Drive Charts: OSU Rights the Ship After Turbulent Game in Ames

Oklahoma State is getting more entertaining from a neutral perspective and somehow more heart-wrenching for Cowboy fans.

OSU got behind early against Iowa State, scored three straight, trailed by four, led by three, was down by eight and won 49-42 in Ames on Saturday. It wasn’t the Cowboys’ most well-put together performance of their 2017 season, but even after a 116-point Bedlam, this might have been the most exciting. So let’s look at how this happened.

OSU Drive Chart

The Cowboys sputtered and still managed to put up almost half a hundred against (probably) the best defense in the Big 12.

Given the final score, OSU absolutely had to score on its second drive. Go down 21-0, and everyone back home will turn the TV off and say, “Just like 2011.” Instead, the Cowboys rattled off 18 plays, 165 yards and 21 points of their own to take the lead midway through the second quarter on the road against a top 25 team that had beaten Oklahoma and TCU.

Whew. Tired yet?

Gundy: “We should charge people more to watch us play. They don’t change the channel so we add commercial value.” #okstate

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) November 11, 2017

Mason Rudolph and Justice Hill did a fabulous job protecting the ball. That was what won it Saturday, as you will see in Iowa State’s drive chart.

OSU’s Pertinent Stats

• Points per drive (offense): 3.27
• Points per drive (defense): 3
• Yards per play: 7.7 (8.3 in the fourth quarter)
• Third-down conversions: 5/13 (39 percent)
• Average starting field position: own 33-yard line
• Red-zone scoring: 6/6
• Points off turnovers: 0
• Time of possession: 31:34

Mason was money in the fourth. Rudolph went 9-of-12 for 158 yards and two scores. He completed his last five passes, and both touchdowns came in that final handful. OSU would have ideally liked to be better on third down, but a pair of the Cowboys’ five conversions ended in touchdowns, the latter being the 30-yard throw and snatch to Marcell Ateman that cut the Cyclones’ lead to one with less than six minutes to go.

But probably most important of all the numbers Saturday (outside of no turnovers) was the red zone efficiency. Another 100 percent day pushed OSU to 19-of-20 in its last three games inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Light a fire, and Gundy will put it out.

Iowa State Drive Chart

Those three red letters won the game. They must sting for Cyclone fans, but …

Only 148 more game-ending INTs when Iowa State is in the Big 12 title hunt to make up for 2011!

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) November 11, 2017

Iowa State is ahead of schedule. Matt Campbell seems to be a home run coach with loyalty to match, and to be fair, that interception wasn’t his fault at all. His receiver claimed robbery, but, again, see above.

ISU’s second quarter was about as poor as it could have gotten, which was either chopped up to poor execution or Glenn Spencer making up for Bedlam.

The Cyclones ran 16 plays in the second frame. Outside of the last drive of the half, which went for 91 yards and a score, they gained only 14 yards. That’s .875 yards per snap.

When you couple that four-drive stretch with the back-to-back three-and-outs the Cowboy defense forced late in the fourth quarter, it’s hard to believe ISU had a chance at the end.

“They’re an interesting team,” Gundy said postgame. “They’ve been that way the last couple years, and especially this year. There’s just not enough flash when you watch them to make people think anything other than, ‘How are they as successful as they’ve been?’ Then you play them and they’re just good at what they do. They don’t make a lot of mistakes.”

But they made one.

ISU’s Pertinent Stats

• Points per drive (offense): 3
• Points per drive (defense): 3.27
• Yards per play: 6.5 (7.8 in the fourth quarter)
• Third-down conversions: 4/13 (31 percent)
• Average starting field position: own 23-yard line
• Red-zone scoring: 4/5
• Points off turnovers: 0
• Time of possession: 28:26

In comparing the cumulative stats, OSU was just a hair better in almost every category.

The Cowboys had the edge in points per drive (obviously), yards per play, third-down conversions, field position, red-zone scoring, turnovers, time of possession and total yards.

But everything was close.

And with Rudolph quarterbacking, an OSU win wasn’t that surprising.