Joseph Williams walked out of Colorado’s 57-24 loss to Oklahoma State with the best game of his career, but the result still hit like a punch to the gut.
The Buffaloes’ Week 8 defeat was jarring on its own, especially after the way they played in the first half. Colorado traded blows with the Cowboys, went into the locker room with a lead, and had a defense that looked a stop or two away from changing the shape of the night. Then it all slipped away.
Williams was right in the middle of the surge. He finished with nine catches for 135 yards, including eight receptions for 130 yards before halftime. Even with that kind of output, he couldn’t make sense of how the game ended the way it did.
“Regardless of whether I have 100 yards or two yards by halftime, I'm feeling good about my team winning,” Williams said. “So it's just like, we died down in the second half.
We just got to finish, man. Just the little things, little details.
We had a lot of penalties in that second half as well, and right before halftime. So we just got to go back to the drawing board.”
Colorado’s offense faded after the break, and Williams was held to one catch for five yards on two targets in the second half. The Buffaloes also lost the possession battle after halftime, 18:54 to 11:06, but quarterback Isaac Wilson still looked his way. Williams said the issue wasn’t a schematic switch from Oklahoma State.
“I didn't see many different [things] that they did in the second half,” Williams said. “They still came out, pressed us multiple times out there.
Left us one-on-one. So it's just, I don't know.
I don't. They didn't do anything different to get in our way.
It was us. It was on us.
We got in our own way. So yeah, it's nothing that they did that stopped us from doing what we were able to do.”
His postgame read lined up with the message from Colorado coach Deion Sanders and linebacker Gideon Lampron, who also said they understood what went wrong but don’t have many ideas left for how to fix it. That’s a rough place to be, and Williams didn’t sugarcoat it.
Still, he isn’t ready to abandon the group.
“We got a locker room full of winners,” Williams said. “A lot of guys were at other programs winning, so they know what it takes.
They see we're on the right path; we're doing the right things. It’s just we got to all come together as one, and put a full four quarters together.
We can't put a half together and expect to play a team like we played tonight with a high-powered offense and expect to come out with a win. So we've got to help the defense.”
Colorado now sits two losses away from losing bowl eligibility for the third time in Coach Prime’s four seasons in Boulder, with five games still to play. The schedule gets a little friendlier from here, and if Williams’ confidence is justified, the Buffaloes can still turn this around. If not, they may have already banked the wins they’ll get this season.
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Oklahoma State Finally Looks Dangerous Again But One Problem Still Lingers
After two seasons that left Oklahoma State searching for traction, Saturdays win over Colorado offered a much cleaner picture of what this team can be. The Cowboys had already surpassed their combined win total from the previous two years, and the victory felt significant not just for the record book but for the way it came together, with Drew Mestemaker, Caleb Hawkins and Justin Bowick all turning in the kind of performances that can carry a team when the schedule tightens.
The lingering issue is still hard to ignore, though. Oklahoma States defense wobbled in the first half before finally finding a turning point early in the third quarter, and if the Cowboys are going to keep building on this momentum, they will need that side of the ball to be steadier from the opening whistle instead of relying on timely swings to change the game. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Turned A Shaky Start Into A Statement Win
Colorado had the upper hand at halftime, and the first half did not exactly hint at what was coming next. Oklahoma State flipped the script in a major way, rolling to a 57-24 win that turned a shaky opening into one of its most complete performances of the season. The Cowboys found their rhythm on both sides of the ball after the break, when their quarterback helped drive the offense to a burst of points that quickly erased any doubt.
Oklahoma State's passing game did the heavy lifting, with the quarterback throwing for 386 yards and four touchdowns, while Sam Keltner kept adding to the scoreboard with a school-record five field goals. Colorado, meanwhile, was held to just 120 yards of offense in the second half as the Cowboys' defense slammed the door and turned a tight game into a statement win. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Just Made The Top 25 Debate A Lot Louder
Oklahoma State turned in one of its most complete performances of the season in a 57-24 win over Colorado, with quarterback Drew Mestemaker piling up 386 passing yards and four touchdowns. Caleb Hawkins added a strong night on the ground with 120 rushing yards, while also contributing as a receiver, and the Cowboys found another gear defensively after halftime with key plays from Jerry Lawson, LaDainian Fields and Ethan Wesloski.
Even with that kind of statement win, the ranking picture still lagged behind the performance on the field. Oklahoma State remained outside the USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25 and was waiting on the latest AP Top 25 update, leaving plenty of room for debate about where the Cowboys should land after a weekend that reshaped the national conversation. [Read more 🡒]