Cowboys Looking to Prove Something against Conner Weigman, Cougars

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STILLWATER ​— Oklahoma State hit something of a ceiling in the rankings lately. The Cowboys look at Saturday’s trip to Houston as a chance to change the narrative.

“It’s obviously a great opportunity to show who we are and show how good we really are,” receiver Wyatt Young said. “And for people to stop looking down at us like, like maybe they’re good, maybe they’re not. No, we’re a good team, and we want to go prove that this week.”

Doing that will likely require several big plays from his teammates on the other side of the ball. The No. 20 Cougars (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) aren’t just one of two remaining games on OSU’s schedule against ranked opponents. This could be the best remaining quarterback the No. 18 Cowboys (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) face in the regular season.

“I think this guy’s a really good player,” coach Eric Morris said of Conner Weigman. “Like, obviously, I think he makes them go. He’s just a phenomenal runner, right? And I think anytime you’re adding the run game into it with the quarterback, a tough runner, a big, strong kid … He’s a true dual-threat guy. We saw it last week. He’s super accurate in the red zone.”

The 6-3, 210-pound Cougar has only two inches and five pounds on West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins, but the Cowboys are preparing for a much different challenge.

“He just really likes to get vertical,” OSU linebacker Tate Romney said. “I think he’s a strong runner. He’s not your typical speedy dual-threat quarterback. He’s, you know, he can make you miss for sure. … So that’s obviously different than most dual-threat quarterbacks.”

Weigman has only 177 rushing yards on the year, but he has a team-high six rushing touchdowns that put him in a multiway tie for 23rd nationally.

Three of those scores came in one day when he found the end zone from one yard out (twice) and 19 yards away against UCF nearly two weeks ago.

“Just wrap him up, run your feet,” defensive tackle Braylon Rigsby said. “That’s all you can really do.”

Rigsby later described Weigman as probably the best dual-threat quarterback the team will face this season.

Pro Football Focus would certainly agree.

From an overall standpoint, Weigman’s grade of 85.6 ranks 22nd nationally among passers with at least 100 dropbacks. For comparison, Drew Mestemaker ranks 14th with an 88, while Hawkins ranks 19th with an 86.2

Other noteworthy quarterbacks in the top 50 include Oregon’s Dante Moore (42nd with an 80.3) and Arizona State’s Cutter Boley (44th, 76.4).

Oklahoma State prevailed against Moore at home and Hawkins on the road. Facing Weigman outside of Boone Pickens Stadium is arguably the biggest test, considering he also grades out as the 34th passer (80.8).

Mestemaker ranks 22nd (85.6), Moore checks in at 28th (82.5), while Boley also cracks the top 50, landing at 44th with a 76.4.

Weigman’s 66.7% completion percentage puts him 1.5 points better than last year. He’s also averaging one yard more per attempt (8.6) than last fall and has only taken five sacks after taking 19 last season.

Morris compared him to former Cowboy JW Walsh.

“Could beat you with his legs and arms,” Morris said. “He was tough. He was gritty. He could get the extra yards. I think Conner, he’s just so big and strong on tape. I don’t even know what they actually list him at 6-3, 210, but runs with strength behind his pads and somebody we’re definitely going to have to work on getting on the ground right because they’ll do some design runs for him more than what we will.”

PFF has Weigman picking up 5.3 yards per scramble (roughly three of those per game) compared to just over three per design run.

He probably put together his second-best rushing performance of the season at Texas Tech in Week 3, averaging 5.1 yards per carry after averaging 4.2 yards after contact and forcing two missed tackles.

He doesn’t go deep often, as 60% of his passes travel 9 yards or less, and seven of his 15 touchdowns fall in that window as well. However, when Weigman throws at least 20 yards downfield, he does some of his best work.

He’s completed eight of 17 such attempts, but four of those attempts account for all of his Big Time Throws, defined by PFF as having “excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.”

“There’s a reason this guy was one of the most highly touted guys in the nation coming out because he’s a full package guy and a guy I think that will play on Sunday someday,” Morris said.