STILLWATER, Okla. - Oklahoma State didn’t exactly roll through UCF on Saturday, and Eric Morris seemed perfectly fine with that.
The Cowboys’ 42-28 win after a bye week was messy, physical and at times downright ugly. But that was also the point. Morris left the podium sounding like a coach who had just gotten the kind of game he can actually use - the kind that gives him something real to coach as Oklahoma State turns toward a nationally ranked Houston team.
“This team’s growing and learning how to win in different ways, which I’m super proud of,” Morris said.
That growth didn’t come wrapped in polish. Oklahoma State’s defense missed tackles early.
Caleb Hawkins coughed up a costly fumble on the second play of the game, setting up a relatively easy UCF touchdown. Drew Mestemaker took a sack on a play where the ball should have come out sooner.
Even with points on the board, the Cowboys were stuck in a 21-21 tie at halftime because UCF kept finding ways to move the ball despite a limited passing attack.
Morris made clear after the game that the first-half energy wasn’t good enough.
“We challenged those guys at halftime,” Morris said. “I thought we weren’t very good on the perimeter, setting edges on our defense early.”
UCF’s plan was obvious: shorten the game and keep Oklahoma State from getting comfortable. It worked for a while.
The Knights held the ball for more than 35 minutes, and Morris said that pace kept him from ever really settling into a rhythm as a play caller. Still, the Cowboys kept scoring.
The defense was much sharper after the break, and one of the biggest swings came when safety Evan Jackson turned a backward pass that became a fumble into a touchdown return. From there, Oklahoma State finished the job and walked away with what Morris would probably call the season’s grittiest win.
And in a strange way, that’s exactly what he needed.
Coaches always say they want a win, no matter how it comes. Morris sounded like one of them on Saturday, but the more important part was what the game gives him now.
It gives him film. It gives him corrections.
It gives him a chance to tell the truth on Monday.
That hasn’t always been easy this season. After the Tulsa loss, there was plenty to say.
But the Oregon win was so clean there wasn’t much to fix. The Murray State game went too well.
The West Virginia game was messy, but Morris had two weeks to work with and could ease off a bit.
Now the bye week is over, and there’s no more breathing room until the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That makes this stretch different. It also makes the UCF game useful.
Morris said the matchup had worried him because of the bye week and Oklahoma State’s run defense, and the Cowboys’ performance proved there’s still work to do before facing Houston. That’s not a bad thing for a coach heading into a Top 25 opponent.
It means there’s tape. It means there are mistakes to point to.
It means the next message can be plain and direct.
“It's not going to get any easier in this conference, right?” Morris said. “But I do like that you can see steps of things, and I do think learning how to win is so important and our kids are starting to push over and you can see our responses have been better.”
The Cowboys won. They also got a reminder that they’ll have to be better to beat Houston. Morris can spend all week using the UCF game as proof of that.
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