The Top Graded Oklahoma State Cowboys (PFF) Through the First Third of the Season

STILLWATER – I’ve looked at my Pro Football Focus several times this season, but not as intently as I have in the past when I’ve been working on the Cowboy Radio Network as the sidelines reporter. Today (Sept. 28). I checked out the PFF grades for all of the Oklahoma State games and the totals were exceptional. Sometimes I’m suspect of PFF grades because they grade on base concepts. They don’t have Oklahoma State’s offensive or defensive playbooks. 

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Mestemaker is 95-of-141 passing for 1,271-yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions so far.

Starting with the top grades by game, they sure seem to line-up with the results and the performances. Check Drew Mestemaker as an example, he didn’t grade well at all, hardly anybody did at Tulsa, but he has been banging out good grades the last three games and exceptional grades for Murray State and West Virginia. 

On defense, I can appreciate the grades on rush end James Williams and seeing Ethan Wesloski and Tate Romney consistently grading well. End Keviyan Huddleston and safety Vincent Holmes deserved good grades from Saturday in Morgantown.

The cumulative grades made sense to me. Make sure you take not of snap counts as some of the high grades went to players that played in the second half and likely faced less than stellar or commited competition. 

Finally, I thought to put in total snap counts for the top 10 players on each side of the ball. It is important to note who is getting in the most snaps in games. Also, just as important to note that only one interior defensive lineman (nose or defensive tackle) showed up in the top 10 defensive snaps. 

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Jerry Lawson with a tackle against Oregon and the defensive tackles combined have 33 tackles combined, nine unassisted, 2.5 tackles-for-loss, and 2.0 sacks.

This is important because in the preseason, I stated that interior defensive line could be an issue for this team. They have countered a lack of overwhelming talent with numbers and constantly keeping fresh legs in on defense. That is a definite and positve way to do it. Fresh legs and body get more push and defeat often tired and weakening offensive linemen. That is a legit way to handle the big men and ability to hold up and even get push upfront.