One Heckuva Conundrum for the Oklahoma State Defense Noticed By the "Homer"

STILLWATER – If you read my defensive review on Sunday you read where I thought the Arkansas wide receivers were running wide open in the first half of the game on Saturday. That was my view from the field, but when I watched the coaches video (all 22) I thought the coverage was better. I tried my opinion on head coach Mike Gundy on Monday at his News conference. Guess what, he didn’t agree.

“Well, you’re a homer. That’s the first part,” Gundy said with good humor in his tone. “They were running wide open. You’re wanting to make it look better, and honestly, they were running wide open.

“We’re honest here. There’s no reason anybody should come to these press conferences if we’re going to bull**** each other. So the point being is that they were running wide open. And the good news is this, it’s fixable. And I know everybody’s going, ‘didn’t look like it’s fixable.’ To me, it’s fixable, OK? So if players don’t have schemes that give them either an equal opportunity or better opportunity than your opponent, you’re exposed. And then if other guys have schemes that are better than yours, you’re really exposed.’

Gundy kept going and cited there have been times where he and his staff have had the better schemes and concepts. He just doesn’t point it out as much when that happens.

What is fair to point out about the Oklahoma State defense is that while they have allowed 20 points and 31 points in the first two games. 51 points total (tied 96^th in Division FBS) and 1,036-yards of total offense (129th). Okay, so the defensive numbers aren’t what you want, but they have defensive players that have been honored each week.

Jerod Hill/OSU Athletics

Trey Rucker (7) celebrating withDylan Smith (11).

Last week Trey Rucker was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. He received several other honors for his 15 tackles in week one and with 17 more tackles against Arkansas, he leads all of Division I FBS in tackles.

"Yeah, he's playing good. There's a couple times, based on the concepts we had in the first half (vs. Arkansas), where he got out of his place in coverage, which is not all his fault. But he is playing really well and he's been reliable. He's been a physical player for our team."

After the Arkansas game where Oklahoma State allowed 648-yards of offense, linebacker Nick Martin with 16 tackles, eight unassisted, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, and three quarterback hits was named the Co-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. Before that honor was announced he was both the Reese’s Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game National Defensive Player of the Week.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Nick Martin eyeballing Ja’Quiden Jackson.

"Nick plays so hard. It's crazy. He set a record for Catapult,” Gundy said referring to the computer chip that calculates player’s physical output in practice and games. “He was at 857 on the player load in Catapult. We've never had anybody over 800. Most guys that play hard float around 620 to 690. He was at 857 on the Catapult so we're gonna check his Catapult this week to make sure it wasn't malfunctioning, but when I watched him on tape and I watched him play, I can see why he was at that number. When you have a guy like him running around and making plays, you're always gonna feel good about it because he shows up out of nowhere, and he did it a number of times in the latter part of the fourth quarter and overtime.”

Collin Oliver of the Cowboys, a very talented edge rusher and leader, went down the first half and is out for awhile. An encouraging sign transfer Obi Ezeigbo came in and had nine tackles, 3.5 tackles-for-loss, and two sacks. Ezeigbo was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. 

Jerod Hill/OSU Athletics

Ozeigbo on the Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green.

“Obi is an intelligent young man,” Gundy said of Ezeigbo, who he said was easy to get because he wasn’t being offered extreme NIL. “And then realizing that if he’ll just do what he’s asked to do and work really hard, he’ll get better and improve. And so he made those adjustments on his own. The one thing that surprised me was, I didn’t think that he was prepared physically, conditioned to think well after that many plays. Because what happens is guys get tired and their mind goes. They make mistakes. And he played really well mentally in the fourth quarter and in overtime after an extended period of time, which is a pretty good example of why he’s able to move across the country and do well here. He’s a pretty mature young man.”

A talented young man that has one year to play here.

So honors galore for the defense, but more stops needed. Better production necessary. This defense badly needs to improve. Now, they will have to do it without Collin Oliver, but there is proof guys are ready to step up.