Bye-Week Checklist: OSU Has Plenty of Work to Do to Save Its Season

The Pokes are on a much-needed open week after their worst start to conference play since Mike Gundy’s first. Aches and bruises need mending, egos and psyches need a triage center. Don’t expect Gundy and Taylor Cornelius to show up bare-chested when they reconvene at Homecoming and Hoops.

So let’s take a look at four things that Gundy and his team need to accomplish over the bye week.

1. Get Healthy

There are a handful of  Pokes who can make use of this extra week to rehab their bodies before the Longhorns come to graze. Dillon Stoner and Malcolm Rodriguez have both been dinged up, but both played against Kansas State. Calvin Bundage is still nursing his lower extremity issues back to health so this week should also do him good.

Arlington Hambright’s absence the last two weeks has necessitated unwanted shuffling of O-Line personnel. Gundy had talked about him being a possibility two weeks ago. If he participate in the Homecoming activities it would be a boon for the Cowboys.

2. Get Stingy

The Cowboys defense, while wildly successful in getting to the quarterback, has fallen on its face in just about every other facet of limiting the opposition. According to BCF Toys, it is 57th in defensive efficiency and No. 77 allowing 2.33 points per drive. Third-down defense? No. 65 nationally. Forced turnovers? No. 68.

OSU’s given up 99 plays of 10 yards or more (T-103rd) and 40 of over 20 (No. 115) It’s 22nd in red zone scoring percentage but only No. 53 allowing TDs on 56.5 percent of those trips. You get the picture.

The Jim Knowles experiment (thus far) has not been a success in the Big 12. After allowing 17 points per game to a pair of cupcakes and an apparently overrated Boise squad, the Pokes are whiffing on 37 points per game to league opponents. That ain’t gonna cut it when you don’t reach 20 in two of those games.

I don’t know that it’s an entire scheme change that’s needed, or just a nuanced tweak or two. But this defense doesn’t seem to be on the same page, and what’s worse, doesn’t seem to be playing for each other. Knowles has plenty on his plate as a first-year Big 12 DC, but it’s time to put on his big boy pants on and rally the troops.

3. Get Clean

Coaches always talk about “controlling what you can control.” But the Cowboys have been mostly horrendous at that through seven games. OSU is T-96th in penalties per game (7.4) and No. 114 with 73.4 penalty yards per game. And they seem to come at the worst possible time.

Add to that the fact that a special teams snafu is lurking around every corner and good old Pistol Pete is going to run out of toes to shoot off.

4. Get Creative

The Cowboys are fresh off of their worst offensive showing since the incoming Longhorns bulled them over 28-7 in Stillwater in 2014. At this point, you’re in serious danger of missing the postseason, something I might have wagered against a Gundy-coached team ever doing again. (Would also be a first since 2005.)

What’s worse, you have the No. 2 ranked remaining strength of schedule in the nation according to ESPN with only two of five games at home and those against current top 15 competition. Oh yeah, and a trip to Norman to see what the Cowboys can do to boost Kyler Murray’s Heisman campaign.

Everything is on the table — trick plays, personnel moves, the actual playbook. Gundy said during his weekly teleconference that his door is always open to his players, even adding that he issued an open invitation for them to suggest ways to improve. First, I’m not sure how to feel about that. And second, it’s obvious that Gundy is searching for answers and that this team is in put up or shut up mode. Hell, maybe they’re way past that.

But there is still a point of pride and you’ve got 17 seniors and Justice Hill who have put blood, sweat and eligibility into this thing. There are no throwaway seasons. Tomorrow is not promised. And oh yeah, recruiting matters too. If you’re Mike Gundy, you’ve got to find some way to squeeze at least two wins out of this remaining gauntlet.