Big 12 Schedule: Looking at Oklahoma State

November 18th, 2011, will always be a historic date in Iowa State football history. Jeff Woody marched in the game-winning touchdown in double-overtime to stop Oklahoma State’s undefeated season. It marks the Cyclones’ first time that they made national headlines across the country that late Friday and throughout all of Saturday. Did it cause the ripple effect of top national title contenders to faulter that following day and let LSU and Alabama replay in the championship game? Potentially, but I’m sure that Cowboys fans (and players from last season) will want some revenge coming up just shy of the championship bid.

Last Season

The team was having a dream season before the disappointment in Ames. They scored nearly 50 points a game on average, outscoring their opponents by 22 points a game. Oklahoma State was almost the replacement to Texas Tech – smacking down their opponent by digging them a hole early in the game and forcing them to play catch up. In the first quarter of all games last year, the Cowboys outscored their opponents 170-43. It disguised a defense that was average at best. They gave up 329 first downs, couldn’t stop the run all year, but luckily they forced teams to pass the ball a lot. 15 touchdowns were only given up in the air all season.

One of the keys to being so successful last year were getting to the redzone and scoring. Oklahoma State reached inside the opponents’ 20-yard line 82 times, and scored on 73 of those trips – an astonishing 89 percent efficiency.

Offense

Brandon Weeden and key receivers are gone, giving way to true freshman quarterback Wes Lunt and a couple of veteran running backs at his side. Joseph Randle led the team with 1,216 yards on over 200 carries and second-best rusher, Jeremy Smith, who had 646 yards on nine carries. The duo scored 33 touchdowns between them, and will likely need to score even more together as Lunt settles in to the quarterback position and gets in rhythm with plenty of new receivers.

Defense

It wasn’t amazing last year, but it didn’t have to be – except being outgained 192-60 on the ground against Iowa State in the lone loss of the season. There are some holes to fill, but a lot of talent returns to the defensive side of the ball. College Football News lists a combination of six linebackers, cornerbacks, and free safeties in the Cowboys’ top ten athletes. One of them is returning free safety Daytawion Lowe, who led the team with 97 tackles (75 solo) last year – that’s an average of over 7 licks a game.

The pass rush may not be as strong as it was last season. Three players – defensive linemen Jamie Blatnick, Richetti Jones, and linebacker James Thomas – combined for 15 of the team’s total 30 sacks in 2011, and all of them were seniors.

Schedule

After a bye week with Savannah State, the young offense gets a big test with a road game at Arizona. The Wildcats aren’t exactly USC, but it’s an intimidating road test. Non-conference wraps up with a visit by Louisiana – don’t be confused, it’s the Ragin’ Cajuns from the Sun Belt, formerly known as Louisiana-Lafayette.

Texas will be the conference opener, and it’s interestingly wrapped between a couple of bye weeks. Probably not the best format that head coach Mike Gundy wants to work with, because after Kansas and Iowa State, Oklahoma State will face a “gauntlet:” vs TCU, at Kansas State, and vs West Virginia. It’s the toughest stretch of the schedule, and right after that comes the home finale against Texas Tech, then a pair of road games at Oklahoma and Baylor.

If they can get to the gauntlet undefeated, maybe drop just through that, and then only drop another against their in-state rivals, they could be in a position to return to a BCS game (assuming their rivals get to the title game).

Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Clones Confidential, follow the site on Twitter and Facebook. Read his other work on the Oregon Ducks blog, Autzen Zoo, and Watson Talk Lacrosse.