Cowboys Shut Out Colorado After Halftime, Roll 57-24 at Homecoming
Oklahoma State turns a one-point deficit into 34 unanswered points, improves to 5-2, and reenters the AP Top 25.
Oklahoma State turned a 24-23 halftime deficit into a 57-24 homecoming win over Colorado on Saturday night at Boone Pickens Stadium, scoring 34 unanswered points while its defense held the Buffaloes scoreless after the break.
The Cowboys (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) rebounded from a 35-32 loss at Houston a week earlier and improved to 4-0 at home. The win was their fifth in six games, and OSU reentered the AP Top 25 at No. 24 on Sunday. Colorado fell to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in Big 12 play.
A back-and-forth first half
OSU needed three plays and 59 seconds to score on its first possession. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Mestemaker found junior wide receiver Miles Coleman for a 47-yard touchdown.
Colorado answered with touchdown drives of 75 and 71 yards and led 14-7 after the first quarter. Quarterback Isaac Wilson threw touchdown passes to JaQuail Smith and DeAndre Moore Jr., then scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter. The Buffaloes scored on four of their first five possessions.
OSU kept pace but stalled near the goal line. Redshirt senior wide receiver Justin Bowick's 52-yard catch set up his own 14-yard touchdown, and redshirt sophomore kicker Sam Keltner made field goals of 47, 30, and 41 yards in the second quarter. The last came with 14 seconds left in the half, three plays after a touchdown run by sophomore running back Caleb Hawkins was called back for holding.
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The turning point
The game turned on the first play of the second half. Senior defensive tackle Jerry Lawson forced a fumble by Wilson, and junior safety Quinton Hammonds recovered at the Colorado 22 and returned it to the 13. Two plays later, Mestemaker threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior tight end Morgan McPhaul, and OSU led 30-24. The Cowboys never trailed again.
OSU head coach Eric Morris said his halftime message was simple.
"I just told them whoever tackles best and blocks best, this half is going to win," Morris said during his postgame news conference.
A sack by redshirt senior linebacker Ethan Wesloski and two Colorado false starts forced a punt. OSU then drove 78 yards in eight plays. Hawkins broke a 39-yard run, Mestemaker scrambled for 17 yards, and senior running back William Mason scored on a 3-yard run for a 37-24 lead.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders said his team never recovered from the fumble.
"When adversity hit right after halftime, we didn't handle it whatsoever," Sanders said. "It just snowballed."
Pulling away
Late in the third quarter, a Wesloski blitz hurried Wilson into a throw that redshirt sophomore cornerback LaDainian Fields of Del City intercepted. OSU turned the takeaway into an 11-play drive and a 21-yard Keltner field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 40-24 lead.
Mestemaker threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Wyatt Young on third-and-1. On Colorado's next possession, Fields intercepted Wilson again and returned it 36 yards to the Colorado 9. Keltner's fifth field goal, a 30-yarder, made it 50-24. Redshirt sophomore running back Tre Page III added an 18-yard touchdown run with 1:18 left.
Colorado's eight second-half possessions ended in a fumble, two interceptions, four punts, and the end of the game. Morris said his cornerbacks were "not good enough" in the first half and "phenomenal the second half."
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Key performances
Mestemaker completed 21 of 36 passes for 386 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. Bowick caught five passes for 138 yards, and Young and Coleman each caught a touchdown pass.
Hawkins, a Shawnee native who played at North Rock Creek High School, ran for 120 yards on 19 carries and caught five passes for 72 yards, giving him 192 yards from scrimmage. Morris called him "by far maybe the best back I've ever coached in pass protection."
OSU ran for 188 yards as a team. Morris, who learned the Air Raid offense under the late Mike Leach, joked that his mentor "would tell me how stupid I am for running the football."
Keltner made all five of his field goal attempts and all six extra points for 21 points. He has made 18 consecutive field goals, tying the program record held by Matt Ammendola, according to OSU Athletics.
"He's a professional in everything he does," Morris said.
Mason moved to Oklahoma from Detroit as a child and graduated from Coweta High School. He transferred to OSU from Central Oklahoma this spring. He was a second-team all-conference pick in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association last season after leading the Bronchos with 735 rushing yards, according to his OSU roster biography.
Morris said Mason earned a larger offensive role this week after six games as the team's best special-teams player. Mason ran for 27 yards on six carries and made two tackles.
On defense, Fields finished with eight tackles, two interceptions, and 1.5 tackles for loss. Wesloski added eight tackles and two of OSU's four sacks. Colorado ran for 56 yards on 30 carries.
Several other Oklahomans contributed. Redshirt senior cornerback Mo Horn of Tulsa made six tackles and broke up a pass, and redshirt junior safety Cooper Lai of Tulsa made two special-teams tackles. Redshirt senior tight end Oscar Hammond of Collinsville caught a 15-yard pass, and redshirt junior kicker Joseph Kim of Lawton had nine touchbacks on 12 kickoffs. Redshirt senior defensive tackle Iman Oates of Tulsa and redshirt senior defensive end Jaleel Johnson of Oklahoma City started on the defensive line.
By the numbers
- 598 — OSU total yards, 410 passing and 188 rushing, at 7.9 yards per play
- 34-0 — OSU's second-half scoring margin
- 8 of 8 — OSU red-zone trips that produced points, with four touchdowns and four field goals
- 3-0 — turnover margin in OSU's favor
- 11 — Colorado penalties, for 84 yards. Sanders called it "totally undisciplined."
- 52,168 — attendance
Up next
OSU opens a two-game road trip at Iowa State on Saturday, Oct. 31, in Ames, Iowa. Kickoff is to be announced at the time of publication. The Cowboys play at Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas, on Saturday, Nov. 7, then return home Saturday, Nov. 14, against Texas Tech. OSU Athletics lists that game as sold out.
Morris said it is "never easy to play on the road, especially in this conference."
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