Oklahoma State Had a Great Game Plan for Jerrod Heard and Executed it Perfectly

“What’s scary about this situation is that you could have it all right, you could have that extra guy, but it’s always tough to have that extra guy. If you’re trying to have an extra guy for the quarterback, than you’re giving up something else. There are no guarantees that you can make a play, which is scary. The guy can beat you at any time. He could make you look foolish.”

That was Glenn Spencer last Monday previewing Jerrod Heard and Texas’ offense. Twelve tackles for loss, seven sacks and a pick later, he acknowledged the mission was accomplished.

“I thought the guys were disciplined in their pass rush, and when we wanted to add a guy, we knew he was going to run,” said Spencer after Saturday’s win. “Those guys got him flushed, and we had guys waiting on him. Not that we made the tackle every time, but we gave ourselves a chance.”

Yes, they did. And OSU’s defensive front was immense. Texas netted just two yards on 13 plays after Mason Rudolph’s pick six in the third quarter.

It was how I thought they would do it, too. By trusting their secondary and letting a great defensive line and solid linebackers take over.

Heard finished 9/17 for 117 yards and a pick. He only ran 19 times for 48 yards. He didn’t score.

“They executed the game plan in the second half,” Spencer said. “… They just kept believing. They didn’t give up hope. They never gave up hope.”

“Anytime you gotta chase that guy around like that … that’s a lot of miles we ran today. We had some things designed. When you try to get an extra guy for him, it leaves you one‐on‐one, and you give up a deep ball twice, it calls for that. We knew that was a risk we had to take, and luckily after those big plays, we usually held our own.”

It wasn’t the biggest test this defense will face all season, but it was the trickiest to date. They passed it and, at times, made it look easy. Now we just need to clone Spencer and give him an offensive headset (that works).