OU 27, OSU 0: Thoughts and Observations
by Brandon Chatmon
bchatmon@opubco.com
–Clearly Oklahoma State is still building their program and they haven’t reached the level of OU or Texas. Until they beat those teams, it’s hard to say otherwise.
–I still think they are on the right track. They just need to continue to focus on recruiting the type of talent that develops into NFL-caliber football players. However, that is the hardest part of the journey towards the ultimate goal of competing for championships.
–It didn’t seem like OSU played with confidence. It didn’t seem like they expected to win today. It looks like they still have a mental hurdle to overcome against the elite teams.
–I went down on the field in pregame and spent a good 20 minutes just observing and I didn’t like what I saw. I would have liked to see the OSU players walking around with a little bit of swagger and I didn’t see any of that. They seemed to be going through the motions. To be fair, Baylor and Colorado were the only other games I spent some pregame time on the field so I can’t say what they’re like when they play well. But I just got a vibe in the pregame that things could turn out this way.
–He won’t get the credit, but Gerald McCoy dominated the game. He was a big reason the Cowboys made the play calls they made, the reason they struggled to have success running the ball.
–Jeremy Beal was almost as effective when the Pokes tried to run outside. The Sooners dominated the line of scrimmage, which surprised me. Especially after what happened in Lubbock.
–I know a lot of people are questioning the play calling but the reality is the players need to make plays. The coaches could have been more aggressive but what were they supposed to do? They were searching for someone to make a play throughout the game. They had no offensive rhythm, no confidence, no swagger… nothing. I don’t think play calling was a huge issue.
–It was clear Zac Robinson was hurting. Give him credit for being out there… And not making any excuses during postgame about the final outcome.
–0 of 14 on third downs??? That speaks volumes. And I’d say at least 8-10 of those were third-and-seven or more.
–I felt like the youth of OSU’s receivers showed in this game. Those guys definitely didn’t play with a swagger and they seemed to struggle to get open for Zac.
–The defense didn’t play poorly. They were just on the field for a long, long time in the second half. They didn’t get much help from the offense.
–Ryan Broyles was the difference. He consistantly made something out of nothing… And nobody from OSU matched him.
–OU clearly won the special teams battle thanks to Broyles and punter Tress Way. Way was superb.
–When Donald Booker went out of the game, it really, really hurt the Pokes. That is when OU began having more success running the ball.
–Bottom Line: Nobody played well and the coaches didn’t coach well. Both parties said as much after the game. I like the fact they made no excuses. Coaches said it was our fault, the players said it was our fault.
–The Pokes are disappointed at letting a BCS berth slip through their fingers, but OSU still had a solid season when you consider all the things they had to overcome. The Cowboys finished 9-3, No. 2 in the Big 12 south and likely are headed to the Cotton Bowl.
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Comments
Zac was obviously not doing well. He didn’t run either from the ankle or fearing another concussion. He couldn’t throw the long ball. His sideline throws had no zip (shoulder?). When your QB is limited, it limits your play calling. The whole team seemed to be operating in a daze.
OSU was not mentally prepared for BATTLE (NOT A WARRIOR AMOUNG THE ORANGE) and they played like they did not want to make anyone mad.
We lost and did not look good doing it. However, I take issue w/ no OSU warriors on the field. I will take Booker in a street fight and give you the field.
I am with rfa, Booker played like it was Bedlam and it meant something. As for the rest of the team, I think BC hit it right in his blog. No anticipation = no inspiration. I don’t think they even cared that they could have gone to the BCS. It was sickening to watch. With Z-Rob so ineffective, why not put in Wheedon much earlier and let him try to get a rhythm going. Grrr… This is the ’80′s all over again.
How sad for OSU and their little fans that they can’t even beat OU’s 2nd string offense!!! OSU may have won 9 games this year but they only won 2 decent games (Georgia…who has turned out to be way overrated and TxTech). They still got smashed by Tx and OU and the same thing will keep happening year after year. You just can’t fight tradition and OU and Tx are always going to get the best recruits because that’s where the real players want to play. So go get thrashed in your bowl game little cowpokes and then things will be back to normal next year with your 5-7 losses.
joel,
You may notice that I did not capitalize your name – you just don’t deserve any respect. Why get on here and make bad comments when it is so undeserved. As Barry Switzer used to say, “Humility is just one game away in this business!” We (OU) lost a lot of games this year that we should have won. So don’t react as if we did something really great. We always win at home, everyone knows that. We also lost to Texas like OSU. Thing is, take the losses and still support your team. Guess what, they’ll both play better next year with more experience. And we play at OSU next year, so show some respect. The Sooners still deserve some honor and so do the Cowboys.
I’m glad to see that someone admitted that the play calling was not good. Both Offensive Coaches called bad games for the first half. OU Coaches made the adjustments, Mike Gundy did not.