OSU Talking Points
BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
10/03/12 at 5:55 AM
Mixed signals
OSU was good and bad defensively against Texas.
The good? The Cowboys held the Longhorn offense without a point for nearly 2 1/2 quarters (from 7:31 of the first quarter until 0:43 of the third quarter). UT, which had punted just five times in three non-conference games, punted four times in Stillwater. And the Horns were held to only 59 rushing yards through three quarters.
The bad? Texas ended the game by scoring three times in four possessions. All of those drives ended in touchdowns, and all of them covered 75 yards.
OSU's offense was on the field for only nine minutes and 28 seconds during the second half. Did the Cowboy defense get tired?
"We weren't scoring as fast as they were," Texas coach Mack Brown said afterward. "But we were pounding them and our offensive line took over the last few drives."
Mike Gundy jumped to the same conclusion. The OSU coach assumed that the Longhorns "wore us down a little bit in the running game." Then he watched film and changed his mind. He said defenders getting out of their gaps was a bigger factor than the Cowboys getting worn down.
Critical downs
When it was mentioned to Gundy that the defense produced a mixed bag performance against Texas, he said this:
"Defensively, it's kind of easy to explain. We've got to improve on third down."
Texas, which entered the game with conversion percentages of 60 percent on third down and 80 percent on fourth down, was as good as advertised. The Longhorns cashed 9-of-17 third down tries and 3-of-3 fourth down tries at Boone Pickens Stadium.
UT sophomore quarterback David Ash hit his first eight third-down passes (not all of them resulted in first downs) and finished 9-of-11 on third-down throws. A backbreaker came when he turned a fourth-and-6 predicament into a 29-yard pass play during the game-deciding touchdown drive.
Will the breaks on critical downs eventually even out during the course of the season? Or is there anything the Cowboy defense can do to improve its success rate?
"You have got to make a play and I think sometimes coaches can have a scheme drawn up or a blitz and it's a chess game between the coordinators," Gundy said.
"They get a guy turned loose in a blitz scheme and have some sort of a coverage based on the play call that really matches it up well or at some point a lineman or a skill guy just makes a play on either side of the ball. That's really what it comes down to - execution on offense in those crucial situations and then defensively you have got to be in the right spot and you have got to get a guy down in space and make a tackle."
Examples came Saturday night, according to Gundy. He said Texas threw screen passes on third-and-medium and third-and-long and OSU defenders missed tackles. If you get the ballcarrier on the ground, here comes the punter.
"Now, offensively, the flip-side of that, we have said - and I have said it as an offensive coordinator - that (if) we throw a screen out there and we get a couple of blocks, you've got to make a guy miss and get the first down. So I think there is a lot of truth in looking at it both ways."
Perfect and imperfect
Oklahoma State leads the nation in red-zone offense. The Cowboys are 25-of-25 on red-zone scoring opportunities. And it wasn't good enough against Texas.
Why? Because the Cowboys scored more field goals (three) than touchdowns (two) when they snapped the ball inside the Longhorns' 20.
"Great offenses like theirs, you have to win in the red zone," Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said afterward. "They're too dynamic. They're too good. And they're going to move the ball between the 20s. There were a bunch of red-zone stops - even the ones where we held them to field goals - that ... were vital in the football game."
The Cowboys settled for field goals on drives that stalled at the 6, 20 and 7. A false-start penalty sabotaged the first of them. J.W. Walsh threw consecutive incompletions on second-and-8 and third-and-8 on the drive that ended at the 20. And, in the fourth quarter, Joseph Randle was limited to a 2-yard run on third-and-6.
"We just have to find a way to win the game, not kick field goals," OSU offensive coordinator Todd Monken said.
OSU Statistics
|
OSU |
OPP |
| Scoring |
223 |
124 |
| Per game |
55.8 |
31.0 |
| First downs |
126 |
83 |
| by rushing |
65 |
30 |
| by passing |
58 |
44 |
| by penalty |
3 |
9 |
| Rushing yards |
1200 |
485 |
| Avg. per game |
300.0 |
121.2 |
| Passing yards |
1436 |
971 |
| Avg. per game |
359.0 |
242.8 |
| Offensive plays |
334 |
305 |
| Total yards |
2636 |
1456 |
| Avg. per play |
7.9 |
4.8 |
| Avg. per game |
659.0 |
364.0 |
| Kick returns-Yds |
16-418 |
6-178 |
| Punt returns-Yds |
18-189 |
3-17 |
| Interceptions-Yds |
3-7 |
6-83 |
| Fumbles-Lost |
4-2 |
5-1 |
| Penalties-Yds |
31-317 |
27-174 |
| Punts-Avg. |
8-44.1 |
27-39.8 |
| 3rd downs |
33-56 |
26-67 |
| 4th downs |
2-4 |
4-6 |
| Sacks by-Yds |
8-69 |
2-11 |
Individual leaders
Y/A=Yards/attempt; Y/G=Yards/game
| RUSHING |
No. |
Yds |
Y/A |
Y/G |
TD |
| J. Randle |
75 |
534 |
7.1 |
133.5 |
6 |
| D. Roland |
25 |
180 |
7.2 |
45.0 |
4 |
| J. Smith |
29 |
172 |
5.9 |
43.0 |
4 |
| J. Walsh |
18 |
159 |
8.8 |
39.8 |
1 |
| C. Bennett |
12 |
91 |
7.6 |
45.5 |
1 |
| C. Muncrief |
11 |
43 |
3.9 |
14.3 |
0 |
| J. Stewart |
1 |
16 |
16.0 |
4.0 |
0 |
| C. Chelf |
2 |
5 |
2.5 |
2.5 |
0 |
| PASSING |
C-A-Int |
Yds |
Y/G |
TD |
| J. Walsh |
52-78-2 |
797 |
199.2 |
8 |
| W. Lunt |
51-75-3 |
588 |
196.0 |
4 |
| RECEIVING |
No. |
Yds |
Y/A |
Y/G |
TD |
| J. Stewart |
24 |
289 |
12.0 |
72.2 |
3 |
| T. Moore |
17 |
221 |
13.0 |
73.7 |
4 |
| B. Jackson |
13 |
243 |
18.7 |
60.8 |
1 |
| J. Randle |
11 |
89 |
8.1 |
22.2 |
0 |
| I. Anderson |
8 |
105 |
13.1 |
26.2 |
0 |
| A. Hays |
8 |
77 |
9.6 |
77.0 |
1 |
| C. Moore |
6 |
94 |
15.7 |
23.5 |
0 |
| PUNT RETURNS |
No. |
Yds |
Avg. |
TD |
| C. Moore |
6 |
55 |
9.2 |
0 |
| D. Glidden |
6 |
27 |
4.5 |
0 |
| KICK RETURNS |
No. |
Yds |
Avg. |
TD |
| J. Gilbert |
10 |
304 |
30.4 |
0 |
| C. Muncrief |
2 |
42 |
21.0 |
0 |
| PUNTING |
No. |
Yds |
Avg. |
I20 |
| Q. Sharp |
8 |
353 |
44.1 |
3 |
| KICKING |
FG-A |
Long |
PAT |
| Q. Sharp |
7-9 |
51 |
28-28 |
| DEFENSE |
Tackles |
TFL |
Sacks |
INT |
FR |
| D. Lowe |
21 |
2.0 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
| A. Elkins |
20 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| S. Lewis |
17 |
3.5 |
1.5 |
0 |
0 |
| C. Lavey |
17 |
2.0 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
| S. Gary |
17 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| J. Castleman |
16 |
3.0 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
| J. Gilbert |
15 |
1.5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| B. Brown |
14 |
1.0 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
| C. Barnett |
11 |
3.5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| R. Robinson |
10 |
3.0 |
1.5 |
0 |
0 |
| N. Ornelas |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| C. Bassett |
9 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| N. Nicholas |
8 |
1.0 |
0.5 |
0 |
0 |
UP NEXT
Oklahoma State (2-2, 0-1) at Kansas (1-3, 0-1)
2:30 p.m. Oct. 13
TV: FSOK-27
Radio: KFAQ am1170
SCHEDULE
Tickets: tulsaworld.com/osusports
Sept. 1: vs. Savannah State W, 84-0
Sept. 8: at Arizona L, 59-38
Sept. 15: vs. La.-Lafayette W, 65-24
Sept. 29: vs. Texas L, 41-36
Oct. 13: at Kansas (FSOK-27) 2:30 p.m.
Oct. 20: vs. Iowa State TBD
Oct. 27: vs. TCU TBD
Nov. 3: at Kansas State TBD
Nov. 10: vs. West Virginia TBD
Nov. 17: vs. Texas Tech TBD
Nov. 24: at Oklahoma TBD
Dec. 1: at Baylor TBD
Associated Images:
Oklahoma State's Shaun Lewis (left), James Castleman and Caleb Lavey tackle Kyle Ashby of Texas on Saturday night in Stillwater. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
Oklahoma State's Charlie Moore tries to keep the game alive by pitching the ball as he is tackled to end the game by Quandre Diggs of Texas. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World
|
