Defense Tracker: Cowboys’ Third-Down Conversion Percentage Is Ridiculous

If there’s one area the Cowboys’ defense hasn’t dominated in this season, it’s creating turnovers. However, the group has been able to counter that by being nails on third down.

Oklahoma State’s first three opponents are a combined 7-for-43 on third down. That’s 16 percent. The closest the Cowboys have come to that in the Mike Gundy era came in 2013 when the Pokes allowed teams to convert on 31 percent of their third-down attempts.

We’ve been tracking whether this is the best defense Gundy has ever had. Here are the year-by-year numbers with third-down conversions added.

2005 31.3 419.6 1.8 54-for-158 (34%) 2006 25.6 364.1 2 67-for-169 (37%) 2007 29.5 443 1.5 78-for-189 (41%) 2008 28.1 405.5…