‘Just Out There Having a Good Time’: OSU Cuts Loose with Trick Play TD Catch by Mestemaker

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MANHATTAN, Kansas — For most of the season, Oklahoma State’s near-unstoppable offense has derailed in the red zone.

Last week it looked like Eric Morris fixed things, but on Saturday the Cowboys left no doubt, even allowing quarterback Drew Mestemaker to catch, yes, you read that right, a 5-yard pass from receiver Wyatt Young.

“We’ve had it in the game plan for the past like three weeks,” Mestemaker said. “I put it on my favorite play sheet every week hoping he would call it. He finally called it, and I was fired up and you know Wyatt tried to dirt on me, but I told him I still got there.”

Mestemaker wasn’t the only one taking a friendly shot at Young, who had to heave it over an incoming defender to his quarterback.

“I thought that was phenomenal,” running back Caleb Hawkins said. “I was excited for the play when it was called, and I did say that I could throw it better than Wyatt, but it was nice to see it happen, though.”

The play began as a handoff to receiver Terrence Lewis, who in turn pitched it to Young, who ran a reverse. Kansas State was definitely surprised, considering Mestemaker had time to stop his route, look back, wait on the pass and still scored with ease.

“It’s just something that we carry when people want to pressure and go man-to-man coverage down there,” Morris said. “I think my first ever big win at Incarnate Word, that play sealed the whole entire game.

“So we actually went back, and we watched some old Incarnate Word video this past week, had in our cut-ups for the timing of everything. Obviously, during that time, I thought one more score would be really good for us. What they were doing down there once we got tight, we had some success early down in a tight red, and their answer was to bring some zero pressure. And so, luckily, wasn’t a great ball by Wyatt, but he got it there.”

The score put Oklahoma State up 63-21 with 3:29 left in the third quarter and gave the Cowboys six touchdowns on seven red zone trips, with the lone exception coming when OSU put the backups in during the fourth quarter.

That memorable trick play also made Mestemaker the fifth player in FBS history to finish a game with four passing touchdowns, one rushing score and a receiving touchdown.

“I’m not like stat chasing or anything like that,” Mestemaker said. “I’m just happy to win the game as big as we did and it was a full team effort. It is not like it is just me out there. I feel like the spotlight might be on me, but I’m just out there having a good time and competing with my guys.”

He might not have been chasing stats, but Morris might’ve been, allowing the quarterback to stay on the field for two plays in the fourth quarter, both completions for 27 yards, so he could get the 14 yards he needed to set the Big 12 record for the longest single-season streak in Big 12 history of 300-yard passing games with multiple touchdowns.

“Just something that obviously he’s worked extremely hard and let him get out there and throw a couple more easy ones and get that record,” Morris said.