Analyzing the AP Poll: Cowboys Sputtering Offense Spurs Drop in Rankings

After barely eking out a 13-10 win over Texas in Austin, Associate Press voters decided to move the Cowboys back one spot in the latest poll from No. 10 to No. 11.

It’s not an unexpected drop; the Cowboy offense looked horrible and one dimensional — something that wasn’t supposed to happen. Granted, they did put up an underappreciated defensive performance.

While OSU dropped in the poll this week, it wasn’t all bad.

The Cowboys lost a lot of top 10 voters, with most voters pinning them in the 10-13 range. They also lost all three 7th place votes from last week.

However, the voters with the least respect for OSU for the past few weeks of the season all moved the Cowboys up. Pat Caputo, who had the Cowboys at No. 18 last week, moved them up to spots to 16. Bill Landis jumped OSU up from 17th to 12th this week. Both have had OSU low ever since the TCU loss.

For the voters who think OSU is all offense, a drop is understandable. The offense looked the worst it has since 2014. But, for those voters who have questioned Oklahoma State’s defense, they got a performance worth noticing and they awarded the Cowboys justly.

It was an ugly performance, but only on one side of the ball. Plus, OSU still has plenty of opportunities to make a better impression. That includes this weekend in Morgantown against a ranked West Virginia squad.

Go on the road on national television and beat a solid Mountaineer program with an offense that looks like its old self again and the votes will come.