at the Cowboys’ defense.

I felt a little more confident projecting the Oklahoma State offense earlier in the week than I do with this defensive group. A hallmark of this group (here in January, anyway) appears to be competitive depth. I could see a lot of guys rotating in all over the place.

Here’s how I predict the Cowboys’ defense to look before that group has even started spring practice.

Way-too-early offensive depth chart projection

Way-too-early game-by-game predictions

Defensive End

DE1s: Keviyan Huddleston (North Texas), Jaleel Johnson (returner)
DE2s: DeSean Brown (returner), James Williams (Florida State)

Thoughts: The defensive line feels like the the spot I’m least certain about here in January.

The Cowboys have added 10 defensive linemen (edges, ends and tackles) via the portal, and it’s a rare spot where there is some returning production with guys like Jaleel Johnson, DeSean Brown and Malik Charles.

All that’s to say, I think there will be heavy rotations along the Cowboys’ defensive front in 2026. I wouldn’t be surprised to also see Charles, Billy Walton (SMU), Braylon Rigsby (Texas Tech) and DJ Jackson (Troy) all pushing for some playing time.

Defensive Tackle

DT1s: Jerry Lawson (Louisville), Saadiq Clements (North Texas)
DT2s: Fataehi Vailea II (North Texas), Dominic Macon (Washington)

Thoughts: Like with the defensive ends, these feel like shots in the dark.

Lawson played for Skyler Cassity at Abilene Christian back in 2023 and will reunite with the defensive coordinator this year. He finished his 2025 season at Louisville — his first at the P4 level — with 16 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a half a sack.

Clements was a starter at DT for Cassity this past season at UNT, where he made 30 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Macon didn’t play in his true freshman season at Washington, but consider me caught up in the hype of a 6-foot-3, 310-pound Big Ten transfer who was a state champion wrestler in high school.

Also of note: it appears OSU is in search of an extra season of eligibility for Iman Oates. OSU posted a video to Twitter this week of some winter workouts where Oates was present. He isn’t yet on OSU’s roster, but he would be a likely candidate for an extra year considering his college career started at the JUCO level at NEO. If he is eligible, I’d probably have him as a starter.

Linebacker

LB1s: Ethan Wesloski (North Texas), Isaiah Chisom (UCLA), Trip White (returner)
LB2s: Carl’veon Young (returner), Tate Romney (Arizona State), Taurean Davis (Mississippi Gulf Coast)

Thoughts: Wesloski was UNT’s leading tackler in 2025, finishing the year with 113 total tackles, nine tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. On top of that, he added an interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery touchdown.

After starting his career at Oregon State, Chisom had 84 tackles for UCLA this past season.

White transferred from Ole Miss to Stillwater ahead of last season. He didn’t play much early in the year but finished with 33 tackles and a pair of tackles for loss.

Among the guys I have listed as backups, Young is oozing potential at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds. I could see him playing at linebacker or coming off the edge.

UCO transfer Jack Puckett was the guy I felt bad leaving off this list, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if he managed to carve out a role after an All-American career with the Bronchos.

Nickel

Nickel1: Quinton Hammonds (North Texas)
Nickel2: Christian Bodnar (Liberty)

Thoughts: There might not be a defender that gets me more excited than a good nickelback.

Hammonds started in that role for UNT this past season. He was listed at 6-1, 219 pounds and finished 2025 with 53 tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack and two picks.

I was also super impressed with Christian Bodnar’s highlights from Liberty. He finished 2025 with 44 tackles and two sacks. I’d expect both of these guys to get on the field plenty in 2026.

Cornerback

CB1s: LaDainian Fields (returner), Maurion Horn (Texas Tech)
CB2s: Kanijal Thomas (Kansas State), Kollin Lewis (North Texas)

Thoughts: Given how well LaDainian Fields performed as a redshirt freshman in 2025, his retention was a big win for the new OSU staff.

In 255 defensive snaps, Fields finished with a PFF grade of 77.2. He allowed just two catches on 13 targets and also had two interceptions.

Horn is an Okie and was a four-star recruit in the 2022 recruiting class out of Broken Arrow. He started for the Red Raiders in 2024.

Another name I’d look out for is Kobi Foreman. Foreman is an elite athlete, who OSU used as a return man toward the end of last season — his true freshman year.

Safety

S1s: Cameron Epps (returner), Mose Phillips III (Missouri)
S2s: Vincent Holmes (Washington), Evan Jacks0n (North Texas)

Thoughts: This room feels similar to OSU’s defensive ends in that there are a lot of guys I could see battling it out to get on the field.

Epps played just one defensive snap in 2025 but showed promise at different points earlier in his career. He was a big piece to the Cowboys’ 10-win defense in 2023, as he picked off three passes as a redshirt freshman.

Phillips was a starter at Virginia Tech in 2024 and played 149 defensive snaps at Missouri last season.

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

The Cowboys had a break in midweek games this week, but they’ll return to action Saturday in Utah.

The Utes are the worst team in the Big 12, according to the NET, and they’re the only Big 12 team below .500 at 9-11. But nothing in the Big 12 is a guarantee. Here’s a preview of Saturday’s matchup.

Viewing Info

Time: 5 p.m. Saturday (CT)
Location: Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City
Watch: ESPN2

Team Stats

	Oklahoma State	Utah
Record	14-6	9-11
NET	73	112
Points Per Game	86.2	80.1
Opponent Points Per Game	80.4	81.5
Field-Goal Percentage	47%	47%
Opponent Field-Goal Percentage	44%	48%
3-Point Percentage	35%	37%
Free-Throw Percentage	75%	74%
Rebounds Per Game	38.1	34.7

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Last Game Starters

Oklahoma State	Class	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
Kanye Clary	Junior	6-0	9.6	2.7	4.9
Vyctorius Miller	Sophomore	6-5	13.3	3.1	1.9
Anthony Roy	Senior	6-5	17	3.9	1.3
Christian Coleman	Senior	6-8	9.4	4.1	1
Parsa Fallah	Senior	6-10	13.9	6.5	0.8

Utah	Class	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
Don McHenry	Senior	6-2	18	3.3	1.9
Terrence Brown	Junior	6-3	22.2	2.1	3.9
Seydou Traore	Junior	6-6	9	3.6	1.8
James Okonkwo	Senior	6-8	2.6	5.4	0.5
Keanu Dawes	Junior	6-9	12.4	8.9	2.5

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Series History (OSU Leads 5-2)

Season	Winner	Score	Location
2024-25	Oklahoma State	81-72	Stillwater
2024-25	Utah	83-62	Salt Lake City
2009-10	Oklahoma State	77-55	Las Vegas
1980-81	Utah	89-73	Salt Lake City
1956-57	Oklahoma State	73-59	Ca
1953-54	Oklahoma State	71-44	Stillwater
1944-45	Oklahoma State	62-37	Kansas City

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Big 12 Standings Entering Monday

	Big 12 Record	Overall Record
Arizona	8-0	21-0
Houston	6-1	18-2
Texas Tech	6-1	16-4
Iowa State	6-2	19-2
BYU	5-2	17-3
Kansas	5-2	15-5
UCF	5-3	16-4
West Virginia	5-3	14-7
TCU	3-5	13-8
Cincinnati	3-5	11-10
Oklahoma State	2-5	14-6
Colorado	2-6	12-9
Arizona State	2-6	11-10
Utah	1-6	9-11
Baylor	1-7	11-9
Kansas State	1-7	10-11

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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

•  World-bronze medalist Zahid Valencia and new quarterback Drew Mestemaker will be leading the Pokes out during their wrestling matches tonight and Sunday, respectively (PFB)

• Steve Lutz is keyed up to face an old player when the Pokes play Utah on Saturday (PFB)

• Missed this yesterday, but Mike Holder’s conversation with softball coach Kenny Gajewski was a masterclass on coaching (PFB)

• McClain Baxley over at 247 Sports reached out to OSU about the hockey rumors from earlier this week – “premature to say that OSU will be adding ice hockey as a varsity sport” (X)

• Pokes listed as portal “winners” in this On3 article that came out this week (On3)

• Three Cowboy golfers are on the Hogan Award watchlist (OKState.com)

• Pundits are raving a bit about the Pokes: 

Y’all need to keep a look out for @CowboyFB.

That portal class… new coach… hmm… pic.twitter.com/yJRyI2pYhx

— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) January 27, 2026

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Non-OSU Bullets

• Fun concept – the old library in Stillwater is turning into a 15-room hotel 

• Thunder talk here – liked how this website pointed out Ajay Mitchell’s incredible value 

 

“Work is endless. Exercise is endless. Parenting is endless. Same with marriage, writing, investing, creating, and more. You get to choose the parts of your life, but many of the important things in life cannot be “finished.”

Do not approach an endless game with a finite mindset. The objective is not to be done, but to settle into a daily lifestyle you can sustain and that allows you to make daily progress on the areas that matter.

Embrace the fact that life is continual and look for ways to enjoy the daily practice.”

​James Clear

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.

There might not be a better wintertime introduction to the Oklahoma State fanbase than what it looks like Drew Mestemaker will get this weekend.

The Oklahoma State Wrestling account shared a video to X on Thursday, previewing the Cowboys’ walks from their locker room into Gallagher-Iba Arena for duals.

UCF fighter Diego Lopes led the Cowboys out for their season opener against Stanford before living GOAT John Smith walked the squad into Bedlam.

Then the video showed that reigning world champion and Cowboy RTC member Zahid Valencia would walk the Cowboys out for their dual against Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. Friday, and new Cowboy quarterback Drew Mestemaker will lead the team out for their Sunday dual against No. 3 Iowa State.

You won’t want to miss this #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/W6rHTeXqgU

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) January 29, 2026

There were 7,618 fans in attendance for the Cowboys’ season opener against Stanford and a sellout of 12,549 in the house for Bedlam. I’d imagine given how big Sunday’s dual is, the attendance number will be closer to Bedlam.

So, expect something like this awaiting Mestemaker at the end of that walk:

John Smith leading the Cowboys out of the locker room for Bedlam. pic.twitter.com/t5qhvKnLck

— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) January 11, 2026

It should be electric.

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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.