Oklahoma State’s Offense Hasn’t Been as Bad as Everyone Thinks

Mike Gundy said something interesting a few weeks ago about his offense. Did you catch it?

“People think if you don’t score 40 points now, you’re not a successful team,” Gundy said. “That’s not true.[1. THAT AIN’T TRUE!] They say ‘Well if you play Oregon last year, you can’t win.’ Well, that’s not who we were playing last week, that’s not the situation. Each week is different. It’s OK for the defense to play good and us to win because the defense is making plays.”

As for that offense? That maligned-on-social media offense of Oklahoma State’s that should get Mike Yurcich fired and makes us long for the days of Brandon Weeden?

It’s No. 21 in the country, averaging 37 points a game 34th in the country in yards per play. But we don’t do per-game stats, right? And some of those points came on defensive scores. And yards per play can be misleading.

“I think people are getting educated a little bit about what is good defense and what is good defense against spread offenses when having to defend 18, 19 series a game,” Glenn Spencer once said. “It’s not yardage, it’s the winning game. Saying you’re the best defense in the nation because you gave up 375 yards per game? That’s ridiculous. That has no bearing on what the best defense in the nation is; that’s the most ridiculous stat ever.”

“How are you going to win the game? How many points per possession?” Spencer asks. “We have a lot more possessions to defend than a lot of teams in the nation.”

OK coach, you asked for it. Points per drive. Here it is.

OSU offense: 2.52 scored (30th in the country)
OSU defense: 1.48 allowed (28th in the country)

You’re telling me that Oklahoma State ranks nationally pretty much the same on offense and defense in the statistical category that holds the most weight to Spencer?

I am.