Oklahoma State’s defensive front doesn’t have a single headliner carrying the load, and that’s been the point. Through four games, the Cowboys have built a much better line by spreading the work around, leaning on a deep group that has turned into one of the reasons for the 3-1 start.
Head coach Eric Morris said after the West Virginia win that the approach was intentional from the start.
“It’s what we’ve always believed in, right?” Morris said after the West Virginia victory. “It’s strength in numbers and rotating [players], especially with the tempo of play.”
That rotation has been a big part of what Oklahoma State has tried to do all month, especially with the early games coming in Oklahoma and the September heat hanging over those first three weeks. Against the Mountaineers, the Cowboys kept cycling bodies through the defensive line and came away with four sacks and eight tackles for loss. Not every one of those plays was credited directly to the front four, but the pressure up front kept showing up in the right places.
The numbers back up the broader improvement. Oklahoma State has eight sacks and 20 tackles for loss through four games, putting it on pace for 24 sacks and 60 tackles for loss.
That’s close to last year’s pace, but the bigger change is how much sturdier the whole defense looks. The Cowboys finished No. 114 in total defense last season, allowing 418.3 yards per game.
This year, after four games, they’re sitting at No. 50 and giving up 317.2 yards a game.
What stands out most is how many players are involved. Oklahoma State has built its line around roughly a dozen linemen, and the workload has been spread accordingly.
Only three defensive linemen have topped 100 snaps so far: tackle Jerry Lawson with 124, end Jaleel Johnson with 124 and end James Williams with 112, according to Pro Football Focus. Nine linemen have at least 50 snaps, which tells the story of how balanced this group has become.
A lot of that comes from who these players are. Several are holdovers who barely saw the field under the previous staff, while others arrived through the transfer portal looking for more chances to play.
Morris and his defensive staff, led by coordinator Skyler Cassity, weren’t chasing splashy names. They were chasing snaps and depth.
The challenge now is keeping that formula working once Big 12 play really starts to squeeze the schedule. Fast-tempo teams make it tougher to get fresh bodies on the field, and Morris said the Cowboys had to be selective about when they changed personnel against West Virginia.
“It's a little bit harder to substitute because these guys don't really want you to substitute when they go fast, and so we had to pick our moments to get everybody on and off the field,” Morris said. “The amount of plays they were probably in consecutively was probably more than what we would have liked.”
That test gets bigger from here, with eight games left beginning against UCF on Oct. 10. For now, though, Oklahoma State’s remade defensive line has answered just about everything thrown at it, and the reason is simple: there’s no single star, but there are plenty of useful pieces.
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Among the voices stepping forward is Thurman Thomas, the Hall of Fame Cowboy who has remained one of the schools most recognizable ambassadors. His support carries weight in Stillwater, especially with the board of regents expected to factor into whatever comes next for Weiberg, leaving OSU in a position where the conversation feels as important as the decision itself. [Read more 🡒]
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Head coach Eric Morris has made it clear he sees a future pro in Mestemaker and expects that day to come eventually, which only adds urgency to the programs long-range planning. The real question for Oklahoma State is timing, since Mestemaker could be weighing whether to make the jump in 2027 or stay put and push things back a year, and the staff is already working the recruiting trail and developing other quarterbacks with both outcomes in mind. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma States Bye Week Put One Ranking Question Front And Center
A week off can sharpen a teams edge, but it also can sharpen the questions around it, and Oklahoma State has one sitting right there after its 41-24 win over West Virginia. The Cowboys are still carrying the look of a team that can score with just about anybody, sitting second nationally in total offense, and the defense added enough encouraging moments last time out with an interception, four sacks and eight tackles for loss.
The bigger issue is how those ingredients are being viewed beyond Stillwater, where the AP Top 25 has the Cowboys at No. 19 after the win. The coaches saw them a little differently, though, and the gap between those rankings says plenty about where Oklahoma State stands heading into the bye, with the team still trying to turn strong production into something that holds up in every poll and every week. [Read more 🡒]