Instant Recap: No. 25 Oklahoma State Falls to No. 12 Texas Tech 52-27

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BOXSCORE

The Cowboys have proven to be resilient all season, but other than a nice rebound in the second quarter, they got rolled by the Red Raiders.

No. 25 Oklahoma State fell to No. 12 Texas Tech 52-27. The Cowboys kept fighting throughout but they couldn’t overcome a rough outing by Drew Mestemaker, and they couldn’t do anything to stop Thomas Castellanos.

The Cowboys came in with all the hype and buzzing home crowd, but things couldn’t have started much worse for the home team.

Mestemaker had a rough start, apparently banged up his throwing shoulder and then it started raining. But the Cowboys’ star QB fought through it and was able to lead his team back into the game, briefly. He struggled in the second half, missing seven of his last 10 throws and ending his night on his second interception.

He finished 24-of-42 for 277 yards, one touchdown and two picks. This game saw his streak of 300-yard passing games come to an end.

The Red Raiders came in ranked second in the Big 12, averaging 3.2 sacks per game while the Cowboys were second in sacks allowed (0.9). Something had to give and, unfortunately, for the Cowboys it was Drew Mestemaker’s pocket.

It’s unclear exactly how banged-up Mestemaker was or how much the rain factored in, but it was his worst statistical game since the season opener against Tulsa.

In his third start for the Red Raiders, the journeyman Castellanos was impressive. He finished 12-for-23 for 263 yards. He had four touchdowns and no picks. He also rushed 11 times for 38 yards including a couple of key first-down runs in the second half.

The Cowboys fell behind big early and that’s hard to overcome. But it’s impossible when you go 5-of-19 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth down. OSU lost the turnover battle 2-1 and averaged less than half of Tech on passing plays (20.6 to 10.2).

The Red Raiders shut a raucous OSU crowd up with a 97-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff. Tech scored on a 99-yard return to start last year’s matchup in Lubbock.

Then on OSU’s first possession, Mestemaker dropped the snap on third-and-long and had to fall on it to save it from becoming a disastrous start. To make things worse, Mestemaker got up from that hit rubbing his right arm awkwardly.

(It would end up becoming a disastrous starter, after all).

Tech went up 14-0 in just two plays on the Raiders’ first offensive drive. Castellanos found Kenny Johnson for a 36-yard pass and then Tech running back J’Koby Williams scooted 34 yards for a second TD. The Cowboys followed that up with a three-and-out.

The Cowboys came in averaging fewer punts than any team in the country, just 1.8 per game. They punted on their first three possessions. Coming in, they never punted more than three times. They punted six times against Tech.

On the Cowboys’ fourth possession, Mestemaker threw a head-scratching interception at his 29-yard line which was returned to the 16-yard line. That, predictably, led to another TD and a 21-0 hole.

The Cowboys went scoreless in a quarter for the first time in over a month and found themselves in their biggest deficit all season. OSU did turn a big Caleb Hawkins run into a field goal to pull within 21-3 just a minute and a half into the second quarter.

But after that disaster of a first quarter, the Cowboys kept fighting and they finally got a break.

Midway through the second quarter, Isaiah Chisom tackled Castellanos, forcing a fumble which Jerry Lawson recovered at the Tech 13-yard line. After a lengthy review, the Cowboys kept the ball and Mestemaker ran into the end zone on a designed QB draw to pull within 21-10.

After the Pokes’ defense forced a three-and-out, Mestemaker paid it off with a six-play, 55-yard touchdown drive to pull within 21-17 with 3:55 in the first half.

Tech put on a masterclass of quick strikes to take back momentum. After OSU scored 17 unanswered points, Castellanos struck back with an 80-yard catch and run for a touchdown on the first play of the next drive. Tech took a 28-20 lead into the half.

After all those offensive fireworks in the first two quarters, the two defenses stymied their opponents for much of the third. But the Cowboys did get burned on a questionable fourth-down decision.

The Cowboys stalled out on the first drive of the third quarter. After going for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 41, Ayi Adeyi got stopped for a loss. Castellanos found Simmons for a 45-yard touchdown pass, another one-play drive to go up 35-20.

The Cowboys turned it over on downs on consecutive drives and then punted twice. That was their third quarter. The Red Raiders had that one touchdown off the short field and turnover on downs, but they wasted no time scoring in the fourth.

Tech let the third quarter run out sitting at second-and-1 at OSU’s 30-yard line. Then on the first play of the fourth, Castellanos found for all 30 of those yards and his fourth passing TD of the night to push his lead to 42-20.

If that wasn’t the coffin nail, the next play was. On the first snap of the next drive, Mestemaker threw a loose one over the middle that was picked off. On the next play, J’Koby Williams took at handoff 28 yards to the 2. Tech scored on the next play to extend it to 52-20. Both banged up and the outcome sealed, neither Mestemaker nor Castellanos would return to the game.

Brodie Vehrs led the Pokes to a garbage-time score. A 10-play, 83-yard drive was capped with a William Mason touchdown run to make the score 52-27 and make the scoreboard a little less ugly for OSU.

Big plays and quick strikes killed the Cowboys. In addition to that opening kickoff return TD, Texas Tech has touchdown drives of two, one, one, and two plays.

Caleb Hawkins once again led the Cowboys in scrimmage yards. He rushed for 91 yards on 18 carries and grabbed a game-high eight catches for 52 yards.

Justin Bowick and Terrence Lewis each had 78 receiving yards. Morgan McPhaul had one catch but it was that 18-yard score.

Evan Jackson led the Pokes with 10 tackles and added a tackle for loss and a QB hurry. Isaish Chisom had five tackles, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble.

Keviyan Huddleston, Saadiq Clements, James Williams, DeSean Brown and Braylon Rigsby were each credited with 0.5 sack.

With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 6-4 and 4-3 in the Big 12. Next up, they hit the road for their final road game of the season when they face Arizona State in Tempe at 9:15 p.m. next Saturday.