Oklahoma State’s 39-31 upset of No. 6 Oregon came with plenty of noise, but the sharpest comments came from the coaches who lived through it.
At halftime, Eric Morris told Deion Imade on the Cowboy Radio Network that “we're kicking their butts all over the field,” and his point was clear: the Cowboys had already done enough damage that the score could have looked even worse if not for the two touchdowns they handed Oregon. After the game, Dan Lanning landed on the same basic theme from the other side.
“We got our ass kicked in a lot of areas,” Lanning said.
He added: “The score was closer than it really was, because it wasn't close in a lot of ways,” Lanning said. “We got our ass kicked in a lot of areas. Tons of credit to Coach Morris and his staff.”
Lanning also pointed to Oklahoma State’s defensive approach, saying the Cowboys presented problems Oregon had not fully prepared for.
“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) Cassity did a great job of changing things up.”
And the atmosphere in Boone Pickens Stadium mattered too, at least by Lanning’s account.
“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.”
There was plenty to like on Oklahoma State’s side, including the kind of pregame detail that can tilt a game before the first snap. Linebacker Tate Romney told Duck Sports Central the Cowboys spotted clues in Oregon’s offensive line.
“We were noticing earlier in the week that their offensive line had tendencies that helped us key into run/pass and a couple areas we could take advantage of, and obviously our defensive line was keyed into that. That was one big thing that gave us a big advantage. … Their offensive line had a few stance indicators for most of the time run/pass.”
Then there was the play that turned into a wild sprint down the sideline. Running back Caleb Hawkins described watching Drew Mestemaker break free on a 75-yard run while Hawkins was carrying out the fake.
“It probably took me 3-4 yards, and then I was kinda like, 'alright, I didn't hear a whistle.' So I turned around and he was all the way down the sideline and I just started sprinting right behind him trying to catch him.”
The win gave Oklahoma State a pile of notable marks. It was the Cowboys’ fifth victory in their last six games against AP top-10 opponents in Boone Pickens Stadium, with the list including wins over No.
6 Oregon in 2026, No. 10 Oklahoma in 2023 and 2021, and No.
6 Texas and No. 7 West Virginia in 2018.
The lone loss in that stretch came against No. 7 Oklahoma in 2019.
It was also Oklahoma State’s first win over an AP top-six team since the Fiesta Bowl on January 1, 2022, when the Cowboys beat No. 5 Notre Dame. That game was the last time an OSU quarterback threw for 300 yards and rushed for 100, which Spencer Sanders did with 371 passing yards and 125 rushing yards.
Saturday’s game added another rare entry to the record book: it was only the second time in Oklahoma State history that the Cowboys had a 100-yard running back, a 100-yard receiver and a quarterback who passed for 300 yards and rushed for 100. The first came in 2018 against No. 7 West Virginia, when Chuba Hubbard ran for 134 yards, Dillon Stoner caught 127 yards worth of passes and Taylor Cornelius finished with 338 passing yards and 106 rushing yards.
The victory also extended OSU’s home-opener streak to 31 straight, the longest active run in college football and the third-longest overall since at least 1979. Only Ohio State’s 35-game run from 1979-2013 and Florida’s 34 straight from 1990-2023 have gone longer since then.
And on the bigger-picture side, the Cowboys finally snapped the longest losing streak in program history at 12 games, along with a 21-game skid against FBS opponents that dated back to the Tulsa game in September 2024. According to ESPN, it was also the first time in FBS history that a team ended a 10-game losing streak against an AP top-10 opponent.
Oregon entered Saturday having won its previous 41 games against unranked opponents, and the Ducks were also the highest-ranked non-conference opponent Oklahoma State had hosted since No. 2 Arkansas came to Stillwater in 1978. Before Saturday, the Cowboys had never hosted a sitting Big Ten Conference member in Stillwater.
Mestemaker’s performance was a major part of the story. He finished with 317 passing yards, pushing his streak of 200-yard passing games to 17, the longest active streak in the FBS.
He also set a career high with 109 rushing yards. It was his first 300-yard passing game as a Cowboy and the seventh of his career.
And on the defensive side, one more streak kept rolling: has made at least one tackle in 41 consecutive games, including every game he's played since the beginning of the 2023 season. He's had at least four tackles in 13 straight games.
In Other News...
Oklahoma State Finally Has The Breakthrough Cowboy Fans Desperately Needed
For Oklahoma State, a win like this has been a long time coming. The Cowboys knocked off No. 6 Oregon 39-31 in a result that instantly reset the mood around the program, with the kind of energy inside the stadium that had been missing for far too long. The celebration turned appropriately unruly afterward, as fans tore down a goal post and sent it into a pond, a scene that matched the size of the moment.
What made the breakthrough feel even bigger was how the Cowboys got it done. Drew Mestemaker was at the center of everything, using his arm and legs to keep Oklahoma State in control against one of the nations top-ranked teams. The victory also snapped a brutal run that had hung over the program, and it left Cowboys fans with a rare feeling they had been waiting on for quite a while. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma States Fearless Fourth Quarter Play Changed Everything Against Oregon
Drew Mestemakers role in Oklahoma States upset of No. 6 Oregon went well beyond managing the offense. The quarterback helped finish a grinding fourth-quarter march that covered the field in 12 plays, 75 yards, and he capped it by taking the ball in himself from 10 yards out. It was the kind of fearless, physical moment that can flip a game, especially against a ranked opponent with the kind of speed and depth Oregon brought into the matchup.
Mestemaker said he could feel the impact of the play, and the collision seemed to carry over to the other side of the ball too. The hit that came with the run left Oregon defender Carl Williams IV briefly unconscious before he eventually walked off under his own power, and the sequence gave Oklahoma States defense an extra jolt as it closed out the win. For a Cowboys team that needed something to change the game in a hurry, the fourth quarter delivered exactly that. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Suddenly Has Two Young Names Fans Need To Watch
Coming off a win over Oregon, Oklahoma State turns its attention to Murray State with the usual veteran-heavy approach still shaping the depth chart. That can make it tough for true freshmen and sophomores to carve out real roles, but the Cowboys have at least two younger players starting to make the staff take notice. Lewis has been getting more involved in the passing game, while Pozzobon has given the special teams unit a steady option when the ball comes off his foot.
Lewis recent uptick matters even more because the receiving group has had to adjust around an apparent second-half injury to Chris Barnes against Oregon. On the other side of the ball, Pozzobon has quietly been effective as a punter, keeping Oregons return game from getting much of a chance to get started. For a team built around experience, those are the kinds of developments that can change how quickly younger players move from depth pieces to names worth tracking every week. [Read more 🡒]