Oklahoma State surges to No. 18 under coach Eric Morris, with QB Drew Mestemaker leading the way

To fix things on the football field, Oklahoma State looked south to Denton, Texas. By glancing in that direction, the Cowboys are once again heading north in the standings and rankings.

Oklahoma State brought in head coach Eric Morris from North Texas in Denton and he took with him a host of Mean Green talent, including a dark horse Heisman Trophy candidate in quarterback Drew Mestemaker.

Morris and the North Texas transplants have helped restore the luster to a program that tumbled in recent seasons under longtime coach Mike Gundy . The Cowboys are 3-1 and ranked No. 18 in the latest AP poll . They have a signature win on their resume, over then-No. 6 Oregon, along with their first Big 12 victory — beating West Virginia — since Nov. 25, 2023.

The Cowboys are one of the surprises around the nation this season and right there in the conference mix with No. 8 BYU (4-0), No. 11 Texas Tech (5-0), No. 12 Utah (4-0) and No. 22 Houston (4-1). Of those teams, the Cowboys only face Houston (Oct. 17) and the Red Raiders (Nov. 14).

Build it, Morris was told, and watch the growth. That was the message from former Oklahoma State standout QB Brandon Weeden.

“Told me, ‘Hey, coach, if you get this thing going, you’ll be surprised. If you light a match underneath this thing it will catch on fire and be incredible like you've never seen,'” explained Morris, whose team plays UCF on Saturday after a bye week. “To see that and the people care about this program so much, this university so much, it's just rewarding to see their faces after a win and smiling.”

Morris inherited a Cowboys team that finished 1-11 a season ago. He overhauled the roster and brought in 91 newcomers, including 18 players who were with him on the Mean Green in 2025 (the team wound up 12-2).

The Morris Era got off to a rocky start as the Cowboys lost 24-10 loss at Tulsa. But they bounced back in a hurry by upsetting the Ducks 39-31 for the program's first win over a team in the AP top-six since knocking off No. 5 Notre Dame on January 1, 2022.

This is a well-funded program thanks to the contributions of the late T. Boone Pickens . It's a program rich on tradition, too, as Morris found out. He raved about the “The Walk,” a pre-game football ritual where the team, coaches, marching band and spirit squad make their way down Hester Street and into Boone Pickens Stadium.

“My favorite thing so far about being here,” Morris said. “I've always heard about it and I've seen pictures, but the energy you feel in it has been incredible.”

This is a proud program that's featured standouts over the years such as Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, Dez Bryant, Mason Rudolph, Chuba Hubbard and Weeden, among others.

Mestemaker is trying to add his name to the distinguished list. He wasn't among the early Heisman favorites but he's now being mentioned.

Morris gave Mestemaker a chance to walk-on at North Texas and he led the FBS in yards passing as a redshirt freshman last season. He's following in the footsteps of other QBs that Morris has either coached, developed or recruited, a list that includes Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Cam Ward.

Mestemaker is now showing off his arm on an even bigger stage after leading the FBS ranks with 4,379 yards passing for North Texas a year ago.

“There’s all those talks about a college town and how much different football is in a college town, and Stillwater is probably the definition of that,” said Mestemaker, who’s thrown for at least 200 yards in 19 straight games. “I learned that pretty quick on that first game against Oregon. It’s been awesome to have the support of the fans. It just makes winning that much more fun.”

After this week, 11 of the 16 teams will have had its bye week before playing half of their games. Kansas, BYU and Arizona State started stretches of playing nine straight weeks.

For some teams, the bye week couldn't come at a better time. Colorado has dropped three straight heading into its bye and needs the time to reevaluate its QB dilemma. Isaac Wilson struggled last weekend in a 29-7 loss to Texas Tech after taking over for Julian “JuJu” Lewis.

“Sooner or later, you've got to just want this more than you want what you got coming,” coach Deion Sanders said. “You've got to want to win more than a check or fanfare or pandemonium.”

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here , visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here