Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images Mike Gundy enters his 17th season as coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The No. 21 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys will host Division II side the Missouri State Bears in a primetime contest on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. ET from Boone Pickens Stadium.
Strictly speaking from a popularity perspective, Mike Gundy’s men not only have home field advantage, but also name recognition. Even with those benefits, Bobby Petrino’s products won’t make it an easy tasks for the hosts.
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The game (7 p.m. ET start time) isn’t on TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch Missouri State vs Oklahoma State live on ESPN+:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can watch Missouri State vs Oklahoma State live on the ESPN app on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4 or 5, Xbox One or Series X/S, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Samsung Smart TV, Oculus Go, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via ESPN.com.
Missouri State vs Oklahoma State Preview
Oklahoma State finished the 2020 campaign with an 8-3 record. The Big 12 powerhouse also found success in the postseason with a win over the Miami (FL) Hurricanes in the Cheez-It Bowl, so a win in their home opener would be the ideal result for the Cowboys.
“I’m excited about where the team is from a competitive standpoint,” Gundy said to reporters on August 26. “We have a few young players that’ll get a chance to get out and compete based on where we’re at in the depth chart. We’re just pushing forward. I’m glad we got a little heat here in the last few days at practice to open them up a bit from a cardio standpoint to get us ready for what I’m guessing is going to be a hot first few games.”
Sophomore quarterback Spencer Sanders is arguably a triple threat. A strong arm, can run like a deer and has a thirst for competition, he finished last year with 49 completions on 70 attempts for 658 yards, five passing touchdowns and one rushing score. Vastly different from the 16 TDs in air and two scores on the ground in 2019, if Sanders has a strong first-half showing and puts OSU in a considerable lead, he could see the bench by halftime.
Coach Petrino told reporters on Monday his biggest concern would be keeping up with OSU, and he has a point. The former NFL playcaller is managing a less-demanding program these days, but perhaps Petrino’s decades-long experience will be the difference maker in his second year in charge.
“We’ve got to be able to get lined up, understand the formations and then be able to handle what they do out of the formations,” he said, according to Pistols Firing Blog. “They’re good at what they’ve done. Coach (Mike) Gundy has been good at it for a long, long time. It’s something that we’ve got to work really hard at. We know they’re going to have receivers that can go down the field, but you have to stop the run game first. That’s always one of the things about defenses. You have to stop their run game first and then be able to put some pressure and give the quarterback some different looks. Being able to do that with the tempo that they go is the challenge.”