The Top 5 Quotes from Doug Meacham’s Post-Cincinnati News Conference

STILLWATER — Little by little the Cowboys seem to be headed in a positive direction, but the scoreboard still hasn’t been kind to the Pokes.

Oklahoma State lost to Cincinnati 49-17 on Saturday night in Boone Pickens Stadium. It was game No. 4 with Doug Meacham as the Cowboys interim head coach. Here are five things he discussed after the game. You can watch his full news conference below.

1. Kevin Johns ‘Did a Great Job’ Calling Plays

The OSU staff shuffle made another turn this week, as quarterback coach Kevin Johns called plays for the Cowboys for the first time.

This comes after offensive coordinator Doug Meacham was moved to interim head coach after Mike Gundy’s firing. The staff shuffle also saw defensive coordinator Todd Grantham leave the program as Clint Bowen was elevated to interim DC.

Anyway, back to Johns. That Cowboy offense gained 377 total yards, which is the third-most the Pokes have put up in a game this season. OSU ran for 228 yards, a season-high against a defense that came into Saturday night giving up just 129.2 yards a game.

“Kevin did a great job,” Meacham said. “Real calm. They were very organized. They did a great job communicating. It was just a real solid performance by him. His play calling was good. They put together a really good run plan, some trips, nub stuff and then some unbalanced. It gets that extra safety out of the box a little bit and creates some running lanes up in there. Because that’s kind of their primary run stoppers, that extra safety. Some of the formation stuff and the motions and shifts they did kind of neutralize that guy a little bit and create some running lanes. So it was pretty good job by him.”

2. The O-Line ‘Playing Better’

The offensive line deserves some credit in regards to the success of the offense.

Meacham called the O-line the Cowboys’ “most consistent bunch.” The line has managed that title despite some inconsistent members. Starting left tackle Markell Samuel went down before the Oregon game with injury, and then guard Noah McKinney got hurt last week.

The Cowboys started three underclassmen on the line (Nuku Mafi, Grant Seagren and Jakobe Sanders) but still helped churn out a 228-yard rushing day.

“They’re playing better,” Meacham said. “Unfortunately we had another guy hurt and (Jakobe) Sanders came in and did a good job. He hadn’t played much this year. The most consistent group so far is probably the O-line. They’ve done a good job and they’re well-coached. I’d say those guys are the most consistent bunch, and at times, have played really well.”

3. What’s the Next Step?

If you watched Saturday’s game from start to finish, you know that it was closer than the 49-17 score line might entail.

With that said, there’s obviously still work that needs to be done. Here’s what Meacham said needs to be this team’s next steps.

“Just some little minor miscues that turned catastrophic,” Meacham said. “It’s like a little bitty thing, and it just completely implodes on us. We gotta find ways to not put our kids in those positions that it could occur and find ways to alleviate that and neutralize all that. We were doing some really, really good things, and there are about five plays in there that make it look really, really bad at times. But there’s a body of 60 other plays that make it look really good. Unfortunately those five or six that didn’t look good were catastrophic.”

4. Rodney Fields Has a ‘Bright Future’

He’s also quite bright in the present.

Fields rushed for 163 yards against the Bearcats. Tyler wrote about Fields’ night in more detail here. Here is what Meacham had to say of the redshirt freshman running back’s performance.

“Rodney can get small through tight spaces,” Meacham said. “He’s got enough body twitch, it can kinda — he’s shifty. He can stop and start, and he’s compact. His short speed is really good. His short speed is really good. With him, a 5-yard box, he’s really twitchy and quick, and he’s got some power to him, and he’s low center of gravity. He’s gonna have a bright future.”

5. Another Great Crowd

The shirtless section from last week returned, and a section of bananas joined in on the fun.

Oklahoma State’s crowds have been the big takeaways from their past two games. Last week, one man waving his shirt above his head turned into about three full sections doing the same.

This week, a group of students donned banana costumes and all sat together.

“It’s phenomenal, unbelievable,” Meacham said. “What a great atmosphere. You would have thought we were up 21. Whatever you call the shirtless people, it’s pretty awesome again. And it got a little nippy out there. I’m looking up there. I probably would have put my shirt back on. I’d go sit down somewhere. But they did a phenomenal job.

“I’m not really clear on what the banana people were, what that was all about. Is that something that nobody really knows? So they went up there and had a banana peel, I guess what they said. So that’s pretty, pretty awesome. 

“It’s just college kids having fun being at a football game. Man, it’s pretty cool, you know? And a lot of those kids are up there, they’re gonna to have a lot of memories and that’s that’ll be part of it. They’re just having a good time. I appreciate it. I appreciate them and what they did during the game, it was unbelievable.”