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.