Kansas State Loss is Culmination of Recent Lack of Consistency for Cowboys

As I’ve recently scanned down my Twitter feed, it’s full of knee jerk reactions from upset Oklahoma State fans. Some of it is justified, but the vast majority of the slander is over the top and unreasonable.

Some are yelling to fire Mike Yurcich, or that Mason Rudolph isn’t a good quarterback etc. All of which are ridiculous claims, inspired by people who aren’t capable to think rationally in times of adversity.

The bottom line is pinning this Kansas State loss on one entity or individual is a big mistake. Sure, there are individual plays where you can pinpoint exactly where someone did something wrong, whether it be a member of the coaching staff or a player. But this game was much bigger than that, and really comes down the fact that this is a loss that has been coming for a long time.

It comes down to the inability of Oklahoma State to put together a complete game from its entire team, and a lack of consistency not only from game to game but also from play to play.

It’s the main reason that the “Cardiac Cowboys” moniker exists, and why teams that aren’t as good as Oklahoma State (i.e. Kansas State) to be able to come in on the road and compete.  It’s also why Oklahoma State isn’t able to finish the job against top 10-caliber opponents.

There are three main components to every football team. Offense, defense and special teams, we know this because Coach Gundy preaches this in virtually every press conference. It’s painfully obvious to select critical mistakes by each component throughout this entire game. I think the most painful part, however, is that each component showed the ability to play at a top level, all in the same game! Talk about a cocktail of emotions, all wrapped up in a 4-hour time frame.

From a defensive perspective, this was certainly a performance to forget. K-State was moving the ball at will, both on the ground and in explosive vertical plays up the field.

For the most part, I expected the ground game to have some success. Oklahoma State is more structured for speed and not overly physical, and this is why the Pokes struggle against K-State each year. It’s not something new, and frankly something you can live with given the fact that the majority of the teams Oklahoma State faces cater to this style.

Regardless, to allow that type of passing game is inexcusable. Flat out, the defense got worked by an average (at best) offense from K-State. The irony in all of this is that the defense is also what allowed Oklahoma State to get back into the game.

Mike Gundy has relied on his defense the whole season to win games for him in the end, and in most instances they came through (K-State, Iowa State, OU, UT) with TCU being the one time they fell flat late. Pair this with the fact that in every game listed above, with the exception of UT, the defense gave up a significant amount of points earlier in the game. That’s crazy right?  You’re going to rely on a defense who has been gashed all game, to make a critical stop late in the contest …. and then they go out and make it happen? I feel like the Oklahoma State defense is re-writing the laws of insanity.

From an offensive perspective, I don’t think it’s any secret that Mason Rudolph had a tough game. He has had consistency issues all season, but generally those were on a select few plays throughout a full game.  e really struggled finding a rhythm, specifically in the 2nd and 3rd quarter not only with turnovers, but also just routine throws he makes all the time. He showed what he is capable of in the 4th quarter, and almost led one of the biggest comebacks in school history.

But let’s not forget that James Washington, who seems completely shielded from any criticism from the fan base, dropped a wide open ball on 1st and 10 on the last drive. He followed that up by dropping another ball (albeit a more difficult one) on 2nd and 10. Either one of these would’ve provided a nice spark, moving the chains for a new set of downs. On 3rd and 10, you have a drop by Justice Hill that would’ve provided a more manageable 4th down play.  James Washington and Justice Hill are the two best offensive weapons on this team, and consistency even eludes them at times.

Meanwhile on the previous four drives Oklahoma State easily marched down each time and scores a touchdown like they were playing the Savannah State defense and not Kansas State. This situation is as polarizing as Baker Mayfield’s NFL draft status.

On special teams, Matt Ammendola has been tremendous since the Lubbock/Austin debacles, Zach Sinor averaged 47 yards/punt. Special teams have been a serious work in progress all year, but things were looking up. Then you allow a pretty easy kickoff return for a TD to make sure that progress didn’t pick up too much momentum.

The coaching staff is an extension of each one of these phases, and is ultimately accountable for their consistency.

All three phases where you can clearly see that there is ability to be a top 10 team. The problem is very rarely do those teams consistently show up together, or at least show up enough in one single game to beat teams that you should in a manner which reflects the talent gap (both coaching and player talent).

It’s the reason why I think teams should be judged more for the quality wins they have on their resume instead of the one loss they have, that may have been against a lesser opponent. That is best vs. best is more indicative of a team’s strength instead of inspired vs. uninspired. Bottom line, it’s hard to be consistent.

However, the teams that consistently play to a certain level (doesn’t have to be your best, but meet a certain threshold) are generally the teams ending with 0 or 1 losses at the end of the season. So if you can break that down into a short equation, Consistency = success, across the college football landscape for the most part. Each elite team faces 1-2 tests per year where they don’t show up as they should versus teams they should beat easily, and the good teams are able to pull through.

The problem is Oklahoma State has about five games like this per year, and it’s not because the individual talent level is equal to those five teams.

This is a loss that has been marinating for 2-3 years now, time after time Oklahoma State was able to dig itself out for it’s lack of consistency but not this time.

I think Coach Gundy is building something special at Oklahoma State, and he knows what he is doing. He has built this into a top 15 caliber program, and is trending up. I think being this upset for a loss like this is healthy, means expectations are rising.

The exciting part is they seem to be getting close, Coach Gundy is bringing in the type of talent that can make big plays and win football games. His main challenge moving forward is to get his players to make big plays at a more consistent level across all three phases. This is hard to do. Literally every team with the exception of a select few struggle with this so it’s nothing new.

When you take into consideration the 2017 season, this team didn’t really do anything wrong. In reality it was the fans and the media who were wrong, myself included. The 2017 Oklahoma State football team just isn’t as good as you thought they were, it might be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s real.

And it’s not spectacular.