Oklahoma State: Who to Watch During Cowboys' Bye Week

After an underwhelming start to the season, the Oklahoma State Cowboys have made it through a third of their season, hitting their bye week in Week 5 of college football. They're one week into conference play, coming off a 34-27 loss to the Iowa State Cyclones.

With a bye week, who can Oklahoma State fans pay attention to that's relevant to the Cowboys season?

Oklahoma vs. Iowa State (6:00 p.m. CT, FS1): This matchup should be appealing to the Cowboys for two reasons. For one, they play the Sooners in one final bedlam matchup in just over a month. This gives Cowboys fans an opportunity to take a look at the other side of the marquee matchup.

Iowa State, as mentioned, just took down the Cowboys this past week. Rocco Becht, after a slow start to the season, torched Oklahoma State's 3-3-5 defense. Was it legit? Can he do it against a good Oklahoma defense? It could be telling for the Cowboys and where they're currently at.

Texas vs. Kansas (2:30 p.m. CT, ABC): Texas might just be the most talented team in the Big 12 this season. Fortunately for the Cowboys, they don't have to play them. They do, however, follow up their matchup against Kansas State with a matchup against Kansas, which is ranked No. 24 in the nation right now.

This will give the Cowboys a good baseline with what they're working with and how truly competitive Kansas can be with one of the top teams across the nation.

UCF vs. Baylor (2:30 p.m. CT, FS1): This matchup is good for the Cowboys and fans alike for two reasons, and both involve UCF. First, they take on UCF later in the season, and being a new Big 12 team, there's going to be a layer of unfamiliarity for the Cowboys. If they want to be a premier team in the new Big 12, it starts by taking down the newly added programs.

Also, UCF took on Kansas State a week ago, the Cowboys' next opponent. Kansas State defeated UCF 44-31, so this, again, gives Oklahoma State somewhat of an idea of what they're working with when they take on the Wildcats.

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