Oklahoma State football's Big Three thrive on selflessness in win at West Virginia
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MORGANTOWN, WV — With the final minutes bleeding away in a game Oklahoma State led by 17 points, OSU coach Eric Morris got mad at an assistant coach.
The offender had informed Morris running back Caleb Hawkins (180 rushing yards) and receiver Wyatt Young (192 receiving yards) were each close to breaking the 200-yard mark.
“I told him I didn’t care,” Morris said. “I don’t care if they have 200, we’re gonna call the plays that we think are gonna help us win the game. And those guys are a big part of it. I love those guys and I don’t think they get mad at me for having those stats today.”
The Big Three of offensive North Texas transfers quarterback Drew Mestemaker, Hawkins and Young powered the OSU offense to 609 total yards in a 41-24 win against West Virginia on Saturday that ended OSU's 19-game Big 12 losing streak. Hawkins had 97 yards by halftime. Young went off for 170 yards in the second half. Mestemaker put the ball in the right place the entire night, completing 20 of 27 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns.
Distractions were Morris’ chief concern entering the game. Postgame, Mestemaker called Milan Puskar Stadium with its golded-out crowd the most hostile environment he’s ever played in. The Cowboys had a long flight in. Morris said the team’s hotel situation “wasn’t great.” With all that, OSU (3-1 overall, 1-0 Big 12) leaned on its most stable leg: The Big Three.
Selflessness was trio’s recipe for success Saturday
WVU’s (3-1, 0-1) defense came out in a shell defense, putting safeties back and inviting OSU to run the ball. Morris said he talked to Mestemaker, reminding him to take what the defense was giving.
“Sometimes quarterbacks with what we do offensively get a little bit impatient when the defense comes out and they play an umbrella defense,” Morris said. “Where I say this is what they’re giving us, we’re going to have to commit to the run and continue to do that and get these safeties up…so, (Mestemaker) handled the whole game like a professional.”
In the second half, the Mountaineers adjusted their defense to fit the run by bringing additional defenders closer to the line of scrimmage. On the first play of the third quarter, Mestemaker took a deep shot along the right sideline for a 52-yard completion because the defense was pressing tight on receiver Chris Barnes.
Young exploded in the second half. He caught passes for gains of 40, 48, 48 and 28 yards and a 6-yard touchdown over freshman safety Matt Sieg.
“At the beginning of the game, they were kind of scared of our speed and playing back and giving us those light boxes and whenever you got a guy like Caleb we’ll take those light boxes all day, keep running it and then once they get tired of Caleb running all over them and come down and start to be greedy, that’s when we hit them over the top,” Mestemaker said.
Hawkins said he loved seeing Mestemaker and Young connect on big plays and running down the field after them because it meant the offense would be in scoring position.
The selflessness comes from players who once had nothing.
Out of Katy Tompkins High School, where Young played quarterback, running back and receiver, he was ranked as the No. 277 player in Texas. Hawkins had college offers from North Texas and Division II Emporia State and UCO. Mestemaker didn’t have any college scholarship offers and had to walk on as a fourth-string quarterback at UNT.
“I think they’re extremely tough football players, they’re gritty, they came from nothing, really,” Morris said. “All those guys had one offer or no offers out of high school and they’ve earned everything that they’ve gotten. In this world of portal and NIL and all the cool things that they’ve earned over the course of time, they still have the mentality like they have nothing and they’re going to earn something and prove something every day.”
Mestemaker leads the Big 12 with 1,271 passing yards. Young leads the conference with 410 receiving yards. Hawkins ranks second in the league with 441 rushing yards.
“It’s just awesome to be able to play with the guys,” Young said. “That’s where the chemistry comes in and I feel like that’s why we’re so good we brought the culture that we started at North Texas over to here and it’s been really good.”
Mestemaker said for the team it’s not about proving people wrong. It’s about proving the people within the OSU football building right.
“Yeah, it definitely feels good,” Mestemaker said. “It’s hard in the season to kind of be happy for your performance because next week you’ve got another Big 12 game. But yeah, it definitely feels good.”
Ben Hutchens covers OSU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ben? He can be reached at bhutchens@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ben_hutchens_. Sign up for OSU Sports Minute newsletter to access more coverage of the Cowboys and Cowgirls. Support Ben's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football's Big Three thrive on selflessness in win at West Virginia
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