Drew Mestemaker and Oklahoma State Got on Track After a Reality Check

This season was supposed to be different for Oklahoma State. After more than two decades under coach Mike Gundy, there was finally fresh blood tasked with turning things around.

Eric Morris took over a Cowboys program that had lost 11 games in a row and its last 20 to FBS opponents. The wonders he worked at North Texas, which led the nation in scoring a season ago, earned him a Power 4 job. Dozens of Mean Green players followed Morris to Oklahoma State, a model that worked well for Curt Cignetti at Indiana.

Expectations varied for the Cowboys. They may not go undefeated like the Hoosiers did, but at least they would be better than the Oklahoma State team that won one game the season prior. There was even cautious optimism that they could make some noise in the Big 12.

And then the Cowboys lost their season opener to Tulsa. More of the same.

Oklahoma State, a two-score favorite, fell 24-10 to the Golden Hurricane, a member of the American Conference, where a good chunk of the Cowboys roster played a season ago. And that team didn’t look anything like North Texas.

“I mean, that sucked,” Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker said.

Mestemaker admitted his team might have gotten caught up in the offseason hype. But without that loss, would the Cowboys be where they are today?

“I think it was kind of a reality check for our team,” Mestemaker said. “I wish a reality check wasn’t a loss, but I’m glad it kind of got our team on the right track.”

Oklahoma State (3-1) is No. 18 in the AP Top 25 and ranked for the first time since 2024. There are some College Football Playoff projections out there that have the Cowboys in the 12-team field. That’s largely because they followed up their shocking loss by upsetting then-No. 6 Oregon 39-31 at home. That was Oklahoma State’s first FBS win since September 2024 against, of all teams, Tulsa. What a win it was — and the Cowboys haven’t lost since.

Mestemaker said the message from Morris after Week 1 was to “pull the trigger and play fast.” He said that instilled confidence in the team to loosen up before the Ducks came to town. And that free-flowing style of play allowed the Cowboys to mask some of those mistakes that tripped them up against Tulsa.

Oklahoma State looks like a different team one month later. Mestemaker was constantly under siege and sacked twice by the Golden Hurricane, but he’s been well-protected since then. With more time in the pocket, Mestemaker has consistently found wide receiver Wyatt Young open downfield. Running back Caleb Hawkins has also found more room to run thanks to the play of an offensive line that’s beginning to coalesce.

That trio was the engine of the FBS-best North Texas offense, and they’re starting to play more like they did a season ago when they dominated American Conference defenses.

Turnovers doomed the Cowboys against Tulsa when they gave the ball away four times. Oklahoma State committed four turnovers total in its next three games, maybe still too many for Morris’ liking but still an improvement.

The Cowboys’ defense was thought to be a weakness heading into the season, but it has held its own so far. Specifically, Oklahoma State’s secondary has done an excellent job of limiting big passing plays.

After the comfort of playing in front of a friendly crowd at Boone Pickens Stadium against Oregon and FCS Murray State, the Cowboys went on the road and won a back-and-forth game against West Virginia. Oklahoma State trailed late in the third quarter and then ripped off 20 points unanswered to silence the crowd in Morgantown and leave with a 41-24 victory.

“Going into an environment like that for sure gives the guys confidence that we can go into someone’s house and win in a hostile environment,” Mestemaker said.

It was that win over the Mountaineers that convinced the AP voters the Cowboys deserved a spot in the top 25 heading into their bye week.

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Mestemaker said he used the week off to get healthy and get his mind right ahead of a home stretch that starts this Saturday against UCF. Still ahead are pivotal games against No. 22 Houston and No. 11 Texas Tech.

The Big 12 feels much more open this season than it did a year ago. Oklahoma State’s loss to Tulsa has not aged well, considering the Golden Hurricane are 2-2 since then. But Texas Tech, No. 8 BYU and No. 12 Utah are the only teams in the conference that are still undefeated — and none of those teams look unbeatable.

Mestemaker and North Texas caught the American Conference off guard a season ago. That is evidently not going to happen at Oklahoma State in the Big 12, where there is more media attention on him. That has manifested in frequent appearances of himself on his own social media feed — good or bad. Mestemaker said he scrolls right past the clips, no matter if it’s praise or critique.

“It’s cool whenever something good pops up to read it, but then what if something bad pops up and you read it?” Mestemaker said. “You don’t want to get caught up in that spiral.”

It sounds like buying into the outside noise is how the Cowboys wound up falling victim to Tulsa in the first place. Mestemaker isn’t making that mistake again. Well, maybe there’s one exception.

Mestemaker smiled when asked if he’s gone back and watched his go-ahead touchdown against Oregon, the one where he took off from the 3-yard line, flipped over a defender into the end zone and changed the course of Oklahoma State’s season.

“I mean, it’ll pop up in my feed it feels like once every week,” Mestemaker said. “But I definitely watched it a few times that night.”