Hope for the Future: Doug Meacham Put the Fun Again in Cowboy Soccer

STILLWATER — Fun is perhaps Doug Meacham’s favourite phrase.

It was one of many first issues he stated when he spoke to reporters following his second apply because the interim head coach. He dropped the F-word twice in his opening assertion following Oklahoma State’s 45-27 loss to Baylor on Saturday.

“To me, they were the most excited team to play that game, and had no reason to be,” Meacham stated. “So it’s a testament to Mike building a culture here, picking the right kind of guys that will fight through adversity and come together as a team. … They were having fun. That is really what it is all about. This is just a game at the end of the day. They call it a game so you can have fun doing it.”

Fun isn’t usually a subject of dialog on the highest ranges of school soccer, most likely a mix of the cash at stake and the unrelenting strain, however loads of coaches will give a short shout-out to the enjoyable of all of it, both following the large victories or as one thing of a crutch when instances are unhealthy.

On Saturday, Meacham proved his dedication to enjoyable was something however meaningless coachspeak, starting with Oklahoma State’s second offensive drive when he launched vast receiver trick-play machine Sam Jackson.

Jackson lined up because the wildcat quarterback six instances within the first half. The Cowboys picked up 38 whole yards and three first downs on these performs.

“I mean, a lot of people have a receiver that played eighth-grade quarterback that can kind of throw it, you know,” Meacham stated. “And then you got a guy that was a Power Four quarterback starter as a kid I recruited at TCU. … So moving forward, I mean (if) I’m a defense and he’s on the field, you better back up a little bit.”

While it appears gimmicky, there’s lots Oklahoma State can construct on in these packages. During one of many performs, quarterback Zane Flores ran by searching for a pitch on a reverse, which might presumably set the Cowboys quarterback to both break a run or throw it downfield.

Then, within the second half, Jackson lined up at working again (as a result of he hasn’t performed sufficient positions) and took a handoff earlier than rolling out and throwing an incompletion supposed for Ford. Both of these performs might have resulted in huge features and as an alternative picked up 0 yards, however as Meacham alluded to, now defenses have to organize for these performs as in the event that they labored.

The Bears had been most likely thrilled to see the previous quarterback-turned-receiver line up out vast in his traditional spot, the place Jackson caught solely two passes for five yards. Except even when he was a receiver, Meacham nonetheless had a number of methods up his sleeve.

A backwards move from Flores to Jackson set him as much as ship a 26-yard landing strike to tight finish Josh Ford.

“It felt like quarterback days, you know,” Jackson stated, breaking into an enormous grin. “We practiced that play like 10 times. Like, we ran that play like 10 times this week, so I was pretty comfortable with it. And I just seen him wide open. I was like, wow, he is going to score that for sure. It felt good. It was like, damn, like, we just scored on that.”

Jackson completed finishing 3-of-4 passes for 46 yards and the workforce’s lone passing landing. He additionally completed with two carries for 9 yards.

He stated his huge day was closely deliberate, aside from one half. Jackson hit fellow receiver Shamar Rigby for 15 yards on second-and-13.

“We’ve never thrown there, never,” Jackson stated. “We ran that play so many instances. There, at all times the quarterback or I run it, and on that play I simply seen, like I had a little bit of time and I belief Shamar Rigby, fairly good participant, he’s a younger man too.

“But soon as I see him create that separation, I’m like, I know I can get it there, you know. But in practice, going against our defense, we ran that play 20 times, so it’s like they just sitting on it every single time and getting that look, it’s like, damn like, I can get that there.”

Of course, letting Jackson air it out was one factor. During his first three school seasons (two at TCU and one at Cal), he performed quarterback and accomplished 57-of-102 passes for 681 yards and 5 touchdowns.

But working again Trent Howland hasn’t thrown a move since his highschool days, which wrapped up again in 2020. Still, Howland took a handoff within the third quarter solely to heave the ball downfield for a 13-yard reception that set him as much as run within the 1-yard landing on the very subsequent play.

“We have our walkthroughs and stuff, and I am always slinging it around so they know I can throw the ball a little bit, and coach Meacham was like, ‘Why not let’s go out there and try it,’” Howland stated. “And we practiced it all week, and I completed them, and then I went out in the game and had my mind set on completing the pass.”

Of course, he was planning on throwing it to Jackson (who else) on that exact play. If the protection takes the move away, Howland was imagined to run it on that play, however he advised Jackson earlier than the sport that the working again had no intentions of conserving the ball.

“Told him if you’re in, I’m throwing the ball no matter what,” Howland stated. “Like, I am not running the football, and that was just my whole mindset. I took a little hit, but once I seen Royal (Capell) get open, I just slung it to him and he came down with it and he set us up for a score.”

As corny as it would sound, having enjoyable towards Baylor might carry quite a lot of weight in figuring out each the trajectory of this season and this system’s future, and in line with gamers and coaches, that was precisely what occurred on Saturday regardless of the loss.

“As humans, we have emotion, we want to be the Debbie Downer when stuff goes wrong,” Jackson stated. “That is just how it is, but I think with this team it is kinda different, especially after this game. Just seeing guys in the locker room not be like down about everything. And even though we didn’t play our best and we did not come out with the outcome that we wanted, I think that guys still have hope, and they know that we got eight games left.”

Then all the roster, besides seniors taking part in their closing season, can have a call to make come December with regard to the switch portal.

Of course, the portal is perhaps necessary for some guys. According to the ESPN broadcast crew, each Meacham and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham advised gamers that the brand new teaching workers, whoever that finally ends up being, would seemingly select to retain or not retain Cowboys based mostly on how they carry out this fall.

Of course, the gamers won’t be the one ones auditioning. During the pre-game radio sport broadcast, the voice of the Cowboys, Dave Hunziker, advised followers they are going to be put beneath the microscope for the remainder of the season by potential coaches who might need an curiosity within the head-coaching emptiness.

Other than a number of defensive stops, the group inside Boone Pickens Stadium not often cheered louder than they did when Meacham’s offense was rolling up and down the sphere.

So, though Oklahoma State was unable to really shut the hole with the Bears within the fourth quarter, the offense confirmed actual life at instances, scoring extra factors than it did in seven of the workforce’s now 12-game lively shedding streak towards FBS opponents. It felt like followers acknowledged that progress, however they weren’t the one ones.

“I don’t think anybody (on the team) is like, walking out with their heads down, like, man, we just lost another game,” Jackson stated. “I think it’s like, I can’t wait to go to Arizona and play like I can’t wait to come in (and) watch film and then start on Arizona this week. And I feel that from everybody in the locker room. So that’s a good thing.”