Three Things to Know about Oklahoma State’s Road Game at Arizona

The Cowboys were 1-3 and teetering on postseason irrelevance before we even got to October. Such is the state of OSU football.

But, after Mike Gundy’s firing, the Cowboys did show some signs of life in their Big 12 opener against Baylor, even if they petered out down the stretch. Next, they’ll head to the desert to see if that spark in the first half was merely a reaction to the coaching change or if it can be a building block upon which interim head coach Doug Meacham can construct a turnaround.

If the Cowboys want to keep from going 1-4 and make a bowl game a near impossibility, they’ll need to upset an Arizona team fresh of its first defeat of the season and ready to get right.

Here are three things to keep an eye on as the Cowboys take on the Wildcats.

Could Be Tough Sledding

The Cowboys have had to do a lot to manufacture yards on the turf this year. With Hauss Hejny sidelined, it was up to Zane Flores to keep defenses honest. And while he’s been more effective than maybe some expected when he tucks it and runs for the first down, he’s no Hejny — and the coaching staff would like to not expose their best option at QB to a bunch of hits.

Meacham bolstered the run game against Baylor by increasing Sam Jackson V snaps behind center, and it worked in the first half. There were some gadget plays, but the Bears had to respect Jackson’s ability to make plays with his feet. Can the Pokes figure out a way to keep defenses honest without throwing the kitchen sink at them?

They’ll have their work cut out for them in Tucson. Arizona comes in ranked fourth in the Big 12 in rushing defense (99.8 yards per game allowed). Teams are averaging just 3.1 yards per carry against the Wildcats, and no opposing team has hit the five-YPC mark.

Can Flores Hurt Them through the Air?

To that last point, Arizona held Iowa State to just 2.36 yards per carry, the Cyclones’ lowest mark since 2023. They did, however, allow ISU its most passing yards per attempt (13.1) since 2023.

Iowa State completed seven passing plays of 19 yards or more, with all but one of these coming off the arm of Rocco Brecht: 43, 32, 27, 52, 45, 19, 22. Strangely enough, none of those ended in the end zone.

The point is that if OSU is going to get some kind of balance on offense, the best bet may be to try to stretch the defense out and make them pay on the deep shots. Unfortunately, Flores has not been especially accurate on deep throws. Against Baylor, he was just 1-of-7 on passes of 20 yards or more and is 3-for-21 on the year.

We’ve heard a lot about Flores’ big arm and the sample size is still small. But if the Cowboys are going to try to take advantage of what the Wildcats might give them, Flores is going to need to complete some of those big throws.

Pick Your Poison

On the other side of scrimmage, the Wildcats don’t have such a touch choice. The Cowboys are giving up yards by land and by air.

The Cowboys come into Saturday ranked dead last in the Big 12 in passing defense, rushing defense, total defense (obvi) and scoring defense. To pile on, OSU is also last in the league in opponent third-down conversion percentage, opponent fourth-down percentage and is tied for last in red zone conversion percentage. I’ve omitted the numbers since I didn’t think to include a trigger warning above, so look those up at your risk.

The point? OSU hasn’t stopped any FBS team from doing anything with any consistency. Things could be different with Clint Bowen taking over the defense after Todd Grantham was let go, but how much can you change your defense schematically during a game week? And your players are who they are.

The Pokes will face a veteran QB in Noah Fifita who is looking to get right after throwing his first two picks of the year in a loss and a tough runner in Texas State transfer Ismail Mahdi who is fourth in the Big 12 in rushing and averaging seven yards per carry.

I normally try not to end these things on a sour note, but until this Cowboy team proves it can put up more resistance than a brown paper bag, expect big points from the other team and pray for turnovers.