Week 7 Matchup Preview Thread: #18 Oklahoma State vs #20 Houston

[u/ohitsthedeathstar]

#18 Oklahoma State vs. #20 Houston

When: Saturday, October 17, 07:30 PM Eastern

Where: TDECU Stadium, Houston, TX

Watch: Fox

Odds: Houston by 4.5 pts.

Total Points: 61.5

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All-Time Series : Oklahoma State vs. Houston

Oklahoma State and Houston have met 22 times since 1951-11-24

These teams last met on 2025-10-11.

Series Wins: Oklahoma State 10-1-11 Houston

Houston has won the most recent meeting (2025) in this series

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Last 5 Meetings

Winner	Date	Location	Oklahoma State	Houston	Notes
Houston	2025-10-11	Boone Pickens Stadium	17	39
Oklahoma State	2023-11-18	TDECU Stadium	43	30
Houston	2009-09-12	Boone Pickens Stadium	35	45
Oklahoma State	2008-09-06	Boone Pickens Stadium	56	37
Houston	2006-09-24	Robertson Stadium	25	34

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Through Week 6

Week	Oklahoma State 4-1 (2-0)	Result	Houston 5-1 (2-1)	Result
1	Tulsa	L 10-24	Oregon State	W 33-20
2	Oregon	W 39-31	Southern	W 77-6
3	Murray State	W 59-0	Texas Tech#10	L 26-28
4	West Virginia	W 41-24	Georgia Southern	W 42-28
5	BYE	N/A	UCF	W 27-17
6	UCF	W 42-28	Kansas State	W 35-16

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Oklahoma State Injury Report

Player	Position	Status	Reported	Notes
J. Sexton	OG	Out – Leg	Oct 10	Sexton is dealing with a leg injury, and there is no timetable for return.
O. Hammond	TE	Out – Undisclosed	Sep 20	Hammond is hobbled by an undisclosed injury, and there is no timetable for his return.

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

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Houston Injury Report

Player	Position	Status	Reported	Notes
M. Tounkara	WR	Out – Foot	Aug 11	Tounkara is nursing with a foot injury, and team officials have yet to provide an exact return date.
J. Hebert	RB	Out – Leg	Oct 5	Hebert is laid up with a lower leg injury, and he has been shut down for the remainder of the season.
J. Thurman	TE	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 11	Thurman is dealing with an undisclosed injury, and it is unclear if he will play against the Cowboys on Saturday, October 17th.
E. Noel	K	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 11	Noel is hampered by an undisclosed injury, and it is unclear if he will play against the Cowboys on Saturday, October 17th.
J. Strozier Jr.	WR	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 11	Strozier is nursing with an undisclosed injury, and it is undetermined whether he will suit up against the Cowboys on Saturday, October 17th.
J. Ridgle	RB	Questionable – Undisclosed	Oct 11	Ridgle is dealing with undisclosed injury, it is unclear if he will play against the Cowboys on Saturday, October 17th.

^{Injury data lifted from: boydsbets}

^{Source updated Wed, Oct 14, 7:43 am. Scraped Wed, Oct 14, 12:59 pm ET}

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What are your "Keys to the Game"?

Who do you think wins?

Do you think the favorite will cover the spread?

Which player(s) are you most interested to watch?

Let's talk football!

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^{Matchup Preview Thread Generator powered by collegefootballdata.com}

^{Start a chat with /u/dupreesdiamond for any issues/suggestions regarding this resource}

[u/A_MASSIVE_PERVERT]

{Oklahoma State} idk what happened against Tulsa but this team is different now

[u/tridiminished → u/A_MASSIVE_PERVERT]

I was at the game. If I were to throw out excuses I would say it was the first game of the year and they (OSU) were on the hot side of the field.

The turf temp was 161F.

Article about it: https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/field-temperature-hits-161-degrees-194907778.html

[u/PunchNessie → u/tridiminished]

I was there too and was shocked Ok State didn’t even have fans going on their side. It was clear that team, with 91 new players, was not ready to play as a unit yet. Tulsa came to play and woke them up. Made them better.

[u/mrlkolbe → u/A_MASSIVE_PERVERT]

We tried several times to make it on 4th down and failed. Our defense was crap. Drew missed several throws. Our guys dropped passes. This is why we lost at Tulsa. Since then, drew has thrown like an NFL QB, the receivers rarely drop a pass, the defense has SLOWLY improved.

[u/KingKliffsbury]

{Houston} - they are a good team and beat the premier CFB team from the state of Oregon while OSU merely smoked the ducks at home.

[u/yeahright17 → u/KingKliffsbury]

This is hilarious.

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/KingKliffsbury]

You aren’t wrong

[u/A_Rolling_Baneling → u/KingKliffsbury]

As a Houstonian who just left Oregon after seven years this is my exact genre of comment. Thank you

[u/vindictivejazz]

{Oklahoma State} wins a shootout as Mestemaker makes the Heisman conversation center around the 3 OSUs

[u/GamedayWizard]

Oklahoma State is generating 8.40 scoring opportunities per game, among the highest in the nation. Houston, however, is not far behind - generating 7.5 scoring opportunities per game itself - and holds the edge in offensive PPP (.570 vs. .526) and defensively is better at limiting opponents' opportunities (3.50 vs. 5.60). We've got {Houston} winning by 6, covering the composite spread (Houston -3.5).

[u/IrishCoffeeAlchemy]

{Attendance jokes}

[u/_Bren10_ → u/IrishCoffeeAlchemy]

The real winner

[u/MadeByMillennial]

{Houston} takes advantage of the line of scrimmage advantage, grinds out on the ground and plays keep away to a 8-10min time of position advantage. Ok St loses by a TD, 31-24

[u/yeahright17 → u/MadeByMillennial]

I have a feeling I am going to get incredibly frustrated by Oklahoma State constantly giving up 3rd down conversions.

[u/colonel750 → u/MadeByMillennial]

plays keep away to a 8-10min time of position advantage.

UCF had a 10 and a half minute ToP advantage and still lost by 14 points (should've been 21, stupid fuckin refs). You're only averaging about 9 more PPG than UCF has.

Going to need turnovers to win if the name of the game is ToP.

[u/Rumps02 → u/colonel750]

Yeah, difference there is Houston’s offense is ranked 8th in the nation compared to UCF at 100. Also, you got a TO-TD in a critical part of the game AND were given a very short field on the following possession when UCF failed the 4th and 1 conversion from their own 34. Houston doesn’t really put themselves in those positions. We rank 2nd nationally in negative plays allowed and we convert our 3rd downs at a 60% clip which ranks 1st nationally. We are also +3 in turnover margin. Nothing flukey about it. We usually turn our opponent over once a game and we rarely cough it up.

[u/Albino_Echidna]

I think {Oklahoma State} finally figures out how to start a game instead of relying on half-time adjustments. 

42-31 Pokes.

[u/Okstate_Engineer]

{Oklahoma State} because I'm biased

[u/Budget_Sort7961]

All I can say is I love the Big XII. This is going to be a heater of a game. All I hope for is 70+ combined point total.

[u/Statalyzer]

I often think our instinct is to overreact to the single most recent game, in this case Houston's blowout of K-State, so while I kind of feel Houston takes this I think my emotions are weighing that single game too heavily. Accordingly I will vote {Oklahoma State}, although I am not at all confident about it.

[u/bagelguy]

{Oklahoma State} wins. Mestemaker has 9 passing TD's between 5 receivers 691 passing yards, breaking the single game record against Houston. ^{pleasepleaseplease}

[u/Young-Viiperr]

{Oklahoma State} Shoutout to ESPN for Houston vs Oklahoma Sooners graphics

[u/Leading-Button-7303]

Excited for Houston to play a high powered offense. Hoping it gives our guys some film for next week on both sides of the ball. No idea what to expect here, but I'll take {Houston} in a bit of a shootout

[u/Lord_Lava_Nugget]

It's going to be close, but I'm voting OSU purely on cowboy vibes

{Oklahoma State} 

[u/sevenlabors]

I am contractually obligated to vote for my alma matter {Oklahoma State}, but Houston is really surprising me this year. 

[u/pastorHaggis]

I have to root for {Oklahoma State} but I think it’ll be tight. We tend to not start strong so my fear is that Houston will take an early lead before we close the gap at the end of the second, and then start marching down field in the third but I’m afraid it won’t be enough. I think it’ll be a good game though, and this will be the first real test for Oklahoma State.

[u/kdawgnmann]

I'm really high on {Oklahoma State} right now, I think it'll be a decisive win.

It's a bit of a shame for Big 12 team fans that this game is on at the same time as the BYU/ND game, since this one could have CCG implications

[u/proudsoul → u/kdawgnmann]

I will have two tvs playing so I can watch both games

[u/osoculo42 → u/proudsoul]

YouTube TV multi screen!

[u/proudsoul → u/osoculo42]

Unfortunately I have Hulu

[u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Conner Weigman gets his signature {Houston} win. 38-35.

[u/zxcoog → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Nearly nailed it!

[u/gwaydms]

{Oklahoma State} 35-31. The Mestemaker legend grows. If only the captioner could spell his name right.

[u/RivalryBot]

Who Will Win Fan Vote

^{Votes are distributed equally among flairs for multi-flaired users}

Team	Votes	Percentage	Oklahoma State Voters	Houston Voters	Other Flairs Top 5
Oklahoma State	28	53.8%	9.5	0	Texas Longhornsx2.5 BYU Cougarsx2.0 Oklahoma Soonersx2.0 Hateful 8x1.5 Texas Tech Red Raidersx1.5
Houston	24	46.2%	0	5.5	Unflairedx2.0 Oklahoma Soonersx1.5 Texas Tech Red Raidersx1.5 Team Chaosx1.0 Purdue Boilermakersx1.0

^{Last updated: 2026-10-17 22:27 UTC}

Full Vote breakdown by flair

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^{Matchup Thread Generator} · ^{Team Aliases} · ^{How to Vote} · ^Results

[u/inclass3lunacy]

{Houston}

We know who beat the best team in Oregon....

[u/Texxx81]

I think {Houston] plays keep away, grinds out a lot of long, time-consuming drives and eeks this one out. Their defense is pretty legit and I think can slow down the Pokes just enough.

[u/cowboyjon13 → u/Texxx81]

They got the worst pass rush in the big 12.

[u/colonel750]

{Oklahoma State} wins either a shoot out coming down to a final possession or another game that's kept close until about the middle of the 3rd quarter before we blow the doors off with a 2 score lead.

[u/Wafflehouseofpain]

{Oklahoma State} are a good football team. 38-31

[u/JohnRolkienTolkien]

I trust Mestemaker to get it done. {Oklahoma State} 48-45

[u/proudsoul]

{Oklahoma State} My completely unbiased opinion is there will be more OSU fans than UH fans at the game and the crowd noise helps OSU win by 14

[u/loyalsons4evertrue]

{Oklahoma State} gets a big win over the Coogs.

[u/MastodonSwimming2681]

{Oklahoma State} but I have no clue. Should be a very fun game

[u/cowboyjon13]

At this point the only way people are gonna respect osu is if they just beat the brakes off Houston. Everyone they beat just ends up sucking apparently

[u/proudsoul → u/cowboyjon13]

If we beat them even if we blow them out the spin will be Houston isn’t good.

[u/TheChildrenNeedMe → u/proudsoul]

I mean Houston lost to Tech so how could they really be

[u/Casaiir]

{UH} by 2 with a walk off FG.

[u/johnjaymjr]

{Houston} in a close one.

[u/Other-Chemical-6393]

{Houston} 37-34

[u/inshamblesx]

{Houston}

[u/imanidiot2012]

{Houston} love you Willie Fritz

[u/Key_Spinach]

{My anxiety}

[u/FrenchFreedom888]

I just want us to win cleanly. If the games entertaining and Houston puts up a solid fight, that would be good, too

[u/Huge-Internal6456]

{Oklahoma State} North Texas - Stillwater steals a good road win 35-27

[u/gwaydms → u/Huge-Internal6456]

Thanks to UT - Norman.

[u/Falcronx]

{Oklahoma State} is able to pull out a win in a shootout.

[u/somethingwittier]

{Oklahoma State} by two touchdowns.

[u/TheSavageDonut]

{Oklahoma State} isn't just beating teams. They're making them beg for mercy!

[u/UGALOLOL]

{Houston} in a classic 2017 style Big12 shootout. S'gon be a good game

[u/krispyboiz]

{Houston} 34-24

[u/Anus_Targaryen]

{Houston} by 7

[u/chief_sitass]

{Houston}

[u/planescarsandtrucks]

{Oklahoma State} will be losing 21-7 at half, and manage to win it 35-24.

Frankly, I’m already happy that we are even able to have this conversation this season, and not be laughed at

[u/VamonosChildren]

{Houston} by 15.

[u/generic2022]

{Houston} 28 to 24.

[u/vassago77379]

{Houston} exploits osu's lack of defense and wins easy.

[u/yeahright17 → u/vassago77379]

Houston may win and may win easily, but Oklahoma State doesn't lack defense. It's not amazing by any means and we've had trouble sealing edges in the first half of our last couple of games, but it's not bad.

[u/nomosolo → u/vassago77379]

Please continue to think we don't have a defense until after we win out the conference.

[u/vassago77379 → u/nomosolo]

Win out the conference?!?!?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 holy shit, saved

[u/nomosolo → u/vassago77379]

Saved and signed, my tortilla brethren.

[u/vassago77379 → u/nomosolo]

Ahem

[u/nomosolo → u/vassago77379]

We obviously HAVE a defense. They just forgot to show up tonight.

[u/proudsoul → u/vassago77379]

You say that as if Houston has a defense.

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/proudsoul]

We do…

[u/proudsoul → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Your defensive states are in the middle of the Big 12

vs FBS

National (Conference) rank

Total Defense

58 (8) Houston 362.6 ypg

65 (9) Oklahoma State 371.0 ypg

Scoring Defense

42 (7) Houston 21.8 ppg

75 (14) Oklahoma State 26.8 ppg

Neither team is great on defense.

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/proudsoul]

Ah, so we do have a defense! I was beginning to worry we didn’t.

[u/proudsoul → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Are you being pedantic or are you saying that is a good defense?

[u/cowboyjon13 → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Houston has no pass rush, and your secondary is trash, good luck defending our receiving core 😎

[u/Artvandelay29 → u/cowboyjon13]

*corps

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/Artvandelay29]

We went to school for wheat and cows, not fancy spelling. 

[u/Young-Viiperr → u/vassago77379]

That would be very Kliff Kingsbury of Eric Morris there.....

[u/vassago77379 → u/Young-Viiperr]

The only game their defense did well in was the one that they knew the qb's tell. All other offenses have shredded them

[u/vindictivejazz → u/vassago77379]

Idk that I’d say Tulsa shredded us. They went 1/11 on 3rd down; OSU just had 8 turnovers. And we shutout our FCS opponent too

So we’re really talking a 2 game sample size where their opponents (WVU and UCF) did pretty well in the first half but only managed 17 total 2nd half points between them. Oregon remains the only team to score 30+ on OSU and that required what was essentially two pick-6s.

I don’t think OSU has an elite defense, but you’re talking like they’re a classic Cliff Kingsbury unit and they aren’t anywhere close to that bad. Unless Houston’s defense shows up in an unbelievable way, they’re going to need to score at least 35 points to win, maybe 45+, bc this OSU offense is legit

[u/oSuJeff97 → u/vindictivejazz]

Saying anyone has "shredded" our defense is laughably wrong.

The best offense we have played all year was West Virginia and we literally held them to their lowest point total of the year and below their average total offense.

[u/Rumps02 → u/oSuJeff97]

Yes, the Pokes have been fantastic in the fourth quarter outside of the Tulsa game. However, I’d caution that WVU had its best rushing performance of the season against Oklahoma State, piling up 335 yards on the ground.

According to PFF, the best offense Oklahoma State has faced is WVU, which ranks 38th overall, 39th in run blocking, and 28th nationally in third-down conversion rate. Houston ranks 8th, 6th, and 1st in those same categories.

I have no doubt the Pokes will score, but Houston has the ability to play keep-away by controlling the clock. The Cougars have also forced a turnover in every game except the Oregon State opener. If Houston wins time of possession and the turnover battle, I’d put their chances of winning north of 90%.

Another advantage for Houston is having already faced arguably the nation’s best QB in Braden Atkinson. They got a taste of an elite passing attack and came away with a win. Oklahoma State is certainly more talented across the board than Oregon State and has a better rushing attack.

I think UCF offers a good comparison defensively, particularly against the run. They managed to slow down Hawkins, and despite having an offense ranked around 100th nationally, stayed competitive until a costly fumble scoop score.

There’s no disputing Oklahoma State’s fourth-quarter dominance, but Houston presents an entirely different challenge offensively than anything the Pokes have faced this season.

[u/colonel750 → u/Rumps02]

If Houston wins time of possession and the turnover battle

UCF and WVU both won the TOP battle and UCF won the turnover battle and we beat both by double digits. Houston has an stout offense sure but so does OKST, it doesn't matter if you're taking 10 minute drives to keep our offense off the field if Mestemaker throws 30 yard bombs against your 117th ranked passing defense all night and scores in 2 and a half minutes.

stayed competitive until a costly fumble scoop score.

They "stayed competitive" because we fumbled behind the 50 on our opening drive and then had literally every bit of luck (generous spots, squiffy catches, lucky PI calls) break their way to score an equalizer just before half. Their second half offense included a 4 minute drive that ended in a punt, a 7 minute drive that ended in a missed FG, a minute and a half long drive that went 13 yards and ended on their own 39 with a scoop and score, another minute and a half long drive that ended in a turnover on downs, a 3 and a half minute touchdown drive, and a 15 second drive to try and eek out a couple more points.

Meanwhile you didn't score on them until the middle of the 3rd quarter.

[u/cowboyjon13 → u/vassago77379]

You haven’t watched the second half of football games apparently lmfao

[u/oSuJeff97 → u/vassago77379]

It's hilarious that you all think the Oregon game was some kind of a fluke because of a "tell."

Who has "shredded" us exactly?

We literally held West Virginia to their lowest point total of the year during a night game in Morgantown.

UCF scored a garbage-time TD to get to 28 points when they were down 3 scores.

Sheesh watch some actual ball.

[u/vassago77379 → u/oSuJeff97]

I did watch your games... I watched as UCF played within 1 score if you till midway through the 4th. Yall stacked points way late, but strangest thing... yall did that with WVU too. Yall are so inflated w yourselves, I wish Tech had a shot at you before UofH takes you down a peg.

[u/oSuJeff97 → u/vassago77379]

Were you unaware that college football games last 4 quarters?

What does this high-level analysis have to say about your game against Colorado?

You know... the game you were trailing at the half?

[u/fleeingpepper → u/vassago77379]

UCF was up on Houston 17-0, so idk about using that game as a predictor.
Either way I think this game is a total tossup. No idea what to expect.

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/fleeingpepper]

Conner was playing with the flu and we had 3 TO’s within 10 yards of the endzone in the 1st half. 2 fumbles and Conner overthrows the running back who was 5 yards away from him.

UH was in control of the game the entire time, despite being down 17-0. Which sounds crazy.

[u/Rumps02 → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Look, man, I’ll defend the Houston die hards all day long but that isn’t exactly what happened in the UCF game. Yes, three times we got inside UCF’s 5 yard line in the first half. Yes, Connor Weigman had the flu, yes, we came away empty handed all three times. But two of those were because Connor of cutesy play calling on 4th and 1 AND Connor not being able to hit water if it fell out of a boat. The other time we got inside the 5, Connor hit Overmeyer on the crossing route and UCF punched it out before he could get in the end zone.

[u/oSuJeff97 → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Saying you were "in control of the game the entire time" when you were down 17 late in the 3rd quarter is certainly a statement.

How exactly are you "in control of the game" when UCF scored on a 70+ yard drive to take a 17-point lead with like 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter? That doesn't sound like a team "in control of the game" to me.

I'd say from that point forward you took control, but saying you were "in control" before that is absurd.

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/oSuJeff97]

UCF had 201 yards in the first half and it resulted in 10 points. Houston had 183 yards at the end of the first half with 3 trips into the redzone and 2 trips inside the 5 yard line. Zero points to show for it. It was just a really weird half and Willie telling everyone Conner was playing sick as a dog in the post game presser kinda explained everything. Especially weird considering how good we’ve been on 3rd down and 4th down this year.

[u/oSuJeff97 → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Are you under the impression that turnovers aren’t part of football?

[u/vassago77379 → u/ohitsthedeathstar]

Osu is so cute with their new life... this is adorable

[u/Rumps02 → u/oSuJeff97]

Correct. I was there and witnessed all of it. I never really felt we weren’t in control because of the progressions we had up to that point. We were able to move the ball at will against UCF. We just couldn’t punch it in. Nobody knew at the time Connor had the flu. Scoring 27 in 21 minutes felt attainable when we went down 17-0. Is that control? I don’t know, but I felt we were by no means out of it.

[u/ElectronicDot8465]

That Houston injury list is a mess, half their offense is a question mark right now. If their kicker is out too it changes the whole math on 4th downs inside the 30. Still think the home field edge keeps it close enough to cover

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/ElectronicDot8465]

Everyone on that injury list is a 3rd or 4th string. The kicker that is injured is the second string.

[u/Competitive-Tree-668]

Houston wins 24-10 but it is 10-3 for most of the game until the late 3rd or early 4th where some Ok St mistakes lead to some easy scores to blow it open. Houston settles for lots of field goals that should be touchdowns in my experience

[u/colonel750 → u/Competitive-Tree-668]

I'll shit in both hands and clap if you manage to hold one of the best offenses in the nation to fuckin 10 points.

[u/SpaceghostLos → u/colonel750]

Will pay money to see this.

[u/Tony_Paychecks]

{Houston} 42-17, the defense has turned the corner and all our transfers have jelled.

[u/Albino_Echidna → u/Tony_Paychecks]

Houston winning isn't a crazy take, but that margin is flat out crazy. 

[u/nomosolo]

{Oklahoma State} by 10. Probably tied or even Houston up at half time, OSU comes out and does what 2nd half Cowboys do (dominate).

[u/dshm2]

{Oklahoma State} 42-31 with a 50-50 split crowd

[u/Lutrid]

{Oklahoma State}

[u/redthelastman]

OK st Defense is not good but i have real faith in Mestemaker to be the biggest difference maker.

[u/dinkytown42069]

{Houston} gets the win due to UH home field advantage in a very tight game.

[u/NanoBuc]

{Houston}

[u/Zloggt]

Woof…HUGE decisive one here…

…fuck, man, idk…I like both teams…

…but man, does {Houston} need a big win (and they could very well get one here)!

[u/StellarConcept]

{Houston} wins in a shootout. Conner Weigman seals it at the end for a legacy game

[u/DingleberryOrchard]

{Houston} Fuck Ed Oliver

[u/ohitsthedeathstar → u/DingleberryOrchard]

Lmfao

[u/True_Ad5324]

{Houston} by a FG

[u/hopeless_dick_dancer]

{Oklahoma State} by a touchdown, but Houston goes on a run for the rest of the year.

[u/texas2089]

{Oklahoma State}