Mike Gundy’s Simple, Not-So-Simple Fix for OSU’s Special Teams

Oklahoma State was not great on special teams last year, like historically not great. The Cowboys finished ranked 126th in ESPN’s special teams efficiency (out of 130 teams), by far OSU’s worst showing since the data started being provided in 2005 — which just so happens to coincide with the start of Mike Gundy’s tenure. But most of us didn’t need a 1-130 rating to tell us that OSU struggled in that phase.

During Gundy’s press conference at OSU’s annual media day, the 14th-year head coach addressed last year’s drop-off in overall production and whether or not any big changes were planned for the specialist unit.

“We haven’t changed a lot,” Gundy said. “We’ve increased some meeting time. We had some discussion over what might have been the reasons that we weren’t as good as we thought. We’ve come up with solutions and put a plan in place. It wouldn’t be a big difference from what we’ve done in the past. I just think we need to do a little bit better.”

Not exactly confidence-inspiring if you’ve been pining for some improvement in that third phase after some head-scratchers last year (i.e. Texas Tech’s moving field goal post and Zach Sinor’s controller getting stuck in Morgantown).

But Gundy offered a way to fix the issue, or at least mask some of the woes. I don’t know that it’s not a vast oversimplification, but I also don’t know that I don’t agree with him.

“In the end, if you have a fantastic returner, your special teams will look really good,” said Gundy. “If you don’t have a fantastic returner, you’re kind of average. So, I didn’t want to get too out of the box and evaluate who we are.

“What I think we need to do in order to improve ourselves on special teams is get a couple of guys back there that can touch the ball and make somebody miss and go the distance. I think that will help as much as anything that we try to do from a scheme standpoint.”

Let’s take a quick, non-exhaustive, look at how the return game specifically affects overall special teams efficiency. Here’s a decade’s worth of data.

ESPN’s rating is based on scoring margin, and weighted for strength or schedule and garbage time.

A quick glance, gives us OSU’s best and worst finish juxtaposed in 2017 and 2014. The biggest difference? Tyreek Hill. Not only was OSU considerably better in both punt and kick return yardage (Hill was the feature guy in both), he got three TDs.

The 2016 season may be the exception because of how ultra-efficient OSU’s punter and punt coverage were. But the Cowboys dropped from No. 7 in punt efficiency in 2016 (according to BCF Toys) to 109th in 2017. That blame bounces off the foot of Zach Sinor, who seemed to regress as a junior from his stellar sophomore season, and it also falls on the punt coverage unit, and maybe on OSU’s non-existent special teams coordinator.

Oklahoma State went through a string of dynamic returners during that stretch that made highlight reels worth repeating, from Dez Bryant and Perrish Cox to Justin Gilbert and Josh Stewart and then to Hill.

That begs the question. Why, with the plethora of dynamic skill players on OSU’s rosters the last three seasons, has a big-time return threat not emerged?

Tyron Johnson was my obvious pick last year and he did lead the Cowboys in kickoff returns with 13. But he averaged a pedestrian 20.3 yards per catch with no scores. Dillon Stoner took over the punt return duties after Jalen McCleskey lost his second fumbled punt. But Stoner’s instructions seemed clear. Wave the white fair-catch flag. He returned just nine punts for an average of 6.1 yards to his 16 fair catches.

That brings up another question. Does Gundy really want to return kicks? It seems like that wasn’t the case last year, but few could fault him for getting a little anxious after the aforementioned snafus.

I think Tyron could be more successful on kicks and I’m almost certain Stoner could if given the chance. And there are a slew of other playmakers is a world-class Canadian speedster who should be able to fill that role.

Maybe one guy can fix OSU’s special teams woes, but it’s painfully obvious that something has been missing the last three years. Did the return game directly result in any of OSU’s three 2017 losses? No. But we’ve seen the affect that one field-flipping return can have on a game (or a season) in recent OSU history. And the Cowboys just might need one of those game-changers this year.