Shhhhh … The 2017 Offense Might Be Better Than 2011

Well this is certainly a development. OSU has played half its schedule so far in 2017, and don’t look now (or do), but it is outpacing the dream 2011 offensive season by a pretty decent margin.

I guess this shouldn’t be a huge surprise considering it is coming off the most effective yardage day in school history and currently has the No. 1 offense in the country in yards per game, but it’s still shocking to see on paper.

Here’s how the two offenses match up through 24 quarters of football in their respective seasons.

The stunner for me is how many fewer drives the 2017 team has had than in 2011. That means you’re keeping the defense much fresher (by almost two drives a game!) while still scoring nearly as many offensive points.

Also, the yards per play thing is an eye-opener. Would you have guessed that Oklahoma State’s 2017 offense has been nearly two yards (!) better per play than in 2011? I wouldn’t have.

It’s pretty incredible. Again, I expect these two offenses to level out over the next six games. I think 2017 will slip a little, and 2011 certainly came on at the end. However, I know we remember that 2011 offense very fondly, or at least I do. Maybe too fondly. Because Mike & Mike are recreating in 2017 what Mike & Monk created in 2011, and …. shhh … they might be doing it even better (please don’t look at the TCU box score).