Greg McElroy on Oklahoma State's College Football Playoff ranking: 'They're probably a little bit too low'

The second College Football Playoff Top 25 was revealed on Tuesday, and no team saw a higher climb in the rankings than the Oklahoma State Cowboys following their win in Bedlam. The ESPN College Football Playoff reveal crew took a quick dive into Oklahoma State’s success during the ranking show.

Furthermore, they also detailed what it could potentially mean for the Cowboys going forward. Spoiler alert: Oklahoma State fans might want to start making travel arrangements for a trip to the Dallas, TX, area in December.

“Oklahoma State is surging. They go seven spots up to No. 15. And they’ve got a clear path; they only played the Big 12 newbies the rest of the way. If they win out, they’ll be in the Big 12 champions,” said ESPN’s Rece Davis.

Oklahoma State shot up seven spots from No. 22 to No. 15 thanks to a thrilling 27-24 victory over rival Oklahoma. Subsequently, the Sooners had the largest drop in the top 25, plummeting eight spots from No. 9 to No. 17. And given the fact that Oklahoma State’s remaining schedule consists of road games against UCF and Houston, followed by a home game against BYU to close the season, they have an inside track to compete for the Big 12 championship at the end of the season along with Texas.

It would be hard to build a case for Oklahoma State and not mention the path they had to travel in order to climb to No. 15 in the rankings. The Cowboys entered conference play 2-1 with a head-scratcher of a loss to South Alabama and dropped their following game to Iowa State. Since then, the Cowboys have been winners of five straight against some pretty oppressive opponents.

“They belong too,” said ESPN’s Greg McElroy. “I mean, they have three legitimate wins against 6-3 Kansas State, 7-2 Kansas, 6-3 West Virginia, and then the big win last week against the Sooners in Bedlam. They deserve this ranking at this point. Actually, you can make a pretty strong argument; they’re probably a little bit too low.”

Oklahoma State is battle-tested and has the scars to prove it. Now, the Cowboys must settle in and focus on each one of their next three opponents one at a time. Despite UCF, Houston, and BYU sitting below Oklahoma State in the current standings, the last thing the Cowboys want to do is overlook any of them and find themselves squandering all their hard work from earlier in the season.