‘He’s Kind of a Hybrid of Philip Rivers and Brett Farve’: Tulsa Coach Tre Lamb Breaks Down Drew Mestemaker, Oklahoma State

What do you get when you mix a hall of fame quarterback with a future hall of fame quarterback? Apparently Drew Mestemaker.

Tulsa coach Tre Lamb had his pre-Oklahoma State news conference on Monday, where he gushed about the Cowboys’ new quarterback as Lamb and the Golden Hurricane prep to play Oklahoma State to start the 2026 season at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at H.A. Chapman Stadium.

“He’s kind of a hybrid of Philip Rivers and Brett Farve,” Lamb said. “The guy has got as much arm talent as anybody in the draft. Quick release, big hands. The thing that I’m impressed by is he can take a hit. He will stand in there, and he will take a beating over and over and over. And when he runs, he runs and he doesn’t really slide.

“He’s big. He’s a very short-strider. It’s hard to explain, but his feet allow him to throw without much energy having to be put into it. He can get the ball out at times where most quarterbacks are having to wind up and step into it and throw. He can throw off his back foot, off platform, on the run. And he hates a checkdown. Like, he is going to rip it, and he’s gonna fit it into windows. There’s gonna be five or six throws Saturday, where we’re just like, OK, indefensible. Don’t care what you call, we can’t cover that just because of his arm talent.”

Lamb noted that he’s glad Tulsa is getting Mestemaker in Week 1 rather than Week 10 because Mestemaker, only a redshirt sophomore, is only getting better.

Last season was Lamb’s first as an FBS coach, and he got perhaps the biggest win a Tulsa team could ask for in Year 1 — a W against Oklahoma State, in Stillwater no less.

That game was the last of the Mike Gundy Era of Oklahoma State football, as he was relieved of his duties the next week, leading OSU to hire Eric Morris.

Lamb said he hasn’t brought up last year’s game one time to his team because of how different this OSU team is than last season’s.

“They’ve got 92 (new) players, I read somewhere, and I think that’s the highest in the history of college football as far as new faces on a roster,” Lamb said. “They might be wearing the same colors, but it’s not even the same.

“I’ve been adamant and very vocal that this game means a lot to us, our TU alums, our football alums, our student body. We understand this is a rivalry. They’re close to us. It’s a bus trip. I’m glad we’re playing these guys home and home for years to come. It is a great game for us.”

Back in February, Lamb got the mic at a Tulsa basketball game and told a fired-up crowd, “We’ll beat their a– again” in reference to OSU. Lamb brought that up Monday.

“What are you supposed to say when you walk out there at a basketball court — you want to beat them,” Lamb said. “That’s my approach. We want to beat these guys. We don’t wanna keep it close, we don’t wanna hang in there. Our goal is to win a football game.”

But it wasn’t just Mestemaker and basketball games that Lamb talked.

Lamb noted that Morris seems to fit well in Stillwater given his ability to put points on the board, develop quarterbacks and receivers. Then he talked defense.

“Their defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity deserves a lot of credit,” Lamb said. “Coach Morris gets a lot of credit. Skyler deserves credit. He coordinated for Coach (Morris) last year, for the first year. They won a buncha games, created turnovers, really good in the red zone. Good scheme — Coach Cassity was at Sam Houston, who we play next week, in 2024, and they were Top 10 in the country in defense. So, I like their structure. I like the way they play. They play downhill, and they’re very aggressive.”

As for how Lamb pulls off back-to-back upsets against the Pokes, he said the Golden Hurricane has to avoid OSU’s ability to pile on points in a hurry.

Lamb referenced two times last season where North Texas avalanched a team. The first was against Washington State in Week 3, where the Mean Green scored 42 points in the first half against the Cougars. Then in Game 8, UNT was down 20-17 against Charlotte with eight minutes left in the third quarter before the Mean Green rattled off 37 straight points to win the game 54-20.

“For us to win this game and upset these guys — you know, we’re couple touchdown underdogs — we gotta play clean, prevent the momentum plays from happening,” Lamb said. “The 21 points in a row was a problem for people last year, and they did a really good job of it.

“First-and-10, we gotta stay manageable this week on offense, and we gotta get them off schedule a little bit on defense, make it a passing situation where our pass rushers can go attack. They do play with a lot of tempo, so they present problems when it comes to subbing and getting your pass rushers on the field. But when we get those opportunities, we gotta go make it happen. Sustain drives offensively, the more we can keep 17 (Mestemaker) and 24 (Hawkins) on their sideline, the better chance we got.”