Big Plays Allowed Were Detrimental in Loss to Baylor
STILLWATER -- While Baylor was ranked No. 18 and undefeated, the loss Saturday for Oklahoma State was a bad one. Turnovers continue to plague quarterback Spencer Sanders and the defense gave up too many big plays that resulted in scores.
"I think we got isolated in coverage," said defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. "We had a game plan to try and pressure the quarterback and play some man coverage and it worked for a while, but I think we got isolated too much. Would like to have some calls back, but we just got isolated in some situations and obviously too many big plays and missed tackles. That really killed us. It's one thing for [Baylor] to make a completion or make a play. We've got to get guys on the ground, we can't let them turn it into something big. They're going to make plays, but we've got to do a better job of getting them on the ground."
The Cowboys held Baylor to just 10 first half points, but it was the third quarter that the wheels started to fall off. The first big play given up by the Pokes defense was a 78-yard pass from Charlie Brewer to Tyquan Thornton, which led to a five-yard touchdown run by JaMycal Hasty.
The next one was on the very next Baylor drive following an OSU punt. Brewer hit Josh Fleeks for a 64-yard touchdown. Both big plays in the third quarter led to points.
While Oklahoma State opened the fourth quarter with a 68-yard touchdown run by LD Brown to take back a 27-24 lead, those would be the only points they would score in the quarter.
The next drive, Brewer hit receiver Josh Fleeks for a 44-yard reception, which lead to another Baylor touchdown. On Baylor's next drive, JaMycal hasty would break off a 73-yard touchdown run on the first play of the drive capping off a 21-point quarter for the Bears.
In the first half, Oklahoma State and Baylor were fairly evenly matched as the yards total was 214 for OSU and 213 for Baylor. The problem was that OSU ran nearly twice as many plays, 41, than Baylor, 26.
In total, Baylor ran just 54 plays compared to Oklahoma State's 86 and put up 536 yards of total offense, 67 more yards than OSU's 469.
Just like Jim Knowles, head coach Mike Gundy summed it up perfectly: the defense has to do a better job of playing well all four quarters.
"I think in this game, I think it's probably 50 percent Baylor had a couple of good play calls...they caught us in a couple of coverages that were good versus what we were in, and we let ourselves down a couple of times. There were times when we were playing good. We're just not consistent over a period of time, and that's where we've got to improve. The good news is that they show signs of being able to do it. Now, that's not helping us because we play four quarters in a game. So, we have to be more consistent, and we gave up way too many big plays. Then after one of the turnovers, in my opinion, we went out and we didn't compete. They ran a counter play and broke it for 80 yards or something. We just didn't compete on that play, that comes back to me and the leadership. No matter what, you've got to go out and compete. That made it look worse."
That's something that we haven't really seen from this OSU defense; not competing. Oklahoma State was favored against Baylor, yet turnovers, missed tackles and giving up big plays that led to touchdowns killed the Pokes' chances.
There's five more games on OSU's schedule and at the very least, three of them are winnable. If the OSU wants to try and keep their bowl streak alive, they can't have another meltdown like we saw in Boone Pickens Stadium against Baylor.
