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Inconsistency can be fatal to even the most potent offenses. That inconsistency reared its ugly head in a big way under a dark Stillwater sky on Saturday night.
Texas Tech beat Oklahoma State 52-27 inside Boone Pickens Stadium to drop the Cowboys to 6-4 (4-3) and effectively put an end to any Big 12 championship hopes. It is the third straight loss to the Red Raiders.
“This was an old fashioned butt whooping and it started on the first play,” coach Eric Morris said. “Hats off to Texas Tech. They’re the ones everyone is chasing right now as the defending conference champions and they’re having a phenomenal season.”
The first play Morris was referring to was a 97-yard kickoff return to immediately put the Cowboys in a hole.
“We know they were going to run a field return and that’s something that we’ve struggled with,” Morris said. “Communication was one of our goals and communication was poor on our kickoff coverage.”
Oklahoma State entered the game with the third-ranked scoring offense in Division 1 FBS at just under 44 points per game. Saturday was the Cowboys second-lowest scoring output of the season.
“I feel like there were some times when I worked myself into pressure trying to make a play,” quarterback Drew Mestemaker said. “It was tough and it’s something I’ll learn from.”
Part of the Cowboys struggles can be attributed to injury. It was reported by both the Cowboy Radio Network and the TV crew that Mestemaker seemed to injure his shoulder after taking a hit on the opening drive.
“I just landed on my shoulder weird and it was a stinger so the staff was trying to keep me feeling good and warm on the sideline,” Mestemaker said. “I don’t think it compressed the playbook at all.”
Mestemaker finished with 277 passing yards. Prior to the game the Cowboys averaged 339 yards through the air. Perhaps more telling is that Mestemaker’s passing yards total was only 31 yards more than punter Lachie Pozzobon had in total punt yards.
All but seven of Oklahoma State’s points came in the second quarter and the Cowboys were down eight points at halftime after falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter.
“Our defense kind of got us back into it with some big plays and big stops,” Morris said. “We had some opportunities and had to kick field goals and then came out in the third quarter and couldn’t get anything going.”
Third and fourth downs were particularly bad. OSU was converting 40% third downs before the contest. The Cowboys finished 3-16 on third down against Tech and failed to convert on three straight fourth downs in the second half which allowed The Red Raiders to pull away.
“We got in way too many third and long situations,” Morris said. “They have some really talented guys up front so when pass protection doesn’t hold up it’s an issue.”
OSU rushed for 168 yards, below its 194 yards per game average. Turnovers also haunted the Cowboys. Mestemaker had two interceptions which forced the Cowboy defense into quick change situations to go along with the two turnovers on downs.
“He just needed to check those throws down,” Morris said. “He hit a couple of those check downs and made some plays happen. He just needed to get through his reads and check those down.”
