Oklahoma State Hopes to See Improvement Defensively in Week 2
Oklahoma State gets back on its Saturday gameday schedule as they welcome Arizona State to Stillwater in Week 2.
Cowboys’ fans enjoyed most of their team’s Week 1 win over Central Michigan, but as the game went on, some issues started to show themselves. Particularly on the defensive side of the ball.
The issues in question were that, at a certain point in the game, OSU physically could not stop the Chippewas from scoring and scoring with ease. It was a total reversal of what happened throughout most of the game, where the Cowboy offense could not be contained and Derek Mason’s defense looked like it was picking up right where last years’ squad left off.
The Cowboys looked spectacular all around for the first three quarters of last week’s 58-44 win. They led the Chippewas 51-22 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, then suffered a major collapse on defense by giving up 22 points in the following quarter.
The sole reason for this is relatively unknown. Mike Gundy blamed it on the youth of the defense, which could be possibly true due to all the guys with little to no experience that got significant playing time, especially in that disastrous fourth quarter.
But I think it is both a combination of that youth and the fact that the defensive coaching staff didn’t seem to make any adjustments as the game went along. Central Michigan’s offense was obviously adjusting to what OSU’s defense was doing, but it seemed like Derek Mason was content with just sitting on the lead the offense built and sticking with what had been working for them up to that point.
After losing Jim Knowles, the master of mid game adjustments, it was strange watching the OSU defense completely fall apart in the final quarter. Especially to a team like Central Michigan.
I do, however, believe that both of these issues will be fixed as the season goes along. Getting more reps will only help these young guys get better, and Mason will improve at making adjustments when needed.
Many fans immediately hit the panic button when CMU finished with more points than any of OSU’s opponents a year ago, but Oklahoma State fans should know more than anyone not to base our team’s season off of the first game. Last year’s Big 12 runner-up Cowboys squad survived one-score games with both Missouri State and Tulsa in the first two weeks.
In conclusion, yes, OSU had some concerning defensive problems in week one, but they are problems that will ultimately work themselves out as we go and that should not be indicative of the season as a whole.
