No. 18 Oklahoma State’s fast turnaround sets up a huge Big 12 test at No. 20 Houston

HOUSTON (AP) — First-year Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris has already matched the team’s win total from the last two seasons combined with four victories this year to give him 50 in his head coaching career.

As the 18th-ranked Cowboys prepare to visit No. 20 Houston on Saturday, the 40-year-old Morris knows his accomplishments are nothing compared to those of Cougars’ coach Willie Fritz, who is in his 34th season as a collegiate head coach.

“He has… 200 and some odd wins — 266 or something — and there ain’t no way in hell I’m going to get to 266,” Morris said with a laugh. “I can tell you that right now. I’ll be retired and doing something else at that point in my life.”

The 66-year-old Fritz has orchestrated a turnaround at Houston the last two seasons and Morris is off to a strong start doing the same at Oklahoma State this season.

The Cougars won just four games in Fritz’s first season before going 10-3 last year and getting off to a 5-1 start this season.

“All he’s done is build programs and win everywhere he’s been,” Morris said. “He does it with different schemes, but he always has the same key ingredients to it … and you see it when you turn on the tape.”

The Cowboys opened the season with a disappointing 24-10 loss to Tulsa before upsetting then-No. 6 Oregon in the home opener to start a four-game winning streak. They’re 2-0 in Big 12 play after going 0-18 combined in the last two dreadful seasons that cost Mike Gundy his job at his alma mater.

These coaches last met in 2023 when Fritz was at Tulane and Morris was in his first year at North Texas. Tulane held on for a 35-28 win after North Texas rallied from a 21-point deficit to tie it late. Fritz was impressed with Morris then and continues to be a fan of how he does things.

“It’s identical,” Fritz said. “He does a very good job. I’ve got a lot of respect for Eric and the way he runs his program. He’s hired a very, very good staff.”

BYU, Texas Tech and Utah are all undefeated, but Oklahoma State and Houston are still very much in the Big 12 race with just one loss each.

“It’s a big game,” Fritz said. “It’s a big game for them. It’s a big game for us. This has a lot of implications for the Big 12 race, so this is a huge game. We’re very excited about the challenge.”

Quarterback matchup

The game features two high-powered offenses led by star quarterbacks. The Cowboys top the Big 12 and rank sixth in the nation by averaging 521.4 yards a game. Houston ranks third in the conference and 12th in the nation with 481.8 yards a game.

Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, who followed Morris from North Texas, leads the Big 12 by averaging 315 yards passing a game and Houston’s Conner Weigman is fifth in the league with 238 yards. Weigman’s 15 touchdown passes are second-most in the league and Mestemaker’s 13 rank third.

Mestemaker doesn’t run very often, with just 15 carries for 108 yards. But he did have a 75-yard scramble in the win over Oregon and Fritz knows it.

“Oklahoma State’s quarterback runs it better than you think, and you’ve got to play that part of it, as well,” Fritz said. “I was watching their film and saw a particular down-and-distance and formation, and I was like: ‘quarterback draw.’ Boom, that’s what they ran. You don’t do that unless you have confidence in your quarterback being able to run the football.”

Weigman runs a lot more than Mestemaker and had 700 yards rushing with 11 touchdowns last year in his first year with the Cougars after spending three seasons at Texas A&M. He has 177 yards rushing with six TD runs this year.

“They list him at 6-3, 210, but he runs with strength behind his pads,” Morris said. “And he’s somebody we’re definitely going to have to work on getting on the ground, because they’ll do some designed runs for him.”

Imploring the fans

The Cougars have had a tough time filling their stadium this season and have averaged just 27,757 in three home games. Their worst turnout came in their last home game with an announced crowd of just 25,593 in the 40,000-seat TDECU Stadium for a 27-17 win over UCF with an 11 a.m. kickoff.

Fritz knows that in a city like Houston there are plenty of other things to do, but implored fans to come out for Saturday night’s game.

“We need to get as many Coogs out there as humanly possible,” he said. “It’s going to be a great game. … It won’t be hot. It’ll be nice and cool.”

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