The Final Draw: Mestemaker’s Deep Ball Glow Up, OSU’s Red Zone Woes and Young’s Big Night

For the second time this season, Oklahoma State didn’t just upset the opponent, the Cowboys flat out looked like the better team.

For the most part, it was the expected names that showed up in Morgantown, West Virginia to secure the win. There’s no reason to think those guys won’t continue dominating the rest of the Big 12 after this weekend’s bye week.

Today’s Final Draw will examine:

• OSU’s red zone struggles this season
• Receiver Wyatt Young’s ability to thrive whether he’s open or not
• One defender who stood out

But first, Drew Mestemaker spent the spring working on deep shots after he felt like he left some on the table last season.

It was a bold proclamation to make, considering that among QBs with 15 attempts at least 20 yards downfield, Mestemaker ranked 29th in yards per attempt (15.5) and graded out 50th (88.8).

​On Saturday, the Cowboy gunslinger proved he could back it all up and more, torching the Mountaineers by completing 6-of-7 such attempts for 243 passing yards. PFF considered four of them to be “Big Time Throws” defined as “a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.​”

Mestemaker’s first big play was apparently somewhat impromptu when he hit receiver Chris Barnes 28 yards downfield for a 52-yard catch.

Drew Mestemaker said he checked to the deep ball to Chris Barnes to start the second half. Went for a 52-yard gain. He said he thought they were disrespecting Barnes leaving him out there all alone.

— Marshall Scott (@MarshallScottOK) September 27, 2026

The throw that impressed me the most was probably the time he hit receiver Terrence Lewis 23 yards downfield on 2nd-and-6. It looks like Mestemaker kept his eyes on where Lewis would end up the entire time, almost like he knew it would be open.

On the play, Mestemaker drops the ball perfectly into the opening between three defenders, two of which are trailing Lewis by roughly 3.5 yards while the safety is five yards over top. There’s plenty of room for an elite quarterback like Mestemaker, but at that distance it wouldn’t have taken much for that play to turn out somewhat risky.

If raw power is more your thing, Mestemaker also hit receiver Wyatt Young 43 air yards downfield. He also hit Young 23, 24 and 39 yards downfield as well, and Mestemaker’s only incompletion came when he missed Lewis 25 yards downfield on an attempt that looked just a little overthrown.

Mestemaker heads into the bye week as the third-highest-graded deep passer (97.8). He’s completing 70.6% of his passes for 433 yards and three touchdowns. His Big Time Throw Rate leads the nation (ignoring QBs with only three total attempts) at 53%, an increase of 22% from last season.

That’s hardly the only way he’s shattering every standard he set previously. Mestemaker’s 13-game pace has him completing 39-of-55 deep shots for 1,407 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Here’s what he did looking deep in 14 games last season: 19-of-49 for 758 and eight touchdowns.

It’s easy to make fun of West Virginia’s defense, but it’s worth remembering that Eric Morris said the Mountaineers spent most of the first half playing so Mestemaker couldn’t throw deep.

Instead, the OSU QB just waited for them to finally relax a bit on the back end in favor of taking away the Cowboys’ running game and shorter passing plays, and then Mestemaker did all that damage in just two quarters.

Hold Your Breath in the Red Zone

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