The reality is hard to digest for David Taylor and the Oklahoma State Cowboys: perfect performances throughout the season, but a long way behind the NCAA wrestling giants, especially those from the Big Ten. And now, as the first coaches’ rankings for the 2025 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships drop, it’s pretty obvious that the Cowboys are in some serious company. With schools like Penn State and Iowa continuing to hold the top spots, it will be a hard climb for Taylor’s squad to reach the top.

In almost every weight class, there’s a wrestler from these two perennially dominant programs ranked first or second, leaving the Cowboys fighting for positioning heading toward the NCAA Championships in March. The Taylor squad does have talent, but this ranking serves as a blunt reminder that to reach the top, they will have to break through the bevy of these wrestling legends.

Cowboys challenge the supremacy of wrestling icons

Here’s a hard fact: The Oklahoma State Cowboys of David Taylor are nowhere near the top in these first coaches’ rankings for the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Sure, the rankings have some record holders in Drake Ayala and Tyler Kasak, among others, but no Cowboy grappler has been ranked No. 1 in any one of the weight classes.

Legendary wrestlers from Penn State, Iowa, and Missouri headline those weight classes, pushing the Cowboys down in the rankings. It’s a ranking reality check of sorts for the Taylor team, as strong as the Cowboys have been in meets this season. The dominance of such schools as Penn State-which includes several NCAA champions in its lineup-raises the bar higher than ever. Carter Starocci, Keegan O’Toole, and Jesse Mendez head a Big Ten-dominated field in which little room is left for error.

Taylor’s squad has the talent, but they’re always playing catch-up amidst a backdrop of established wrestling powerhouses.

Oklahoma State is still a force in wrestling, but the coaches’ rankings bring to light the sad reality: they’re overshadowed by these legends of wrestling at the moment. For a program steeped in tradition and history, that’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s clear David Taylor’s Cowboys want to rise to the top; they’ll have to outshine the Big Ten juggernauts in the coming months.

NCAA championships are in sight. Can David Taylor’s Cowboys finally break through?

Rankings notwithstanding, Oklahoma State is far from being eliminated. The Cowboys still have a chance to catch up and prove their worth in the NCAA Championships. There is still a glimmer of hope that they could rise through the rankings with talented wrestlers like Ayala and Kasak continuing to make gains. But it will take some serious upping of their ante to overcome the top guns in the Big Ten.

The 2025 NCAA Championships are just coming, and provided Taylor’s Cowboys make those adjustments necessary, they might actually push through all the dominance by Big Ten schools and prove they still belong right at the top. It’s going to be a tough battle, but with drive and focus, Oklahoma State still can leave their mark to rise up to such a challenge.

Taylor and the Oklahoma State Cowboys are in tough, facing the grind of pushing past legends in the current NCAA wrestling landscape. In fact, that is an uphill climb against those Big Ten giants, Penn State and Iowa, atop this year’s rankings. The Cowboys do have talent and the determination for a win, and therefore, cannot be wholly written off. It is true that the path toward the 2025 NCAA Championships is not without hurdles, but if anybody can answer that call, then it is David Taylor and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. How are you going to take down the Giants and get back into your spot?