Where Oklahoma State’s Defense Has Gotten Better Under Clint Bowen

Unfortunately it’s been a season of moral victories for the Cowboys.

One of those moral victories in Oklahoma State’s 42-0 loss to Texas Tech was that the Cowboy defense didn’t play as poorly as the score entails.

Thirteen of the Red Raiders’ points came via a kick return touchdown and a fumble return touchdown. So, the Cowboys’ defense sort of just gave up 29 points. Plus, OSU held Tech to just 88 rushing yards, the Red Raiders’ worst rushing output of the season.

That was Game 4 for Clint Bowen as OSU’s defensive coordinator, meaning he’s now coordinated for as many games as Todd Grantham did before his firing.

I decided to look at the numbers and further examine where OSU’s D has taken steps forward under Bowen.

Some things to note:

1. I took out defensive and special teams touchdowns, of which there have been five against the Cowboys this year: Zane Flores’ pick-sixes in Oregon, Jackson’s pick-six against Cincinnati, the Tech kick return and the Tech fumble return. So, the “points allowed” category reflects that.

2. Although Grantham and Bowen have each coordinated four games, I think it’s safe to say that the Oregon offense was by far the most formidable the Cowboys have faced. With that said, Grantham had a game against an FCS team (UT-Martin) and a Group of Five team (Tulsa), whereas all of Bowen’s opponents have been Big 12 teams. Sort of some give and take there depending on how you view all of those teams.

3. One could also argue that the defense has gotten better by playing together with reps accumulated throughout the season. But at the same time, Bowen has had to deal with more turnover given the portal opening after Gundy’s firing. Again, give and take.

Todd Grantham

Clint Bowen

The Run Game

The Cowboys haven’t just been a little bit better at run defense under Bowen, but they’ve been drastically better at stopping the run.

I wondered whether it was just a difference in teams throwing for more yards against Bowen’s defenses, but it isn’t.

Opposing offenses carried for 852 yards on 157 carries (5.4 yards per) in Grantham’s games. But they’ve run for just 442 yards on 148 carries (2.9) in Bowen’s games. Goodness gracious.

The 312 rushing yards the Ducks frolicked for certainly doesn’t help the Grantham stats, but those first four games feature the only three times OSU has allowed 200 rushing yards this season. Meanwhile, Bowen’s defenses have had the two best rushing performances: 45 yards against Arizona and 88 yards against Texas Tech.

More impressively, this comes after a season where Bryan Nardo’s defense gave up 215 rushing yards a game at 5.4 yards per carry. Bowen has almost instantly flipped one of the worst rushing defenses of the past two seasons.

“Our linebackers understand their fits,” said Bowen after Saturday’s game. “I was looking at the numbers. We hold those guys to 88 yards rushing. And I was going into that game with what the tailbacks had done and produced. I thought their two tailbacks were big-time players, and when he added 15 (Will Hammond) with the QB run game last week, running the ball was a huge emphasis.

“To have any chance at all, I knew we had to stop this. I’m excited that our front seven was able to go out there, compete and get it done and hold a really good team to 88 yards rushing.”

Also: Sacking More Consistently

Bowen’s 2.75 sacks a game to Grantham’s 1.25 sacks a game seems notable, but it’s almost drastic when you consider all but one of Grantham’s sacks came against an FCS team.