Texas Tech football: Why dominance of OK ST is crucial in all sports

Saturday’s win over Oklahoma State by the Texas Tech football team continued the Red Raiders’ recent domination over the Cowboys, something that is critical for the entire athletic department.

Just over year ago, it felt like the Texas Tech football team might never beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys again. That all changed last year in Stillwater thanks to a 41-17 win. And now, we are reveling in the program’s second-straight win over the Pokes following Saturday’s 45-35 win at Jones Stadium.

What’s more, the football program has joined the basketball and baseball programs as the latest component of the Tech athletic department to dominate the boys from Stillwater.

First, let’s look at what has taken place on the hardwood. In Chris Beard’s first year as head coach, Tech was swept by Oklahoma State. But since then, the Red Raiders are 3-1 in the series including a season sweep last year.

On the diamond, Tim Tadlocks’ team had a memorable and dominant season series with the Cowboys as well. Sweeping OSU at home in the regular season by the combined score of 27-8, Tech helped secure its second-straight Big 12 regular season title.

More importantly, the Red Raiders took two of three games from the Cowboys in June’s Lubbock Super Regional to advance to the College World Series. Though these three games were much closer, Tech still managed to keep its dominance in the rivalry intact. Since 2018, the Red Raiders are 9-1 against OSU, including three postseason wins.

In all, since the 2017-18 academic year, the Red Raiders are a combined 14-3 against one of their key Big 12 rivals in the three main revenue-generating sports. The significance of that should not be overlooked.

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While most fans are quick to complain about the fact that they believe OSU has copied a number of Tech’s traditions, there’s no denying that the both schools are similar in a number of ways, including culture, resources, and standing in their own state. What’s more, both athletic departments have been occupying a similar place in the conference’s hierarchy, solidly in the middle-class but always threatening to join the elite.

Now, thanks in large part to Tech’s success in this rivalry, it feels like the Red Raiders are much closer to being considered one of the conference’s top overall programs than are the Cowboys.

Of course, Beard has taken his program to the national title game and the Elite 8 in the last two seasons while also capturing the regular season conference title. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have not reached the Elite 8 since 2004, which was also the last year that they captured a regular season conference crown.

What’s more, despite being one of the most successful college baseball programs in the nation, the Cowboys have been surpassed by the Red Raiders in terms of national relevance. The Pokes have won just one Big 12 regular season title since 1996 (2014) and have made it to Omaha just once since 1999 (2016), which is disappointing for a program that boasts 20 CWS appearances.

But Tech has been to Omaha in four of the last six years. What’s more, Tadlock’s team has won the regular season league title in three of the last four years.

That brings us to the gridiron where Tech is not yet in a place to claim superiority over Oklahoma State. The Cowboys have been one of the league’s most consistent winners for more than a decade, while Tech has been consistently mediocre during that same timeframe.

That’s why the current two-game winning streak over the Cowboys is so important for Tech. Especially in regard to the recruiting trail where the two teams often go head to head.

In the 2019 signing class, 10 of Oklahoma State’s 21 signees hailed from Texas and half of those held offers from Tech. In addition, two of OSU’s three four-star signees were offered by the Red Raiders.

As far as basketball goes, two members of the 2019 class, Kevin McCullar Jr. and Tyreek Smith, held offers from the Cowboys. The same can be said for Kyler Edwards and Jarrett Culver.

Meanwhile, a couple of top recruits have decided to go to Stillwater over coming to Lubbock in recent months. 4-star 2019 guard Marcus Watson and 3-star 2018 point guard Isaac Likekele both signed with OSU despite having offers from and seriously considering the Red Raiders.

Every program must make certain to measure itself against those of a comparable status. That’s the only way to know what type of results one’s efforts are yielding. Thus, Oklahoma State is a worthy measuring stick.

Next. Beating OSU is huge building block for Wells. dark

Though Tech fans may not be quick to admit it, this is an athletic program that is on the same level as OSU as a whole (and woefully behind in football) and which needs to have sustained success against the Cowboys. Fortunately, on Saturday Wells and his football team helped continue the Red Raiders recent run of success against one of its chief rivals.

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