Four Immediate Takeaways from Oklahoma State Football's Win Over West Virginia

The Oklahoma State Cowboys won their third straight game of the season with a 41-24 win over West Virginia on Saturday in Morgantown.

The Cowboys (3-1, 1-0 in Big 12) won for the sixth straight time in Morgantown and for the second time at night. The Mountaineers (3-1, 0-1) absorbed their first loss of the season, a week after beating No. 25 Virginia.

Here are four immediate takeaways from Saturday’s game.

The Streak is Over

TIP DRILL 🚨

📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/BCFJZLyyP2
— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) September 27, 2026

For Cowboys fans, this must feel good. The win was the Cowboys’ first in a Big 12 game since the end of the 2023 season against BYU. It was an 18-game losing streak going into the game. They erased with an incredible second half.

Oklahoma State has now turned the page on a 21-game losing streak against FBS teams, put together their first three-game winning streak since the start of the 2024 season and ended their 18-game Big 12 losing streak (19 if you count the Big 12 Championship game in 2023).

Karmically speaking, this was a great night for OSU. With the bye week coming, the Cowboys get the chance to heal up, adjust and get ready for UCF in two weeks.

But for the second time in three weeks, the fan base gets a sweet release from the last two years of bad football.

These Teams CAN Run the Rock

Cam Cook finds a lane 💨

📺 @CFBONFOX pic.twitter.com/PS5PS6FzRt
— Big 12 Studios (@big12studios) September 26, 2026

The run games came to play for both teams on Saturday.

Everyone knew that West Virginia wanted to throw the football. The Mountaineers gained 333 yards on the ground, led by running back Cam Cook, who rushed for 192 yards on 25 carries, including a 75-yard run early in the game. Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. rushed for 102 yards and scored all three touchdowns. The backs dominated in the first half but were slowed by the OSU defense in the second half.

Oklahoma State running back Caleb Hawkins rushed for 180 yards on 31 carries as he scored a touchdown and rushed for 5.8 yards per carry. He was a workhorse all night but was capably spelled by Ayo Adeyi, who gained 44 yards on six carries. The Cowboys finished the game with 224 yards rushing.

When people talk about head coach Eric Morris and his version of the Air Raid being different, that’s how. But it didn’t keep the Cowboys from airing it out.

Drew Mestemaker Went Deep

fight through contact 💪

got ourselves a tie game

📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/GT5ZJjwb0R
— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) September 27, 2026

One of the questions around the West Virginia secondary going into the game was just how good it was? The group hadn’t been tested that much, but one quarterback did hurt them and that was Coastal Carolina quarterback Deuce Bailey, who threw for 373 yards.

OSU quarterback Drew Mestemaker did better than that and he did most of it in the second half. After being somewhat conservative in the first half and leaning on Hawkins and the run game, which worked well, the Cowboys aired it out in the second half and Mestemaker threw chunk play after chunk play.

By the end of the game, the Cowboys had 10 big pass plays, defined by plays of 20 yards or more, for 334 yards. Only one of those went for a touchdown. So those big plays helped set up scores through the game.

Mestemaker finished the game with 389 yards passing and three touchdowns. Wyatt Young had a huge game, catching eight passes for 192 yards and a touchdown. It negated the interception that Mestemaker threw in the first half and exposed the Mountaineer secondary in the second half.

The Defense Made Big Plays

DEFENSE STAND UP 😤 pic.twitter.com/23xzssxF6V
— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) September 27, 2026

The Mountaineers put up big numbers in the game. Along with the huge rushing total, WVU had 466 total yards. But the defense did enough.

Start with the Mose Phillips interception in the first half, which might have been the turning point of the game. It stopped a third straight WVU offensive scoring drive in the first half and flipped the momentum.

The Mountaineers were 0-for-3 on fourth down. OSU contained the WVU run game in the second half, giving up only 121 rushing yards and 237 total yards. The downfield passing game never got going for WVU, unlike the past three weeks. WVU had one big pass play of 20 or more yards. They had eight big plays in the run game, but only four of those plays came in the second half.

This unit bent but it didn’t break. It started with a 3-3-5 scheme that didn’t work and defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity went back to the 4-2-5 and it worked.

By the end of the game, the Cowboys defense had four sacks, eight tackles for loss and a turnover. It wasn’t perfect. But it was enough, especially in the clutch.

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