Three things to know about Notre Dame Fiesta Bowl opponent Oklahoma State
Notre Dame ends its 2021 season against an opponent it has never faced.
The No. 5 Irish (11-1) take on No. 9 Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, ESPN). Here are three things to know about the Cowboys, who went 11-2 and most recently lost in the Big 12 championship game.
1. A workhorse running back
Like Notre Dame before Kyren Williams turned pro, a running back is the heartbeat of Oklahoma State’s offense.
Jaylen Warren, a graduate transfer from Utah State, has rushed for 1,134 yards and 11 touchdowns on 237 carries (4.8 yards per rush) this season. Only 13 Football Bowl Subdivision running backs have carried the ball more than he has.
Also like Williams, Warren gives defenses fits when they try to wrap him up. He has forced 76 missed tackles this year, per Pro Football Focus, which ranks third among players with at least 150 carries. He averages 3.14 yards after contact per rush, which ranks 41st. (Williams, for comparison, is 11th in missed tackles forced and 15th in yards after contact per carry).
Warren did not play in the Big 12 championship game Dec. 4 due to an injury. Without him, Oklahoma State’s 26 running back carries averaged a measly 1.27 yards. The Cowboys lost to Baylor, 21-16.
“He’s a powerful running back,” said Mike Elston, Notre Dame’s defensive line coach and acting defensive coordinator. “He has great vision, makes decisive cuts. He’s bulky and runs behind his pads. He’s physical. He has good hands and they can get him the ball out of the backfield on screens.
“It looked a lot different — quicker, more explosive. He’s an impressive running back.”
Notre Dame’s run defense will be one of the better units Warren and Oklahoma State face this year. The Irish are allowing 3.69 yards per carry, which is tied for 36th nationally. They have not allowed any of their last four opponents to top 3.7 yards per carry, and two of them failed to rush for 100 yards.
2. Defensive shift
In a majority of Mike Gundy’s 17 years as head coach, Oklahoma State’s identity has centered around a high-scoring and prolific passing offense. The Cowboys finished 15th or higher in yards per pass attempt six times and points per game seven times from 2010 to 2019.
That has come with moderate interest in defense. From 2014 to 2018 — the height of the Big 12’s offensive explosion — Oklahoma State ended five seasons ranked 75th or worse in yards per play allowed.
This year, though, that has flipped, with Oklahoma State and with the Big 12 overall. Oklahoma State’s defense ranks fourth in yards per play (4.41), eighth in scoring (16.8 points per game), first in sacks per game (4.23) and first in tackles for loss per game (8.5). Its offense, meanwhile, is 91st in yards per play (5.4), 80th in yards per pass attempt (7.2) and 66th in pass attempts per game (30.5).
“When you watch Big 12 football now, there’s a lot of good defense being played,” Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said. “A lot of the new way with defensive football has been a 3-3-5 structure you saw from Iowa State in 2019 when we played them in the [Camping World Bowl].
“The conference has been very innovative that way because they’ve had to stop high-powered offenses. You see a lot of what they’ve implemented in that conference trickle over across college football.”
Oklahoma State’s 2018 hire of Duke’s Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator brought steady improvement that led to this season’s dominant unit. Knowles, though, will not coach in the bowl game after accepting the same position at Ohio State.
The Cowboys’ defensive talent is hard to miss, too. All-American linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez has 112 tackles (14.0 for loss). Oklahoma State has three defensive ends with at least 10 tackles for loss (freshman Collin Oliver, redshirt junior Tyler Lacy and redshirt senior Brock Martin).
3. Ups and downs at quarterback
Spencer Sanders’ third year as Oklahoma State’s starting quarterback has contained some heavy ebbs and flows.
There are highs, such as his 344-yard, two-touchdown day in a 31-20 win over Kansas State Sept. 25. There are also lows. He has five games with either multiple interceptions or a completion rate below 52 percent.
Without Warren, Sanders shouldered additional weight in the Big 12 championship game. He threw four interceptions and zero touchdowns. He was intercepted twice in a rivalry game win over then-No. 10 Oklahoma Nov. 27. All told, he has thrown 16 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and is completing 61.3 percent of his passes.
He’s a threat as a runner, though, even when he isn’t throwing the ball well. Sanders is averaging 4.2 yards per carry this year, has 1,440 career rush yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
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