Going up Against Jim Knowles’ Defense Is Beneficial for Cowboy Offensive Line
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State nation has been riding pretty high since the 32-24 win over Texas in Austin. The Cowboys jumped up to No. 8 in the nation and are currently 6-0 on the season. The defense held the Longhorns to less than 100 total yards in the second half, including bottling up Heisman hopeful Bijan Robinson late in the game. They also got a solid second-half performance out of running back Jaylen Warren, as he finished the day with 33 carries for 193 yards.
However, there’s still some things to work on, like pass blocking, according to redshirt junior offensive lineman Hunter Woodard.
Sanders threw for just 178 yards on a 59% completion rate with one touchdown and one interception. The Longhorns got some pretty good pressure on Sanders as he was sacked once, hurried six times and hit a few other times.
“We’ve got to make our pass pro more solid, there’s no way around that,” said Hunter Woodard. “We let up too many hits on Spencer [Sanders] and put some pressure on him on Saturday and we’ve got to fix that.”
The Pokes have Iowa State this weekend and the Cyclones have one of the best defensive units in the country, especially when it comes to pass defense. They’re allowing just 154.5 yards through the air per game, good for sixth in the nation, just 97.7 yards on the ground and a total of 252.2 yards per game, good for 14th and 6th in the nation respectively.
“Yeah probably, [Iowa State’s] really solid,” Woodard said about the Cyclones being the best defense OSU has faced this year.
However, going up against Jim Knowles’ unit each and every day has certainly helped put the Pokes’ offensive front in a good position going into this weekend.
“Oh, it’s huge, I mean even just going up against them in practice, it’s great to go up against guys like that because they make us better at the end of the day,” Woodard said of going up against the OSU defense. “I mean, it’s kind of limited reps going up against them in season, but in August and spring, there’s nothing better than going up against them.”
The Cowboys have the No. 19th ranked defense in the country but have put up some of the best performances in the country the past few weeks giving up less than 100 yards on the ground per game. They’re also giving up just 19.5 points per game, a mark just a few points off from the Cyclone’s defense.
There’s no question Saturday’s game is going to be a huge test for this Cowboy offense, especially the offensive line. But the team is excited for the challenge and still pretty confident following the win over Texas.
“We’ve got a lot to learn from Texas on Sunday,” said Woodard. “You could see the excitement going throughout the team, I mean it was a huge win for us down there in Austin. There’s a lot to correct and learn, I mean today we had a great practice and we’re really excited.”