Morris' Fabulous Offensive Duo Light Up Temple to Earn the American Championship Game
STILLWATER –As expected, Oklahoma State will have to wait a little longer to welcome their new head football coach to Stillwater because North Texas and Morris earned their way into the American Conference Championship Game with a 52-25 win over Temple in Denton, Texas. The dynamic freshmen duo in green in quarterback Drew Mestemaker and running back Caleb Hawkins paced the way with most of the 605-yards of offense North Texas had. It was really over at halftime as North Texas had a 35-7 lead, their most point in one half this season.
After the game, Morris told reporters a little as to why he picked Oklahoma State for his coaching future. He said he was thinking of his Big 12 roots having played at Texas Tech. He witnessed as a player and coach, Mike Gundy build up the OSU program and as a player he experienced the excitement of playing inside Boone Pickens Stadium.
As for his coaching present, North Texas is now 11-1 and 7-1 in American Conference play. If Tulane beats winless in conference Charlotte on Saturday, then North Texas will play Tulane in New Orleans. If Tulane is upset, then North Texas would host Navy (9-2/7-1) in Denton on Friday, Dec. 5. The winner of that game is likely the G5 entry in the College Football Playoff.
"It's pretty sweet," Morris said. "Not only for our guys and for our staff, but also for me, emotionally all week – I've been a bit of a basket case. This place means so much to me and this team means so much to me. To watch our kids keep fighting and our coaches keep coaching the way they are, it's been really special."
Oklahoma State fans had to be watching the game on ESPN and dreaming as Drew Mestemaker opened the scoring with a 77-yard touchdown pass hitting Cameron Dorner on a short crossing route and Dorner and some nice downfield blocking did the rest for the score.
After Temple tied the score, Caleb Hawkins started his rampage of rushing with a five-yard score that finished a four-play 34-yard drive. Hawkins was the main guy in the first half with three rushing touchdowns as he followed with a 31-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7.
Mestemaker broke the American Conference freshman passing record going over the former mark of 3,699-yards. Mestemaker, a great story as a walk-on who never started a high school varsity game at Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas, now has 29 touchdown passes this season and only four interceptions. He finished this game 20-of-24 for 366 yards and three touchdowns. North Texas was dominant on offense with.
Mestemaker said the players understood what was going on with their head coach and his future.
"We kind of knew it wasn't his end all be all," Mestemaker said of Morris going to Oklahoma State. "We knew his goals. We know the caliber of coach he is, so it really didn't take anyone back. We all know the season's clearly not over and we have more games to win."
Hawkins, from North Rock Creek High School near Shawnee, Okla, has 1,216 yards and 23 touchdowns. Hawkins finished this game, his third over 150 yards rushing on the season with 25 carries for 186 yards and four touchdowns.
Cowboys fans can only hope and dream that duo, and maybe some of the other very talented Mean Green players, will trade that in for America’s Brightest Orange and go with Morris.
After watching this win closely, Oklahoma State fans know they will see plenty of classic “air raid” offense without cuts, crosses, shallow crosses, seam routes, and tunnel screens. Those concepts were highly visible in the game along with a heavy load of zone run game with inside zone, outside zone, zone arch, and zone reads. Yes, there were some RPOs mixed in as well.
Defensively, coordinator Skylar Cassity’s crew didn’t just stone Temple, but they were efficient and played complimentary football. The one drive that I know Cassity would have loved to get back was the short scoring drive of 38 yards to start the second half after Hawkins had a rare fumble on the first possession of the half.
Most important, North Texas hit the season goal of going the American Championship Game, but Morris’ new fans in Cowboy Country were not disappointed in what they saw, even if it means waiting a little longer for their coach.
Morris has already dipped his toes into recruiting for Oklahoma State and their will be work headquartered out of Stillwater with Morris’ guidance.
