Mestemaker throws for 389 yards and 3 TDs as Oklahoma State beats West Virginia 41-24

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Drew Mestemaker threw for a season-high 389 yards and three touchdowns, Caleb Hawkins rushed for a season-high 180 yards and a score, and Oklahoma State beat West Virginia 41-24 in their Big 12 opener Saturday night.

The Cowboys (3-1) roared back from a 14-3 deficit to earn an emphatic win in a hostile environment under first-year coach Eric Morris, and they did it with three players he brought with him from North Texas: Mestemaker, Hawkins and wide receiver Wyatt Young.

Mestemaker was up to the task, completing 20 of his 27 passes.

“Whenever you make those big plays, and everything goes quiet, it feels good running down the field,” he said. “This was definitely the best away-game environment I’ve ever played in.”

Mestemaker hit Justin Bowick with a 21-yard scoring toss just before halftime and kept making big plays in blown coverage by West Virginia’s defense.

Oklahoma State scored on five consecutive drives after Mestemaker threw an interception on the first drive of the third quarter.

“His response was phenomenal,” Morris said. “He handled the whole game like a professional. Drew’s going to play football for a long time.”

Mestemaker threw passes of 27 and 40 yards on the Cowboys’ next drive to set up his 4-yard scoring toss to Terrence Lewis to knot the score at 21.

Mestemaker’s 48-yard pass to Young set up Hawkins’ 22-yard touchdown run and, after West Virginia turned the ball over on downs, Mestemaker found Young with another 48-yard pass to set up a short field goal. Mestemaker threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Young with 5:42 remaining.

“He (Mestemaker) has great vision, and he made some great deep throws, but guys are wide open,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “When you don’t pressure the guy at all and let him get comfortable, good players like that, an NFL quarterback, is going to beat you. One or two times we got pressure. We got a tipped pass or something. Other than that, we never got any pressure.”

Young finished with eight catches for a season-high 192 yards. Sam Keltner kicked field goals of 30, 19, 29 and 47 yards for the Cowboys.

Quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. ran for three touchdowns for West Virginia (3-1, 0-1 Big 12). But he was ineffective in the passing game for the first time this season, completing 10 of 22 passes for 132 yards. West Virginia compiled 334 rushing yards. Cam Cook rushed for 193 yards, and Mike Hawkins, the nation’s top rushing quarterback, had 102.

Oklahoma State: The Cowboys compiled 609 total yards, including 359 after halftime, and the defense threw Mike Hawkins out of rhythm. They’ve now beaten the Mountaineers in six straight meetings in Morgantown, West Virginia.

West Virginia: The Mountaineers couldn’t take advantage of a raucous home crowd and fell to 11-3 in night games under Rodriguez, going back to his first stint at the school two decades ago.

“Defensively, we didn’t play well at all,” Rodriguez said. “It’s the head coach’s responsibility to make sure we have a plan that can succeed, and it didn’t succeed.”

Oklahoma State has a bye week before hosting UCF on Oct. 10.

West Virginia plays at Iowa State next Saturday.

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