Oklahoma State Football: 7 Things Holding the Cowboys Back from a BCS Bid

Oklahoma State achieved heights that it never had before as a program this season. But there are things opposing the Cowboys in a repeat of that bid.

In order to get to the BCS again, the Cowboys must overcome these obstacles. Included in those are the loss of the team's stars, their schedule and other factors in the national landscape.

Here are the seven things this program must overcome to repeat as BCS bowl champs.

Schedule

The Cowboys have an extremely difficult schedule going into this season. The Big 12 lost some teams in Missouri and Texas A&M, but it also added some good ones in West Virginia and TCU.

Since the Big 12 now has a round-robin schedule, OSU is guaranteed to play both of those schools. Then add on Texas, Kansas State on the road and Oklahoma on the road. All of the sudden, the Cowboys are looking at pretty tough schedule.

They'll need to play well in order to overcome and win in those tough spots.

No Conference Championship Game

The lack of a conference championship game hurts all of the teams in the Big 12, not just Oklahoma State.

Generally, those games can push a team forward into national championship consideration if it's in that position and beats a big time opponent.

It can also help even if it loses at getting an at-large bid. Oklahoma State won't get that opportunity to help its resume.

Other Conferences Are Tough

The toughness of the other conferences also puts Oklahoma State at a disadvantage.

This past year, no other Big 12 team was able to get into a BCS bowl. Not even Kansas State, despite being a Top 10 and having a 10-2 record.

Unless the Cowboys win the Big 12 championship again, it will be very difficult to get to another BCS bowl. The good teams in other conferences like LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio State, Michigan and others will make it difficult to get an at-large bid.

Replacing Joe DeForest

The Cowboys lost their special teams coordinator Joe DeForest to West Virginia awhile back. He was also the defensive backs coach and a big-time recruiter.

Head coach Mike Gundy has a huge task at hand in replacing DeForest. The special teams and defensive secondary could take a step back if Gundy does not find the right replacement.

It could also impact future recruiting classes.

Potential Rule Changes

It is impossible to tell whether potential rule changes will affect the Cowboys' BCS bowl hopes or how much. There are some potential changes that could make things tougher.

After Arkansas, LSU and Alabama all appeared to be BCS-bowl caliber last year, it came to my mind that the BCS might expand the limit from two to three teams that can be eligible for each conference.

Considering the teams that could potentially qualify under this type of rule, it obviously significantly reduces Oklahoma State's chances of qualifying.

These and other rules changes, even a playoff, could limit the Cowboys' BCS bowl chances greatly.

Defense

This defense was criminally underrated this past season. It led the nation in forced turnovers and did a good job of keeping other teams from scoring more than the Cowboy offense.

However, the offense is going to take an obvious dip this season considering the loss of Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon. The defense must be able to take up the slack.

Last year's defense wasn't good enough to do that most of the time. This year's must be, which will be difficult with the losses at defensive end and safety.

Loss of Star Power

I already mentioned the loss of Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon in the last slide. Those are two huge losses of star power.

Weeden and Blackmon were the two guys that helped take this program to the heights it reached this year. The Cowboys also lost Markelle Martin, Jamie Blatnick, Richetti Jones and Josh Cooper. With Weeden and Blackmon, those six guys were the foundation of last year's success.

New stars must emerge in the program. There are many guys who look like they have that potential, but there's a big difference between that and actually capitalizing on that potential.

We will soon see who has what it takes to step up. Cowboy coaches and fans are hoping that someone does.