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THE DEFENSES
| STATISTIC |  |
 |
| Passes Broken Up | 39 | 35 |
| QB Hurries | 10 | 24 |
| Fumbles Forced | 3 | 5 |
| Interceptions | 7 | 6 |
| Sacks | 14.0 | 18.0 |
| Tackles for Loss | 51.0 | 59.0 |
| 3rd Down Conversion % | 36.62% | 33.89% |
| Rushing Yards Allowed | 152.30 (54, 6) | 129.22 (26, 3) |
| Rushing Avg. Yards/Attempt | 4.12 | 3.497 |
| Passing Yards Allowed | 172.30 (11, 2) | 259.56 (96, 6) |
| Passing Avg Yards/Attempt | 6.0 | 6.6 |
Fairly comparable over the course of the season, but Oklahoma St. has much better rushing numbers defensively and that's troublesome. I'm a little surprised by the passing yards given up. I'm thinking that the very good defensive coordinator has essentially told them that they damn well better stop the run. Take out the Kansas St. game where they gave up a ton of yards, the rush defense has been pretty good, except for Kansas. Kansas is everyone's thorn in their side.
Other than those overall numbers, the other really surprising ting has been the turnovers, or lack thereof. Last year, Oklahoma St. had 44 turnovers on the year, to lead the NCAA. Now they only have 11. That's astounding, the turnaround. Sometimes turnovers are luck, sometimes they are style of play, sometimes they are because of gifted players and sometimes they are because of exceptional coaching. But last year was a perfect storm for Oklahoma St. as they had an offense that could score almost as well as Baylor and a defense that was giving that offense an average of 3.38 additional opportunities to score each and every game.
Think about what that does for an offense and how ridiculous that is. This year, they are only giving their offense an additional 1.2 opportunities and like Texas Tech, are near the bottom of the NCAA in overall takeaways.
THE OFFENSES
| STATISTIC | |
|
| Red Zone TD % | 67.92% (36/53) | 62.00% (31/50) |
| 3rd Down Conversion % | 49.63% | 46.92% |
| Passing Yards | 370.00 (1, 1) | 348.78 (4, 3) |
| Yards/Passing Attempt | 8.0 | 9.0 |
| Rushing Yards | 136.70 (86, 9) | 212.33 (22, 3) |
| Rushing Yards Per Attempt | 4.42 | 5.34 |
| Touchdowns | Turnovers | 49 | 15 | 48 | 19 |
| Turnover Margin | -0.50 | -0.89 |
| Yards/Play | 6.55 | 7.15 |
| Pass Attempt / Sacks Allowed | 30.93 | 58.00 |
This is really an explosive offense and no one is really talking about Oklahoma St. as being an offensive powerhouse other than those people in Stillwater. They have had three quarterbacks this year and are still 4th in the nation in total offense and third in scoring offense. Yes, there was a time that Harrell and Leach helped introduce the spread, but that's really not giving enough credit to Todd Monken, who is just lighting things up. I thought for sure that the Cowboys would slow down this year, without two first round picks, but they just continue to roll. Also interesting is that Oklahoma St. and Texas Tech are nearly dead-even on total touchdowns, with Texas Tech ahead by one, but Oklahoma St. is 3rd in the country in scoring and Texas Tech is 18th. OSU has played one less game so that's the difference.
I am surprised about the red zone touchdown percentage and the third down percentage. I figured for as explosive as an offense that they would be better in those categories.
I am very much impressed with the average of 9.0 yards per passing attempt. That's really impressive, but when you have a very good running game, it helps out everywhere. Yes, OSU got a ton of rushing yards in non-conference play, an average of 308, but they have rushed for over 100 yards in all but one game, Kansas St.
All helmet images via MG's Helmets and thanks to College Football Statistics for these stats.