Film Look: Three Positive Takeaways from OSU’s Offense Against Boise State

There were a lot of positive takeaways from the Oklahoma State offense in yesterday’s 44-21 victory over Boise State. The Cowboys put up 424 yards and 4 touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball. We saw a few things in this game we hadn’t seen before and a few things that continue to be strengths for OSU.

I wanted to take a look at three things I liked from the Cowboy offense in yesterday’s big win.

Zone-Read

In my keys to the game post from last week I mentioned the zone-read and my thoughts on Cornelius keeping the ball himself on this play. In the first half, he did a great job of reading the end and normally got the look to keep it himself. In the clip below you see Boise State’s STUD, Jabril Frazier, crash inside on Justice Hill, which tells Cornelius he should keep the ball as there is no defender in his way on the outside.

In addition, the defense has to respect the fly sweep motion (BOB STITT!!) from Dillon Stoner as you see them shift over to the top side of the screen. This opens even more room for Cornelius and he’s able to pick up the first down and a little more.

Boise State made some adjustments at halftime to have their ends and STUDs key on the quarterback to eliminate Cornelius picking up yardage on the keep. However, this allowed for openings on the inside zone with the running backs. Which Hill made the most of on this big play in particular.

Additionally, OSU changed Cornelius’ run option to a pass option off this play, and utilized this RPO in the second half to mix things up. Tyron Johnson doesn’t make the catch here, but if he does, this one might have gone for six.

Designed Quarterback Runs

Along with the zone-read, Yurcich also dialed-up some designed quarterback runs against the Broncos, which we haven’t really seen so far this season. The Pokes had success running the QB draw a couple of times on Saturday, including the play in the video below.

The added wrinkle of motioning J.D. King out of the backfield and going empty caused the Bronco linebackers to shift, leaving pretty much the entire middle of the field open for Cornelius. He gets some solid blocks from the offensive line, including a downfield block by Larry Williams, and he’s able to pick up the first down.

In this next clip, we see the Cowboys running the QB power. Left guard Marcus Keyes pulls on the play and he and Cowboy Back Britton Abbott open up the hole for Cornelius. Although he didn’t punch it in, I really like this call in the red zone and hope to see it more often from the Cowboys.

Stacked Receivers

We’ve seen Oklahoma State “stack” their receivers at times with Yurcich as offensive coordinator, but I noticed they did it quite a bit against Boise State. I really like the stacked receivers sets, it gives the receivers a better chance to get a clean release off the line of scrimmage because the cornerbacks won’t normally press stacked receivers.

If the cornerbacks try to press the point receiver, it basically sets a pick for the stacked receiver or allows for an easy block for the point receiver on a bubble screen. We saw the Cowboys use the screen on Saturday off the stacked look with press coverage.

I know Johnson had the holding call that brought back the big run from Justice Hill, but he also had several good blocks in this game and he’s always giving maximum effort in this area.

In addition, this double stacked receiver look is great to use against defenses trying to load the box, similar to what we saw from South Alabama last week. It spreads the defense out and makes them choose between a numbers disadvantage inside, or man-to-man coverage on the outside.

Outside of these three things, I also really like the chemistry building between Cornelius and Tylan Wallace, or #CornWallace as Kyle Porter refers to it. Wallace is an amazing receiver and Cornelius seems to be really comfortable throwing him the ball.

Also, Cornelius continues to showcase his ability to throw on the run. Whether it’s a designed roll-out or him moving outside when the pocket is collapsing, he seems to always put those throws on the money. His deep ball looks to be improving, but there is still a lot of work left with the accuracy of those throws. Lastly, the pass protection was subpar for a second consecutive week. I thought the run-blocking improved, but pass pro did not.

Overall I was very impressed with the offensive game plan, and I thought the players did a solid job in execution.

P.S. – The three running back set used in the first quarter almost made me pass out.