Oklahoma State pulls away, hands UCF football 12th straight road loss

For the UCF Knights, Saturday’s story unfolded identically in Stillwater as it did a week ago in Houston — a promising first half, a backbreaking turnover, an unstoppable surge of unanswered points and yet another road defeat.

Drew Mestemaker completed 19 of 27 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns as Oklahoma State pulled away from the Knights in a 42-21 victory at Boone Pickens Stadium. UCF (3-3, 1-2 Big 12), whose losing streak away from the Acrisure Bounce House is now 12 games and counting, enters a much-needed bye week in which it could get back several key starters.

Oklahoma State (4-1, 2-0), ranked 18th in the AP Top 25, scored 21 unanswered points in the second half. Houston hung the final 27 on the scoreboard against the Knights seven days earlier.

“I just hurt for the guys,” UCF head coach Scott Frost said. “We’ve played three really good teams on the road; we haven’t gotten one done. Nobody is going to splinter or fall apart on this team. We’ve got great guys. We need to get healthy and get rested, and we’ve got to do the best we can to finish the season strong.”

Keyone Jenkins completed 30 of 42 passes for 265 yards and four touchdowns, the most for a Knights quarterback in a single game since John Rhys Plumlee torched Temple in 2022. The Knights went 11 for 21 on third and fourth down, a dramatic improvement on the 32.3% success rate it produced across the previous five games.

However, again, one play completely shifted the momentum and killed the Knights’ chance for victory.

Here are three takeaways as the Knights head into their bye week before a homecoming date with BYU.

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UCF’s defense held Oklahoma State’s second-ranked offense to a pair of field goals through the opening 18 minutes of the second half. Down 27-21, Jenkins rolled left and hit Josh Derry for an 11-yard gain to move the chains on third-and-10.

Two plays later, however, disaster struck for the Knights and their backup quarterback.

Oklahoma State safety Christian Bodnar blew up a perimeter screen pass that traveled behind the line of scrimmage, allowing Evan Jackson to scoop up the loose ball and return it 34 yards the other way for a touchdown. Last week, Houston edge rusher Latreveon McCutchin deflected a Jenkins pass, picked it off and brought the ball back to the UCF 2-yard line in the midst of a 27-point Cougar onslaught.

“We can’t have a catastrophic play like that, particularly on the road against a good team,” Frost said. “If you take that one away, I don’t know what the game looks like. I said on the radio that if you’d have told me we would have the ball in the fourth quarter, down six, with a chance to take the lead, I probably would have signed up for it on the road.”

The turnover spoiled an otherwise solid day for Jenkins, making his fourth straight start in place of the injured Alonza Barnett III (hamstring). The 6-foot, 200-pound southpaw senior completed his first nine throws, including TDs on each of the team’s first two drives.

The rapport between Jenkins and Monmouth transfer Josh Derry carried over from Houston as the duo connected on 11 of 15 targets for 84 yards. Redshirt freshman tight end Caden Piening caught seven balls for 60 yards and a garbage-time touchdown.

However, the limitations in UCF’s passing game became more apparent as the afternoon wore on. Jenkins went 3 of 10 on throws of at least 15 yards downfield, overshooting a couple of potential touchdowns. To the Knights’ credit, they drew two pass interference calls on similar plays.

“I’ve just got to take it to the chin and be better,” Jenkins said. “I feel like I let my teammates down today with that play, especially coming off the loss we had last week. I’ve just got to be better for my guys and just hone into the little details.”

Frost has kept relatively quiet regarding the prognosis for Barnett, but the team will hope its starting signal-caller can return for the stretch run. Four of UCF’s final six games are at home, providing ample opportunities to secure a bowl berth after a two-year absence.

Grayson Brousseau followed tight ends coach Cooper Bassett from Utah State to Oklahoma State, and then this year to UCF via the transfer portal. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound redshirt sophomore capped a successful opening drive for the Knights, catching his first college touchdown against his former team.

UCF brought extra blockers in around the goal line, including defensive lineman Josh Schell as a fullback. On third down, Jenkins sold the playaction fake and lofted an easy competion into the end zone for Brousseau, who leaked into the flat.

Brousseau played all 12 games for the Cowboys last season, making a pair of starts and catching seven balls for 45 yards. The touchdown was his first reception in six games for UCF.

“We knew he came from here. Big moment for him. Proud of him,” Jenkins said. “He got rewarded. He blocks his butt off a lot of the time. He barely sees the ball, but he earned that. … He does a great job, helping this team playing his part and playing his role. I’m happy for him.”

The Knights forced their 11th defensive takeaway on Oklahoma State’s second play from scrimmage. Antione Jackson punched the football free from Caleb Hawkins, and Isaiah Nixon recovered at the Cowboys’ 42-yard line.

“We got that first one right at the beginning of the game,” UCF linebacker Tackett Curtis said. “We needed to find another one. It just didn’t happen.”

UCF has scored an opening-drive touchdown in each of its last four games.

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After watching tape earlier in the week, UCF defensive coordinator Alex Grinch admitted Mestemaker is as good as the experts claim. The former walk-on, remarkably a backup on his own high school team, could genuinely put himself into the conversation for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.

Mestemaker routinely slipped pressure and carved up the Knights’ experienced secondary at all three levels of the field. He also flashed some potential with his legs, knotting the score 7-7 with an 11-yard touchdown run.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound redshirt sophomore had eight completions of at least 15 yards, highlighted by an 18-yard strike to Justin Bowick to give the Cowboys a 21-14 lead in the second quarter. His throw up the left sideline split the gap in coverage between Knights cornerback Antione Jackson and safety Demari Henderson.

On deep throws, Mestemaker went 5-of-7 for 149 yards.

“I’ll be surprised if he’s in college next year,” Frost said. “I know they’re going to want him to be, but some of the plays and throws that he made, when you see that happen, you know what kind of guy they’ve got.”

Mestemaker followed first-year head coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State from North Texas along with 20 other players. Those acquisitions have completely changed the Cowboys’ fortunes, seemingly overnight.

Oklahoma State went 0-9 in Big 12 play each of the last two seasons and snapped a 21-game losing skid against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents last month with a stunning upset of Oregon.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Oklahoma State pulls away, hands UCF football 12th straight road loss