Oklahoma State Outguns West Virginia on Saturday Night

Saturday, September 26

Morgantown, W.Va.

7 p.m.

West Virginia University

3-1 , 0-1

Oklahoma State

3-1 , 1-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Oklahoma State	3	10	15	13	41
West Virginia	7	7	10	0	24

Cam Cook rushes against Oklahoma State at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va., on Sept. 26, 2026.

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

September 26, 2026 11:08 PM | Football

Box Score WVU-OklahomaState-GameStats WVU-Oklahoma State Postgame Quotes WVU-OklahomaState-PostgameNotes Rich Rodriguez Postgame Press Conference Mike Hawkins Jr. Postgame Press Conference Ben Cutter Postgame Press Conference Photo Gallery

By: John Antonik

Drew Mestemaker passed for 389 yards and three touchdowns in leading Oklahoma State to a 41-24 victory over West Virginia Saturday night before 57,756 fans at Milan Puskar Stadium.

The Mountaineers' pass defense, the worst in the Big 12 Conference last season, struggled all night to contain Mestemaker and Wyatt Young, who hooked up eight times for 192 yards.

Mestemaker's final passing totals showed 20 completions in 27 attempts for a 224.4 passer rating.

"He's a good passer; he has great vision and he made some great deep throws, but guys are wide open," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said afterward. "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 tip pass or something. Other than that, we never got any pressure."

Caleb Hawkins contributed 180 yards rushing on 31 carries as the Cowboys finished the night with 609 total yards - the most allowed by a West Virginia defense since it gave up 616 in a 40-10 loss to TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 29, 2015.

Oklahoma State, despite going just 2 of 10 on third down and facing an 87-to-68 disparity in total plays, made up for it by averaging 19.5 yards per completion and by keeping West Virginia's run-heavy offense one-dimensional.

WVU rushed for 334 yards - 295 of those coming from running back Cam Cook (193) and quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. (102) - but the Mountaineer aerial attack remains a work in progress. Hawkins completed just 10 of his 22 pass attempts for 132 yards with an interception, although he was victimized by a couple of big drops.

"Offensively, there was some good stuff, but there were some things we missed in the passing game. Defensively, it was nothing," Rodriguez said.

West Virginia (3-1, 0-1) got a pair of short touchdown runs from Hawkins within a four-minute span in the first half, but a disappointing final 3:51 to the second quarter took away potential points for the Mountaineers and turned into a two-score swing when Oklahoma State crossed the goal line with 1:25 left in the second quarter.

West Virginia's two first-half touchdown drives covered nearly the length of the field and came primarily on the ground with Hawkins, Cook and freshman Amari Latimer doing the work.

On the third play of West Virginia's second offensive possession of the game, Cook took a handoff from Hawkins and raced 75 yards to the OSU 9 before he was caught from behind by Mo Horn.

Two short Cook runs set up Hawkins' 5-yard touchdown run.

Early in the second quarter, following Sam Ketner's 30-yard field goal, West Virginia took over at its own 25 and marched 75 yards in 16 plays, 15 of those on the ground, leading to Hawkins' second touchdown run from the 3. The lone pass was a 7-yard completion to tight end Ryan Ward. The Mountaineers converted two third downs on the drive, one coming on third and 7 when Cook took an end-around for 10 yards to the OSU 38.

The Cowboys (3-1, 1-0) added a second Ketner field goal with 7:56 left in the second quarter when their drive stalled at the West Virginia 1 and Morris opted to bring out his kicker to successfully boot a 19-yarder.

West Virginia took possession of the ball on the ensuing kickoff and again used runs from Hawkins, Cook and Latimer to move the ball to the OSU 18. On third and 4, Hawkins attempted a slant pass to Jaden Bray that was deflected by Keviyan Huddleston into the arms Mose Phillips III, who returned it 30 yards to the Cowboy 45.

Mestemaker responded by completing a third-down pass of 21 yards to Young to West Virginia's 33, and three plays later, he hooked up with Justin Bowick for a 21-yard touchdown. West Virginia defender Geimere Latimer II appeared to have Bowick wrapped up near the 10, but Bowick broke free to get into the end zone. Ketner's conversion kick reduced West Virginia's lead to 14-13, and it remained that way at halftime.

OSU got possession of the football to begin the third quarter, and Mestemaker immediately went back to the air for 52 yards to Chris Barnes, who took the football to the Mountaineer 28. However, on third and 3 at the 21, Kamari Wilson picked off Mestemaker's third-down pass intended for Barnes at the 18.

Hawkins ran for 12 yards that included a 15-yard penalty called on Ethan Wesloski for hitting him late out of bounds.

Another Hawkins burst of 24 yards on third and 8 got the ball to the 29. Cook then ran for 17 and 3, setting up Hawkins' 9-yard touchdown run.

Jack Cassidy's conversion kick put West Virginia ahead 21-13.

However, it took Mestemaker only four plays to reach pay dirt, the big ones a pair of passes of 27 yards to Terrence Lewis and Young for 40 yards, the latter taking the ball to the Mountaineer 4. Mestemaker's next throw was to Lewis for a 4-yard touchdown.

OSU's first two-point conversion was unsuccessful, but Wilson was called for pass interference, setting up a second try that Mestemaker completed to Lewis to tie the game at 21.

West Virginia regained the lead at 24-21 when Cassidy kicked a 27-yard field goal, but the Mountaineers were primed to punch it into the end zone with the ball at the 4. However, Hawkins' keeper was stopped for no gain on third down, forcing Rodriguez to kick the field goal.

The lead lasted just long enough for Mestemaker to return to the field. The quarterback's second-down pass to Young covered 48 yards to the WVU 25, setting up Caleb Hawkins' 22-yard run.

That score gave Oklahoma State its first lead of the game, one it never relinquished.

West Virginia's attempted answer was stopped at the OSU 40 on fourth and 1 when Amari Latimer was thrown for a 2-yard loss.

Mestemaker again went to the air, hooking up with Young for 48 yards to the WVU 35, but the drive stalled at the 6 when an illegal procedure penalty moved the ball back to the 11, and Mestemaker's third-down pass was deflected by a blitzing Harper Holloman and fell incomplete.

That forced Morris to send out Keltner to kick a 29-yard field goal.

He added a fourth with 2:46 remaining, three minutes after Mestemaker's third touchdown pass of the night went to Young in the back of the end zone. That one covered 6 yards.

"Offensively we were moving okay, but defensively we didn't play well at all," Rodriguez said. "We gave up 609 yards. We didn't give our guys a chance. It's the head coach's responsibility to make sure we have a plan that could succeed, and it didn't succeed. I didn't do a good job of making sure our plan was going to help us succeed."

Tonight's victory continues Oklahoma State's mastery of West Virginia at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Cowboys have now won six straight here since 2015 – the most victories in a row in Morgantown since Miami won six straight from 1986 to 2002.

West Virginia goes out on the road for its first true away game of the season at Iowa State next Saturday in a game that will kick off at noon and will be televised nationally on TNT and TruTV.