How Houston’s NCAA-Leading Third-Down Offense Stacks Up Against OSU’s Third-Down Defense

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STILLWATER — The Cowboys will face the nations most-efficient third-down offense this week, and it wasn’t all that long ago that the Pokes boasted the best third-down defense in the country.

Oklahoma State plays Houston at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at TDECU Stadium in Houston.

Those Cougars have converted 62.7% of their 75 third-down attempts this season. The Big 12 actually has five of the country’s seven best third-down offenses, with Kansas State (61.6%), Arizona (55.6%), Utah (55%) and BYU (54.4%) all joining Houston in that top seven.

Coming out of OSU’s game against Murray State, the Cowboy defense was allowing conversions on just 16.2% of the third downs it faced, securing the team’s brief place as the national leader for that stat.

That percentage is up to 33.9% after two Big 12 games where opponents have had success on the money down against the Pokes, but that percentage is still good for the fourth-best third-down defense in the conference.

“Ours (third-down defense) has been really good,” OSU coach Eric Morris said. “I think we took a step back last week in our third- and fourth-down defense. And then two, I think Houston’s third-down offense is so good because their first- and second-down offense is so good and so efficient.

“If you look at efficiency rates, and you start with first down and work your way down to it, that usually goes hand and hand when you look at analytics. And they do a nice job with their scheme on third-and-short and being able to get it to a multitude of different players. They have big backs that get downhill. They have big tight ends that we talked about, so yeah, it creates a problem.”

Speaking to Morris’ note about first downs, the Cougars have averaged 6.9 yards on their 203 first downs thus far this season.

That’s meant the Cougars have had just 10 instances this season where they’ve faced 3rd-and-9 or more, and they are 1-for-10 on those third-and-longs. Meanwhile, if its 3rd-and-4 or fewer, Houston is 26-for-37 (70%).

As a defense, the Cowboys have given up an average of 5.7 yards on first downs this season. They’ve held teams to 2-for-17 (11.8%) on 3rd-and-9 or more and 11-for-25 (44%) on 3rd-and-4 or less.

So, distance matters.

“I think for us right now, we have to do a great job on first down and maybe put them in some uncomfortable second-and-long situations that they could be not so predictable and continue just to ground and pound a little bit,” Morris said. “It’ll be a battle between a really good third-down defense and a really good third-down offense, for sure. But I think first down will have a big play on what happens in the end part.”

What West Virginia and UCF did well against the Cowboys’ previously nation-leading third-down D was stay ahead of the chains.

Both of those squads were more run-first with mobile quarterbacks. WVU and UCF went a combined 1-for-7 (14%) on third-and-long while going 7-for-16 (43.8%) on 3rd-and-4 or less.

Rather than hit a bunch of big plays, the Mountaineers and Knights moved steadily collecting yards and moving the chains.

“There were some key third down things where we had some busted assignments,” Morris said of the UCF game. “Obviously didn’t set the edge on some on some run game stuff early on the game. You really look back kind of at some of those key situations just we weren’t able to get off the field. If you look at their overall numbers of yards per rush and stuff like that, like it wasn’t astronomical.”

Conner Weigman might not be the runner that Michael Hawkins was in Morgantown, but the Cougars’ QB is more than capable on the ground. On top of that, he’s the best passer the Cowboys will have faced to this point in Big 12 competition.

He also might have some of the best pieces around him, namely tight end Patrick Overmyer, who caught four touchdowns last week, and wide receiver Amare Thomas.

So, the Cowboys’ defense will be tasked with knocking that offense off schedule to force some more advantageous third-down scenarios.