Drive Charts: OSU Only Punted Twice Against Kansas

Oklahoma State only punted twice on Saturday against Kansas.

The Cowboys clobbered Kansas by 41, as expected, but coming off the Kansas State loss the week before, the way OSU won was probably most vindicating for Mike Gundy and company.

Let me explain with the drive chart from Saturday.

OSU Drive Chart

After one of the non-conference games, Tyron Johnson told me something that might have seemed obvious but caught my ear.

“We want to score on the first possession of the first quarter,” Johnson said. “And on the first possession of the second half. That’s something that we take a lot of pride on.”

For the first time since September, Oklahoma State scored a touchdown on its opening drives of both halves – the last time it happened, the Cowboys were playing in Lubbock, Texas. So things haven’t gone according to plan.

After the K-State game, Gundy called out the team’s inability to get a quick start, and like what happened with red-zone scoring earlier this season, things changed.

Things just changed a few weeks too late.

OSU’s Pertinent Stats

• Points per drive (offense): 3.87
• Points per drive (defense): 1.21
• Yards per play: 7.7
• Third-down conversions: 9/17 (53 percent)
• Average starting field position: own 34-yard line
• Red-zone scoring: 6/6 (5 touchdowns)
• Points off turnovers: 7
• Time of possession: 33:36

Again, OSU was money from inside the 20, pushing its scoring record to 31-of-32 over the past five weeks.

The Cowboys were probably even more dominant than these stats indicate, which is crazy because one of them shows every time they touched the ball, they scored more than a field goal.

And that started and ended with 2 to 28.

“(I’ll miss Mason) being my friend,” James Washington said. “It’s not going to be the same. We’ll go to the next level. It’s not like we’ll see each other every day. Him being my friend. His leadership.

“When we mess up, he’s the first guy there. For him to get us going like that, it means a lot to me and it means a lot to other guys, I’m sure.”

Chills.

Kansas Drive Chart

Oh, yeah. That’s poor.

Kansas’ offense put together one drive of at least 47 yards in an entire 60-minute game of football against the OSU defense.

The Cowboys outgained the Jayhawks 661-241 and allowed only three plays of more than 15 yards. Still, KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger said Beaty is coming back.

Beaty is 3-33 in three seasons, but Zenger said the results are “not acceptable” but the rebuilding “is a process.”

OSU has outscored KU 160-47 in those three seasons Beaty has been in Lawrence.

KU’s Pertinent Stats

• Points per drive (offense): 1.21
• Points per drive (defense): 3.87
• Yards per play: 3.9
• Third-down conversions: 6/18 (33 percent)
• Average starting field position: own 27-yard line
• Red-zone scoring: 1/1 (1 touchdown)
• Points off turnovers: 0
• Time of possession: 26:24

KU had no answers, and neither did Beaty postgame.

“For that team right there not to be in the championship is crazy to me because they are a talented team,” he said. “It just tells how talented this conference is from top to bottom.”

Reality has bitten the Cowboys like a police attack dog. Sitting at 9-3, OSU will probably have the most talented roster left out of a New Year’s Six bowl game.

“There’s only so many times you get to see guys like that play,” Gundy said. “They’re pretty special.”