Keys to the Game: How OSU Can Grab a Win in Lawrence this Weekend

The Cowboys are looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Texas Tech this weekend in Lawrence. The Jawhawks are coming into this game off a loss themselves after two straight non-conference victories. Oklahoma State heads into this one a pretty heavy favorite, but the Cowboys will need to accomplish several tasks if they want to leave their first road game of the 2018 season with a W. Here are a few of those:

Quick Passing Concepts Against the Zone

Kansas bases out of a three-down lineman front. Behind those three they have three linebackers, a nickelback, two corners and two safeties. They play a lot of Cover 3 and Tampa 2 and will drop eight men into coverage quite often.

Last week against Texas Tech, we saw Taylor Cornelius drop back and look for receivers on slower developing, intermediate routes. This week against zone coverage, the Cowboys should stick to quick passing concepts.

Against Cover 3, quick outs and hitches in the flats are difficult to cover for the curl-flat defender. Cornelius has shown the ability to make these throws fairly accurately, so I would assume he would be comfortable with these routes.

(Sorry for the Jalen gif… too soon?)

Once the defense gets beat by these routes, the underneath defenders will widen out, leaving space in the middle of the field which can be exploited with dig and seam routes.

TC hasn’t looked very comfortable with some of the routes over the middle, so hopefully he can improve that against the Jayhawks.

In regards to Tampa 2, it’s very similar to Cover 3 except the middle linebacker has the deep middle third of the field.

This can be beat with the similar route concepts mentioned above, primarily the seams along with getting the running back matched up against a linebacker. In addition, these quicker developing routes will take away some of the issues with the pass pro (although it hasn’t been that bad) that we’ve seen in recent weeks.

Better Game Plan for the Running Game

As I mentioned above, KU bases out of a three-lineman front. This mean the Pokes will get a lot of favorable looks to run the ball.

Last week, the Cowboys were given similar favorable looks to run when the game was still close, but often decided to pass instead.

I wrote about how the Jayhawks defend the run a couple of days ago, so I won’t go into too much detail on that, but I think OSU will be able to establish something on the ground if they commit to it. Although I wouldn’t grade it an A+, I didn’t think run–blocking against the Red Raiders was terrible, they opened up some massive holes at times and I expect them to be able to do so again on Saturday.

KU has a few guys on the line, like Daniel Wise, J.J. Holmes and solid linebacker Joe Dineen, but I think this Oklahoma State offensive line can create space for Justice and company. It all comes down to winning matches and having a solid scheme to run against whatever front they see from Kansas. Adding in some quarterback runs and having a better overall day through the air would help too.

Limit Turnovers

I realize this could be a key to every game, but when playing a less talented team like KU, it’s something that really needs to be focused on. I think the only way the Jayhawks are able to stay in this game against the Cowboys is if they turn them over multiple times.

Kansas had forced a total of 13 turnovers (7 interceptions and 6 fumbles) in their first three games. This was giving them a huge advantage in field position and inflating their points per game total. This is evidenced by the 7 total points they put up against the Bears last Saturday.

Even though Cornelius didn’t play well last week, I doubt he throws some of the interceptions the quarterbacks for Central Michigan and Rutgers did. Rutgers is starting a freshman quarterback, who is really struggling (1 touchdown and 7 interceptions), and Central Michigan has since benched the QB they started against the Jayhawks. I mean, these guys were throwing the ball directly to KU defenders and I don’t expect TC to make any throws like this.

If the Pokes can protect the football on the ground, through the air and on special teams, I think they run away with this one in Lawrence.

Stop Pooka

Kansas hasn’t been able to get much going through the air this season. Senior quarterback Payton Bender hasn’t thrown an interception through four games, but he also only has four touchdown passes. Talented wide receiver Steven Sims has 272 fewer receiving yards than he had at this point last season and Bender just hasn’t been able to find him consistently.

When KU finally faced a team last week in Baylor that would pressure the quarterback, Bender was sacked 4 times. He had not been sacked up to that point.  That being said, the only way I think the Jayhawks can hurt the Cowboys on offense is with talented freshman running back, and former four-star recruit, Pooka Williams. He’s currently averaging a little over 125 yards per game on the ground. Pooka was ineligible for the Nicholls State game, and I believe if he would’ve been able to play, Kansas would be 3-1 right now. KU likes to use power and zone runs to open holes for the 5-foot-10, 170 pound Louisiana native, but they’ve also seen a ton of success this season on the draw play.

Baylor was able to hold Williams to 89 yards rushing, although he did have 6.4 yards per carry, and with the three (yes, three) quarterbacks for KU only putting up 149 yards through the air, the Jayhawks could not generate anything on offense.

I think the Cowboys have the talent on defense to hold Kansas to similar yardage totals, and although I think they’ll break a big play or two, I don’t think they are able to get much going on offense this weekend.