The Oklahoma State Cowboys are preparing for their first Top 25 matchup of the season as a Top 25 team.
The No. 18 Cowboys face the No. 20 Houston Cougars in Houston on Saturday night in a prime-time showdown between two teams that faced each other last year in Stillwater, with the Cougars winning that game, 39-17.
Both teams have designs on contending for a spot in the Big 12 Championship game. While the Cowboys are undefeated in league play, the Cougars already have a loss to Texas Tech and can ill afford another. It should be an exciting showdown in Houston.
Here's all you need to know before Saturday’s game.
How to Follow Along
Matchup: No. 18 Oklahoma State (4-1, 2-0 in Big 12) vs. No. 20 Houston (5-1, 2-1)
When: Saturday, Oct. 17
Where: TDECU Stadium, Houston
Time: 6:30 p.m. CDT
Watch: Fox (Jack Kizer and Mark Helfrich)
Listen: Cowboy Radio Network (Dave Hunziker, John Holcomb and Deion Imade)
Internet/App Radio: The Varsity Network
Satellite Radio: SiriusXM 83 and on the SiriusXM app
All-Time Series
Series History: Houston leads, 11-10-1
In Houston: Tied, 5-5-1
In Stillwater: Houston leads, 6-5
At Neutral: Never met
First Meeting (1951): Houston 31, OSU 7
Last Meeting (2025): Houston 39, OSU 17
Last OSU Win (2023): OSU 43, Houston 30
Last Houston Win (2025): Houston 39, OSU 17
Eric Morris vs. Houston: 0-0
Willie Fritz vs. OSU: 1-0
Houston Scout
Head Coach
Willie Fritz | Third season at Houston and 34th year as head coach
Record: 19-12 at Houston and 266-133-1 overall.
Houston Players to Watch
Conner Weigman | QB | Sr. | 6-3, 210 | After three injury-marred seasons at Texas A&M, he’s emerged as the perfect quarterback for Fritz’s offense since he arrived in 2025. Through six games he has 1,428 yards passing with 15 touchdowns and one interception, along with 177 rushing yards and six scores. He doesn’t make mistakes.
Ra’Shaun Sanford II | RB | Jr. | 5-9, 190 | Sanford didn’t play in 2025 but has nearly matched his 2024 numbers by rushing for 404 yards and two touchdowns this season. He’ll share time with Makhi Hughes, a former 1,000-yard rusher for Fritz while the pair were at Tulane.
Patrick Overmyer | TE | Sr. | 6-5, 240 | The transfer from UTSA is Houston’s leading receiver with 33 receptions, 400 yards and six touchdowns. He dropped four touchdowns against Kansas State last week. He’s been an incredible addition to the team through the portal.
Amare Thomas | WR | Sr. | 6-0, 205 | He was Houston’s leading returning receiver, and he’s put together a solid campaign to this point, with 29 catches for 361 yards and four scores. He had caught a touchdown pass in each of his first four games of the season.
Kentrell Webb | DB | Sr. | 5-11, 190 | The fifth-year senior is Houston’s leading tackler through six games with 38 stops, along with three passes defended. There is potential for him to break his career high of 72 tackles from last season.
Javion White | DB | Jr. | 5-11, 190 | The defensive back leads the Cougars with 2.5 sacks this season. He’s also produced 24 tackles, a forced fumble and five passes defended. He’s one to watch on the edge in blitz situations.
Outlook
Fritz is known as a program builder and he's won at every stop he's coached at, including leading Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, to a junior college national championship in his first head coaching job in the 1990s.
The only thing that slowed Fritz down in Houston was a lack of competent quarterback play in his first season in 2024. Weigman took care of that last season and his emergence as the starter allowed Fritz to truly accelerate Houston's development as a power conference program. Their 10-win season in 2025 was punctuated by a Texas Bowl victory over LSU.
Fritz returned one of the more experienced rosters in the Big 12 with several returning starters on both sides of the ball and an impact transfer in Overmyer. There is a reason why many analysts were high on the Cougars being a Big 12 contender. They have all the pieces needed to punch a ticket to Arlington.
Oklahoma State Scout
Head Coach
Eric Morris | First Season at Oklahoma State and eighth season as head coach
Record: 4-1 at Oklahoma State and 50-35 overall.
Oklahoma State Players to Watch
Drew Mestemaker | QB | r-So. | 6-3, 215 | The Austin, Texas, native is generating first-round NFL draft buzz after his last four games. He’s coming off a 304-yard passing game against UCF and has 1,575 passing yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions this season.
Caleb Hawkins | RB | So. | 6-0, 219 | Hawkins has been quietly productive this season, with 524 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He’s rushed for 100 yards twice, including 180 against West Virginia. He’s also a capable pass catcher with 13 receptions.
Wyatt Young | WR | Jr. | 6-0, 199 | Young has been consistently great all season, with 27 catches for 462 yards and four touchdowns. A transfer from North Texas, he’s been Mestemaker’s security blanket at times this season.
Justin Bowick | WR | r-Sr. | 6-5, 209 | Perhaps the most surprising receiver on the team given the role many expected for him has expanded to the point where he is as relied upon by Mestemaker as Young is. Bowick has 26 catches for 442 yards and five touchdowns. He’s had at least one touchdown in each of his last three games.
Ethan Wesloski | LB | r-Sr. | 6-1, 234 | He has been named the Big 12 co-defensive player of the week three times this season and has back-to-back 17 tackle games. Entering the Houston game, he has 53 total tackles with a sack and two passes defended. He is well on his way to breaking his career best of 113 tackles last season at North Texas.
Malik Charles | DE | r-Sr. | 6-3, 285 | Charles has quickly become a relied-upon piece of the pass rushing rotation and found a place as a heavy blocker in offensive sets, as evidenced by his work last week against UCF. He has 24 tackles and a career high 2.5 sacks through five games.
Outlook
When Oklahoma State hired Morris as head coach it was hoping for early success. I'm not sure the Cowboys brass expected this much success this soon. The victory over Oregon put the Cowboys on the map nationally, but it's their back-to-back victories to start Big 12 play that has put them in a position where they can be an early contender for the Big 12 Championship game in his first year.
The offense has put up dizzyingly good numbers, and the defense has been good enough, especially in critical situations, to ensure teams have a hard time catching up once Oklahoma State has a lead. But Saturday's game with Houston is a pivot game of this season. If the Cowboys truly want to contend for a conference championship game, they need to beat the Cougars.
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