Oklahoma State’s win over Oregon came with a jolt of emotion for the Cowboys, but their head coach wasn’t interested in treating it like some grand finish line.
“Not as much to me… For this place that has been down for a while and struggled… At Incarnate Word, I lost my first two games… At North Texas, I lost my first two games. So 1-1 is actually an improvement for me… I'm happy for our fans. It's been a long time coming, and we'll have to find some new goalposts.”
What mattered more to him was how his team answered after last week. He said the Cowboys were pushed hard in practice and in meetings, and that response showed up when the game kicked off.
“We challenged our players this week in a really tough way and tough manner, and we had some meetings that weren't very pleasant… They had to listen to how bad they were after hearing how good they were for such a long time and to see them practice this last week, the intensity, the focus, the effort that they had and to be rewarded for it… I mean, without the two tipped passes that ended up being interceptions in that first half, we might have won the game by 25 plus points… I thought that physically, we played so much faster and we were more aggressive and the guys went out there and competed their tails off… For me to have that moment as a coach, that's what's rewarding.”
Quarterback Drew Mestemaker drew strong praise after delivering the kind of performance that can flip a game. The coach called him “a dog man, I have no other way to say it…” and said, “He was so good…” He also pointed to one throw in particular.
“There was a throw on the flea flicker that he threw to Wyatt Young across the field that not many people in this world can make…”
He said the game plan had included some quarterback runs, but Oregon’s defensive look changed that picture a bit. Even so, Mestemaker’s edge showed up.
“You can see his competitive nature, it sure came out today.”
The Cowboys also got it done by stacking together long offensive possessions and matching that with defense that kept the Ducks from settling in. The coach said, “I thought we played great complimentary football today… We just kept fighting and kept swinging on all three sides of the football… I thought the big thing was we sustained so many great drives on offense and were able to build that lead… There will still be so much to learn from this, but we'll come back and continue to coach them hard next week.”
Defensively, Oklahoma State’s front set the tone. The coach called the line “phenomenal today” and said the week’s emphasis was speed.
“Our one goal this week was to play fast… A great example is on that last play, James (Williams) was so fast to it… I don't even know if he was doing the right thing, but he saw that ball and they were so damn fast… But we pushed the pocket around the edge and got some key sacks… (Oregon) went for a lot of fourth downs and longer fourth down situations that was a little bit ironic… Credit to our defense on making those key stops to get it back to our offense.”
On the Oregon side, Dan Lanning said Oklahoma State presented more wrinkles than his team was ready for. He credited Skyler Cassidy for altering the look.
“Ultimately, you don't know what any game looks like. I thought our guys prepared well, but they gave us a lot of looks that were different, especially defensively, than what we had prepared for.
We hadn't prepared them quite for what we were going to see. I thought their defensive coordinator (Skyler) Cassidy did a great job of changing things up.”
Lanning said the bigger issue was on his own sideline.
“I think there's definitely concerns in general from our performance standpoint. It's not about the players, it's about what we're asking them to do as coaches and what we're applying out there on the field.
We should be able to execute on a high level. That falls back to myself so we have to evaluate everything that we're doing.”
He added that the film will show exactly where the breakdowns came from, especially against a team that played fast and forced one-on-ones.
“It's hard to explain. We'll have to go back and watch the film to see exactly where the lapses are when you play a team that's explosive like that.
We knew they were going to go fast. They're going to create one-on-ones.
We go back and watch that film and find the guys that are able to do that at a high level for us.”
The environment also played a role, at least in Lanning’s view.
“It was a loud environment. The goal is to take the environment out of it. We didn't take the environment out of it because of the way we played the game, and that created some of the penalties that existed.”
Even with the loss, he pointed to Devon Jackson’s big plays as a major reason the Ducks were still hanging around.
“Those were big plays and really kept us in the game. Like I said, it wasn't as close.
They [Oklahoma State] got into the red area a couple times. If they hadn't turned it over in the red area, this game could look worse than what it really looked like.
Being able to score on defense is huge.”
Linebacker Teitum Tuioti was blunt about the result and where Oregon goes from here. He praised Oklahoma State, then turned the focus inward.
“Yeah, we can't take anything away from that team. They are a great team, and they won today.
Great quarterback, great players and they play tough. Obviously, we have some takeaways, but it wasn't enough.
Great team. They came out with the victory.”
On the Ducks’ own defense, he didn’t sugarcoat the breakdowns.
“ We have to find a way to stop them. We keep on killing ourselves… penalties, just one person not doing their job and that goes for everyone, including me.
So all of us have to do our job, and we have to be better. We got to start practice tomorrow… we have to clean up a lot of things, and it's good for us to know there is so much to clean up.
All this hype about the defense, like we got to lock in, really.”
Still, Tuioti said one game won’t define Oregon’s season.
“One game isn't going to define us, we'll say that. Everyone in the locker room right now, we've got to stay together really closely right now.
You know, it's going to be hostile around here. So, Oregon got to stay together no matter what.
I ride with the people in my locker room, and that's what I'm going to do all season.”
In Other News...
Dan Lanning Gave Oregon Fans A Feel Good Moment They Needed
Before Oregon kicked off against Oklahoma State, Dan Lanning used a spot on ESPNs College GameDay to give Ducks fans something a little bigger than the usual pregame hype. His appearance ended with a crossbar challenge that carried real significance, sending a $500,000 donation to the Sam Day Foundation, a childhood cancer research group, and giving the morning a feel-good jolt before the game itself.
Lanning also had football on the mind, even with the charity moment grabbing the spotlight. He pointed to the need for Oregon to be sharper in the details and cut down on penalties as the Ducks prepared for their matchup, where they entered as heavy favorites over the Cowboys. For Oklahoma State, it was another reminder that the national attention around this game was being driven by Oregons side of the story before the opening kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Just Got A New Oregon Concern To Watch
Oklahoma States win over Oregon came with one notable asterisk for the Ducks, who were already forced to adjust their offense without starting tight end Jamari Johnson. Oregons attack never really found a rhythm in the loss, and the combination of modest yardage and too many penalties made the setback look more familiar than anyone in Eugene would have liked.
Now there is at least some uncertainty attached to Johnson moving forward, with Dan Lanning saying the tight end was banged up in the previous game and will be monitored in practice this week. Oregon had to turn to Andrew Olesh in Johnsons place, and for the Cowboys that is the part worth watching next, because the Ducks offense looked compromised enough already without needing another week of questions at a key spot. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Just Delivered The Kind Of Win Cowboys Fans Needed
Week 2 across the Big 12 had its share of statement results, but Oklahoma States stood out for a different reason: it finally gave Cowboys fans a win that felt like proof of life against a major opponent. The league was full of lopsided games and hard-fought finishes, yet the Cowboys were the ones who walked away with the kind of victory that can change the tone around a program, especially after the frustration of recent seasons against Power Four competition.
The matchup with Oregon carried extra weight because it came against a ranked opponent, and Oklahoma State handled it in a way that suggested more than just a lucky afternoon. The Cowboys were able to lean on a productive ground game and enough overall balance to keep Oregon under pressure, leaving the bigger question now centered on whether this can be the start of something more stable rather than just one uplifting result. [Read more 🡒]