This 2015 Oklahoma State Team Is Not What Everyone Thinks It Is

In our podcast earlier this week, Carson Cunningham and I disagreed about what we’re going to see in Austin this weekend. Carson thinks OSU is going to open it up a little bit on offense. I don’t think that’s what they’re fundamentally built to do.

This is a team, as it was pointed out to me by friend of the blog Ryan Frakes, that is not unlike that 2013 OSU team that was a Justin Gilbert pick from winning its second Big 12 title in three years. Consistent, if not plodding, on offense, elite on defense and adept at taking the ball away and providing extra possessions.

This team, unlike Mike Gundy teams when Todd Monken and Dana Holgorsen took up residence in Stillwater, is not going to throttle you with breakneck speed on offense and a “go for the jugular” mentality from its QB. It is going to wear you out and, ultimately, crush your will.

If you read between the lines (and I do love to do this), Mike Yurcich has been saying this all year.

“He took what the defense gave him, didn’t force the ball downfield, his decision-making was good and that’s what we expect from him every week,” said Yurcich about Mason Rudolph about the UTSA game. “I think our offensive line did a great job. I thought we ran the ball very well. I thought the quarterback made good decisions.”

Good decisions, good decisions, good decisions. Yurcich sounds less like a killer OC and more like a parent.

This is the plan.

Heck, you can just take one look at Rudolph’s stat line for the year (62/90 for 947 yards, 5 TDs and 1 INT) to know that OSU is intent on not putting its offense in dangerous situations. They’re a front-running offense. Not built to come from behind. Glenn Spencer’s defense is where the pressure is felt. That’s why Spencer loses sleep over an inability to create turnovers.

“I’ve been laboring and sweating it out,” Spencer said on Saturday after OSU forced seven of them in the UTSA game. “I’ve been stressing for us to cause them and for us to get them was one of those exhale moments. Hopefully those things are contagious and hopefully that keeps some blood in the water and it’ll make them crave it more. So we’ll just keep attacking like we always have.”

In 2013, OSU’s turnover margin per game was 1.15 which was good for No. 4 in the country that year. That’s an extra possession you’re gaining and your opponent is losing throughout the course of a game where you might normally only get 12-13. That’s huge. OSU only turned it over 18 times that entire season (top 35 in the country). Compare that to 2012 when it turned the ball over 22 times in the last of the high-flying offenses we’ve seen in the Gundy era.[1. 23 turnovers in 2011, 22 in 2010.]

Now listen to Mason Rudolph.

“I’m trying to eliminate the turnovers,” said Rudolph after throwing a pick against Central Arkansas earlier this season. “I’ve been trying to do that since the first two games. We were happy as a team to not turn the ball over and still put points on the board.”

Look, let’s not act like this is a bad thing. It’s just a different philosophy. And it creates a lot of stress for your defense so you better be sure that side can handle it. Now, this doesn’t excuse the screens to the sidelines and everything else that can be infuriating about this offense, it just puts it in a different light.

When I say there’s a misperception about this this OSU team and our expectations, this is what I mean. We are not Baylor (anymore). We might not even be OU. We are crazy deep on the defensive side and while the rest of the Big 12 is zigging (winning with points), we are zagging (winning with turnovers and defense) and you know what, that’s a really smart move.

Because in a world that loves to fall in step with the leader (Baylor), it’s the person or team that’s willing to step a little outside of the box that can ultimately overthrow the current regime. You’re not going to out-Baylor Baylor or out-TCU TCU, but you might be able to nip them where they don’t see it coming.

Everybody in the Big 12 is going to see how many points they can score this season. OSU is going to try and see how few they can allow.

Game on.