Oklahoma State football: Will tempo change?
Lots of questions surrounding OSU football in the post-Brandon Weeden era. Last year answered the question of whether it was Weeden or Dana Holgorsen who supplied the offensive magic. Now the question becomes, was it Weeden or Holgorsen’s offense that supplies the magic.
Pretty clearly it’s both, to some degree. And part of that is the tempo. The Cowboys at times played very quickly, so quickly that the defense couldn’t keep up, much less adjust. So how will the Cowboys be able to maintain that tempo with true freshman Wes Lunt, or even redshirt freshman J.W. Walsh, should Lunt falter after being handed the starting reins?
“Shouldn’t change any,” said Mike Gundy. “Our tempo should stay the same. The adjustments that are made at a fast pace will take a little more time with Brandon being gone. Brandon’s first year here, the adjustments he made were good. His second year here, the adjustment he made were great.”
So that means the offense won’t be expected to perform at the level to which OSU grew accustomed under Weeden. Yet Gundy says it doesn’t mean the Cowboys will slow down.
“We want to play fast,” Gundy said. “We want to play with a lot of speed. Those guys should learn to make the adjustments based on the defense at a faster rate as we progress.”
Still, it’s asking a lot out of Lunt. Weeden as a fourth-year junior was “good” at the adjustments. Can anyone expect Lunt to be “good” at it as a true freshman? If he is, the Cowboys have something special on their hands.
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