10 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 24-10 Loss to Tulsa

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TULSA — I have to be honest, I didn’t see that one coming — at all.

Oklahoma State lost to Tulsa 24-10 to start the Eric Morris Era of Cowboy football. Here are 10 Thoughts on the game.

1. OSU’s Offense Scored 10 Points

All offseason we’ve talked about how the Cowboys essentially imported the No. 1 offense in the country.

Sure, that offense played in the American, but against an American team on Saturday, that offense scored 10 points.

Is this Squinky’s price for OSU winning two of the final three Bedlams? Or is OSU simply incapable of competing the this new era of college football? Perhaps it was just the fact that this is a roster of 90+ new players, but those are the questions I’m pondering after having witnessed this game and the past two seasons.

2. The Fourth Downs

I made note after my rewatch of North Texas’ 2025 season that Eric Morris isn’t afraid to go for it on fourth down. Well, that seemed to really bite the Pokes in Game 1.

OSU finished 2-for-6 on fourth down.

The Cowboys got their first attempt, when Caleb Hawkins ran for three yards on 4th-and-1 on OSU’s first drive. Later in that same drive, though, Hawkins was stuffed on another 4th-and-1 attempt from the Tulsa 3-yard line.

OSU’s other three failed attempts were from a yard or less away. Tre Page III fumbled after seemingly getting the yard needed. Then Ayo Adeyi got stuffed on a 4th-and-1 in the third quarter. Mestemaker ripped an RPO pass to Miles Coleman in the fourth quarter on a 4th-and-1, but Coleman was also stood up on the line.

After converting that first fourth down, the only one the Cowboys would get came on 4th-and-7 when Mestemaker completed a pass to Justin Bowick for a 16-yard touchdown, the Cowboys’ lone touchdown of their season debut.

The failed fourth downs resulted in 17 of Tulsa’s points, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal after OSU gave the ball back.

3. Sexton Goes Down, O-Line Struggles

I feel awful for Jacob Sexton.

After making it six snaps into last season before missing the remainder of the year with injury, I think he made it the same number of snaps Saturday before going down with what appeared to be a rather significant leg injury. Eric Morris didn’t have an update after the game.

From that point on, OSU’s O-line had a rough day, often rotating Ashton Lepo, Shaun Torgeson and Desmond Magiya through at the tackle spots. We’ll have to wait and see the PFF update for pressure numbers, but I imagine they’re quite high, as it felt as if Drew Mestemaker was constantly having to navigate a busy pocket. As far as standard statistics go, Mestemaker was sacked twice and hurried 10 times.

Those struggles were apparent in the run game as well, as Cowboy rushers averaged 3.4 yards a carry.

I don’t see Sexton being back any time soon, but Morris did note that Braydon Nelson has recently returned to practice. Nelson started all of North Texas’ games at tackle last season. It doesn’t sound as if he’ll be ready next week, but that he should be good to go at some point this season.

Regardless of which guys run out on the offensive line over the coming weeks, something needs to be figured out. That much is clear.

4. Consider Me Concerned About Running Backs Not Named Caleb Hawkins

OSU’s RB2 spot has been a discussion all offseason, and it looks like that will continue going into Week 2.

Cowboy running backs not named Caleb Hawkins carried 13 times for 43 yards — about 3.3 yards a carry. Those carries were split between Tarleton State transfer Tre Page and James Madison (by way of North Texas) transfer Ayo Adeyi.

Page was the RB2 on the depth chart and that held true Saturday, but he didn’t take another handoff after that aforementioned fourth-down fumble in the first half.

Adeyi had a slightly better statistical day, but six carries for 24 yards isn’t exactly anything to write home about.

Some of this is offensive-line related, but even with that, Hawkins looked alright. Someone else is going to have to step up to spell him occasionally.

5. Just a Meh Debut for Drew Mestemaker

Mestemaker’s first stat line as a Cowboy: 29-for-49 (59%), 241 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions.

It’s not outstanding, but OSU eclipsed that yardage number just twice last season, so it’s an improvement. But a marginal improvement from a team that went 1-11 last season wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.

I’m not too worried about his picks. The first was in the back of the end zone, which isn’t an ideal spot to throw a pick, but he was trying to make a play while being moved from the pocket. Then the second one came with 11 second left, and OSU was just needing to get the ball down the field as quickly as possible.

I thought he missed some throws and made some others, but I leave this game much more worried about what’s going on in front of him than I did about his play.

6. The Defense Actually Played Alright

If you would’ve told me before this game started that Tulsa was going to win, I would have assumed it would’ve been a crazy 45-42 thriller.

Instead, it was the Cowboy defense trying with all its might to keep the Cowboys in the game while the offense kept tripping over itself.

OSU actually outgained and had more time of possession than Tulsa, and the Cowboy D held the Golden Hurricane to 1-for-11 on third down. It wasn’t until late when things started to break down and Tulsa started to rip off a few big runs.

I would have never guessed I would come out of this game feeling better about the OSU defense than the OSU offense — simply wasn’t on my bingo card.

7. Can’t Have that Jaleel Johnson Penalty

If there was one play the Cowboy defensive would collectively want back, though, it was likely that Jaleel Johnson unnecessary roughness call after the Cowboys fended off a third down deep in their own territory.

Johnson gave a shove to Tulsa quarterback Baylor Hayes late, giving the Golden Hurricane a first down from OSU’s 5-yard line, and two plays later, Tulsa scored its first touchdown of the game to go up 10-3.

Can’t have it.

In total, OSU have up six penalties for 59 yards — another area they actually bettered Tulsa in. The Golden Hurricane was flagged nine times for 102 yards.

8. Lack of Big Plays

Another thing I just wouldn’t believe going into this game is that Tulsa had more big plays than the Cowboys.

OSU had four passes of at least 15 yards, gaining 80 combined yards off those throws.

Tulsa had eight passes of at least 15 yards and gained 259 yards off those throws.

Some of those were excellent plays. Hayes hit Oran Singleton for a 56-yard gain early in what was honestly a beaut of a throw.

Then a bit later, Hayes hit Jimmy Calloway for a 47-yard gain down to the OSU 1-yard line. Calloway ripped that ball away from LaDainian Fields as the two crashed to the ground, a play you just sort of have to tip your cap to Calloway for.

OSU’s biggest pass play was a 27-yard connection between Mestemaker and Wyatt Young. Tulsa had three completions of at least 45 yards.

9. First Time Since When?

This is the first time Tulsa has beaten Oklahoma State in back-to-back games since 1951 and 1952.

Before this two-game losing streak, the Cowboys had won 10 in a row in the series.

This goes back to my first point in that this just feels like some sort of weird nightmare for the program.

10. It Feels More Fixable Than Last Year (For Whatever That’s Worth)

If this year’s OSU team played last year’s team, I think this year’s team wins. But I was just expecting much, much more than that.

Last year’s team just felt absolutely hapless. This year’s team just couldn’t quit turning the ball over whether that be on downs, fumbles or interceptions.

Tulsa had no turnovers and converted its only fourth-down try, meaning the Golden Hurricane essentially won the turnover battle 8-0. The Cowboys won’t win a ton of games doing that, but that at least feels more correctable than having a receiver play quarterback like the Cowboys were forced to do last year.