Eric Morris spent part of this week revisiting a bad fourth-down season, and the reason was simple: he wanted to understand what went wrong.
Two years ago, the coach said his offense leaned into fourth downs more than anyone in the country. That aggression did not pay off the way he expected.
“It was something we really studied two years ago because I think we went for it more than anybody in the nation,” Morris said on Tuesday. “Now, when you really go back and study it, we weren’t very good at it.”
The numbers backed him up. In 2024, North Texas tried it 44 times and converted 47.7% of those chances, which ranked 91st nationally.
That volume explains part of the ranking, but not all of it. Only four teams with at least 30 attempts finished worse than the Mean Green, which means the issue was efficiency, not just boldness.
Morris’ team corrected that in a big way last season. North Texas finished seventh in the nation on fourth down, converting 72.2% of its tries.
“Last year, we were really, really good on fourth down as far as conversion rate, but we didn’t go for near as many as what we did two years ago,” Morris said. “Now, partly that was because we were a lot better on third down and just a better football team holistically.
“And so when you’re relying on fourth downs and going that much, I think that’s something where I just learned through the fire like that that wasn’t a positive thing.”
He may be selling himself a little short there. North Texas still went for it 36 times last season, tied for 12th-most in the country. That kind of willingness should look familiar to Oklahoma State fans this fall.
For comparison, the Cowboys went for it 24 times in the last two seasons and 26 times in the other. Based on North Texas’ 2025 pace, that would amount to nearly one extra attempt per game.
And when Morris’ offense needed a play most, it usually found one. In North Texas’ only two losses last season, the Mean Green went 3-for-4 on fourth down in a 13-point loss to Tulane in the American Conference Championship and 3-for-4 again in a 27-point loss to South Florida.
In the 12 wins, only five games were decided by 14 points or fewer. In those tighter games, North Texas converted 9 of 14 fourth-down tries, good for 64%.
Of course, projecting all of this into a new season is never clean in the transfer portal era. Still, the numbers offer a clear hint of what could be coming for Oklahoma State. The Pokes face four opponents that ranked 103rd or worse in fourth-down defense last season, including Colorado at 103rd, Oregon at 113th, Kansas at 117th and West Virginia at 122nd.
OSU 2026 FBS opponents ranked by 4th down defense conversion rate in 2025:
5th Texas Tech: 33%
35th Iowa State: 46%
T49th Houston: 50%
T49th Kansas State: 50%
59th Arizona State: 51%
62nd Tulsa: 52%
94th UCF: 59%
103rd Colorado: 61%
113th Oregon: 64%
117th Kansas: 66%
122nd West Virginia: 68%
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