Glenn Spencer on His Defense: ‘We Pretty Much Stunk’

As bad as it looked and felt like Oklahoma State’s defense played on Saturday, the numbers say it was far worse than you thought.

Here is a sampling of the poo-poo platter.

• 785 yards given up — a school record

• 10.3 yards per play allowed — a Gundy era record (by a yard and a half!)

• Eight passing plays of 30+ yards allowed (seven all season before this game)

• Three rushing plays of 20+ yards allowed (six all season before this game)

• Five passing touchdowns allowed (six all season before this game)

• 4.13 points per drive allowed (OU came into the game averaging 3.71)

• Eight TFLs for 38 yards, which means OSU gave up 823 yards on OU’s 68 other plays

The hard part for OSU fans is that you sort of thought this Oklahoma State defense was different. Especially after Texas. Especially after West Virginia. Especially after picking Baker on the first possession.

And then it wasn’t.

“We didn’t play as well on defense as we would have hoped to,” said Mike Gundy after the game, which is kind of like Germany saying “WWII did not go as we would have hoped.”

Glenn Spencer seemed genuinely stunned by what transpired in Boone Pickens Stadium on Saturday evening with the season on the line.

“I knew they were good, but I never would have expected that,” said Spencer about Baker Mayfield. Spencer’s defense came in ranked No. 25 in points per drive allowed at 1.53. OU almost tripled that.

“I knew he was going to make some plays,” he added. We just gave him too many big plays. Had to change some things up and it makes you a little bit weaker against the run game. You have to change so many drastic things to stop the pass, and even when we did that they still went on top of us. Just a really poorly called game by me. I’m in charge. We pretty much stunk.”

Yes they did. The chunk passing plays were particularly egregious. Mayfield had 12 (!) passes of 15 yards or more and four of 49+ yards. OSU came into the game having allowed just four passing plays of 50+ yards all season.

Spencer talked about things like eye violations, deep coverages giving up short routes and misplaying the ball. Ultimately, though, he said OU just made plays where OSU did not. It started with Tre Flowers getting bested by his cousin and finished with Rodarius Williams staring at the back of Marquise Brown’s jersey for 77 long yards.

“A couple of deep balls,” said Spencer of what he wishes he could change. “They do a good job, they have weapons everywhere. Their good playmakers made a lot of those plays tonight. Disappointing. Really disappointing.”

Most YPP Given Up (Gundy Era)

It was disappointing and more, even against a dynamic talent like Mayfield. Yes, OSU’s defense held OU to “just” 21 in the second half, and yes they created two turnovers and yes they sacked Baker a season-high five times. All of those things were positives.

But you just can’t let your offense put up 52 at home in a normal-possession game (15 per side) and get beat by double digits. It just cannot happen based on where Oklahoma State is as a program.

But it did.

There’s no time to pout, though. This game will be folded into the other 12 and reevaluated after the season. Has Glenn Spencer been good enough at Oklahoma State? For my money, that’s a hell yes, but that doesn’t mean the question isn’t worth asking.

“I’ll go in that meeting room tomorrow and tell them that I let them down,” said Spencer. “I didn’t have them play well enough. And we all take a collective responsibility, and we’ll all get through it. We play a great team next week on the road. Nobody feels sorry for me. I get it. I have to be a great leader for them, and they have to be great leaders for each other.

“We all have to make sure that a lot of things that happened tonight don’t get repeated. Give them credit. They have a powerful offense. I knew they were good, but I never thought in a million years we would execute plays so bad.”