Oklahoma State was rolling after a season-opening loss to Tulsa, reeling off four straight wins and rising to No. 18 in the country, but that momentum was stopped with a close loss at Houston last Saturday.
The Cowboys (4-2, 2-1) will try to get back into the win column when they face skidding Colorado (2-4, 0-3) in a Big 12 Conference game Saturday night in Stillwater, Okla.
Oklahoma State rallied but came up short against the then-No. 20 Cougars, who amassed 505 yards of offense in the 35-32 decision that dropped the Cowboys from the AP Top 25 rankings.
Oklahoma State, which trailed 14-3 at halftime, was missing a big piece on defense with the absence of safety Mose Phillips III due to a shoulder injury suffered Oct. 10 against UCF.
Cowboys coach Eric Morris said Tuesday that Phillips will miss Saturday’s game, too.
Despite Houston’s offensive output, Morris said he wasn’t disappointed with his defensive line.
“Our D-line’s doing some really good things right now, so it’s definitely not on the D-line,” he said Tuesday.
Morris said quarterback Drew Mestemaker could have played better against Houston, even though the sophomore passed for 365 yards and three touchdowns. Mestemaker completed 22 of 34 passes, with one interception.
“Probably not his best performance, but he’s maybe the toughest kid on our team … he continued to battle,” Morris said. “His competitive character is through the roof … he gave us a chance at the end.”
Mestemaker will have another chance to win against Colorado, which is giving up an average of 357.2 yards and 25.7 points a game. The Buffaloes have lost their past four games, most recently 27-24 at home to then-No. 11 Utah last week.
Colorado quarterback Isaac Wilson, who took over the starting role from Julian Lewis against Baylor last month, threw two touchdown passes but had two interceptions in the loss to Utah. But Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders said he still believes in Wilson.
“Isaac is that guy. So I’m going to keep on loving him, keep on developing him, keep on giving him opportunities,” Sanders said.
The coach said Colorado’s second-leading rusher this season, Micah Welch (220 yards on 45 carries), was “hurting” and didn’t practice on Tuesday because of a hand injury.
Welch’s status for Saturday’s game is uncertain.