Blog Article
Eric Morris Has Never Beaten a Ranked Team
Now He’s the Head Coach at Oklahoma State.
Eric Morris is one of the most exciting offensive minds in college football.
He developed quarterbacks who became first-round NFL picks. He coordinated top-10 offenses at three different programs. He took North Texas from a 5-7 afterthought to an 11-2 juggernaut averaging 503 yards per game—the best offense in the country. When Oklahoma State fired Mike Gundy mid-season and went looking for someone to resurrect a program that had gone 0-17 in Big 12 play over two years, Morris was the guy.
But there’s a number in his résumé that should concern every Cowboys fan.
Zero.
That’s how many ranked opponents Eric Morris has beaten as a head coach.
503 Yards Per Game. First in the Nation.
Let’s be clear about something: Morris can coach offense.
His 2025 North Texas team scored 30-plus points in every single game. They hung 50 on six opponents. They led the nation in total offense and turned Drew Mestemaker into the FBS passing leader. This wasn’t a fluke—Morris did the same thing at Incarnate Word, where he developed Cam Ward before Ward transferred to Washington State and became a Heisman finalist. His fingerprints are on Baker Mayfield’s early development at Texas Tech. Same with Patrick Mahomes.
The man knows how to build a quarterback and design an offense.
His system has evolved from pure Air Raid into something more balanced—a high-tempo spread that can actually run the football. At North Texas, he proved he could win the time-of-possession battle when he needed to. He proved he could close out games. He proved he could build a roster through the portal and develop mid-tier recruits into all-conference players.
None of that is in question.
0-4 Against Ranked Teams. 5-6 on the Road.
Here’s where it gets complicated.
Morris went 22-16 at North Texas. Solid record. But when you break it down by situation, patterns emerge that matter for a coach stepping into the Big 12.
Home vs. Road: Morris was 17-9 at home (.654) but just 5-6 on the road (.455). That’s a 20-point swing in win percentage. At Oklahoma State, he’ll need to win in Lubbock, Austin, Morgantown, and Provo just to stay competitive. The American Athletic Conference road environment is not the Big 12 road environment.
Ranked Opponents: 0-4. Morris has never beaten a ranked team as a head coach. Not once. North Texas played four ranked opponents during his tenure, and they lost all four. Oklahoma State will likely face 4-6 ranked teams per season in the new Big 12.
Late Season: 6-6 in November and December. When games tighten up and defenses have film, Morris’s teams have been a coin flip. That’s not a death sentence—plenty of good coaches hover around .500 in late-season play. But it’s not the mark of a program-builder who closes strong.
Bowls: 0-1. He left before North Texas’s bowl game in 2025, but his only previous bowl as a head coach was a loss.
Add it up and you get a coach who dominates at home against unranked opponents but hasn’t proven he can win the games that define seasons.
He Inherits a Team That Went 0-17 in Conference
Oklahoma State isn’t just a new job.
It’s a disaster.
Morris inherits a program that went 1-10 in 2025 after the university fired Mike Gundy, a coach with 170 wins and two decades of stability, mid-season. The Cowboys went 0-9 in Big 12 play last year. They went 0-8 the year before. That’s 0-17 against conference opponents over two seasons. The roster has been picked apart by the portal. The culture has cratered. The facilities, once a point of pride, now lag behind a conference that includes Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.
Morris will get time. Athletic director Chad Weiberg has already signaled that year one is about installing culture and identity, not wins.
But “time” in college football isn’t what it used to be.
The portal moves fast. Recruits make decisions fast. Fanbases lose patience fast. If Morris can’t show progress by year two—if he can’t win 5 or 6 games and beat a ranked opponent—the pressure will build quickly. Oklahoma State isn’t a sleeping giant. It’s a regional program that had one exceptional coach for 21 years, and now it has to prove it can win without him.
The Portal Will Decide Everything
Morris has already started bringing North Texas players through the portal.
That’s smart. Those players know the system, trust the coach, and can help install the offense quickly. If he hits on a quarterback, his specialty, Oklahoma State could have one of the more entertaining offenses in the Big 12 by September. The scheme will work. The tempo will be there. The points will come.
The questions are about everything else.
Can he build a defense that complements his offense instead of giving up everything he scores? Can he win in hostile road environments against teams with more talent? Can he beat a ranked opponent for the first time in his career – and then do it again, and again, against a conference full of them?
His ceiling is real. If he develops a star quarterback and nails the portal, Oklahoma State could be back in the Big 12 title conversation within three years.
His floor is equally real. Without defensive improvement and better results against quality opponents, this becomes a fun 6-6 era – entertaining offenses, close losses, and a fanbase that starts asking whether they hired the right guy.
High Pressure. Three Years to Prove It.
Eric Morris is a legitimately good offensive coach taking a legitimately hard job.
He’s never beaten a ranked opponent. He’s never won more than 55% of his road games. He’s never coached in a Power 4 conference. And now he’s walking into a program that just fired a legend, lost 17 straight conference games, and needs to rebuild from the foundation up – in a conference that includes four former Playoff participants.
The offense will be fine.
Everything else is an open question.
Pressure Level: High. Not because he’s on the hot seat – he’ll get at least three years. But the gap between his track record and his new reality is the widest of any first-year coach in the Big 12. He’s built for this on paper. Now he has to prove it against the best competition he’s ever faced.
