Eric Morris era begins Sept. 5, and Oklahoma State’s 2026 slate has two standout tests

Oklahoma State’s 2026 football season begins less than three months after Monday’s schedule release, with the Cowboys set to open at Tulsa on Sept. 5. It is also the first game in the Eric Morris era, a hiring that OSU announced in late November 2025 and described as the first time since 1969 the school brought in a sitting head coach. For a program that has typically relied on stability to grow through the season, the opening month becomes a fast test of how quickly Morris and his staff can impose a new identity.

The calendar also front-loads marquee matchups. OSU’s first home game of the Morris era arrives the following week, Sept. 12, when the Cowboys host Oregon. In OSU’s schedule release, the Ducks are described as coming off an appearance in the College Football Playoff semifinals, and OSU noted it will be the first time the two programs meet on the field. The sequencing matters because it eliminates the usual luxury of easing into a new coaching staff before facing a program that reached the sport’s final weekend in the previous season.

If you are looking for the clearest “easiest” game on the slate, the case starts with Murray State. OSU opens conference play later, but its nonconference portion includes Sept. 19 at home against Murray State for the first meeting between the programs. OSU emphasized that it is 32-0 against FCS (or NCAA Division I-AA) opponents since the Division I split in 1978, which is a meaningful indicator of how the Cowboys have historically approached that gap in level. Murray State is an FCS program that competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

The toughest stretch, on the other hand, projects to cluster around November. Oklahoma State’s home game against Texas Tech arrives Nov. 14, and the Cowboys then close the regular season with road trips at Arizona State on Nov. 21 and home against Kansas on Nov. 28. Texas Tech’s profile provides context for why this part of the schedule stands out, with the Big 12 confirming the Red Raiders won the 2025 conference title and entered the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 team. OSU’s own release also labels Texas Tech as a 2025 Big 12 champion and a CFP quarterfinalist, which frames Nov. 14 as a top-tier test for a first-year staff.

OSU’s Big 12 menu is wide, and the Cowboys do not get a gentle conference schedule footprint. The conference opener comes Sept. 26 at West Virginia, and the middle of the season includes a series of home games and a pair of road matchups that separate non-league momentum from late-season conference urgency. The release lays out October home games versus UCF (Oct. 10) and Colorado (Oct. 24), then road games at Houston (Oct. 17) and at Iowa State (Oct. 31). That flow places Oklahoma State in the position of trying to build consistency across different venues and styles, while also preparing for a championship-season finish that ends with a Big 12 title game on Dec. 4 at AT&T Stadium.

For Morris, the schedule also creates clear checkpoints. The Sept. 5 opener at Tulsa sets the tone for how the new coach’s approach translates immediately. The Sept. 12 Oregon game functions as the program’s first public measuring stick at home, and the Sept. 19 Murray State matchup offers a defined chance to establish baseline execution. Then the Nov. 14 meeting with Texas Tech, backed by its CFP and Big 12 résumé, looks like the most important event on the Cowboys’ calendar if the goal is to remain in the conference conversation deep into the year.