By Michael Doutey

Oklahoma State is back at it again on Saturday, this time on the road against Kansas State before an off week next week. The Cowboys are 4-2 on the season and 1-2 in Big 12 play, but the ship feels like it is sinking in Stillwater.

The Pokes are coming off one of their worst performances of the season in a 48-42 loss. Once again the loss came against a freshman quarterback in Brock Purdy. The Pokes gave up big play after big play while the offensive line failed to run block and surrendered seven sacks.

OSU went from looking like a Big 12 contender a month ago to now looking like a team on the verge of not winning any conference home games for the first time since 2001 and missing a bowl game in the first time in 12 years.

But the Pokes have the opportunity to slow the doubters down with a win tomorrow in Manhattan, Kansas. OSU seems to play better on the road these days as they’ve won seven straight true road games. But  a loss tomorrow will leave the fans in an uproar. Here are this weeks five thoughts heading into Week Seven.

ONE: A Must Win vs. Kansas State

This is absolutely a must win for OSU. There just aren’t many winnable games left on the schedule with Texas, OU, West Virginia and TCU left. There appear to be two winnable games left, on the road at Kansas State and Baylor, that OSU can win. This OSU team is better than what they are. But there have been some major mistakes made from the coaches, players and now we all sit here wondering just how much trouble this team is in. I feel like there is an identity crisis going on with the coaches. There is an offense that is trying to mold this unit into the same team they’ve been with Mason Rudolph and they continually fail. While the defense has gone ultra aggressive, the defense line and linebackers are flourishing in the new attack, but the defensive backs are being hung out to dry. The coaching staff needs to look their team in the mirror and start using their players strengths rather than being stubborn and trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. If it doesn’t start this week, then OSU could fail to meet the six win mark and fail to extend their bowl streak, something they put a lot of pride in.

TWO: OSU Should Have Ground Attack

OSU has to be able to run the football on Saturday. The Wildcats defense is typically a good run stop defense. That’s not the case this season where Kansas State allowing opponents to run for an average of 180.7 yards per game, which ranks 89th in the country and three spots behind Kansas. The Wildcats are allowing 5.3 yards per rush this season, ranking 117th in the nation. The Pokes need to be able to rush the football. The pass game is predicated on this and Kansas State is a subpar run stop team. If OSU can do this, they can ease into the pass game.

THREE: Many Issues Other than Corn

For some reason a lot of folks are wanting a quarterback change in Stillwater. I guess it is easier to remove one guy than five offensive linemen or the entire secondary, but putting in Dru Brown or Spencer Sanders isn’t going to suddenly erase OSU’s biggest issues. Corn is sixth in the country in passing yards with 1,830 yards. He is 11th in the country in pass yards per attempt with 9.5. His completion percentage is below average at 60.9 percent, but he has been sacked 16 times this season which is 10th most in the country. Oh, and he is ninth in the country in TD passes with 16. To me, blaming Corn for the two losses is lazy and uninformed. I’m not saying he’s great, even though his numbers are. His only problem is that he isn’t a superstar. He isn’t capable of leading OSU back from the dead like Mason Rudolph. It seems to me like fixing the issues that cause OSU to fall behind are the ones that need to be addressed and not worrying about the quarterback. If OSU’s offensive line was capable of getting a little push and wasn’t giving up seven sacks, they probably win against Iowa State. If the defense didn’t give up big play after big play, then OSU easily wins with 42 points last week. There are way bigger issues than quarterback play in Stillwater.

FOUR: Death by the Big Play 

The big play has killed OSU all season. Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World dug into this earlier in the week and found some wretched numbers on OSU’s defense. In just three Big 12 games, OSU has given up 20 pass plays of 20 yards or more. You can’t win games doing that, especially in the Big 12. Jim Knowles has to make some adjustments to help his defense out. He has to pick and choose when to blitz. It might not be ideal because OSU is at their best when they are sacking the quarterback. But that aggressiveness might be doing more harm than good. OSU’s corners aren’t good enough to play this style. The safeties are too young and are making too many mental mistakes. Putting them on an island as much as they have been hasn’t worked. There needs to be adjustments made because this isn’t working and it’s putting the offense in a bind.

TCU: 4 (2 games)
K-State: 7
Texas: 8
Texas Tech: 9 (2 games)
West Virginia: 10
Kansas: 12
Baylor: 13
Iowa State: 13
Oklahoma: 14
Oklahoma State: 20 https://t.co/5sUQBuS2Mh

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) October 11, 2018

FIVE: Round Two with Sylar Thompson

Remember Skylar Thompson, OSU fans? Remember his 10-13 for 204 yards and three touchdown performance last season in Stillwater? Well, he is back for his second round with OSU and he has been a complete bust this season. The sophomore has thrown for 750 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions this season. If OSU makes him look like a superstar again tomorrow,  then the Pokes are probably staring a loss straight in the face. OSU’s defense has the opportunity to make a statement this weekend that they aren’t as bad as they seem. Or they could show that they are really bad. It will be interesting to watch how the OSU defense comes to play tomorrow, especially the secondary.

PREDICTION:

I’ve got a feeling in the pit of my stomach that OSU come ready to play tomorrow and wins 31-21.