Oklahoma State caps worst season of Mike Gundy’s tenure with blowout loss to No. 25 Colorado

Oklahoma State went winless in the Big 12 a year after making the championship game.

The Cowboys lost 52-0 to No. 25 Colorado on Saturday to cap a 3-9 season that included a 0-9 record in Big 12 play. It was the worst loss ever for coach Mike Gundy to cap his worst season in charge and the first time Oklahoma State hasn’t won at least four games in a season since the Cowboys were 3-8 in 2000.

It was a miserable showing for the Cowboys. The offense couldn’t do anything with freshman QB Maealiuaki Smith at the helm, and the pass defense was gashed by Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.

Oklahoma State turned the ball over three times and even committed three personal foul penalties in a first quarter that featured three touchdowns for the Buffaloes. The game was over after Colorado built a 21-0 lead that included an 11-yard pass to prohibitive Heisman favorite Travis Hunter.

Hunter finished the game with 10 catches for 116 yards and three touchdowns. His final TD catch was a 23-yard grab in man coverage to put the Buffs up 52.

Oh, he also had an interception.

The Cowboys went 10-4 a season ago and lost to Texas in the Big 12 title game before capping the season with a win in the Texas Bowl. It was the eighth time in 19 seasons that a Gundy-coached team had won at least 10 games.

That season, along with a host of returning starters like RB Ollie Gordon, QB Alan Bowman and WR Brennan Presley, led to a preseason ranking of No. 17 in the AP Top 25 and made Oklahoma State one of the favorites in a wide-open Big 12.

The Cowboys started the season 3-0 but things fell apart from there.

A 22-19 home loss to Utah to start Big 12 play ended up being a matchup of the two worst teams in the conference. A week after losing to the Utes, OSU was blown out by Kansas State and then lost by 24 to West Virginia. A close call against BYU on Oct. 18 — as the Cougars got a late TD to win the game — ended up being the closest Oklahoma State came to a conference win.

In early November, Gundy apologized for comments he made at a news conference as the team was 0-6. When discussing fan criticism of the team during its losing streak, Gundy said that “most people are weak” and “they fall apart and panic” when things aren’t going well, while also saying that “in most cases, the people who are negative and voicing their opinion are the same ones that can’t pay their own bills.”

Given the way that Oklahoma State played in 2024, you can understand why fans were criticizing a program that had been to a bowl game for 18 straight seasons. A loss to TCU a week after Gundy’s comments meant that Oklahoma State wouldn’t be going to a bowl for the first time since Gundy’s first season.

Colorado’s win eliminates TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia from Big 12 title contention. However, the Buffaloes still need some help to get to the Big 12 title game. Colorado entered Week 14 tied atop the conference at 6-2 with Arizona State, BYU and Iowa State. The Buffs are on the wrong side of tiebreakers in a three or four-way tiebreaker and will need two of the three other teams to lose on Saturday to make the conference title game.