Biggest Winners, Losers from Oklahoma State Loss to Iowa State: Defensive Reckoning
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The Oklahoma State Cowboys don't have much time to dissect their 51-49 loss to the Iowa State Cyclones. Four more Big 12 conference games await.
As the Cowboys prepare for their next road trip to Kansas State on Saturday, there's an opportunity to take stock of how things went against the Cyclones. It was an exciting game, if you didn't have a vested interest in it or if you were an Iowa State fan. For Oklahoma State fans, there's the feeling that an opportunity slipped away.
Here is a look at the biggest winners and the biggest losers for Oklahoma State after Saturday’s game.
Winners
RB Caleb Hawkins
His value in this offense just keeps going up. Ever since the Cowboys hinted to Hawkins that he might start catching more passes, he has been piling up huge games. Statistically, this game against Iowa State was his best yet.
He rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. He also caught six passes for 81 yards and a touchdown. He nearly had 300 yards in total offense. It's hard to argue with that kind of production. In the last three games, he has more than 600 yards in total offense.
He clearly has the total trust of head coach Eric Morris and offensive coordinator Sean Brophy. And he's setting the stage for a potential Heisman Trophy candidacy in 2027. The Cowboys shouldn't change a thing about how they're using him.
QB Drew Mestemaker
He just keeps stacking good game on good game and continues to boost his stock for the NFL draft next April — if that's what he chooses to do. It's looking more likely that moving to the NFL will be the right call.
He did make one mistake with the interception late in the game, but he got an opportunity to atone for it by leading a go-ahead touchdown drive. He finished the game with 323 passing yards and five touchdowns, the first five touchdown game of his Oklahoma State career. He also completed 64% of his passes.
He enters this week No. 2 in passing yards and tied for No. 1 in touchdown passes in FBS. He's been as advertised and then some. He's going to be hard to replace — but he’s setting up the Cowboys to land a great replacement in the transfer portal.
CB LaDainian Fields
In fall camp, Morris touted Fields as an all-Big 12 level cornerback, but he said Fields had to start making more plays on the football. Well, he keeps doing it.
His interception against Iowa State was his fourth pick in his last three games. He now has five interceptions this season and leads the Big 12 in the category. He's putting up the kinds of numbers that should lead to all-Big 12 selection at the end of the season.
When you consider that Fields has two more years left of college football, this is a great development for Oklahoma State’s defense in 2027 and 2028. They need a player that can develop into a shutdown corner, and Fields is starting to emerge as that player.
LT Shaun Torgeson
All the data was lining up for Braydon Nelson to take over as the starting left tackle against Iowa State. Well, sometimes data's wrong.
Shaun Torgeson was the starting left tackle, and he even logged a little time at right tackle when Ashton Lepo left the game with a minor injury. Lepo eventually returned and Torgeson went back to left tackle.
Torgeson took 68 snaps and Nelson took 12. What happened? Coach's preference it would appear. But Torgeson did grade out much better per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He graded 64.6 as a pass blocker and 51.2 as a run blocker. Nelson graded 77.1 as a run blocker but 21.3 as a pass blocker.
It could be that Nelson is just not consistently there yet. For the Cowboys, thank goodness Torgeson is.
S Quinton Hammonds
Hammonds had his arm in a sling last Saturday against Colorado and finished the game in street clothes. He was questionable on the Cowboys’ player availability report all week and was a game-time decision.
Well not only did the Cowboys decide Hammonds could play, he played most of the game. He was his usual productive self too. He had six tackles, including five solo shots, with 1.5 tackles for a loss.
He didn’t share any more time in the secondary than usual. He was productive and he was able to play. And that's something no one was sure about a week ago.
Losers
The Defense
We usually focus on players. But the defense was just bad on Saturday. There's no getting around it.
The Cowboys allowed 581 total yards. Running back Aiden Flora ran all over them. Quarterback Jaylen Raynor threw for more than 300 yards. The Cyclones converted more than 50% of third downs and ran nearly as many plays as Oklahoma State on offense. ISU had a higher yards per play and yards per completion average than OSU and had 15 big plays in the game. Plus, the Cyclones held the ball for nearly 35 minutes.
Aside from the Fields interception, the Cowboys didn't do much else to affect the game defensively. Plus, there are more blown assignments than anyone would care to remember.
This week will be a tipping point moment for the unit. Defensive coordinator Skyler Cassidy is going to have to do something different to mask the deficiencies of this unit or else more games like this will happen down the stretch.
LT Braydon Nelson
As noted, based on the snap counts against Colorado everything was lining up for Nelson to start against the Cyclones. The fact that he didn't, and the fact that he played so little, leads one to believe that Nelson's conditioning may just not be there yet to play consistently from week to week. That may not be a bad thing. Torgeson had a good game. But the fact that Nelson didn't even split reps in this game as he did a week ago tells us something.
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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