PreGameday: Oklahoma State

The Oklahoma State Cowboys have been one of the strongest offenses in the Big 12 and the country, sitting at third in all of FBS in scoring offense and passing offense. Head Coach Eric Morris left North Texas after an impressive 12-2 record, taking 20 players with him up north to Stillwater. In that group of 20 was QB Drew Mestemaker, a redshirt freshman out of Austin, Texas. Since starting for the Mean Green in 2025, Mestemaker has thrown for over 7,000 yards and 59 touchdowns, leading a top three offense at two different schools in two seasons.

With Mestemaker comes a stellar cast of supporting members on offense such as running back Caleb Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young. Though the bread and butter of OSU’s offense is the pass game, sophomore running back Caleb Hawkins has been a nice complement in the backfield, rushing for over 900 yards and adding 353 yards as a receiver. Hawkins has been largely responsible for a rushing offense that ranks 31st in the country, pairing well with one of the most dominant passing attacks in all of college football.

While the offense is a high flying, potent attack, the same cannot be said about OSU’s defense. Defensively, Oklahoma State is more of a liability, ranking 96th in the country in scoring defense. The Cowboys have allowed at least 24 points in seven of the eight games they’ve played with three of those games seeing 30+ points from their opponent. In their latest matchup, OSU’s defense allowed Iowa State’s Aiden Flora to rush for 221 yards while QB Jaylen Raynor threw for 309 yards.

Though Oklahoma State allows a lot of points, there are still some great players mixed in. Sophomore Ladainian Fields has five interceptions to pair with five passes defended, tied for first in the country in INTs per game. With Fields is linebacker Ethan Wesloski, who leads the Pokes in total tackles and sacks while having three PDs himself. There are still some tough matchups this KSU offense will have to overcome, though they haven’t always moved the needle in recent weeks.

Overall, K-State has their work cut out for them against an exciting, 2010s style Big 12 team. Expect an explosive, high scoring matchup with some defensive mistakes on both sides. The big thing for Coach Klein is getting Barnett and the run game going early; K-State’s defense has been a liability against far worse competition, so welcoming in an offense like OSU means getting into a firefight to see whose offense can make the most plays. Iowa State took Oklahoma State’s style of play and simply did it better, but K-State’s offense isn’t healthy and has lacked the explosive factor it had when Avery Johnson was under center. If Klein’s offense stalls early, Mestemaker could make them pay and spoil the party before it even begins.