What a match up this is, but I don't see a Stanford team that again are under dogs to be scared of Oklahoma State or this offense. Andrew Luck pulled off a blow out last year defeating Virginia Tech 40-12. Now they face Oklahoma State and their 106th total defense. IN fact Oklahoma State has been able to stop the run or the pass allowing 5.03 ypc on the road this year. They'll have their hands full with Stephan Taylor and this offensive line of Stanford.
Stanford up front on both sides could be the difference. They have two possible first rounders on the offensive line that has allowed just 9 sacks and pathed the way for the 20th ranked running game which has averaged 5.33 ypc. LT Jonathan martin and RG David Decastro. Stanford also has 38 sacks both are better than Oklahoma State who has 28 sacks and have allowed 11. The key stat I'm looking at though is sack % as Stanford is ranked 11th, the next best team they played was Texas A&M ranked 5th and they only won 30-29. Other than Texas A&M the big 12 is not loaded with teams that can get to the QB and it's no surprise that Brandon Weeden has only been sacked 11 times. At the end of the day I look at the more balanced team because Stanford has the look of a team that can stop Oklahoma's State's running game to as they have allowed just 3.11 ypc and 2.50 on the road this year.
Stanford is just a little bit better they don't make the mistakes that Oklahoma State has forced other teams into in order to blow teams out of the building. Stanford just 15 total turnovers on the year and they are +6 on the season so don't expect Oklahoma State who has turned the ball over 22 times to be + margin in this one. Stanford also better on third down converting 52.17% to Oklahoma State's 50%, but it's again the defense that's making the difference holding opponents to 30.92% 28% on the road compared to Oklahoma State's 40.7%. Stanford is also better in the red zone converting 78.13% into TD's while Oklahoma State can be stalled 65% TD's.
