Drew Mestemaker delivers encouraging take on 'hostile' crowd at Milan Puskar Stadium

The West Virginia Mountaineers took their first loss of the season in disappointing fashion against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. And while there were concerning aspects about West Virginia's on-field play against Oklahoma State,the bright spot of the eveningwas undoubtedly the home crowd turnout at Milan Puskar Stadium.

West Virginia's fans packed out the stadium in Morgantown, creating a sea of gold in the stands for the Gold Rush theme and raising the decibel level to ear-shattering levels. It wasa near-capacity crowd with over 57,000 fans in attendance, and all but a collection of seats in the upper-deck of the stadium were filled.

The roar of the crowd impacted Oklahoma State's offense a few times, and after the game, starting Cowboys quarterback Drew Mestemaker let it be known just how difficult an environment WVU's fans created for his team.

"100 percent the most hostile for sure,"Mestemaker saidwhen asked if it was the most hostile road environment he'd played in. "And whenever you win a big game like that and whenever you make those big plays and everything goes quiet, it feels good running down the field. It was definitely the best away game environment I've ever played in."

Milan Puskar Stadium's atmosphere on Saturday was exactly what West Virginia football needs

It's hard to dispute that in college football, one of the best advantages a team can have is a rowdy road environment. And you could see that in effect multiple times as the raucous crowd made enough noise to force Oklahoma State false starts on two separate occasions, including once on an early 4th-&-2 as the Cowboys attempted a 4th-down conversion in West Virginia territory.

Milan Puskar Stadium used to be an environment that was feared by opponents, and a recruiting tool that could attract players who wanted to play in front of one of the best environments in college football. And while West Virginia's not all the way back to that level yet, Saturday was a good first step.

And if it's hard to believe that despite the loss, just listen to what Mestemaker said about the atmosphere on Saturday night. That's an NFL-caliber quarterback showering the opposing fan base with praise, dubbing West Virginia's stadium as the most hostile road environment he's ever played in. And if that's a trend which can continue for the Mountaineers, that will be a major boon to the program moving forward.

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