Since CRFF, and every other Oklahoma State site out there, have spent the last month calling everyone who points to total defense as a reason Oklahoma State is once again on "upset alert" a bunch of overweight, ugly, small-genitalled jackholes, and have continually been proven correct, I figured we could move past the proving phase and move into the pride phase. Let's take some pride in this total defense ranking. In fact, I want to officially go on record as saying that I will be pissed if we give up less than 580 yards to K-State and move forward in these rankings.
Now then, the path to the BCS title game is clear and uninteresting at this point, so how about a look at the path to being the worst ranked total defense possible. Here is a table of the defenses standing between Oklahoma State and the magical 120. The last column represents how many more yards per game the Oklahoma State defense will need to give up than the listed team in order to fall below them in this ranking at season's end.
| Rank | Team | Yards/G | Needed Yards/G Diff rest of season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 111 | Oklahoma State | 455.6 | - |
| 112 | Indiana | 458.3 | 5 |
| 113 | Arizona | 467.3 | 23 |
| 114 | Troy | 469.4 | 28 |
| 115 | UAB | 481.3 | 51 |
| 116 | Ball State | 489.6 | 68 |
| 117 | Memphis | 495.3 | 79 |
| 118 | Rice | 495.4 | 80 |
| 119 | New Mexico | 510.5 | 110 |
| 120 | Kansas | 555.8 | 200 |
Indiana is totally within our grasp as the OSU D only needs to allow 5 yards per week more than the Hoosier D for the remaining 4 games. After than, Arizona and Troy will take some work, UAB, Ball State, Memphis, and Rice will take a lot of work and a little luck, and falling any lower than 118 will take an absolute miracle. What would it take for the Oklahoma State defense to allow 200 more yards per week than the Fighting Turner Gills? Perhaps we could start just lining up at the goal line for every defensive play, thus allowing the opponent to freely move to the 1 on every possession, but no further. Maybe we could allow the Raven D to stand in for Kansas. Or we may just have to resign to the fact that we won't be able to fall any further than 118th this season. Sad news day. I guess we will have to console ourselves by focusing on the battle to get to the title game. Boooorrriiinnnggg.