Oklahoma State vs. Texas One of Ten Highest-Stakes Games of 2017

The hire of Tom Herman at Texas is bringing the buzz back to Longhorn Football. As such, the national media is taking notice. When Oklahoma State travels to Austin in October, it will be one of the ten highest-stakes games of 2017 according to ESPN.

A few notes from the article ...

First, where is Bedlam? The pivotal November 4th showdown between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State somehow is not featured in the highest-stakes games of 2017.

Let’s talk about a couple things here.

“Oklahoma State, meanwhile, should come in undefeated if it survives a Week 3 trip to Pitt. Herman is known for offense and quarterback development, but Texas must make upgrades on defense under new coordinator Todd Orlando. An Oklahoma State attack led by QB Mason Rudolph and the nation's best receiving corps will provide a great test.”

Okay, sure, yeah! Texas won’t be able to knock off those blue-blood CFP contenders like USC and Oklahoma, but they’ll definitely be able to knock off those lowly Cowpokes, who might be the most well-rounded team in the conference. Sure, OU will be good as always, but after losing Semaje Perine and Joe Mixon, I think it’s wait-and-see with the Sooner ground attack.

“A midseason takedown of talented Oklahoma State in Austin would provide a morale boost for Longhorns everywhere. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, should come in undefeated if it survives a Week 3 trip to Pitt. Herman is known for offense and quarterback development, but Texas must make upgrades on defense under new coordinator Todd Orlando. An Oklahoma State attack led by QB Mason Rudolph and the nation's best receiving corps will provide a great test.”

Oklahoma State is going to have the best offense in the Big 12, and quite possibly the entire country. That Texas defense was horrendous last season, and they’ll need to do more than just “make upgrades.” The ‘Horns lost D’Onta Foreman, who carried the rock 323 times last season! That’s a massive chunk of productivity lost. They also return a true-sophomore quarterback in Shane Buechele who was underwhelming for a lot of last season.

What makes me nervous about this matchup is the fact that it’s in Austin. That’s it. I think Herman will get Texas rolling eventually, but it’s going to take a while. Texas had some glaring issues, one of which was lack of talent on the roster. They’ll have shifty skill players as always, and they’ll win a few and everyone will proclaim them to be “back,” but for right now, Texas is still the team that didn’t become bowl-eligible last season. The Cowboys should not, and will not, be afraid of Texas. It seems like this game is more high-stakes for Texas than it is for Oklahoma State.