Previewing Oklahoma State: A Look At The Cowboy Offense

I can only imagine how Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables feels heading into Saturday's Bedlam football game. I'm having nightmares writing up a preview for the Oklahoma State offense because they're good at everything they do. Passing, running, blocking and ball protection are all things that the Cowboys excel in and they're more than capable of beating you in multiple ways.

At 45.3 points per game Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 in scoring. They have an offense that's completely balanced with Kendall Hunter, Justin Blackmon and Brandon Weeden leading the charge. Not only that though, their offensive line very good at protecting the quarterback as well as opening up holes for the running game. OSU quarterbacks have only been sacked a total of 10 times this season and the team has a 5.1 yard per carry average. The Cowboys are tops in the Big 12 in passing with 363.5 yards per game and they're fourth in the conference in rushing with 188.5 yards per game.

The balance that Oklahoma State has makes them even more difficult to defend because you really can't force them to do something they're not good at. Instead you have to take one or two pieces of their offense away. Look for the Sooners to blanket Blackmon and use run blitzes to try and contain Hunter. They aren't going to be able to stop the Cowboys from scoring so they'll need to eliminate the big plays and scoring opportunities instead, in order to give their own offense an opportunity to set the pace.