Eric Morris Wonders If OSU Should Have Drained More Clock Before Scoring Final Touchdown

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STILLWATER — Eric Morris didn’t have to be asked if he would change the way he called the team’s final offensive series on Saturday night.

The Cowboys head coach sort of wandered down that trail all on his own during his opening statement.

“You just go back and Monday morning quarterback, just like it’s easy for all you guys,” Morris said on Tuesday. “Like, it’s easy for me too. I sit there and question all those different things. Do you wait to score? And then you know, turn on the Chiefs, and they try to wait to score, and they don’t score, and they lose the game.”

The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Denver Broncos 28-24 on Sunday night despite having 2nd-and-1 from the Denver 1-yard line in the final 30 seconds.

It doesn’t look like the Chiefs attempted to avoid scoring during that final drive. It could be argued they were a little more conservative in a try to run them over, not beat them over the top kind of way. Instead, a false start followed by a fourth-down sack as time expired ended that one.

Although the Chiefs didn’t have a clear play they could have scored on, it sounds like Morris is very much of the mindset that you score when you can.

“Obviously, the thought in my head this whole plane ride home will be ‘did we score too early?’” Morris said Saturday night after the loss. “That’s just hard to do as a playcaller. You don’t have a perfect play at any point that knows ‘hey this is the magic play that’s going to score.”

Most coaches probably feel similarly to Morris, but its makes so much sense for a guy who has watched his team unable to crack the red zone game after game, regardless of how close they get to the end zone.

The Cowboys entered last week scoring touchdowns on only 50% of its red-zone trips this season, tied for last in the Big 12. That changed over the weekend as the Cowboys might have quietly fixed that issue.

Oklahoma State’s offense reached the red zone four times and came away with four touchdowns.

“I thought our quarterback was extremely accurate down there,” Morris said. “We (also) scored from far, which makes it easier. … We were kind of in that 10-yard-line in, and I thought Drew was able to throw some really good, accurate passes to get us in down there and then Caleb was able to punch us in on a good, tough run when we did get down there on the 1-yard line.”

Hawkins’ score from 1-yard out halfway through the fourth had to feel good considering the team’s struggles in similar situations this season. The Cowboys only 1-yard rushing touchdown earlier this season came against UCF when tight end Morgan McPhaul scored on a play that was at least somewhat built on deception running to the weak side of a heavy formation that included defensive end Malik Charles.

Other than that, the Cowboys shortest touchdown runs of the season inclduded a 3-yard run from running back William Mason against Colorado, a 5-yard run from Hawkins against Oregon and a pair of 6-yarders from Tre Page and KD Jones against Murray State.

Meanwhile, Mestemaker has thrown passing touchdowns from 1, 2 (twice), 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 yards out this season with at least one such score coming in each game this season except the opener.

On Saturday night, Mestemaker finished 4-of-4 for 46 yards and three touchdowns and a 4-yard run in the red zone. Receiver Wyatt Young lost one yard on a rush, while Hawkins found the end zone for a 1-yard score on his only red-zone carry.

Despite the success in this area last week, Morris made it clear on Tuesday that he’s not ready to say the Cowboys solved anything just yet. In fact, it sounds like he might even double down on it.

“We just got to continue to prove it week in, week out,” Morris said. “That’s a beautiful thing about this game you play. You’re only as good as your last week, and you get in these moments, you live week by week.

“I’ve been a self-doubt talk guy my whole entire life. Like I’ve always been able to tell myself I’m not good enough, and I take ‘em as challenges as a player, as a coach, as everything. I have some evil thoughts that go through my head. … I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”