RJ Young

RJ Young

FOX Sports National College Football Analyst

This isn’t your average college football ranking.

My Ultimate 136 is a set of rankings that is fluid, but it’s my job to look ahead and make a claim for all FBS teams based on what I know and why I know it. Here are the three pressing questions I started by asking when putting together this list:

Who do I think is good?Why do I think they’re good?What are the chances they will finish above or below my expectations?

Here is a look at where Oklahoma State lands in my Ultimate 136.

Oklahoma State ranking: 59
Last year’s ranking: 15 
Top player: CB Jaylin Davies: Player in 38 games in three seasons at UCLA with 20 starts; recorded 105 total tackles, 11 pass deflections, 4 interceptions, and 1 forced fumble.

[Oklahoma State’s 2025 schedule]

RJ’s take: It’s Year 25 of Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State and Year 20 of his career as head coach. And while the sport has changed, one of the longstanding characters in the sport, Gundy, has not. 

He still wants to run the football 45 times a game. He still doesn’t care to hire anybody you’ve ever heard of to call the offense, and his team is as unpredictable year-to-year as Gundy is at any media availability. You just never know how the Pokes are gonna play or what Gundy is going to say: that’s Oklahoma State.

But last year was by far his and OSU’s worst this century. After a 3-0 start, OSU finished 0-9 in conference play, dead last in the Big 12 and hopes to come back from the program’s fewest win total since 2000.

Doug Meachem and Todd Grantham have been brought in to coordinate the offense and defense, respectively. Gundy let Grantham bring in seven new faces to the program, but old hands to him. Meachem returns to run an offense that he and Gundy know at a place, Stillwater, that both understand. Meachem got to bring in his core team, too. Of the 65 new faces, 18 are transfers that did not arrive until the summer and Gundy is going to expect all 18 to play significant snaps from Week 1.

[Check out RJ Young’s Ultimate 136 College Football Rankings here]

Oklahoma State Cowboys Win Total: Over 5.5 (+144) Under 5.5 (-178)

Have an issue with my rankings? Think your alma mater is too low, or your school’s rival is too high? Get at me on X, @RJ_Young, and I’ll select my favorite tweets and respond to them in a future article.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him at @RJ_Young.

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