Oklahoma-Oklahoma State: Three Keys to the Game

Grey’s Anatomy

It’ll be tempting for offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and quarterback Dillon Gabriel to need to throw the soccer. The Cowboys rank 128th within the nation in cross protection and 71st in cross effectivity protection.

Central Michigan (424 yards, 4 TDs), Baylor (345 and two), Texas Tech (379 and two), TCU (286 and two), Texas (319 and two), Kansas State (296 and 4) and Iowa State (274 and one) all kicked the OSU secondary round for large yards and touchdowns. Certainly Gabriel can get his.

However the Cowboys are additionally 89th within the nation towards the run, giving up 163.1 yards per recreation. (OSU ranks 121st in whole protection, 452.9 yards per recreation, and one hundred and first in scoring protection, 30.0 factors per recreation).

Working the soccer doesn’t expose OSU’s biggest weak spot, however it’s OU’s biggest energy.

Eric Grey has 1,113 speeding yards this season. He’s logged seven 100-yard video games, together with a career-high 211 and two TDs final week at West Virginia, and he’s been over 50 within the different three.

Whereas Grey’s greatest attribute has been his highly effective legs, he’s additionally utilized supple fingers, catching 28 passes for 189 yards. Merely put, he has emerged because the Sooners’ greatest participant, and he did it by beefing up his energy, stability and explosiveness in his first offseason with energy coach Jerry Schmidt.

OU leads the Large 12 at 221.4 speeding yards per recreation, and though the Sooners haven’t majored within the large play (they’re averaging simply 5.0 yards per carry, which ranks fifth within the league), they’ve been remarkably constant, with no less than 130 yards in all 10 video games, and greater than 200 in six video games.

Grey is averaging 6.75 yards per carry, which ranks eighth within the nation, and his per-game common of 111.3 ranks 14th.

It’s going to be chilly Saturday evening (temperatures within the 30s), and it’s probably going to be windy — probably very windy (10-15 mph with gusts to 25). Gabriel’s passes haven’t fared nicely in opposed climate situations this 12 months.

In the meantime, Grey posted his career-high final week at WVU: 25 carries. The week earlier than, he was at 23. Every of the 2 video games earlier than that, he reached 20.

Eric Grey working, not Dillon Gabriel throwing, can be Oklahoma’s key ingredient to beating OSU on Saturday.

Don’t Make Heroes

Oklahoma State has good, dynamic gamers on offense. However the Cowboys don’t have any superheroes.

Amongst each the working backs and receivers this season, OSU has produced simply 5 100-yard performances (by comparability, OU has 12).

Three of these got here from wideout Bryson Inexperienced, who had simply two catches for 13 yard final week towards Iowa State. Brayden Johnson had 133 yards towards Central Michigan however has been injured and didn’t catch a ball final week. Working again Dominic Richardson’s solely large recreation was 131 yards on 27 carries towards Arizona State.

If the OU protection doesn’t create an unlikely Bedlam hero someplace, then retaining quarterback Spencer Sanders from carrying his crew with an enormous recreation turns into far more manageable.

But when Inexperienced or John Paul Richardson or Brennan Presley — or, worst-case state of affairs, Richardson — are in a position to get free for large chunks or lengthy scores, then the Sooner protection can be up towards all of it day.

OU wants success on first and second down after which, towards all odds, possibly the Sooners can get off the sphere on third and fourth down for a change.

If that occurs, the Sooners win and can lastly clinch a bowl berth.

Get Wild and Discover Farooq

Wager the home that Oklahoma State could have a number of eyes on Marvin Mims. The Sooners’ chief in receptions and receiving yards every of the final three years stays the crew’s greatest big-play risk.

He had 98 yards final week at WVU and dropped a 46-yard landing. Mims has three 100-yard video games this season, plus others of 81, 66 and 87. He’s able to pop one on any given play.

However it might serve Dillon Gabriel nicely to seek out Jalil Farooq early and infrequently, and in a wide range of methods.

Farooq is the Sooners’ most versatile offensive weapon, in a position to go deep like he did towards Iowa State (the Large 12’s greatest protection, bear in mind) or just transfer the chains like he did towards Texas (5 rushes for 60 yards) or Baylor or West Virginia (he mixed for seven catches for 83 yards in these video games, many on jet sweep-type performs into the perimeters of the opponents’ protection).

Farooq runs arduous, quick and hard. He hits full velocity shortly, breaks tackles and finishes runs. Reasonably than forcing the soccer into protection to Mims, exploiting an usually overpursuing OSU protection with misdirection performs to Farooq could be a clever gambit.

And if that’s not sufficient, Lebby can all the time put Farooq, Eric Grey and tight finish Brayden Willis within the backfield for some wildcat-type snaps. It’s been arduous for nearly each protection to deal with, and may actually exploit cracks in what’s clearly a weak OSU protection.