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How Red-Zone Effectiveness Impacted OSU’s Success in 2017

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The college football season is over and most of us are already focused on basketball or the upcoming freshman Heisman campaign of Spencer Sanders.

But before we completely close the door on 2017, let’s got back and put a bow on our PPR stat which combines red-zone scoring efficiency with TDs over field goals while in the score zone. It’s the best way to quantify effectiveness in the score zone in my opinion. Here’s a look at the final numbers for Big 12 times (including bowl games).

This is just one stat and is far from the end-all measure of an offense or a defense. But it does show which teams are the most effective in the most important part of the field.

Offensive PPR
Offense RZ ATT. RZ PCT. RZ TDs RZ FGs PPR
Oklahoma 65/72 90.3% 51 14 5.54
TCU 48/54 88.9% 36 12 5.33
West Virginia 46/53 86.8% 36 10 5.32
Oklahoma State 67/75 89.3% 49 18 5.29
Kansas 30/32 93.8% 18 12 5.06
Iowa State 45/52 86.6% 32 13 5.06
Kansas State 44/42 84.6% 32 12 5.00
Texas 37/47 78.7% 29 8 4.83
Texas Tech 43/62 69.4% 33 10 4.21
Baylor 31/40 77.5% 18 13 4.13

The Cowboys made more trips to the red-zone than any team in the nation in 2017, even more than the Sooners who played an extra game. But as we saw the Cowboys struggled to find paydirt at times, and even struggle to hit field goals once inside the red zone.

The Cowboys obviously weren’t bad at red-zone scoring but situational lapses came at the worst times. Remember that interception in the end zone late in Bedlam? Fatal.

A red-zone turnover on either side of OSU-Texas shaped that game. Justice Hill’s goal-line gaffe allowed the Longhorns to score their only TD of the day. And Sam Ehlinger’s head scratching heave to Ramon righted things for the Cowboys.

Defensive PPR
Defense RZ ATT. RZ PCT. RZ TDs RZ FGs PPR
TCU 25/36 69.4% 16 9 3.86
Texas 35/43 81.4% 21 14 4.40
Kansas State 37/47 78.7% 24 13 4.40
Oklahoma State 39/48 81.3% 26 13 4.60
Baylor 39/44 88.6% 22 17 4.66
Iowa State 35/42 83.3% 26 9 4.98
Texas Tech 50/61 82.0% 39 11 5.02
West Virginia 51/60 85.0% 37 14 5.02
Oklahoma 43/49 87.8% 30 13 5.08
Kansas 53/59 89.8% 43 10 5.61

Glenn Spencer’s defense ultimately wasn’t good enough and the future of that position and OSU’s defensive philosophy is unclear. But it wasn’t all bad for the Cowboys in 2017.

OSU finished ranked No. 4 in defensive PPR as well, joining TCU as the only two teams in the league to finish top-4 in both. OSU’s defense held opponents scoreless in the red zone 18.8% of the time, good for third-best in the Big 12, as well. In true bend-don’t-break fashion, of those nine deep-territory stops, seven were forced turnovers.

How about Gary Patterson’s defense standing alone at 3.86 PPR and only allowing 16 red-zone TDs all year — 8th in the nation from the Big 12 and playing OU twice!

That’s another check on the left side of the pros/cons list for Chad Glasgow’s consideration. Who cares if Patterson called the plays? I’d interview TCU’s equipment manager if he wore a tie and knew half of the playbook.

 

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