2017 Offense Keeps Pace with 2011 Through Two Weeks

One of the fun things about Oklahoma State having a great team this year is that you get to compare it to other great teams it has had. There are no right answers here, of course — Mike Gundy used the Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers comparison — but it’s still fun as hell to discuss.

With that, here are *probably* the two best offenses in school history against one another through the first two games of their respective seasons.

Thru Game 2	2011	2017
Yards	1,260	1,145
Yards per play	7.4	8.1
Rush yards	405	495
Yards per carry	5.4	6.7
Pass yards	855	650
Yards per attempt	8.9	9.7
Points	98	103
Points per game	49	51.5
Points per drive	3.38	3.87
First downs	56	54
Leading passer	Weeden — 393 YPG	Rudolph — 319 YPG
Leading rusher	Randle — 125 YPG	Hill/King — 80 YPG
Leading receiver	Blackmon — 136 YPG	Washington — 122 YPG

As you can see, the 2017 team has been a tad more efficient both in a yards-per-play and points-per-drive perspective (Yurcich > Monken?) but it has also faced lesser competition. The 2011 team played Louisiana and Arizona in the first two games. Not elite, but better than Tulsa and South Alabama.

The part that is striking to me is how many yards per game Weeden slung it for. My gosh. He was putting up four hundy a night like it was nothing. And he didn’t have the riches at WR that Rudolph has (although he did have maybe the best WR to ever play college football).

The other number I’ve got my eye on as it relates to this 2017 team is whether it can sustain that yards per carry mark throughout the year. For all the fireworks, what that 2011 team did best was run the ball when it really needed to. I think (hope!) this 2017 team is of the same ilk, but as the competition stiffens, the numbers will be revealing.