Oklahoma State Preview
October 22, 2014 03:54 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy believes that in order to throw the football better, his young football team is going to have to run it better.
That was abundantly clear in the Cowboys’ 42-9 loss at TCU last weekend – the first time in 58 straight games that Oklahoma State has failed to score at least 20 points.
Oklahoma State (5-2, 3-1) managed just 12 first downs and 258 yards of offense against the Horned Frogs, including 132 through the air. Junior quarterback Daxx Garman had a tough time throwing the football, completing just 10 of his 25 attempts with two interceptions, and Gundy believes that is a manifestation of not controlling the line of scrimmage by running the ball more effectively.
“We have to run the ball better,” said Gundy. “We actually blocked better in the run game (but) we need to protect Garman better. There were a couple of throws he made that I wasn’t fired up about. I’m not trying to defend anyone, but if we don’t run the ball better than we did Saturday and protect then it’s hard for him to operate.”
In Garman’s last two games against Kansas and TCU he is completing less than 50 percent of his pass attempts (27 of 56) for 293 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. He’s been sacked six times in those two games.
“He hasn’t played a lot of football and is continuously getting better,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. “He does a great job of throwing the deep ball. Probably the thing that concerns you more than anything is how accurate he is throwing deep balls.”
Garman became the starter when Walsh went down with a right foot injury during the Missouri State victory. Garman stepped in and passed for 244 yards and two touchdowns in the 40-23 win. Two weeks later, he passed for a season-high 370 yards and four scores in Oklahoma State’s 10-point win against Texas Tech, but he’s hit a rough stretch since then.
That’s why Gundy would like to get back to basics and take advantage of senior Desmond Roland’s powerful legs in the running game. The 210-pound Roland, who ran for a career-high 219 yards against Iowa State last season, has been solid if not spectacular through seven games so far this year. He’s run for at least 84 yards in each of his last five games against Texas-San Antonio, Texas Tech, Iowa State, Kansas and TCU, including 95 yards and two scores in wins against UTSA and Iowa State.
He averages 4.7 yards per carry for his career and has scored at least one rushing touchdown in seven of his last eight games.
Offense could also come from junior speedster Tyreek Hill in either the passing game or on special teams. Hill is one of the fastest players in college football and he has put that great speed on display by returning two kickoffs for touchdowns against Texas Tech and Iowa State.
Hill has yet to become a major factor in the passing game, catching just 19 passes for 189 yards and a 9.9 yards-per-catch average, and the West Virginia coaches would like nothing better than to keep it that way for at least another week.
“They’ll put him in the backfield. They’ll put him at receiver. They’ll move him everywhere,” said Holgorsen. “He’s one of the more dynamic guys I’ve seen.”
Junior receiver David Glidden has been Oklahoma State’s top target in the passing game with 23 catches for 324 yards and one touchdown. Jhajuan Seales and James Washington share the team lead with three touchdown catches each.
The Cowboy offense ranks 83rd in the country in rushing (150.9) and 77th in total yards (397.4), unusually low for Gundy-coached teams.
The Oklahoma State defense also ranks low against the pass (116th allowing 288.4 yards per game) and total yardage (78th giving up 420.7 yards per game) primarily because it is giving up explosive plays – something it has avoided the last two seasons.
“Defensively, they’ve been doing the same stuff for quite some time – same stuff that they were doing when I was there. I thought Oklahoma State had the best defense in the league a year ago and they’ve been hard to run the ball on.”
Since 2012, the Cowboys have been one of the best teams in the Big 12 at limiting explosive plays of 20 yards or longer with just 124 during a three-year span. However, in last Saturday’s TCU loss, Oklahoma State surrendered three long touchdowns in a five-minute span in the first quarter, including two long Trevone Boykin touchdown passes.
“They’ve got some new kids in the secondary,” said Holgorsen. “They’ve got three or four guys in the secondary who are true freshmen and those guys will continue to get better.”
The Cowboys do have some playmakers on defense, including emerging star Emmanuel Ogbah, a native of Lagos, Nigeria who moved to Texas when he was nine. Ogbah ranks sixth in the country with 11 ½ tackles for losses and seventh in sacks with seven. He was tremendous in Oklahoma State’s season-opening loss to Florida State when he had six tackles, two sacks, two TFL and two pass breakups.
Against Kansas he managed 5½ tackles for losses to establish an Oklahoma State single-game record.
Junior defensive end Jimmy Bean is another disruptive player up front with 9½ tackles for losses in his last eight games. He is also 14th nationally with two forced fumbles.
Then there is 6-foot-2-inch, 300-pound defensive tackle James Castleman, considered Oklahoma State’s most established performer. He is one of just four seniors on the Cowboy defense.
Castleman and linebacker Ryan Simmons had productive games in last year’s loss to West Virginia in Morgantown, but many of the other key contributors on that defense have moved on.
West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett made his first start against the Cowboys and passed for 309 yards in the Mountaineers’ 30-21 victory.
This year he’s thrown for at least 300 yards in all seven games, including a career-high 511 yards in West Virginia’s 40-37 victory at Maryland. Only once against Kansas has Trickett failed to complete at least 50 percent of his throws and he is completing 68.2 percent of his attempts for the season with 15 touchdown passes and just five interceptions.
“They have a quarterback who has matured and is playing with confidence,” said Gundy. “He’s considerably better than what he was eight or 10 games ago.”
Senior Kevin White has become one of the game’s top offensive threats with 69 catches for 1,020 yards and seven touchdowns. He has at least 100 yards receiving in all seven games this year and has caught at least one touchdown pass in six of them.
“They’ve got a great receiver who is going to play the game for a long time, in my opinion,” Gundy said of White.
In last week’s 14-point win against Baylor, he caught eight passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns while drawing six penalties against the Bear secondary (five accepted and one declined).
However, the real story of last Saturday’s game was an improving Mountaineer defense that limited the nation’s No. 1-ranked offense below 400 yards (318) for only the third time in its last 47 games dating back to 2011.
West Virginia got to Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty four times (three sacks by senior defensive end Shaquille Riddick) and held the Bears’ touted run game to just 95 yards and an average of 2.3 yards per carry.
“Getting to the quarterback was the key to the game,” said Holgorsen. “We can talk about man coverage, which was as good as I’ve seen since I’ve been here, we can talk about the next guy in with depth, it’s all good stuff, but unless you get to the quarterback that doesn’t matter.”
The Mountaineers were able to hold Baylor down without both starting corners, Terrell Chestnut and Daryl Worley, who left the game in the first quarter with injuries. Their status for Saturday’s Oklahoma State game is unclear.
“It was a very physical game – one of the more physical games that I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Holgorsen. “We had a lot of guys banged up and beat up.”
West Virginia was also able to slow down Baylor without producing a single turnover – a recurring theme this year. The Mountaineers have yet to recover a fumble and only show four interceptions through seven games to rank 122nd in the country in turnovers gained.
They have made up for it in third-down defense (28th nationally), fourth-down defense (eighth) and tackles for loss (36th).
Junior linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski leads the team with 55 tackles and nine tackles for losses while junior safety Karl Joseph is also having another productive year with 52 tackles.
“We’re pretty confident bunch defensively right now,” said Holgorsen. “(Defensive coordinator Tony) Gibson, I can’t express what he’s been able to do with the guys. It’s been fun to watch.”
We’ll see if it can continue this Saturday in Stillwater.
Saturday’s game will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. (ET) and will be televised nationally on ESPN.
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