In week seven of the 2025-26 college football season, the Cincinnati Bearcats take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys on October 18 at Boone Pickens Stadium.
Oklahoma State is in a similar situation to Cincinnati going into this season. The Cowboys lost their final 9 games of the year after starting 3-0, finishing 3-9, and last in the Big 12.
The Cowboys have the No. 12 2025 recruiting class in the Big 12 and the No. 5 Transfer Portal class in the Big 12. Both are higher than the Bearcats for this upcoming season.
The Cowboys are losing Ollie Gordon II, one of the best running backs last year in college football, and maybe the one bright spot on last year's roster.
They do return De'Zhaun Stribling, who caught 52 balls for 882 yards and 6 touchdowns last season as well as bringing in several receivers to fill out the room.
The big question mark around Oklahoma State this upcoming season is who will be their starting quarterback. Alan Bowman, the 7-year college veteran who spent his last two years at Oklahoma State, is out of eligibility.
The Cowboys have two returning quarterbacks from last year's roster, Garrett Rangel and Maealiuaki Smith, as well as two quarterbacks from the Transfer Portal, Banks Bowen from Tulsa, and Hauss Hejny from TCU.
All four quarterbacks are unproven, all likely to have a chance to play at some point during the season.
The Cowboys' defense loses its top tackler, Trey Rucker, to the NFL, but they add 17 players to the defense through the transfer portal, some of them likely to work out and play a big part in improving their defense, which allowed 35.6 points per game last season.
The Bearcats should win this game, even though they are on the road. The Cowboys are projected to finish last in the Big 12 for the second consecutive season, with no huge changes coming the program's way. Cincinnati should be looking at a record of 4-3 at worst and 6-1 at best.