Eric Morris isn't letting three straight wins erase Oklahoma State's season-opening loss at Tulsa. Morris says he still watches the film once a week as a reminder of the Cowboys at their worst — and the response that has helped transform OSU into a 3-1 team.
STILLWATER — Three consecutive wins have changed the conversation around Oklahoma State football.
They haven't made Eric Morris forget what happened in Week 1 though. Oklahoma State opened the Morris era with a 24-10 loss at Tulsa, an offensive performance the first-year coach called embarrassing afterward. Since then, the Cowboys have beaten No. 6 Oregon, routed Murray State and erased an eight-point second-half deficit to win 41-24 at West Virginia.
Yet Morris is still going back to where it started.
"It still keeps me up at night," Morris said this week. "I still watch that film once a week just to remind myself."
It's not difficult to understand why. Oklahoma State entered the season with excitement surrounding a rebuilt roster and an offensive-minded head coach who had produced some of the nation's most explosive attacks at North Texas.
Then the Cowboys produced 10 points, committed four turnovers and lost Morris' debut.
"At our worst, that's our team right now that we put on film," Morris said. "That's our resume. And then at our best, we were able to respond."
The response has been dramatic. Oklahoma State upset Oregon 39-31 one week later, overwhelmed Murray State 59-0 and then produced 609 yards of offense in its Big 12-opening victory at West Virginia.
The Cowboys are 3-1, ranked No. 19 and riding a three-game winning streak entering their bye week.
Morris believes the disappointment in Tulsa forced his new program to identify what it wanted to become.
"The hardest thing for me was just how poorly we played that first game," Morris said during an appearance on Big 12 Today. "We put so much time and effort into it, and to come out and to lay an egg like that."
But Morris acknowledged the loss helped bring the Cowboys back to the basics of the culture he was trying to establish.
"Nobody's bigger than the team," Morris said. "We're gonna have to go out and practice a physical style of football."
Oklahoma State has done exactly that. Morris increased the intensity of practices following the loss, and he said the Cowboys have practiced particularly well on Tuesdays and Wednesdays over the past three weeks.
They've been rewarded on Saturdays. The turnaround has also required players to emerge in unexpected places.
Oklahoma State lost starting left tackle Jacob Sexton to a season-ending broken leg during the Tulsa game. Shaun Torgeson has since taken over the position after entering the year as one of the less heralded pieces of OSU's massive roster rebuild.
Torgeson, a Portland State transfer, won the starting job following Sexton's injury and has helped stabilize an offensive line that has twice earned Big 12 Offensive Line of the Week honors during OSU's three-game winning streak.
Morris acknowledged Torgeson doesn't necessarily look like the prototype at left tackle.
"Doesn't have all the size and length you want in a left tackle as far as measurables, but athleticism and strength, he is better than anyone on our team," Morris said. "He's strong and explosive."
Morris sees Torgeson as another example of something that has followed him throughout his coaching career: finding overlooked players who can develop into significant contributors.
"He's one of those guys that fits into what we've done over my career of finding these diamonds in the rough," Morris said. "He was an FCS guy. Had really good tape despite being undersized, but someone we believed in."
Interestingly, left tackle wasn't necessarily where the Cowboys originally envisioned Torgeson.
"Has multiple years to develop, and we thought as an inside piece at guard or center, but just gets better in practice," Morris said.
Now he's protecting Mestemaker's blind side for an offense that looks almost unrecognizable from the one that struggled in Tulsa.
The Cowboys' offensive line didn't allow a sack at West Virginia as OSU amassed 609 yards. Drew Mestemaker threw for 389 yards, Caleb Hawkins rushed for 180 and Wyatt Young finished with 192 receiving yards.
It looks nothing like the offense that left Tulsa three weeks earlier. That's precisely why Morris doesn't want his team forgetting that version existed.
Even during the bye, Morris isn't entirely backing off. He said some veterans are getting opportunities to heal, but practices have remained intense for younger players who need additional work.
"I still believe the physicality of this football team is growing," Morris said. "That's when we've been at our best."
The next challenge may be learning how to respond to success as well as Oklahoma State responded to failure. The Cowboys were humbled after Tulsa. Morris said they've remained humble throughout the winning streak, but keeping them there during a week without a game presents another test.
UCF visits Boone Pickens Stadium after the bye. And even as Oklahoma State prepares for what's next, its head coach continues looking backward once a week.
Not because Morris wants to relive Tulsa. Because he doesn't want his team to become that version of itself again.
