Plenty of Points Expected: What Does Oklahoma State Need to Do to Disrupt Red Raiders QB

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Anyone who has watched Oklahoma State more than once this season expects this weekend to result in a good-old-fashioned Big 12 shootout.

In fact, FanDuel has this as one of only three games this weekend with a point total in the 70s. Somewhat comically, Tulsa and North Texas play in the other two.

“Some of these games get weird and tricky, and they’ve seen each other and it goes the opposite way, and it’s a low-scoring game, right?” Eric Morris said. “I’ve been in those before, too. It’ll be fun. I think the excitement for it and everybody that loves to compete on both sides going out here and laying it all on the table.”

When asked about the possibility of a shootout, cornerback and former Red Raider, Mo Horn explained how that impacts the defense.

“It makes everyone tighten up even more, knowing their keys, knowing what they gotta do, knowing the room for error is very, very small,” Horn said.

Although he floated the idea that this game could surprise people, Morris said nothing really changes at the coaching level if it does turn into a race to 50-plus points.

“I don’t think either one of these teams is one-dimensional right now, which I think causes some issues,” Morris said. “Anytime you’re a defensive coach, obviously you wanna stop the run first and foremost and know that’s a huge part to what teams’ gameplans are going into it. I don’t see that being any different.”

Although questionable defensive play is doing a lot of work in setting everyone’s expectations, the quarterback play alone is worth a few touchdowns regardless of the defense.

Mestemaker’s accomplishments have been well-covered, but the Red Raiders switched to Thomas Castellanos only two games ago.

“Obviously, they’ve added some quarterback run game stuff,” Eric Morris said. “Super smart to do that. If you look at their numbers, just the last couple games when he’s been starting, they’d be right there at the top of the nation, right, as far as yards per game and scoring offense and the whole nine yards.”

Three weeks ago, the Red Raiders suffered their first and only loss of the season. They responded by changing quarterbacks, which dramatically shifted the offense.

From a passing perspective, the Red Raiders have taken a step back as Castellanos is completing 55% of his passes while former starter Will Hammond completed 67% of his.

However, Castellanos does seem to excel at hitting the big plays, connecting on 8-of-17 (47%) deep shots of at least 20 yards while hitting half of his 14 attempts between 10-19 yards. Hammond hit only 34% of deep throws and 56% of medium passes with six total interceptions in that range compared to one for Castellanos.

Now it’s worth noting that one of Castellanos’ two starts came against a West Virginia defense which has quite frankly been miserable this season.

However, the other came against an Arizona defense that is one of the best in the Big 12, allowing only four yards per carry. The Wildcats also rank 43rd nationally, giving up only 125 rushing yards per game. Castellanos finished with 117 rushing yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, while his top back J’Koby Williams carried 14 times for 175 yards and a touchdown.

That duo combined for 262 rushing yards against the Mountaineers, with Castellanos keeping the ball 23 times for 102 yards all by himself.

“I think their running back is arguably right there neck and neck with Caleb Hawkins as the most explosive guy in this conference,” Morris said.

Williams has topped 100 rushing yards in both of the last two games while averaging 12.5 and 16 yards per carry. In his four other Big 12 games, Williams crossed 100 yards once.

It feels like more than coincidence that Williams seems to have taken off with Castellanos.

Castellanos’ legs really are the difference maker. When ignoring sacks, he’s run 18 and 20 times in his two starts and averaged between 6 and 6.9 yards per carry.

Hammond ran more than six times only once in four Big 12 games, and in that game against Cincinnati he topped out with a season-high 58 rushing yards ignoring sacks.

Based on comments from linebacker Taurean Davis, it sounds like the Cowboys know what to do, and it all starts with trusting everyone else enough that no one overextends trying to make a heroic play.

“If we can contain him all night, it’ll be a good one,” Davis said.