How Bad is Oklahoma State’s Secondary?

Defense? You talkin’ ’bout “defense“?

In the high-flying, stat-line-filling Big 12, why would we bother with such things? Saturday night we saw the Sooners and the Red Raiders square off in a prime-time example of drive-stopping futility, which further put the conference in its place as far as national minds are concerned.

But we (around here) know all the qualifiers: Playing these types of offenses would stretch any defense thin. If Auburn had to play Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Baylor, they wouldn’t be third nationally in scoring defense.

That being said, Oklahoma State has had a glaring weakness this season; they’re giving up the deep ball. Let’s take a look at the numbers. For the sake of comparing apples to apples, we will be mainly looking at how the Cowboys stack up against other Big 12 competition.

As far as passing defense is concerned the Cowboys are tied for seventh in the league (106th nationally) with opponents averaging 267.1 yards per game. They’ve also given up 14 passing touchdowns which ranks sixth in the conference.

But it’s more than just an issue of yards allowed per game. The Cowboys have always given up yards. In fact, Oklahoma State has been in the bottom half of the league in passing yards allowed for nearly a decade.

The problem is that Oklahoma State defensive backs are giving up a lot of big plays. When compared to their peers (other Big 12 secondary groups) they have shown a propensity to get beat deep.

It’s going to happen occasionally when you play the Baylor’s or Texas Tech’s of this world. It shouldn’t be happening at this clip and it shouldn’t happen against Kansas and Central Michigan.

Here’s what the numbers say

On long plays from scrimmage, the Cowboys rank ninth in the conference having given up 42 plays of 20 yards or more. On plays of 30 yards or more they are also ranked ninth with 23 plays.

I used all long plays from scrimmage since the secondary is involved once a rusher gets to that level on running plays, as well. This is not solely the secondary’s fault of course, but I think we can all agree that it has been the weakest link of the defense this year.

On plays of over 50 yards, the Cowboys have given up 10!!! That’s last place in the conference and would tie for last place for all of the 2015 season. We’re seven games in!

This year’s averages compared to last year

• 10+ yard plays allowed per game – 13.86 (2016) / 15.69 (2015)
• 20+ yard plays allowed per game – 6.0 (2016) / 5.30 (2015)
• 30+ yard plays allowed per game – 3.29 (2016) / 2.46 (2015)
• 40+ yard plays allowed per game – 2.0 (2016) / 1.38 (2015)
• 50+ yard plays allowed per game – 1.43 (2016) / 0.54 (2015)
• 60+ yard plays allowed per game – 0.57 (2016) / 0.31 (2015)

When we look at 10+ yard plays from scrimmage, this year’s team is actually a little better than last year’s. But a 10-yard play is not exactly an odd occurrence in the Big 12. It’s those 20-plus yard chunk plays where we really see the damage. How about those 50+ yard plays? That’s more than a 260 percent increase from last season.

As we know, one big play can make a huge difference in a game. Think about the Baylor game. The Bears landed several haymakers that could have been avoided, any one of which probably makes the difference in that game. And let’s not forget about CMU. Whether it should have occurred or not, the Cowboys gave up a big play that lost them the game.

We knew the depth at cornerback would be a question coming into the season. The group is without its No. 1 cover-corner from last year in Kevin Peterson and another starter, Michael Hunter. Ramon Richards is an extra-experienced junior but gambles a lot.

Redshirt-senior Ashton Lampkin is experienced, as well as redshirt-senior Lenzy Pipkens who transferred over from Louisiana-Monroe. Behind them is a slew of freshmen and special teams players.

Whether you think the issues lie in coaching schemes or come at the individual player level, it’s pretty clear that the Cowboys won’t reach their goals if they can’t shore up the back end of their defense.

That challenge will continue this Saturday as they welcome West Virginia’s duo of receivers, Shelton Gibson and Daikiel Shorts Jr., who have combined for nearly 1,000 yards in six games.