SPORTS ILLUSTRATED - Oklahoma State has had one of the most active off seasons of any team in the country, and it must turn that into success.

Over the course of the past few months, OSU has become a nearly unrecognizable team. With an almost entirely new coaching staff and a plethora of incoming players, the 2025 Cowboy football team will look nothing like any team of the past.

The immense change in Stillwater was a result of the team’s 3-9 season a year ago, and despite the team’s struggles, there is still some optimism going into next season. Of course, most of that optimism can be attributed to the team’s offseason moves.

Still, Mike Gundy will be leading the team for the 21st season, and his ability to rebuild this team will be on full display next season. Although Gundy has seen everything throughout his career, 2025 will be a unique challenge.

With so much change, the Cowboys season seems to have a chance of going one of two ways. Either the Cowboys will be so much different from the three-win season that they will thrive next season or they will have changed too much to adjust in such a short period and have a lackluster year.

While both of those are certainly possible paths for the Cowboys, the likeliest option seems to be somewhere in the middle. That would be considered controlled chaos.

Sure, the Cowboys should find some success with their changes, but they are still changes, after all. Making such a drastic adjustment in a short amount of time won’t be easy for even the most seasoned coach in college football.

Over the past several seasons, the transfer portal has become the headline of every college sport, particularly football. With such little regulation, the portal has effectively become the wild west, and there is no evidence of that changing any time soon.

While every team seemingly has a new roster every season, with newcomers filling the depth chart at each position, one position has often been the most important. Of course, as with any other conversation about football, the most important position is quarterback.

Over the past few years, OSU has had its fair share of transfers coming and going at the position. From Spencer Sanders’ departure to Alan Bowman’s arrival and more, the Cowboys are no stranger to the portal’s impact on a team’s quarterback situation.

Of course, this problem isn’t unique to the Cowboys. Teams all around the country have seen a revolving door at quarterback from time to time.

Even the best teams in the country have won with transfers. Take Oregon and Ohio State last season for example. Oregon was the No. 1 team in the country for most of the year with Dillon Gabriel at quarterback, and Ohio State ran away with the national title with Will Howard.

Just a season earlier, OSU beat both of those quarterbacks at Boone Pickens Stadium when they were with Oklahoma and Kansas State, respectively. But for OSU, replicating that type of success is incredibly challenging, and the Cowboys need to rely on internal development to find elite quarterback play.

OSU has seen some great passers throughout the Mike Gundy era, with Brandon Weeden leading the program to new heights and Mason Rudolph breaking every record in sight. The Cowboys should try to follow a similar formula with Zane Flores and Hauss Hejny.

There is no guarantee that those two will turn into elite quarterbacks, but if one of them has the time and reps to develop over a span of years, the Cowboys could come out on the other side with a homegrown star.

Of course, they would need to avoid their potential star quarterback getting poached in the transfer portal, but the Cowboys could find a way to get great quarterback play the old-fashioned way.

OSU will have some issues related to their changes next season, but it must embrace that part of the journey. OSU is coming off a three-win season and the road back to being a .500 team will be difficult.

Yet, the Cowboys are expecting to compete for a Big 12 title sometime in the near future. With so much change and so many obstacles to overcome, the Cowboys must embrace the chaotic nature of 2025 and power through the adversity they will surely face.