Bragging Rights, Flying Tortillas and a Life-Changing Deer Blind Highlight What Matchup with No. 10 Texas Tech Means to Eric Morris

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STILLWATER — Eric Morris was attacked by a friendly Pokes-loving crowd when he walked in to record his radio show at Legacy Village on Thursday afternoon.

“They snuck up on me, everybody pegging me with tortillas,” Morris said.

For the most part, Morris has downplayed this week publicly, outside of some comments acknowledging it’s a huge game against a talented team, but the flying tortillas were a reminder that this is a special week for OSU’s coach beyond the stakes of the game, which could put them back in the running for a Big 12 title.

It also pits Morris against his alma mater, which he’s faced before, but never as the favorite or even as a team most gave a chance to. Morris has several ties to the current Red Raider staff, including offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich and offensive line coach Clay McGuire, whom Morris talks to almost every day.

“When you do have friends on the other side, ironically, you want to beat them worse than the people that you don’t like,” Morris said. “Have some bragging rights. My best friends are offensive line coach (McGuire). We go on a trip, a hunting trip every single year. That’s become an annual thing that his dad started.

“And so I took them all Oklahoma State stuff. Everybody that goes to this trip this year, I took them all hats and t-shirts at Oklahoma State, and they’re all Texas Tech people, and told them that they had to wear it when they came here, which obviously they won’t wear it. But I think you know, just to have bragging rights sitting around a campfire this next year and on our hunting trip will be something that’s worth it.”

When asked directly about deer hunting, Morris said he hasn’t gotten to hunt deer in roughly 20 years due to the overlap between football season and deer season. Although, he did have a life-changing moment when he met his wife Maggie in a deer blind after the Cotton Bowl his senior year.

“She was from Ole Miss, and I went to Texas Tech, that’s who we played,” Morris said. “We had mutual friends, who we all met at my buddy’s ranch after the game. And everybody that was there, you know, had a significant other, was dating somebody, and we were the only two not at the time.

“And so everybody was going to go out and eat. They had a great deer operation. They said, ‘Do y’all want to go sit in a blind?’ I was like, ‘Well, I don’t want to sit here. I’ll go sit with that pretty girl in a blind if you make me.’ And so, so yeah, it was a really organic thing. And obviously, there’s no cell phone service, none of those things. And so we just sat there for a couple hours, and gave us a great chance to have great conversation.”

Morris laughed at the thought of Maggie hunting saying she probably yelled to ensure the deer knew to steer clear of them at the time.

That’s probably alright for Morris considering how things turned out. On Wednesday night he watched Maggie and their youngest son, George, create candy bags to give to the players this week.

“My wife gives a player something every week,” Morris said. “She’ll bake them something, or and this week it’s all kinds of great candy. Skittles and Sour Patch and just all, Swedish fish. I hate Swedish Fish, but they’re in there too, and they mix it all up, and they have gloves on, and they pack these bags, and she puts a Bible verse on it every single week and so that’s always something I think is really cool that she’s done for a long time.”

That anecdote came up after Morris mentioned Ted Lasso being one of his favorite shows. Last week Morris had “The Little Engine That Could Read” to his team last week. He did that because his mentor Mike Leach had the book read to the Red Raiders during Morris’ career, but that also sounds like a move ripped straight from Ted Lasso. So it’s not a surprise Morris likes the show.

“Just to take them back to a place, and obviously they’re at a place they dreamt of when they were children, right?” Morris said. “They’re playing Power Four, you know, big time college football on national TV every week, you know, against some great opponents, and so I think there’s so many stresses that come along with that, and you get later in the season, and I think some of these things kind of add up, and so I thought, you know, what a great opportunity … (then I) gave the book to Chad Weiberg after the game for believing in me and hiring me to bring me here, and so he Chad said he has it, he has it displayed up in his office.”

Morris has already proven Weiberg right to do that more than once. On Saturday, he’ll get the chance to do so once more with a win that could define his first season.

“You can just kind of feel the energy on campus internally with our players,” Morris said. “I mean, I think we had a great week of practice. Obviously, I think when you earn the right to play in big games at this point of the season in November, everybody just seems to lock in a little bit more.”