Biggest Winners and Losers from Oklahoma State Week 2 Victory Over Oregon
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STILLWATER, Okla. — As quarterback Drew Mestemaker took the final knee and threw the football in the air, a new era dawned in Stillwater.
The Cowboys’ 39-31 win over the No. 6 Oregon Ducks turned the page on two years of losing football and gave the fan base hope. It gave them a chance to take the field, to tear down a goal post and for head coach Eric Morris to get a true measure of what he’s built so far.
Here is a look at the biggest winners and the biggest losers for Oklahoma State — and Oregon — after Saturday’s game.
Winners
Cowboys Fans
After two years of depressing football — a 4-20 record, 18 straight Big 12 losses and a head coaching change — Cowboys fans got something to cheer about. It’s the most meaningful win over the fan base since beating Oklahoma in the 2023 Bedlam game before the Sooners moved to the SEC. That it happened the same day that OU lost to Michigan on the road must have made it a bit sweeter.
I was down on the field after the game as fans took the field. It was probably the most organized field or court storming I’ve ever witnessed. It was an emotional release, pure and simple. It was something this fan base needed. The Cowboys hadn’t won a football game since late August of last year. Does anyone know where the goalposts are from the north end zone? Cowboys gonna need those next Saturday against Murray State.
Drew Mestemaker
Drew Mestemaker got some grief for last week’s game and deservedly so. He committed three turnovers and two of them were just bad reads or bad ball possession on his part. He threw two interceptions on Saturday, both the result of tipped passes. Can’t do much about that.
What he did have control of he excelled at. He threw for 317 yards, completed 60% of his passes and threw two touchdowns. He also rushed for 109 yards, most of which came on a 75-yard run on the first offensive play. But the game-defining run was his 10-yard leap into the end zone in the fourth quarter that put the Cowboys ahead for good.
He ended up with 416 yards of total offense and was responsible for three scores. He did that in front of 20 NFL scouts, two NFL general managers and former Atlanta Falcons legend Matt Ryan, who now leads the front office. It was perfectly timed for him, the Cowboys and the NFL.
The Defensive Line
The Oklahoma State defense had to play a great game to beat Oregon. Fortunately, they delivered.
During the week the Cowboys coaching staff put an emphasis on toughness and getting to the quarterback. The defensive line was going to have to carry a lot of that. It had to contend with quarterback Dante Moore, a quality offensive line and skill players with NFL aspirations. Linebacker Ethan Wesloski couldn’t praise the front four enough after the game.
“We don’t win this game without them,” he said.
The Cowboys sacked Moore, a Heisman Trophy contender, four times. The line helped limit the Ducks to 191 yards rushing. Oregon failed to get many game-breaking plays because the line was able to get the push on the Ducks offensive line with just four linemen, which may have been the biggest surprise of the game. By doing so, the Cowboys could keep seven players back and limit Moore’s targets. The fact that they were in Moore’s face so much was a bonus.
Malik Charles, Jaleel Johnson and Keviyan Huddleston each had a sack. Each had gravity. It came at a critical moment. They changed the game.
Losers
Oregon’s CFP Hopes
The hit isn’t severe. But after being pushed to the brink by Boise State last week and losing to Oklahoma State this week, head coach Dan Lanning needs to go back to the drawing board. Some of this was probably the 90-minute lightning delay. But the offense looked lifeless for much of the game. The scheme seemed boring (shades of OSU’s scheme last week against Tulsa). I’m not sure a Lanning-led Oregon defense has given up that many yards (554) in one game.
One could excuse the win over Boise State as first-game jitters. But this? Something may be systemically wrong with the Ducks. I saw their overtime road win at Penn State last year in person. It was an absolute classic. This team looked nothing like that team. Lanning has some soul-searching ahead of him.
The Turnover Game
It’s hard to find anywhere that Oklahoma State lost on Saturday, but the turnover game was the one area you could have pointed to with authority. OSU was a minun-1 in the turnover game. Both turnovers were in the passing game, and both were tipped by Oregon defenders before they were picked off. One was a pick six and the other was a touchdown.
Give Oklahoma State credit for not allowing the turnovers to define them. Morris said after the game that he didn’t have to say anything to Mestemaker about them. He could see it in his quarterback’s eyes. He wasn’t going to let those mistakes define the rest of the game. And he didn’t.
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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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