PFF Stats Show Just How Much of a Struggle Running the Ball Has Been for Gordon, Oklahoma State

Pro Football Focus stats provide good context on certain things but aren’t always metrics to live your life by.

My eyes have told me this season, though, that Oklahoma State has had a tough time figuring out how to run the ball (so, I’m not blind, I guess). The PFF stats surrounding OSU’s star tailback Ollie Gordon provide evidence for just how tough the sledding has been for him this season with teams often assigning another player to the box to try to stop him.

PFF has Gordon at 236 rushing yards (different than his official total of 258). Of those 236 yards PFF credits to Gordon, the outlet has 197 of those yards (83%) coming AFTER contact. Of the 1,732 yards PFF had for Gordon last season, only 61% of those yards came after contact.

Looking elsewhere in the country, Kaleb Johnson (Iowa), Ashton Jeanty (Boise State) and Omarion Hampton (North Carolina) are leading the country in rushing right now, per PFF. Of their rushing yards, though, 67% of Johnson’s, 60% of Jeanty’s and 70% of Hampton’s yards have come after contact. Still on average a higher percentage than Gordon’s 2023 season, but that leading trio is certainly finding more room than Gordon right now.

PFF has Gordon ranking 88th nationally in rushing a season after he led the country in the stat, but despite that No. 88 ranking in the country, Gordon’s 197 yards after contact rank 43rd nationally.

PFF also breaks down runs by direction. Last season, Gordon averaged 9.9 yards a carry when running outside the right tackle, going for 228 yards and four touchdowns on 23 attempts. That’s still Gordon’s best direction in terms of yards per carry, but instead of being 9.9 yards a rush, he’s at 5.3 yards a carry on just three attempts this season.

Running outside the tackles has been something of a fan outcry this season, as the orange-clad faithful think back to Gordon’s 12-yard touchdown run against Arkansas on a quick pitch the the left. Well, according to PFF, Gordon’s been better, albeit slightly, running between the tackles. PFF has Gordon at 41 carries for 125 yards (3.0 yards per carry) outside the tackles and 31 carries for 111 yards (3.6 yards per carry) inside. So regardless of which direction Gordon is headed, little room has been available.

Going beyond the advanced stats from PFF, Gordon ran for below 4.0 yards a carry in just two games last season. In four games this season, that has happened three times already.

“When we’ve had equal numbers in the box or a half-man disadvantage, we’ve run the ball effectively,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said Monday. “But when we’ve had one to two extra people in the box, we’ve not been as effective, which is kind of the way it’s gonna be. There’s not anything we need to change from a scheme standpoint — we need to improve a little bit in fundamentals and technique and things that we would work on every year. But from a change standpoint, there’s no reason to change anything right now.”

Therein lies the quagmire OSU finds itself in right now. Teams are loading the box to stop Gordon, which means the Cowboys have to excel in the passing game. They didn’t do that Saturday, playing so poorly in the quarterback department that Alan Bowman was benched and re-inserted. That game against the Utes might’ve also provided evidence to other teams that they just need to find a way to contain Gordon to have defensive success.

The most dumbfounding part of all of this is essentially nothing has changed from last season. Gordon is still Gordon. Bowman is still the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. The offensive line is, for the most part, unchanged. Sure, Jason Brooks Jr. isn’t around anymore after entering the portal, but he missed a decent chunk of last season with injury. And Arizona State transfer Isaia Glass has filled in for longtime starter at right tackle Jake Springfield the past two games, but Glass was already splitting reps at left tackle with returning starter Dalton Cooper before that. On top of that, the Cowboys are seemingly better at receiver now than they were last season with De’Zhaun Stribling returning from injury to slot in alongside Brennan Presley and 2023 breakout Rashod Owens. The coordinator and position coaches are the same, but somehow the results just aren’t.

Perhaps this is all an overreaction. Perhaps Utah is just a good team that sold out on stopping Gordon while Bowman had an off day. Or perhaps teams have figured out how to stop this OSU’s run game and in turn, the Cowboys as a whole. OSU will have another chance to figure things out Saturday when it heads to Manhattan and play Kansas State at 11 a.m.

“Man, we’re just gonna have to keep doing what we’re doing and chipping away, focusing on the little things,” right guard Preston Wilson said. “Each week, we’ll just break down film and see where we can be better. Obviously most weeks you watch film they’ve got extra guys in the box. So even if we do get our guys scraped up, sometimes somebody’s gonna have to figure out how to get two or we’re gonna have to make a guy miss. Sometimes there’s eight guys in the box and running back’s gonna have to find a way to make two guys miss.

“Ultimately, we’ll just take what they give us. We keep chipping away week by week and grinding, and we know that Coach (Charlie) Dickey’s installed a lot of good stuff — Coach (Kasey) Dunn, Coach Gundy. We’ll take our coaching tips and continue to grind and improve.”