Saturday Provided Another Example That Drew Mestemaker Can Win with His Arm and His Brain

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STILLWATER — Justin Bowick wasn’t wide open in the end zone by accident.

As part of Oklahoma State’s 42-28 victory against UCF on Saturday in Boone Pickens Stadium, Bowick caught a fairly routine touchdown pass in the second quarter. But the buildup to that play was another shining example of Drew Mestemaker not only beating teams with his arm, but with his mind.

The UCF corner played up on Bowick and initially went with him on his route, but Mestemaker looked to Wyatt Young on a route coming under Bowick’s. The corner fell off to Young, and Mestemaker lasered the ball to Bowick before the safety could come over to help.

Mestemaker quickly identified it was Cover 2 and knew that corner wasn’t going to go with Bowick the whole way if someone came underneath.

“I kind of knew it (presnap),” Mestemaker said. “They were trying all game to try to disguise their Cover 2 as Cover 1. They were kind of giving it away pretty easily. As soon as I snapped the ball, I was just eyeing down Wyatt so that corner bit on him and then just threw it right over the top to J-Bow.”

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Mestemaker’s arm talent has been wowing all season, but the deeper you dig, the more evident it is that Mestemaker’s brain is just as deadly.

He’s able to check in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage and does so successfully.

OSU coach Eric Morris made note that he had Mestemaker check “the majority” of the RPOs the Cowboys ran Saturday, which included his late heave to the end zone on fourth-and-short.

“I thought his ball placement and his eyes were phenomenal today,” Morris said. ” … He sees it better. He sees leverage and leverage changes at times. So, yeah I thought that he had a great two weeks of preparation. …

“I thought his eyes were really good and really didn’t put the ball in harm’s way the whole entire night. Just testament to him. Made some unbelievable throws and put it into space and was able to keep us for the most part ahead of the chains. I thought he really managed the game really well.”

Saturday was Mestemaker’s first game of the season without a turnover. He finished with 304 yards on 28 attempts to go with two passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown and a 2-point conversion.

He’s up to 1,575 yards and 13 touchdowns already this season. He is one passing touchdown away from doubling OSU’s team total from last season.

But make no mistake, as fun as it is for Mestemaker to beat a defense by looking a defender off, it’s more fun to rip a ball into a tight window.

“Probably a tight window throw (is more fun) because there’s a dig route in the game that I threw to T-Lew (Terrence Lewis),” Mestemaker said. “It was it was getting tight in the pocket and getting tight downfield, and you know you throw it and you don’t really know if it’s going to get caught. You’re just kind of throwing to a spot out there, and it’s a relieving feeling when your receiver comes down and catches it.”