Defensive Review vs. Tulsa: Tackling was Strong, Highlight Play, and Confidence Building
STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy's first team that scuffled to a 4-7 record and finished 1-7 in the Big 12 was holding on to a 24-17 lead late in the game against No. 13 and offensive juggernaut Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders were driving, but had been pushed to fourth down in the red zone. Current USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell aimed a pass at the back of the end zone to future two-time All-American wide receiver Michael Crabtree and the Cowboys safety, Rickey Price, extended full out and got what appeared to be a finger nail on the ball to cause Crabtree to fumble the catch. Gundy and the Cowboys had the upset over the Red Raiders. It was Mike Gundy's first big win as head coach.
Maybe not as dramatic on Saturday in the 16-7 opening win over Tulsa, but Oklahoma State's "strike" safety Tanner McCalister, out of Rockwall Heath High School, had played a stout game finishing with six tackles, but he came up with the marquee play for the Pokes defense.
Tulsa trailed 10-7 in the fourth quarter. It was play 10 of the drive on third and goal at the Cowboys eight-yard-line and Tulsa's Zach Smith, being chased by Malcolm Rodriguez and Trace Ford, throws a pass to the back of the end zone to a diving Sam Crawford, but a diving Tanner McCalister comes in front of Crawford and knocks the ball away.
Tanner McCalister (2) was one of the Cowboys top tacklers, but his pass break up in the fourth quarter was a signature play for the Oklahoma State defense.
© Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports
"I saw him on the scramble come back around from outside to crossing the end zone toward the middle," McCalister said in an interview with the Cowboy Radio Network. "I was there and saw the ball released and I hoped that if I dove I could knock the ball away and I did."
“It’s just what I’ve been selling to them,” OSU defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “To be a great defense, to be a contributor to a championship team, you can’t be one-sided. Regardless of how the offense does, we have to learn how to win games on defense. You saw that today.”
"A lot of little things happen in a football game and you may forget some," Gundy told the Cowboy Radio Network. "That is a play you don't forget. It was a big play because if Tulsa scores there then they go ahead midway through the fourth quarter and they have the momentum. Instead they miss the field goal and we go drive and kick another field goal."
As rough as this game was offensively by Oklahoma State standards, it was just stout from the defensive side. They held a pretty talented and experienced Tulsa offense to 278-yards and just the one touchdown. Tulsa only ran for 112-yards and they were 0-of-11 on third downs and 1-for-4 on fourth downs.
"I told them in the locker room after the game that I was proud of them for continuing to make stop after stop. Sometimes when the offense doesn't play as well or sputters out as much as we did today, then defensively it's hard to continue to play, but they made plays," Gundy said on his Zoom call with the media. "We gave up a wheel route for a big pass play, but other than that I thought they were really good, particularly good against the run and then terrific on third-and-long and on fourth downs."
Lots of heroes for the Oklahoma State defense with Malcolm Rodriguez with 10 tackles and a huge sack, Tre Sterling with eight tackles, Kolby Harvell-Peel with a late interception and many more. The Cowboys kept it up throughout the game allowing the offense to finally settle in and cough to life in the fourth quarter. Knowles called it pressure, Sterling called it expectation. Really? The Cowboys defense expects to push offenses around now.
"I wouldn't say it's pressure. For coach (Jim) Knowles maybe, cause you know his jobs on the line," Sterling said without laughing. I thought it was humorous. "But I would say for our defense and the players it's expectation. Even if the score was 58-0, it doesn't matter. We expect to go out and still lay a goose egg. We let up a touchdown late second quarter. It was just good pass, good catch, stuff like that. We went out there every time, no matter what yard line, down situation, we expect to go out there and get a stop regardless. Because that's what defenses do, that's what great defenses do, and I believe we're a great defense."
Great defenses tackle well. Each week they go out and they tackle with technique and with grasping for anything they can at times. This defense tackled well on Saturday for any game, but especially well for a first game of the season.
"Yeah good point, because you never know in a game like this," Knowles added in his Zoom postgame. "Without watching the film I've got to give our tackling a B+, A-. I don't remember really many times where we missed and you know that's great. You don't practice it live, but we've been real sticklers on just being in great position and I think that's what helped us a lot."
"It's a lot different than tackling the rings (which they do in drills at practice)," Sterling told the Cowboy Radio Network. "You have to get back to being used to tackling a real body and squaring up and dealing with a real person. I thought we did a very good job of tackling but we need to keep getting better."
They will need to get better, every week of the season. Next week with West Virginia would be a good week for the defense to take another jump up the ladder toward greatness. It may be necessary for the win with the Mountaineers.
