You Have to Have Heart and Drew Mestemaker and his Teammates Have Proven They Do
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STILLWATER – Saturday’s 39-31 win over No. 6 Oregon had more electricity and energy than the prairie thunderstorm that rolled through Payne County delayed the start of the game for almost an hour and a half.
The win prompted a spectacular field storming usually reserved for Bedlam victories. The energy for this had to come from within Oklahoma State football.
After the 24-10 loss in the opener last week to Tulsa, criticism, insults, bad headlines, ugly social media even within the Oklahoma State fanbase descended on Eric Morris and rubbed off on all the Cowboys. The hardest thing to do in sports, especially in football is gather yourself and your team, stay positive and fight back.
“You know what seperates the winners from the losers?”
“The score.”
“No, getting back on the horse after getting kicked in the teeth.”
I can’t believe I’m pulling a quote from The Replacements but I am.
Zach Lancaster says he loves that movie. Honestly, (and I’m a huge Gene Hackman fan) I think it is a lousy football movie. The conversation above is between Hackman as head coach Jimmy McGinty of the Washington Sentinels, a fictional team with a squad of strike breakers in a story about a team in a league on strike, and his fill-in quarterback Shane Falco, played by Keanu Reeves.
There is another conversation in the movie worth bringing up. Falco was let go when the real Washington quarterback crossed the picket line to play. The scenario doesn’t apply. The words do.
Sideline TV Reporter: (Running to catch up with McGinty heading to the locker room for halftime) “Coach, what will Washington need to get back into this game?”
McGinty: “(pause) You've got to have heart.”
Reporter: “Can you elaborate?”
McGinty: “(striking his chest with his roll of papers) Miles and miles of heart.”
Reporter: “So with a word, Coach McGinty says Washington will need to have heart to get back into this ball game.”
Oklahoma State needed heart to come back from a frustrating loss. Heart to take on a nationally-ranked top 10 team that blew Oklahoma State away in Eugene last season. There was some help. I think Oregon watched the video this week and Dan Lanning’s Ducks may have considered Oklahoma State and Stillwater as a soft landing for them.
Not at all. Mestemaker poured his heart all over Boone Pickens Stadium surface eluding the Ducks powerful pass rush. The offensive linemen who truly believe and are ready to give up their bodies for Mestemaker did just that. Mestemaker gave up his body twice on huge runs.
He threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns on 26-of-43 passing. He also ran for a career high 109 yards on six carries. He ran for a dramatic touchdown where he completely gave up his body in midair. Caleb Hawkins, the Cowboys talented running back was the leading rusher.
The receivers were all sensational. The defense was valliant with four sacks and four more tackles-for-loss. They were at their best on big fourth downs that Oregon and Lanning felt they had to chance. They did and like Morris and Oklahoma State in Tulsa, the Ducks paid dearly.
Oklahoma State outgained Oregon 554 yards to 281 yards. Before OSU ended the longest Division I losing streak, the first to do it against a top 10 team, most folks across the country would have expected those numbers to be reversed in this game.
Down in the end zone ramp where the Cowboys came in and out, as students came pouring over the walls down to the field Morris answered Taylor McGregor of ESPN and her question about Mestemaker with one word. It could have been heart, but it was “dog.”
“Drew is a dog and he came back this week,” Morris said. “He is a dog of a competitor.”
“It is the greatest day of my life,” Mestemaker said.
All I know is very few times does a team, a group of people, coaches and players, find a way to rebound from disappointment and almost immediately turn it into huge success. This team and their quarterback with heart did just that.
