It was supposed to be a warm-up. A tune-up. A paycheck game. Oklahoma State, like many Power Five programs, scheduled two non-conference home games against smaller opponents, Tulsa and UT Martin, to prepare for the grind of the Big 12 season. In return, the Cowboys paid out a combined $750,000 in game guarantees. Tulsa received $300,000 to make the short trip to Stillwater. But what unfolded on the field was far from the expected blowout.
Tulsa didn’t just show up, they won. In a stunning upset, Tulsa beat Oklahoma State 19–12 inside Boone Pickens Stadium, ending a long and painful drought. It was their first win over OSU since 1998 and their first victory in Stillwater since 1951 — a 74-year gap. The Golden Hurricane came in as the underdog in every sense, but they outplayed the Cowboys in a game that looked far more lopsided than the final score suggests.
For Oklahoma State, the loss is embarrassing. Not only because they were heavily favored, not only because they paid their opponent $300,000 to be there, but because this was supposed to be a sure thing and a get-right game after a rocky start to the season. Instead, they were physically outmatched, schematically outplayed, and emotionally outworked. Tulsa wanted it more, and it showed.
The game guarantees are common practice in college football. Power programs pay smaller schools to come to their stadium, often as an act of goodwill or regional connection — and almost always with the expectation of a win. These “buy games” are meant to be safe, predictable, and profitable. But when the check clears and the underdog walks away with a win, it flips the entire premise on its head. That’s exactly what happened in Stillwater.
This was not a fluke. Tulsa earned every bit of the win. Their defense held OSU to just 12 points, and their offense did just enough to control the pace and protect the lead late. It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t need to be. Tulsa played like a team with something to prove, and Oklahoma State looked like a team that didn’t expect to be challenged.
For Tulsa, this win is more than just an upset — it’s a program milestone. Beating a Big 12 opponent on the road, breaking a decades-long losing streak, and doing it while collecting a six-figure check is a bitter pill for Oklahoma State but a sweet reward for a Tulsa team that showed real grit. It’s the kind of win that builds belief, rallies a locker room, and silences doubters.
Oklahoma State, on the other hand, has serious questions to answer. If this was their preparation for Big 12 play, then the road ahead looks rough. Confidence has to be shaken, fan morale is bruised, and the noise around the program will only get louder. Paying nearly a million dollars to open your season with a pair of non-conference games is one thing — but paying for a home loss to a rival in front of your own fans is another.
In the end, the scoreboard says Tulsa 19, Oklahoma State 12. But the numbers off the field tell a deeper story. OSU paid $300,000 for a team to come in and beat them in their own house. They gambled on preparation and got burned by underestimation. And now, they’re left picking up the pieces from a loss that won’t soon be forgotten — especially not in Tulsa.