The Top 5 Quotes from Doug Meacham’s Post-Houston News Conference

STILLWATER — Doug Meacham is still in search of his first win as the Cowboys’ interim coach.

Oklahoma State fell to Houston 39-17 on Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium. Here are five things Meacham said after the game. You can watch his full news conference below.

1. On Sam Jackson’s First (QB) Start

The big story going into Saturday’s game was that Sam Jackson V, listed as a wide receiver, was set to start at quarterback for the Cowboys.

It wasn’t totally out of left field, as Jackson had played quarterback at TCU and Cal, and he had taken some snaps this season as a change of pace. But it’ll always be jarring to see someone with WR next to their name dropping back to pass.

Jackson went 7-for-16 for 84 yards and an interception in the loss.

“I know he can play a lot better than that, and I knew he would make mistakes, but I don’t know that I’ve ever taken a receiver at this level and moved him to quarterback in the middle of the season,” Meacham said. “I know it’s happened. I know it’s a whole lot for Sam. It’s a lot on him. He made some mistakes, a couple of ill-advised throws, a couple of reads that were incorrect, but he functioned, at times, like what we want him to. I know he’s capable of doing that.

“So, we’ll just get him all the reps again next week, and maybe he’ll be better next week. But that’s just kinda part of it. I know he played quarterback before, but when you haven’t done it in two years, it’s hard.”

More on Sam Jackson’s day.

2. ‘He’d Be Playing at Intramural Leagues in Central Florida’

As bizarre as OSU starting a listed wide receiver at quarterback is, it might be more bizarre that Noah Walters, just a regular college student at UCF last year, took some snaps for a team that he didn’t even start the season with.

Walters quarterbacked FCS team North Alabama for two seasons, where he had some success, throwing for 4,495 yards and 40 touchdowns in that time. He then attended UCF during the 2024 football season, but wasn’t on the Knights’ team.

Walters joined the Cowboys midseason after starter Hauss Hejny went down with injury leaving OSU thin on depth. Then Saturday, he threw a touchdown pass late in the game.

“The road he traveled to get here, if we hadn’t called him, he’d be playing at intramural leagues in Central Florida,” Meacham said. “Come in, throw a TD pass at a P4 and you’re about to be the starter for the Sigma Chis, that’s pretty amazing.”

3. On Rigby’s Throw

Oh, you thought we were done talking about different people throwing the football?

Two other Cowboys had passes in this one. Wide receiver Shamar Rigby had OSU’s first touchdown pass of the day on a trick play when Jackson hit him behind the line of scrimmage before Rigby loaded up and fired to Rodney Fields for a 62-yard touchdown.

Although he was all alone, it was a great grab from Fields to take it off his shoestrings while staying on his feet to be able to finish the play.

Got a few tricks up our sleeve 😏@OGandE | 📺: TNT pic.twitter.com/dMHLwsg1XW

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) October 11, 2025

“He underthrew it,” Meacham said. “It was a horrible throw. But, I do appreciate it because yesterday in the walkthroughs, he threw to the wrong guy. He threw it back to the quarterback. So, we straightened that out. I said, ‘Here’s your options: You throw it to that guy, or you run. That’s it. You have no other options.’

“But, nah, it was a good throw. He throws a good ball. I think, if you watch it, I think I looked at the jumbotron, there was a guy like coming right at him. He threw it, and I think he kinda had to throw and duck a little bit. It was a great catch by Fields.”

4. Getting Fields More ‘Contemporary’ Carries

With that big touchdown catch and another 44 yards on the ground, Fields finished with 107 all-purpose yards. It’s the third time this season the redshirt freshman has accomplished that feat.

He’s been in some … unique scenarios the past few weeks. Whether it was running downfield on a trick play, or — like on OSU’s second play from scrimmage — lined up at quarterback to take a direct snap.

Meacham after the game mention they need to start getting Fields the ball the old-fashioned way and letting him go to work.

“He’s a well-rounded kid, a great kid who really cares and really studies, asks questions, and he’s got some talent and some make-you-miss capability,” Meacham said. “We just gotta do a better job of getting him some carries that are a little bit more rudimentary, I guess you’d say, where he can just kinda get down hill and hit the hole and get some yards the old-fashioned way probably a little bit more than some of the razzle-dazzle business we’ve been kind of doing.

“We’ll go back to work and look at that and see if there’s something a little bit more contemporary where he can just kind of get down hill and use his talent.”

5. On the Shirtless Party

With the game out of hand at halftime, much of Boone Pickens Stadium cleared out, but that freed some room for an odd, but special moment.

It started with a few guys who made the trek up to section 231 and popped their tops and started waving them above their heads. Not long after, that entire section was filled with people doing that same.

“It was phenomenal,” Meacham said. “I mean, good Lord. Because human nature is just kinda pout and just fade in the paint and leave and go home. Shoot, that was awesome. Hey, guys, whoever you are, that was phenomenal. Our guys kinda felt it. That was something. You don’t see it very often with things not going the way you want them to. It’s just awesome. I appreciate our students hanging in there with us and giving us something to play for.”

What players thought of shirtless fans.

More on OSU vs. Houston

10 Thoughts
Game Recap
Sam Jackson discusses his game
Top 5 quotes from Doug Meacham
Shirtless fans take over BPS
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