CBS Sports shares major sign of respect for Oklahoma State Cowboys football coach Eric Morris

Including Drew Mestemaker, the leading quarterback in passing yards (4,379), passing touchdowns (34), and yards per attempt (9.5), the Cowboys added 17 transfers total from Morris’s North Texas Mean Green. 10 were on the offensive side of the ball. Seven were on the defense, helping Skyler Cassity, who also comes from the Mean Green as OSU’s new defensive coordinator.

Eric Morris is aiming to be the next Curt Cignetti in Stillwater

Morris’s goal, like every other first-year head coach, is to be the next Curt Cignetti. As most know by now, Cignetti transformed the Indiana Hoosiers into a playoff team in year one and a national champion in year two.

Morris has an easier road in the Big 12 with the Cowboys, but there is less margin for error, considering the Big 12 will probably always be a one-bid league. Like Cignetti brought the parts that worked with the James Madison Dukes, Morris is hoping to replicate that with North Texas.

In Stillwater, they’re hoping lightning strikes twice with that formula.