Tulsa Coach Tre Lamb Has High Praise for Oklahoma State: ‘They Don’t Have Any Weaknesses’

If Oklahoma State fans needed another reason to believe the hype surrounding Eric Morris' first team, they just got one from the coach preparing to play them.

Tulsa head coach Tre Lamb is getting the Golden Hurricane ready to host Oklahoma State in the season opener on Sept. 5.

And after spending the summer studying the Cowboys? He sounds extremely impressed.

“This is the most talented team we're gonna play,” Lamb said. “This is the Big 12. It's a different world.”

That's quite a statement considering Oklahoma State is coming off a 1-11 season. But this isn't last year's Oklahoma State team. Not even close.

Lamb didn't stop at calling OSU Tulsa's most talented opponent. The more he's watched the Cowboys, apparently, the more concerned he's become.

“They don't have any weaknesses,” Lamb said. “The more you watch them, they better they get, so it'll be a challenge.”

That's about as strong of an endorsement as you can get from an opposing head coach before Week 1.

Remember where this program was less than a year ago. Oklahoma State finished 1-11. Mike Gundy's tenure ended. The roster was almost completely dismantled.

Morris arrived and essentially rebuilt the entire operation from scratch, bringing a massive transfer class to Stillwater. ESPN recently ranked OSU's transfer class No. 14 nationally, with 17 players following Morris from North Texas.

Now the coach preparing to face them says he can't find a weakness. That's quite a turnaround in perception.

Then there's Drew Mestemaker. Lamb didn't exactly undersell Oklahoma State's new quarterback.

“They have a first-round QB,” Lamb said. First round!

We're not talking about a coach saying Mestemaker is talented or one of the better quarterbacks Tulsa will face. Lamb is already throwing out first-round NFL potential before Mestemaker takes his first snap for Oklahoma State.

But after what Mestemaker did last season at North Texas, you understand the concern. He led the FBS in passing yards, and he's now surrounded by many of the same players who helped Morris construct one of college football's most explosive offenses. The attention surrounding Mestemaker and this rebuilt roster has only grown throughout August.

Lamb also credited Morris as a “really good evaluator of talent.” Now Tulsa has to figure out how to defend all of it.

This might've been my favorite part of Lamb's comments. He essentially laid out Tulsa's offensive strategy against Oklahoma State: Don't give Mestemaker the football.

“We'll have to go for it on fourth down some to keep it away from 17,” Lamb said.

Lamb wants Tulsa to sustain drives offensively and protect its defense by limiting Oklahoma State's opportunities. That's respect.

It also tells you exactly what Tulsa fears most. Explosive plays. Lamb stressed that his team can't make mistakes against talented opponents because one false step can completely change a game.

“Fourteen-point swing with one mistake,” Lamb said.

Against an offense built around creating explosive plays, Tulsa can't afford many of them.

There's another interesting piece to these comments. Lamb isn't simply praising Oklahoma State. He's concerned about what he's seeing from his own team.

“We've got 10 days to get it fixed.” Lamb said Tulsa has worked on these situations throughout the summer but continues making too many mistakes in practice.

That's not exactly what you want to hear less than two weeks before facing an offense with this much firepower. Because as Lamb put it, when you play talented teams: One false step and you'll have issues.

Tulsa does have experience returning, including quarterback Baylor Hayes and several veteran team captains, while Lamb has supplemented his roster with Power Four transfers.  But Lamb knows the margin for error against OSU will be small.

Here's what makes all of this especially interesting. Tulsa beat Oklahoma State last season.

The Golden Hurricane went into Stillwater and won 19-12, their first victory there since 1951.

Less than a year later? Listen to the way Tulsa's head coach is describing Oklahoma State.

“Most talented team we're gonna play.” “First-round QB.” "They don't have any weaknesses.”

That's a completely different perception of the Cowboys. And they haven't even played a game yet.

We've spent the entire offseason talking about the optimism surrounding Oklahoma State.

The preseason rankings. The award watch lists. The national sleeper picks. The expectations for Mestemaker and Caleb Hawkins. But this one feels a little different.

This isn't someone making a preseason prediction from across the country. This is the head coach who has spent months preparing to play Oklahoma State in Week 1.

And the more Tre Lamb watches? “The better they get.”

Now Oklahoma State has to prove him right.