Ollie Gordon and Collin Oliver
Have you ever noticed how similar their names are? So similar I keep calling Collin Oliver "Gordon Oliver". I'm sure I'm not the only one who makes the mistake.
Ollie Gordon got a helmet sticker on College Football Final this morning. He deserves breakfast at Shortcakes, a full stack with an order of bacon and an order of sausage links. Collin Oliver deserves a Snickers and a latte. Will someone please buy those for them for me? (it's no longer an NCAA violation)
I said last week that Kansas was playing all swaggery but I wasn't sure it was deserved because they hadn't beaten anyone and the one good team they have played knocked their d**ks in the dirt. They still haven't beaten anyone. I also said to someone on twitterX this week that we have an unfortunate history of making backup quarterbacks look like the second coming of Tom Brady in his prime. That turned out to be prophetic.
The boys on College Football Final, "Oklahoma State is very quietly four and two with a win over ranked Kansas." I still think Kansas State was the better team.
Offense: B+
The only reason why this isn't an A is because we continue to be so freaking unimaginative once we get in the red zone, particularly in goal-to-go situations. Line plunge for two yard loss, line plunge for one yard gain, then throw a pass that everyone in BPS knows we're going to throw and where we're going to throw it and it has no chance of succeeding. Oy. The two opening drives were beautiful. Once again, the play calling was creative, moved the chains, kept the defense off balance, got the ball out of Bowman's hands quickly, and, most importantly, scored touchdowns. I don't know if they mentioned it on TV or not, but sometime after that second series we had to reshuffle our offensive line again because we lost our best o-lineman, Dalton Cooper, for the rest of the game. Never heard an update after that, don't know about next week, but it definitely changed how easily we moved the ball.
6-15 on 3rd down still isn't good, we need to improve our third down conversion. 0-1 on 2 pt conversion, that play never stood a chance, Bowman threw into, what, quadruple coverage. He had a better chance if he had pulled the ball down and tried to run it in.
Bowman continues to get better. His efficiency rating, 148.4, is his best yet. The three-headed QB monster hurt us. We can chalk up our two losses to not being settled at starter at quarterback. If we see THIS Bowman in Ames we win that game (assuming similar play calling that is). If we were going to do that at all it should have been for the FCS game and none other. I hope to never see it again.
Our running game is finally starting to find a rhythm and it is because of two things: 1) our passing game is finally starting to click, and 2) we are feeding Ollie Gordon the ball. 38 rushes for 218 yards (net) and 5.7 yards per rush with 2 TDs. 554 yards total offense, that is starting to sound like Oklahoma State. We look best running the ball outside the B gaps, but we were actually finding room in the A gaps yesterday. There were several times I noted we picked up 4-6 yards on first down running A gap. Pounding the other defense like that eventually wears them down.
Defense: First 3 quarters C-, 4th quarter A
I don't know how else to grade it. In the first three quarters we allowed a second string quarterback to pile up an efficiency rating of 205.7 and made him look like a combination of Tom Brady and Joe Montana in their prime. Oh, look, the tightend is still open. At one point I could hear Mike Gundy screaming into the head set, "Will someone please cover the *^#%$@ tightend?" 410 yards passing, 5 touchdowns. And it was maddening, when we had them in second or third and long, time after time, they picked up first downs. The tightend is still open. But we needed to stop the run. We sold out to stop the run at the exclusion of covering their receivers. The tightend is still open. And we did a fine job of stopping the run. On the radio broadcast the team made the point that Kansas' was outrushed in their last 6 losses so we needed to stop the run and we needed to run the ball. Check and check. Outcome achieved. The tightend is still open.
But the 4th quarter, when we needed plays so that the offense could put it together and win the game for us, with the game on the line, time after time when we needed plays, the defense, which had to be exhausted by that time... the defense gave them to us. Including rushing three and sacking the quarterback on the final defensive play of the game. Oh gawd I love it when that happens, at least when we do it to the other team. Who made that play? Collin Oliver. Dude was all over the field.
I think their tightend might still be open.
I want to say this clearly and make no mistake about it, I am very, very proud of the heart our defense showed in the 4th quarter yesterday. They had to be exhausted, but with the game on the line when we needed them to give us plays they gave them to us time after time after time.
Special teams: A
I can forgive the missed field goal. The way it curved at the last moment it look like the wind pushed it. Otherwise, our special teams were simply better than theirs and it showed.
Coaching: B
We obviously made adjustments in the defense in the second half, and in the second half our defense showed some real heart. Our playcalling outside of the red zone has improved dramatically. I don't know who has said what to whom or what conversations have gone on in our offensive prep room, but I approve. Now if only we could show some creativity in the red zone too, particularly in goal-to-go. I've said before, there is a reason why every single NFL team runs play action passes in GTG situations, and that is because they work. The safeties and linebackers have to respect the play action and it draws them in. Fullbacks and tightends are almost always open. Can we please, please, please put in a PA pass package out of our jumbo set? Please?
Only 3 penalties for 12 yards. One interception, on the 2 pt conversion, no fumbles. I said we needed to play mistake-free football and we pretty much did. On offense we were pretty much free of drive-killing penalties for the second week in a row. That's some pretty dang good coaching.
Don't look now but we are tied for third in the Big 12. We cannot afford to get caught peaking ahead. We have to take care of business with the team ahead of us and winning in Morgantown isn't going to be easy. We are going to have to continue to improve. But the next two games are winnable. And then...
Their tightend is still open...
Have you ever noticed how similar their names are? So similar I keep calling Collin Oliver "Gordon Oliver". I'm sure I'm not the only one who makes the mistake.
Ollie Gordon got a helmet sticker on College Football Final this morning. He deserves breakfast at Shortcakes, a full stack with an order of bacon and an order of sausage links. Collin Oliver deserves a Snickers and a latte. Will someone please buy those for them for me? (it's no longer an NCAA violation)
I said last week that Kansas was playing all swaggery but I wasn't sure it was deserved because they hadn't beaten anyone and the one good team they have played knocked their d**ks in the dirt. They still haven't beaten anyone. I also said to someone on twitterX this week that we have an unfortunate history of making backup quarterbacks look like the second coming of Tom Brady in his prime. That turned out to be prophetic.
The boys on College Football Final, "Oklahoma State is very quietly four and two with a win over ranked Kansas." I still think Kansas State was the better team.
Offense: B+
The only reason why this isn't an A is because we continue to be so freaking unimaginative once we get in the red zone, particularly in goal-to-go situations. Line plunge for two yard loss, line plunge for one yard gain, then throw a pass that everyone in BPS knows we're going to throw and where we're going to throw it and it has no chance of succeeding. Oy. The two opening drives were beautiful. Once again, the play calling was creative, moved the chains, kept the defense off balance, got the ball out of Bowman's hands quickly, and, most importantly, scored touchdowns. I don't know if they mentioned it on TV or not, but sometime after that second series we had to reshuffle our offensive line again because we lost our best o-lineman, Dalton Cooper, for the rest of the game. Never heard an update after that, don't know about next week, but it definitely changed how easily we moved the ball.
6-15 on 3rd down still isn't good, we need to improve our third down conversion. 0-1 on 2 pt conversion, that play never stood a chance, Bowman threw into, what, quadruple coverage. He had a better chance if he had pulled the ball down and tried to run it in.
Bowman continues to get better. His efficiency rating, 148.4, is his best yet. The three-headed QB monster hurt us. We can chalk up our two losses to not being settled at starter at quarterback. If we see THIS Bowman in Ames we win that game (assuming similar play calling that is). If we were going to do that at all it should have been for the FCS game and none other. I hope to never see it again.
Our running game is finally starting to find a rhythm and it is because of two things: 1) our passing game is finally starting to click, and 2) we are feeding Ollie Gordon the ball. 38 rushes for 218 yards (net) and 5.7 yards per rush with 2 TDs. 554 yards total offense, that is starting to sound like Oklahoma State. We look best running the ball outside the B gaps, but we were actually finding room in the A gaps yesterday. There were several times I noted we picked up 4-6 yards on first down running A gap. Pounding the other defense like that eventually wears them down.
Defense: First 3 quarters C-, 4th quarter A
I don't know how else to grade it. In the first three quarters we allowed a second string quarterback to pile up an efficiency rating of 205.7 and made him look like a combination of Tom Brady and Joe Montana in their prime. Oh, look, the tightend is still open. At one point I could hear Mike Gundy screaming into the head set, "Will someone please cover the *^#%$@ tightend?" 410 yards passing, 5 touchdowns. And it was maddening, when we had them in second or third and long, time after time, they picked up first downs. The tightend is still open. But we needed to stop the run. We sold out to stop the run at the exclusion of covering their receivers. The tightend is still open. And we did a fine job of stopping the run. On the radio broadcast the team made the point that Kansas' was outrushed in their last 6 losses so we needed to stop the run and we needed to run the ball. Check and check. Outcome achieved. The tightend is still open.
But the 4th quarter, when we needed plays so that the offense could put it together and win the game for us, with the game on the line, time after time when we needed plays, the defense, which had to be exhausted by that time... the defense gave them to us. Including rushing three and sacking the quarterback on the final defensive play of the game. Oh gawd I love it when that happens, at least when we do it to the other team. Who made that play? Collin Oliver. Dude was all over the field.
I think their tightend might still be open.
I want to say this clearly and make no mistake about it, I am very, very proud of the heart our defense showed in the 4th quarter yesterday. They had to be exhausted, but with the game on the line when we needed them to give us plays they gave them to us time after time after time.
Special teams: A
I can forgive the missed field goal. The way it curved at the last moment it look like the wind pushed it. Otherwise, our special teams were simply better than theirs and it showed.
Coaching: B
We obviously made adjustments in the defense in the second half, and in the second half our defense showed some real heart. Our playcalling outside of the red zone has improved dramatically. I don't know who has said what to whom or what conversations have gone on in our offensive prep room, but I approve. Now if only we could show some creativity in the red zone too, particularly in goal-to-go. I've said before, there is a reason why every single NFL team runs play action passes in GTG situations, and that is because they work. The safeties and linebackers have to respect the play action and it draws them in. Fullbacks and tightends are almost always open. Can we please, please, please put in a PA pass package out of our jumbo set? Please?
Only 3 penalties for 12 yards. One interception, on the 2 pt conversion, no fumbles. I said we needed to play mistake-free football and we pretty much did. On offense we were pretty much free of drive-killing penalties for the second week in a row. That's some pretty dang good coaching.
Don't look now but we are tied for third in the Big 12. We cannot afford to get caught peaking ahead. We have to take care of business with the team ahead of us and winning in Morgantown isn't going to be easy. We are going to have to continue to improve. But the next two games are winnable. And then...
Their tightend is still open...
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