Hope for the Future: Doug Meacham Put the Fun Back in Cowboy Football

STILLWATER — Fun might be Doug Meacham’s favorite word.

It was one of the first things he said when he spoke to reporters following his second practice as the interim head coach. He dropped the F-word twice in his opening statement following Oklahoma State’s 45-27 loss to Baylor on Saturday.

“To me, they were the most excited team to play that game, and had no reason to be,” Meacham said. “So it’s a testament to Mike building a culture here, picking the right kind of guys that will fight through adversity and come together as a team. … They were having fun. That is really what it is all about. This is just a game at the end of the day. They call it a game so you can have fun doing it.”

Fun isn’t often a topic of conversation at the highest levels of college football, probably a combination of the money at stake and the unrelenting pressure, but plenty of coaches will give a brief shout-out to the fun of it all, either following the huge victories or as something of a crutch when times are bad.

On Saturday, Meacham proved his commitment to fun was anything but meaningless coachspeak, beginning with Oklahoma State’s second offensive drive when he released wide receiver trick-play machine Sam Jackson.

Jackson lined up as the wildcat quarterback six times in the first half. The Cowboys picked up 38 total yards and three first downs on those plays.

“I mean, a lot of people have a receiver that played eighth-grade quarterback that can kind of throw it, you know,” Meacham said. “And then you got a guy that was a Power Four quarterback starter as a kid I recruited at TCU. … So moving forward, I mean (if) I’m a defense and he’s on the field, you better back up a little bit.”

While it looks gimmicky, there’s a lot Oklahoma State can build on in those packages. During one of the plays, quarterback Zane Flores ran by looking for a pitch on a reverse, which would presumably set the Cowboys quarterback to either break a run or throw it downfield.

Then, in the second half, Jackson lined up at running back (because he hasn’t played enough positions) and took a handoff before rolling out and throwing an incompletion intended for Ford. Both of those plays could have resulted in big gains and instead picked up 0 yards, but as Meacham alluded to, now defenses have to prepare for those plays as if they worked.

The Bears were probably thrilled to see the former quarterback-turned-receiver line up out wide in his usual spot, where Jackson caught only two passes for 5 yards. Except even when he was a receiver, Meacham still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

A backwards pass from Flores to Jackson set him up to deliver a 26-yard touchdown strike to tight end Josh Ford.

“It felt like quarterback days, you know,” Jackson said, breaking into a huge grin. “We practiced that play like 10 times. Like, we ran that play like 10 times this week, so I was pretty comfortable with it. And I just seen him wide open. I was like, wow, he is going to score that for sure. It felt good. It was like, damn, like, we just scored on that.”

Jackson finished completing 3-of-4 passes for 46 yards and the team’s lone passing touchdown. He also finished with two carries for 9 yards.

He said his big day was heavily planned, except for one part. Jackson hit fellow receiver Shamar Rigby for 15 yards on second-and-13.

“We’ve never thrown there, never,” Jackson said. “We ran that play so many times. There, always the quarterback or I run it, and on that play I just seen, like I had a bit of time and I trust Shamar Rigby, pretty good player, he’s a young guy too.

“But soon as I see him create that separation, I’m like, I know I can get it there, you know. But in practice, going against our defense, we ran that play 20 times, so it’s like they just sitting on it every single time and getting that look, it’s like, damn like, I can get that there.”

Of course, letting Jackson air it out was one thing. During his first three college seasons (two at TCU and one at Cal), he played quarterback and completed 57-of-102 passes for 681 yards and five touchdowns.

But running back Trent Howland hasn’t thrown a pass since his high school days, which wrapped up back in 2020. Still, Howland took a handoff in the third quarter only to heave the ball downfield for a 13-yard reception that set him up to run in the 1-yard touchdown on the very next play.

“We have our walkthroughs and stuff, and I am always slinging it around so they know I can throw the ball a little bit, and coach Meacham was like, ‘Why not let’s go out there and try it,’” Howland said. “And we practiced it all week, and I completed them, and then I went out in the game and had my mind set on completing the pass.”

Of course, he was planning on throwing it to Jackson (who else) on that particular play. If the defense takes the pass away, Howland was supposed to run it on that play, but he told Jackson before the game that the running back had no intentions of keeping the ball.

“Told him if you’re in, I’m throwing the ball no matter what,” Howland said. “Like, I am not running the football, and that was just my whole mindset. I took a little hit, but once I seen Royal (Capell) get open, I just slung it to him and he came down with it and he set us up for a score.”

As corny as it might sound, having fun against Baylor could carry a lot of weight in determining both the trajectory of this season and the program’s future, and according to players and coaches, that was exactly what happened on Saturday despite the loss.

“As humans, we have emotion, we want to be the Debbie Downer when stuff goes wrong,” Jackson said. “That is just how it is, but I think with this team it is kinda different, especially after this game. Just seeing guys in the locker room not be like down about everything. And even though we didn’t play our best and we did not come out with the outcome that we wanted, I think that guys still have hope, and they know that we got eight games left.”

Then the entire roster, except seniors playing their final season, will have a decision to make come December with regard to the transfer portal.

Of course, the portal might be mandatory for some guys. According to the ESPN broadcast crew, both Meacham and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham told players that the new coaching staff, whoever that ends up being, would likely choose to retain or not retain Cowboys based on how they perform this fall.

Of course, the players might not be the only ones auditioning. During the pre-game radio game broadcast, the voice of the Cowboys, Dave Hunziker, told fans they will be put under the microscope for the rest of the season by prospective coaches who might have an interest in the head-coaching vacancy.

Other than a few defensive stops, the crowd inside Boone Pickens Stadium rarely cheered louder than they did when Meacham’s offense was rolling up and down the field.

So, although Oklahoma State was unable to truly close the gap with the Bears in the fourth quarter, the offense showed real life at times, scoring more points than it did in seven of the team’s now 12-game active losing streak against FBS opponents. It felt like fans recognized that progress, but they weren’t the only ones.

“I don’t think anybody (on the team) is like, walking out with their heads down, like, man, we just lost another game,” Jackson said. “I think it’s like, I can’t wait to go to Arizona and play like I can’t wait to come in (and) watch film and then start on Arizona this week. And I feel that from everybody in the locker room. So that’s a good thing.”