Five Things We Learned About Oklahoma State After Blowout Loss to Texas Tech
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STILLWATER, Okla. — The Oklahoma State Cowboys learned a lot about themselves in their 52-27 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday.
The Cowboys (6-4, 4-3 in Big 12) learned that they won’t get to the Big 12 Championship game, even on a wing and a prayer. They also learned there is a significant gap between themselves and the Red Raiders (9-1, 6-1), who appear pointed toward getting a chance to properly defend their Big 12 title.
Here are the five things we learned from Saturday’s game.
Drew Mestemaker’s Kryptonite
Oklahoma State quarterback Drew Mestemaker talks about his banged- up shoulder and his performance after the Cowboys lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday. #OkState #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/0nomdbjUWE
— Matthew Postins (@PostinsPostcard) November 15, 2026
From my front row seat in the press box at Boone Pickens Stadium, most of the NFL scouts sit on the row behind me. I counted 12 NFL teams in attendance on Saturday. Many of them will be in the market for a quarterback in April’s draft. Naturally, they were interested in Drew Mestemaker.
These scouts and these teams are already dissecting his game video like a Zapruder film. So they’re looking for small things, things they haven’t seen before. Perhaps it was that exceptional back shoulder fade that he threw on the run to running back Ayo Adeyi in the first half. I’m not sure I’ve seen him make that level of throw this season.
But Mestemaker also showed off one of the few things that he's struggled with and that's detecting underneath coverage when looking for receivers on intermediate routes across the field Both of his interceptions fit that bill.
The first one was darned near inexcusable and came shortly after he suffered that shoulder stinger. He didn't seem to have a lot of juice on the football. But even if he was 100% there was no reason to throw that pass. The linebacker was underneath his receiver and Mestemaker didn't see him. It’s not the first time that’s happened this season, either.
Mestemaker is not a fully developed quarterback, but of the quarterbacks I've covered and seen in college he's above average on that scale. He does many things well, as Nick Saban pointed out during College Gameday on ESPN on Saturday.
It's not the interceptions that are necessarily alarming. It's the trend. He's throwing many of them in situations where if he took a half-beat longer to read the coverage, he could probably avoid it. That’s something head coach Eric Morris pointed out after the game, the need for his quarterback to have a bit more patience on those two interceptions.
In my opinion he’s having difficulty picking up linebackers and safeties underneath routes, which is exactly where they like to lurk. That's something NFL scouts will dissect with a fine-toothed comb if Mestemaker decides to go to the NFL.
The Kickoff Coverage Trouble
ARE YOU SERIOUS?! @TexasTechFB 97 yards to the house on the opening kickoff 🤯
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 15, 2026
📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/7dJxsQFtnE
When you have as good a placekicker as Sam Keltner and as good a punter as Lachie Pozzobon, it can paper over some of the mistakes special teams coverage units make. But there was nothing covering up what happened on the opening play of the game on Saturday.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys gave up a 97-yard touchdown return to Malcolm Simmons, a play that was eerily reminiscent of the kickoff return that the Cowboys allowed last week against Kansas State to open that game.
Let’s start with the kick itself. Joseph Kim is as reliable as they come at getting the football in the end zone. But he didn't catch all the football and worse he was kicking into the wind at Boone Pickens Stadium. When I looked at the Accuweather before the game it said the wind was east to southeast at 5 mph with gusts of 9 mph. If you were at the game and you saw the American flag in that corner of the stadium, you know that's a fib. That wind was gusting higher.
Simmons caught it, went to his left and got a wall of Red Raiders to help him get to the edge and around the coverage. It was just like Kansas State. The only difference? The Wildcats committed a penalty that brought the football all the way back. That stole momentum from the Wildcats early.
It's incredible to me that Oklahoma State couldn’t correct this, and I’m sure special teams coach Drew Svoboda tried during the week. But Morris said outside edge coverage has been an issue all season and it got exploited. So it’s not a week-to-week thing. It’s persistent.
More adjustments must come after that. Arizona State now has two weeks of tape and will try to do the exact same thing next week.
Texas Tech’s Talent Gap is Clear Now
After the game, Morris called it a “measuring stick game.” Well, if Texas Tech is the measuring stick, then the Cowboys have work to do.
Texas Tech is built to compete in the Big 12 for the long-term. That Cody Campbell NIL money helps. But the Red Raiders have built to this under head coach Joey McGuire. He took over a Red Raiders program that bottomed out under Matt Wells. My alma mater, Stephen F. Austin, nearly beat the Red Raiders in his final season in Lubbock. That’s how rough it got.
McGuire and the Red Raiders went 8-5 in 2022, 7-6 in 2023 and 8-5 in 2024 before the NIL money and the transfer portal super-charged the Raiders into a 12-2 team with a Big 12 Championship and a College Football Playoff berth. Texas Tech is poised for another double-digit win season, another Big 12 title and another CFP berth.
The NIL money is hard to compete with. It solves a lot of talent issues, and you could see the talent gap on Saturday, especially on the defensive side, where the Red Raiders have invested plenty of money. We know the program hasn’t had a good reputation for defense. That’s changed with NIL and the portal. The unit has been much better the last two seasons.
Texas Tech also corrected many of the issues it had against West Virginia. A talented defense that knows what it’s doing and executes it is hard to overcome. The Red Raiders defended Oklahoma State’s outside zone run better than any other team this season. The corners blanketed the Cowboys’ receivers the entire game. The pass rush was elite.
Oklahoma State wasn't where it needed to be talent wise on defense entering the season. The gap was clear on Saturday night and it’s a gap that the Cowboys must eventually bridge. If Year 1 under Morris was about generating excitement and generating points, Year 2 must be about boosting the defensive talent. It wins championships. Texas Tech finally learned that lesson.
The Cowboys are Tough
From Oklahoma State’s opening offensive possession they were behind the eight-ball. Quarterback Drew Mestemaker suffered a stinger when he was sacked on his third play of the game. He caught weight from defensive lineman A.J. Holmes on the sack.
That set the tone for the game. He was banged up but played through it. After the game, Morris said that Caleb Hawkins had an ankle issue and played through it. Linebacker Ethan Wesloski was on the ground twice shaken up after plays. Defensive lineman Brayden Rigsby was on the ground, too. This was one of those games where the Cowboys just had to grind it out.
One thing about this team — it’s tough. It’s been apparent all season. Morris wants a tough team and he’s cultivated one. Execution has been an issue at times. The toughness to survive a physical game has never been in question.
These Late Kickoffs are Dumb
Cold. Drizzly. 50. Kickoff approaches. #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/1b4dfr0Mkz
— Matthew Postins (@PostinsPostcard) November 15, 2026
Texas Tech played at 8:30 p.m. central last week against West Virginia. I figured, “That’s weird but it will never happen again.”
It happened again this week against Oklahoma State. And, frankly, it’s dumb.
College football has four traditional TV windows (central time): 11 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. That last window is reserved for a west coast game. Central time zone teams are rarely asked to play after 7 p.m.
This wasn’t adjusted for the FAA ground stop. This was the plan. And it’s pretty ridiculous. It also could have been better — or worse.
Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg said during the pre-game radio show that he was approached about moving the game time by an hour or two but didn’t say if that was a move up or back. Can you imagine if the game started later than 8:30 p.m.? Geez.
I know TV has plenty to negotiate. But the validity of an 8:30 p.m. central television window for a college football game escapes me. What does ESPN or the Big 12 get out of that? I mean, any more than they might get out of a more typical 6 p.m. game time? Or even 7 p.m.?
A central time zone game shouldn’t start after 7 p.m. local time. Neither team used it as an excuse. But as much as OSU head coach Eric Morris tried to emulate game times during fall workouts and scrimmages, you can’t emulate a game time you don’t know the networks are keeping in their back pockets.
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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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