Oklahoma State's Offensive Struggles Continue to Hurt the Defense

Oklahoma State’s defense is not perfect, but it may need to be to make up for the offense.

OSU continued a troubling trend in its loss to South Alabama on Saturday. The OSU offense has continually failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities and has left all the pressure on the defense to make up for it.

The Cowboys scored only seven points in their disappointing loss, and they wasted no time wasting a possession against the Jaguars. On the game’s first drive, surprise starter Alan Bowman threw a pass to Jaden Bray in stride as he headed toward the end zone.

However, Bray dropped the potential touchdown on first down, Bowman threw a couple of incompletions, and the Cowboys had to punt. It was the first of the Cowboys’ nine punts against the Jaguars.

While the OSU defense had its faults in giving up 23 first-half points, the offense often forced it to defend a shorter field. After OSU’s first drive with the potential touchdown drop, it did not make it into USA territory again in the first half.

The shortest field the Jaguars had was at the 17-yard line after Bowman threw an interception. The Jaguars’ La’Damian Webb ran for a touchdown on the first play of the drive and put them up 16-0 just before the first quarter ended.

That touchdown run was part of the defense’s most significant problem: giving up big plays. As bad as the OSU offense was, the defense gave up backbreaking gains to USA throughout the night.

Those big gains often came on touchdowns, as the 17-yard score from Webb was the Jaguars’ shortest touchdown of the night. Their other touchdowns included a 65-yard touchdown run from Webb to cap off the game and two Carter Bradley throws from 39 and 57 yards out.

OSU has given up explosive plays over the years, but this game was another reminder that the days of OSU’s offense being explosive are in the past. USA had one of the worst passing defenses in the FBS coming into the game, but OSU threw for only 114 yards.

With only 208 total yards, the Cowboys’ offense never matched the explosive plays their defense gave up. The Cowboys had only four plays of 15+ yards the entire game, their largest a 21-yard scramble by Gunnar Gundy.

The offense does not necessarily need to be explosive for OSU to succeed, but it needs to move the ball downfield consistently. If it cannot figure out how to do so, OSU will continue to be too reliant on the defense, which is still a work in progress.

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