The Numbers Are In and OSU's Mestemaker Was One of the Most Pressured QBs in the Nation

STILLWATER – Considered one of the top quarterbacks in Division I all spring and summer, Drew Mestemaker was lauded as a potential savior along with coach Eric Morris as both came from a sensational and record breaking season at North Texas.

Now after week one and a disturbing 24-10 loss at Tulsa, Mestemaker is being downgraded by all those who propped him up leading into the season. He was 29-of-49 for 241 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

I’m here to write that Mestemaker wasn’t the major part of the problem. I had him down for four poor throws without an excuse. In 49 pass attempts that is not terrible especially under the extreme heat conditions. I’m sure he had the ball slip some in and off his right throwing hand. 

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Eric Morris and Drew mestemaker confer during the game on Saturday.

“He missed some throws, some easy out throws that he generally makes,” Morris said. “But then I think too after he was a little rattled at the first of the game and then they started getting pressure. They (Tulsa) started getting confidence. They started getting momentum and they thought they were a better team than us and they went out there and proved it play in and play out through the course of the game.” 

The offensive line, which suffered a major loss early with the broken leg of left tackle and captain Jacob Sexton, really struggled throughout the contest. I think there were at least three other pass calls where Mestemaker should have been sacked. As advertised, he possesses solid ability to move in the pocket and buy himself time and space. Those plays still go down as rushed throws. 

Tulsa’s defensive front was in Mestemaker’s face and space the majority of the contest. They repeatedly caused him to make throws off his back foot and that is not a bad habit that he has displayed in his career. His mechanics are normally pretty solid. That changed in Chapman Stadium on Saturday. 

The Athletic had Mestemaker being pressured 17 times in the game and that was the third highest number of pressures among Power Four quarterbacks in week one. 

“You can’t let that rattle you and then go out and try to do something too much, which I feel like I did,” Mestemaker said. “I just have to take it with a grain of salt. You know sometimes something happens and someone gets through. We just have to go to the next play and stick to our process.”

Mestemaker’s grade on Pro Football Focus was very low, a 50.6, 244th  among graded quarterbacks. The lowest in the Big 12 Conference, but again, I think you have to look at the offensive line where the problems stemmed from. Obviously, Sexton was out after the first series. Here is what Pro Football Focus had for grades for the offensive line. I didn’t grade each, but looked at each play multiple times and I would have surely had Lepo for a lower grade and maybe a couple of others. None of the offensive linemen had strong performances overall. In some cases, the run blocking was bad with little push of the line-of-scrimmage.

Those are not good grades and earning better ones won’t be easy this week against one of the top-rated defensive lines in all of Division I college football with the Oregon Ducks.

There is no place to go but up. After the game, Mestemaker told the media that Morris called it the most embarrassing offensive performance that he has been a part of.

“He shoots it straight up. He’s not going to sugarcoat anything and be like, ‘All right, it’s OK.’ He sat in there and said straight up that’s the most embarrassing offensive performance he's ever been a part of,” Mestemaker said. “And I agree. I mean, I’d say the same for me. That's just not how we play offense specifically. Defense, honestly, was the only reason we were in that game.”