Forget Superstition, It Was a Lack of Execution That Sunk Oklahoma State’s Defense in Ames

Remember all the way back in September, when we were pushing this narrative about OSU’s defense being sneaky good?

Some early success on third downs had the Cowboys leading the nation in that stat through three weeks. They have decidedly regressed to the mean in that category, now ranking in the middle of the Big 12.

Still, the Cowboys appeared at least capable enough on defense to facilitate winning, as long as they could get enough key stops to hand the ball back to Drew Mestemaker and that dynamic offense.

But after a rough end-to-end outing in Ames, the Pokes defense has been relegated to meme status.

 

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That play in question may look worse than it was. Iowa State called a fake “check the call” which saw veteran cornerback Mo Horn looking to the sideline while he believed ghe Cyclones were doing the same thing. Instead, Cyclones QB Jaylen Raynor took the fast snap and basically had freshman receiver Jamal Polite Jr. wide open on a go route.

But that is just a microcosm for what happened all game — the Cyclones were one step ahead and the Cowboys got burned.

OSU’s defense has earned a reputation for halftime adjustments that have led to second-half success for a good chunk of this season. But they didn’t have any answers for what Iowa State was doing for most of the game.

The Cyclones 51 points is the most OSU has given up all year. The hapless 2025 Cowboys only allowed one team to score more than that, No. 4 Oregon.

And it’s not like Iowa State is some offensive juggernaut. The Cyclones had been held to 17 or less in three of their four previous Big 12 games. Even with Saturday’s result, the Cyclones rank 14th in the Big 12 in scoring.

But on a spooky Halloween night in Ames, Iowa, the Cyclones had the Cowboys’ number — and it was seven.

Iowa State scored on nine of its 14 possessions, including six trips to the end zone. The Cowboys allowed 581 total yards and 8.1 yards per play, both season highs. OSU gave up seven plays of at least 20 yards including touchdowns of 29, 40, 43 and 75 yards.

Following his team’s 51-49 loss, OSU head coach Eric Morris was asked about those defensive flaws and whether they were correctable.

“It’s hard to say,” said Morris. “I trust these guys. I know what we have. I know our players. Our players are the same that we’ve had all year. So I think that you know we need to do it. And we got to look at it, right? Are we putting them in the best position?

“We got to look at ourselves in the mirror as coaches and see if they can handle what we’re asking them to do right there. Just because this is the first game, I felt like that pretty much for the whole game, we didn’t have many answers.”

The Cyclones were just opportunistic and balanced. Iowa State stole an extra possession on an onside kick and then paid it off with a touchdown. And the Cyclones had the running game to burn clock and keep the ball away from the Cowboys.

“The most disappointing thing, I think about that, is defensively what they were able to do at will against us,” said Morris. “Obviously super balanced. We didn’t make them one dimensional at all. They had a ton of explosive runs. They had explosive passes.”

Sometimes it just comes down to execution. The Cowboys had 14 missed tackles according to Pro Football Focus, and those led to some big plays.

They also let Jaylen Rayon play outside his mind. On the year, he’s graded as a 55.0 on deep pass attempts. Against OSU’s secondary, he was an 84.0, going 4-for-8 for 169 yards and two scores on 20-plus yard attempts.

The pass proficiency was made possible because 10 of those missed tackles were on running plays. Aiden Flora and friends gashed the Pokes at the line for 272 rushing yards. The Cowboys gave up a season-worst 6.2 yards per attempt.

You can talk about squinky, and the overall creepy feeling (which will only be worse) that sets in when OSU fans think about Jack Trice.

You can even talk about some of the mistakes on special teams and in key points on offense. Or the fact that a defense that has been banged up a bit, had two key playmakers leave with injury in Jaleel Johnson and Tate Romney. But that’s part of football, and any one of those issues can be overcome with execution.

The once-darling OSU defense was exposed again in Ames on Saturday night. The question is whether or not those guys will be able to bounce back.

The Cowboys won’t have long to lick their wounds. They have a quick turnaround as they’ll be back on the road this weekend when they travel to Manhattan to face Kansas State.