10 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s 52-27 Loss to Texas Tech

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STILLWATER — Well, at least it’s over.

Oklahoma State loss to Texas Tech 52-27 late Saturday night in Boone Pickens Stadium. Here are 10 thoughts on a dismal game.

1. An Egg Was Laid

Boone Pickens Stadium at night. A blackout. The reigning champs in the building.

… And the air was essentially sucked out of the stadium instantly.

OSU has had rough starts this season, but all pale in comparison to the calamity that Saturday provided.

The Cowboys were down 21-0 after the first quarter, and they were down 14-0 4:57 seconds into the game.

It started with the opening kick, where Malcolm Simmons immediately cut to the outside and sprinted 97 yards to the end zone.

When Tech promptly got the ball back, it took the Red Raiders just two plays to get back in the end zone — a 36-yard go-ball and a shotgun toss that’s given the Cowboys’ fits all season for a 34-yard touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Cowboy offense’s first four drives went:

Four plays, punt
Three plays, punt
Three plays, punt
Three plays, INT

Just a disappointing no show to start a massive game.

A night that started with a ton of hype ended with the band being by far the largest concentration of people in the stands for much of the fourth quarter.

2. Mestemaker Banged Up Early, Pressured All Night

To make the Cowboys’ bad start worse, Drew Mestemaker got banged up on OSU’s first drive when he bobbled a wet snap.

He quickly scooped the ball up, but the Tech defense was already there and delivered a blow to Mestemaker’s shoulder. That shoulder got looked at as Mestemaker got off the field, and backup Brodie Vehrs even spent some time during the timeout warming up.

Mestemaker toughed it out and continued playing, but the vaunted Tech line was pressuring and hitting the Cowboys’ passer all night.

Considering all the times he had to scrape himself off the BPS turf, it was a gusty night for Mestemaker. His 300-yard streak ended, as he finished with 277, a touchdown and two picks. He also scored on a 16-yard run.

3. Defense Played Decently?

Just as we all expected (feel the sarcasm), the OSU defense was doing its best to keep the Cowboys in this game.

As is evident by the 52 points allowed, it wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but the defense didn’t give up the 97-yard kick return. And Mestemaker’s first quarter pick put the Red Raiders on OSU’s 16-yard line to go up 21-0.

OSU’s D got five stops in the first half, which OSU probably would’ve taken going into the game.

The dam broke at some point in the second half, but it felt like the Cowboys’ D kept the Pokes in it for as long as the group was physically capable.

4. A Rough Day for Evan Jackson

OSU safety Evan Jackson was involved in two of the Red Raiders biggest touchdown plays.

The first was an 80-yard touchdown to Micah Hudson. Jackson was one of three Cowboys around Hudson as he caught the ball about 15 yards from the line of scrimmage, but Jackson attempted an arm tackle that Hudson spun out of. For good measure, Jackson essentially took out the other two Cowboys in the area, and Hudson was off to the races.

SPEECHLESS 🤯

@TexasTechFB from 80 yards out

📺 ESPN https://t.co/qTTAVhy30L

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 15, 2026

Then Tech scored on a 45-yard touchdown pass out of halftime that went over Jackson’s head. It’s a tough play for a DB to make while trailing in coverage, but it didn’t look pretty.

Another longgg TD for Malcolm Simmons and @TexasTechFB 😳

📺 ESPN https://t.co/JuPGVSRvPM

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 15, 2026

5. Questionable Calls

When this game was still in the balance, there were a couple of calls I didn’t personally care for.

OSU got inside the Tech 5-yard line in the final minute of the first half with OSU trailing 28-17.

After a pass to and run from Wyatt Young didn’t get OSU in, the third down call was a delayed quarterback run from the banged up Mestemaker that took forever to develop and ended in a 3-yard loss. OSU kicked a field goal.

Then OSU failed fourth-down conversions on their first two drives of the second half.

I was fine with the decision to go for the first one, but Caleb Hawkins got a little banged up two plays before the fourth down. That led to Ayo Adeyi, taking his first carries since the Houston game, to try to run up the middle on 4th-and-1 from OSU’s own 46-yard line. He got stuffed, as Tech’s defensive front cut through the OSU O-line like butter for much of the night.

I disagreed with the decision to go for the second one. With OSU down 35-20, OSU went for it on 4th-and-3 from the Tech 25 rather than taking the field goal. The play was doomed when Wyatt Young and a defensive back got tangled up and fell to the turf. Mestemaker tucked it and ran and got stopped just before the line to gain.

It felt a bit like the Tulsa game.

6. Questionable (Referee) Calls

I’m not a blame-the-officials guy and would like to firmly stand on the side of the zebras not determining the outcome of this ballgame.

But.

There were some questionable calls, non-calls and reviews in this one.

That first touchdown Jackson was a part of came with what appeared to be a fairly obvious block in the back missed. Maybe Tech scores on the very next play, but still.

Then remember that goal-line series where OSU ended up settling for a field goal? On Young’s run, his facemask momentarily grabbed. He might’ve scored had it not been.

Then on OSU’s third drive of the second half (after the two failed fourth downs), Mestemaker threw a ball to Miles Coleman on 3rd-and-4, where it looked like the defensive back got to Coleman’s arms before the ball got there, but no flag was thrown.

There were also a few momentum-slowing reviews that went nowhere.

On OSU’s first drive of the game, Mestemaker hit Justin Bowick for an 18-yard completion. The booth wanted a better look just to find out that Bowick did, in fact, catch the ball.

On a 3rd-and-6 in the second quarter, Mestemaker hit Adeyi on a wheel route that he caught on the sideline. The booth again stopped the Cowboys just to confirm that he, too, caught the ball.

For starters, the game kicked at 8:40 p.m. Secondly, for an offense that likes to move quickly, stopping them to belabor some reviews felt extra frustrating.

A horrible game for the Cowboys and not a great one from the zebras.

7. Money Downs Were Not Money

On third and fourth downs, the Cowboys were a combined 6-for-23 on Saturday. Not winning football.

A lot of the Cowboys’ third-down issues came because of what happened on the first two downs. On OSU’s 19 third downs, the Cowboys’ average distance to go was 6.4 yards.

OSU failed its first six first downs of the game, which had an average distance of 7.6 yards. That’s just not an ideal spot to be living in.

8. Tech Was Cruising on First Down

Meanwhile, Texas Tech was killing it on first down.

Tech had 381 yards of total offense on the down, gaining an average of 12.7 yards on their 30 first-down plays. Tech averaged 7.6 yards a carry on 19 first down runs.

Similarly, it’s going to be tough for OSU to live giving up those big plays on any down.

9. The Morris-to-Tech Nightmare Can Calm Down

There will likely always be a healthy amount of anxiety within the OSU fanbase when Eric Morris leads the Cowboys against his alma mater.

A bright spot (that must be searched far and wide for) about Saturday’s result is I think that anxiety will dissipate for the time being.

It was probably silly coming into Saturday given Joey McGuire just led the Red Raiders to their first Big 12 title, but given Tech’s resources, there won’t be a time where OSU and Tech are playing in a big game and that’s not talked about.

10. Big 12 Dreams Are Officially Dead, How Will This Finish?

There might be some path you could search for that puts OSU in the Big 12 title game, but with the Cowboys’ loss Saturday, dreams of a Big 12 title and a CFP appearance are — for all intents and purposes — dead.

In some ways that is disappointing. The Big 12 felt getable this year with how chaotic it’s been, and OSU has a quarterback who might be the No. 1 NFL Draft pick.

In another way, this team is on Year 1 of a new era and has gone from winning a combined four games in the past two seasons to sitting at 6-4 with two regular season games and a bowl left.

I’m not exactly sure where I am on that spectrum of disappointment and hope for the future. It’s something I’ll have to digest in the coming days.

But I will say that no matter how this thing ends, it’s been head and shoulders more enjoyable than what we’ve been subjected to the past two seasons. But given the path opened up further on Friday night when Colorado beat Houston just to lay an egg in front of that crowd, this could be a performance that stings for some time.