There appears to be some heat being generated between Oklahoma State and No. 5 Oregon ahead of their Week 2 matchup, and it’s thanks to their coaches.
It started with Cowboys coach Mike Gundy, who took some shots during his weekly radio show on Sept. 1 at how much Oregon allegedly spent on its roster compared to his.
‘We spent around $7 million over the last three years, and I think Oregon spent close to $40 (million) last year alone,’ Gundy said. ‘That was just one year. Now, I might be off a few million. What I’m saying is they’re spending a lot of money. There’s some schools that are doing that.’
After making comments regarding how much it will cost to keep elite players like Ducks quarterback Dante Moore and the resources Oregon has, Gundy said those factors should determine its non-conference schedule.
‘Oregon is paying a lot, a lot of money for their team,’ he said. ‘From a nonconference standpoint, there’s coaches saying they should play teams that are spending the same amount of money.’
Lanning addressed Gundy’s comments later in the day during his weekly press conference.
‘Ultimately, how blessed are we to be in a place that’s invested in winning? If you wanna be a top 10 team in college football, you better be invested in winning. And we spend to win. Some people save to have an excuse for why they don’t, right?’ Lanning said.
The Oregon coach added Gundy is a ‘great coach’ who has done a great job at Oklahoma State, as he’s the school all-time wins leader at 169 victories. But Lanning also mentioned the Cowboys played FCS-team UT Martin in Week 1, and while he doesn’t know ‘what they got in their pockets over there,’ the Skyhawks ‘maybe didn’t have as much as them.’
While there appear to be some disparities between Oregon and Oklahoma State, the game was scheduled in 2018, long before NIL and revenue sharing became rampant in college sports. The two teams will also play again in 2026 in Stillwater.
Oregon is coming off a season where it went 12-0 in the regular season and was the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, and the Ducks are expected to be a national championship contender again in 2025. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is coming off a disappointing 3-9 campaign.
The Ducks and Cowboys are both 1-0 to start the season and will meet Saturday, Sept. 6 at Autzen Stadium.