Morris didn't just import a coordinator's playbook — he gutted the roster. Oklahoma State added more than 80 new players this offseason, 62 of them via the transfer portal, headlined by Drew Mestemaker, who led the country in passing yards a season ago with 4,379 yards and 34 touchdowns against just 9 interceptions at North Texas. Colorado's response was a defensive overhaul of its own, with as many as 11 new starters expected on that side of the ball after a season that exposed just how thin the roster got once Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders left for the NFL.
Neither of these programs is walking in with anything to protect. Colorado finished 3-9 in 2025, and Oklahoma State was worse, going 1-11 and 0-9 in Big 12 play after firing Mike Gundy just 3 games into his 21st season. This is a Friday night matchup between 2 staffs trying to prove their offseason overhaul actually took, and that alone makes it worth a look even before either team plays a snap that counts against this one.
The style clash here is real. Morris wants to push tempo behind Mestemaker's arm and a backfield led by rushing touchdown leader Caleb Hawkins, while Colorado is banking on a retooled defensive front to slow things down before its own offense finds its footing under new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion. If Oklahoma State's secondary is as unsettled as it looked in preseason chatter, that's the matchup Colorado's passing game will try to exploit.
Whichever team leaves Stillwater with a win gets a real building block for its rebuild; the loser is right back to answering questions about whether the offseason changes were enough. That's the actual stakes of a game between 2 teams picking themselves up off the floor.