Mike Gundy has his eyes on the prize.

Yet it may not be the prize you’d expect.

The Oklahoma State head coach has a vision for the Cowboys' program that involves winning championships, but his focus seems odd at first glance.

“Our recruiting, our coaching, our offseason, our marketing, our media coverage, everything we do has to revolve around winning a Big 12 championship,” Gundy said.

Not a national title? Not a spot in the College Football Playoff?

“There will be people who say, ‘What do you mean? Your goal is not winning a national championship?’” Gundy said. “That’s not what I said. If we don’t win our league, we’re never going to win a national championship.

“I don’t know how you can not win our league and still get in and win a national championship. It would be extremely difficult. If we win a Big 12 championship, we get a great opportunity to get our foot in the door and win a national championship. That is our ultimate goal.”

There are plenty of good reasons why Gundy prioritizes a Big 12 title -- not necessarily a national title -- atop the program’s list of goals. The veteran coach points at the reigning national title holder, Ohio State, as a prime example of the reason to make a conference title the focus. Had the Buckeyes made the national title their lone focus in 2014, they likely would not have won the national crown as it would have been easy for Urban Meyer’s team to let up after a September loss to Virginia Tech made it look like a national title would have to wait until 2015. Instead the Buckeyes pushed on, in hot pursuit of a conference title, and they ended up earning a spot in the playoff.

“They weren’t supposed to be in it [after losing at home to Virginia Tech],” Gundy said. “But they stayed the course. They won their [conference] championship, somebody got them in, said, ‘You get a chance,’ then they did it on their own.”

Heading into 2015, Gundy could have a team that has a Big 12 title in its sights. Unlike 2011, when the Cowboys won the Big 12 but still found themselves on the outside looking in while LSU and Alabama battled in the BCS title game, OSU’s odds of getting into the College Football Playoff by winning a Big 12 title are much improved with four teams instead of two.

“I know exactly where we’re at and exactly what we need to do to win another championship,” he said. “It’s hard for me to have discussions about winning a national championship because the format is in place to win it on your own. What we need to do is win a Big 12 championship. That allows us to get our foot in the door to win the other one by playing it off.”

Gundy’s thinking goes a little deeper, however. If the focus is to compete for a national title every year, it would be easy to get demoralized. Competing for a national title every single season is hard for anybody. But competing for a Big 12 title is something the Pokes have done in recent years, and maintaining that level pays off in many different ways.

“If you’re going to hedge on what do you need to do to drive this football team, drive this athletic department, marketing, financially, to help the university ... if you win a conference championship, you’re doing pretty good,” he said.

The current Big 12 landscape is a glimpse at what Gundy is talking about. Baylor has two Big 12 titles under its belt and is getting praise as a program that may have supplanted Oklahoma and Texas atop the conference landscape for good despite never having competed for a national title. And while the Bears are considered the “it” team in the conference, TCU is being called a Big 12 power by some after winning one conference title during its three seasons in the league.

That is why Gundy prioritizes a Big 12 title, even though he knows people will hear that and think he’s settling.

“‘What do you mean you want to win a conference championship?’” Gundy said. “Well, we’ve won it one time in 80 years. If you’re, year in and year out, in position to win it, then you’re going to drive this athletic department, you’re going to drive this football team, and it’s going to keep going in the direction you have it going right now. That’s what my vision is.”