Cincy and Sam Answer Some Questions: Part 1
This is a new feature here at WO where Cincy and Sam will each offer our take on a variety of questions, most of which will focus on how things will shake out for Oklahoma State, and the Big XII, in the 2010 football season. Some of these questions were submitted by our loyal readers, some came up in everyday conversation, some were part of a Chinasa sex-dream, and some were just made up. As always, every answer and prediction should be taken as 100% fact… wager accordingly.
Question #1. Which Big XII team will be the biggest disappointment compared to their pre-season projection?
Sam: In my opinion, there are two great candidates here, but I am going to pass over A&M and go with Nebraska (sorry Peliniacs). I will try to keep this brief, but my main reasons for thinking Nebraska will not be a national title contender mainly have to do with losing Suh. I understand that one player does not make an entire defense, but in Suh’s case… maybe he did. Bill C from Rock M Nation and Football Outsiders does an excellent job of explaining this in his Nebraska D preview:
“When we read about how the Pelinis have figured things out, and how the defense was more than just one person, and Nebraska can expect to be just as good or better on defense despite the loss of House of Spears, all I can say is … prove it. I don’t mean that in a smack-talking way, I just mean that … damn, Suh was amazing last year. He commanded double- and triple-teams, opened up the blocking for the rest of the line, and still put up those stats. There is no doubt in my mind that the Nebraska coaching staff had something to do with his success, and that they can be expected to coach up Jared Crick and other tackles in the future … but that was a once-in-a-decade type of performance last year. And the thing about once-in-a-decade performances is … they don’t happen every year. (Brilliant observation, I know.)”
Outside of that, I am down on Zac Lee, and really the offense as a whole who was just a mess of inconsistency last year, highlighted by the up and down efforts of QB Lee. The O-line ranks about the middle of the Big XII in talent, and the receiving corps doesn’t have much punch outside of Niles Paul, so Helo Jr is going to have to stay healthy and have a 1500+ yard season (which is very possible) to keep the offense moving.
Because of all these briefly summarized factors, I predict that Nebraska will not meet expectations in 2010. Now I don’t mean to completely dash the hopes of Ivory Nation… I do think a 10 win season similar to last year is possible, I just think the high end hopes of running though conference play undefeated, followed by a BCS title game berth, are quite a stretch. I don’t see Nebraska staying the the top 5, I don’t see them heading to a BCS bowl, and I can’t actually see their fans as they are practically translucent.
My prediction is 8-4, which should still be enough to take the North.
Cincy: Texas Tech.
Under Mike Leach, the Red Raiders became one of the most high powered offenses of all time. New head coach Tommy Tuberville has stated that he will keep things “mostly the same” and will just “refine the offensive scheme that Leach had in place” with a more balanced attack that is focused on running the ball.
In my opinion, Tuberville is from the old school. He wants to play solid defense, control the line of scrimmage and run the ball with authority. Sure, he went out and hired Troy Offensive Coordinator Neal Brown to run the offense, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be dinking and dunking it like they were under Leach.
Mike Leach didn’t recruit guys that were meant to play in a Tuberville style system. He mostly focused on small wide-outs that could get open, lineman that really didn’t have to do a lot of run blocking and defensive guys that were leftovers from all of the other Texas and Oklahoma schools. Simply put, he recruited niche players. That niche worked in the Leach “system”, but it won’t work for Tubes.
I honestly expect Tech to finish 6th in the South, behind Baylor and Texas A&M.
After the Jump, a few more questions, and some even hotter answers
Position-alysis: D-Line
Continuing the process of semi-analyzing the depth at every position, introducing you to the men playing those positions, and revealing how difficult it is to write something about someone you have never seen play.
Previous Position-alysis:
Ugo Chinasa
There’s no question that the best athlete on the line is 6-5, 252-pound Senior Defensive End, Ugo Chinasa.
Chinasa led the team last year with 6.5 sacks, and 30 tackles total. Since 1991, only one cowboy has had at least 10 sacks – Greg Richmond in 2003. Chinasa has the speed and tenacity to be a special player. It’s time for him to step up, and be All Big 12 caliber.
Working with Chinasa, on the other end, will be Jamie Blatnick. The 6-3, 270-pound junior was serviceable last year with 28 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for a loss. He seems to have good size and is smart, but he hasn’t shown the speed to get to the quarterback, even with all of the attention being paid to Chinasa. Word out of Stillwater is that he’s dropped some weight and added some muscle. Hopefully that translates to more “flash” and a better pass rush.
Is this the year for Richetti Jones?
Richetti Jones was considered one of the nation’s top end prospects before suffering a hip injury late in his high school career. He has been “good”, but he hasn’t been anywhere near what was originally expected. I expect him to grow into even more of a factor. He has turned into a bit of a pass rushing specialist and the 6-3, 264-pound junior has the raw skills to live up to his original billing.
Defensive Tackles
Chris Donaldson
Chris Donaldson wasn’t a major piece of the defensive puzzle last year, but he played in every game after Georgia and finished with nine tackles. He’s a smart player who, at 6-1 299, has the size to anchor the middle this season. He’s much better than his stats show and could quickly become one of the team’s most important linemen, especially when it comes to stopping the run.
Shane Jarka is a versatile veteran who is able to play both inside and out. Although he’s battled the injury bug, he had a decent year as a key backup making 18 tackles, 1.5 sacks and five tackles for loss. He’s 6-3 and 295 pounds with good speed to pressure the quarterback and present problems in the backfield. The key to Jarka’s success is staying healthy.
At 6-3 and 265 pounds, Nigel Nicholas is undersized but as proof from his play in 3rd down packages last season, he can move. He’s extremely quick off the ball and is very strong for his size. He’s built to be an end in a 3-4 but he’ll be just fine in the Bill Young 4-3.
Overview
This should be a solid Defensive Line. The Defensive Ends (Chinasa, Blatnick and Richetti) should all take turns having big games on the outside, so the hope is they blow up each game with their combination of size, quickness, and experience. Hold down the middle with Donaldson, Jarka and Nichols and you’ve got yourself a solid D.
Pasted Optimism: 7/29/2010
Pasted Optimism is a place where we periodically post a collection of links, quick thoughts, and hopefully one day, a haiku. Click here to view archive.
With Big XII Media Days taking over the week we haven’t put one of these together in a while. Is everyone alright? Good. OK, on to the links.
Oklahoma State picked up commitments number 15 and 16 this week. Number 16 being Quentin Sargent who has three of my absolutely favorite attributes for a football player. 1) His name is Quentin.. you show me an unsuccessful Quentin and I will show you a picture of Gundy with tousled hair. 2) His entire name is about as bad-ass sounding as it gets. 3)He is listed at the position of “athlete”.
Cowboy Caravan heads to Tulsa tomorrow evening. Here is a short recap by NewsOK of the OKC one from Wednesday. I couldn’t make it as I was playing week 1 of my NCAA 11 online dynasty and completely forgot about it, but it sounds like a pretty good evening. A lot of Gundy getting fired up and telling everyone not to believe pre-season projections… Unless they are the 2009 ones that had us as a top 10 team… those are projections we can get behind.
The Victor Johnson situation is still up in the air.
And lastly, Orie Lemon may have given us a taste of the absolutely badassness that will be the Cowboys 2010 poster with a twitpic.
I can’t wait to see what Dan Bailey looks like all orange blooded to the left of Orie there.
Potential Non-Conference Rivalries for Oklahoma State (reader involvement required)
One of the beneficial side effects out of all the conference re-alignment mess, it is that we are all now in “improvement” mode with our respective programs. AD’s, coaches, fanbases, boosters, and groupies of every remaining Big XII team are all asking themselves the same question, “What can we improve to make our athletic program, and institution as a whole, more valuable to potential conference suitors?” (Most common answer: lower the age of consent) It has changed our perspective a little. For example, instead of thinking of Stilly as a quaint little town where it is fun as hell to spend your late teens and early twenties… now some of us see it as a town that needs some attractions added in order to make it more exciting for visiting fans (btw..suggested improvements to Stillwater will definitely be a future post).
Seeing A&M head into the 2nd year of their renewed rivalry with Arkansas at Jerry World got me thinking that it would be a great thing for O-State to have something similar…a long-term series with a non-Big XII football opponent that would quickly turn into a rivalry. The off hand benefits I can think of:
- Improved SOS.
- Creation of a new tradition.
- Gets us some national attention by getting us out of our own backyard. This would force another BCS conference to take a look at O-State every season.
- Potentially open up a new recruiting pipeline.
- If the game were always at neutral site, it allows us fans to have a planed destination every season.
- A more uniform schedule. As college football fans, we love us some year-to-year predictability.
- One less Non-Conf game to worry about scheduling for whoever does that. So it makes one guys job easier. Yeah!
- A minimum of one (1) lucky girl from the opposing fanbase will get to have a mind-blowing yearly experience with the WO staff at the cheapest motel within walking distance to the stadium.
Well we know the benefits (because I just told you them), now let’s discuss what schools best fit the role of “Long-term Oklahoma State Rival”, and if it would best work at a neutral site or as alternating home games between the two teams?
Click the jump for more words
Big 12 Media Days 2010: Day 3 Recap
Yee Haw!
Thanks to Mack Brown, Day 3 of the Big 12 Media Days was much more entertaining than Day 2.
He said knew before the National Championship game even started that quarterback Garrett Gilbert didn’t expect to play. He said Gilbert’s eyes were “as big as silver dollars” when he told him to replace an injured Colt McCoy.
“He ate all of his steak at the team dinner and wasn’t nervous,” Brown said of Gilbert. “You can always tell the guys that say ‘Can I get some of your steak’ aren’t going to play.”
Mack also had a good response to a question from a reporter about the OU/Texas game.
“You mean the Texas/OU game?” Mack replied.
And the crowd goes fucking wild!
There wasn’t much to report from the Colorado and Kansas sessions. If I had to pull highlights, it would be KU Coach Turner Gill saying that his players have spent the summer “building relationships” and Colorado coach Dan Hawkins saying “There are far more 3 star players that make it to the NFL than 4 and 5 star players”
There are a lot more girls that are between 1’s and 4’s too, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna settle for them. Give me the 8-10′s…
We are stars. There are alot of us.
Closing the day, and the whole thing I suppose, was OU coach Bob Stoops. He expressed his confidence in QB Landry Jones as a leader, saying that compared to last year it was like “Night and Day
Stoops also said that Running Back Demarco Murray could be as good as Adrian Peterson.
Demarco Murray > AD?
What??
I’m not really sure how to take this. Stoops has either lost his mind after a long, injury riddled season and a Sun Bowl trip – or we should all be terrified. Personally, I’ve never been that impressed with Murray. Give me Kendall Hunter, or Alexander Robinson.
I’d say the Big 12 Media Days were somewhat uneventful. We don’t really know anything more than we did on Monday. Come to think of it, we may know less.
Sad Day Cowboys
Bob Fenimore has died at the age of 84.
p.s. Bob Fenimore is displaying more athletic ability just posing for that picture than any of us have ever displayed at any point in our entire lives.
Big 12 Media Days 2010: Day 3
Ahhhh... remember Day 1 of Media Days?
Today’s schedule is the same as yesterday, except the teams are different (really?).
Big XII Media Days Day 3 Schedule
9:00 Kansas: Coach Turner Gill, DE Jake Laptad, CB Chris Harris, OL Brad Thorson
9:45 Oklahoma: Coach Bob Stoops, DE Jeremy Beal, LB Travis Lewis, WR Ryan Broyles
10:30 Colorado: Coach Dan Hawkins, CB Jalil Brown, WR Scotty McKnight, OL Nate Solder
11:15 Texas: Coach Mack Brown, QB Garrett Gilbert, OT Kyle Hix, DE Sam Acho, DT Kheeston Randall
Hopefully today will provide some excitement that a Pelini-less Day 2 was lacking. For a complete recap of yesterday, check out the comments section of the Day 2 post. For those that don’t have the time, or the clicking ability, to read those comments, here is a quick list of notes from Day 2 of Big XII Media Days.
- Pinkel started things off by sleep-talking his way through a bunch of softball questions. There were parts where he was honestly leaning his head on his hand while he talked. He didn’t look like he was irritated by the questions, he looked more like he was indifferent about being there. He had the same expression as a kid who is forced to be at church, or when Jeremy Smith is forced to be anywhere but the weight room.
- The comment that best sums up Pinkel’s time is this one:
“Coach… how do you feel about your secondary?”
“We are happy with it”
- Next up was the always electric Coach Gundy who we were hoping would add some excitement to this bore-fest. However, our hopes of excitement were dashed quickly as gel-spike mono-toned his way through a 7 minute session, only giving the most basic of answers to most questions. He did bring up one good point though… I am paraphrasing here:
- Also of note.. I’m pretty sure Gundy’s gel spike is half an inch taller than last year.
- Next was an interview with Orie Lemon in which he did not use the n-word one time, and declared that he is 100% healthy and ready to tear some shit up.
- Also, somewhere around this time we learned that the Big 12 has dropped the Independence Bowl tie in, and is instead taking the 7th place team to New York to play in the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium. So whoever wins the North, take some pictures of New York for us. (oh North hating, how I will miss you next season)
- Bill Snyder, the nicest man in college football, provided the only emotion so far as he chuckled at a question by Barry Trammel who was basically giving him shit for wanting to still have divisions in a 10 team league.
- Last up was Tuberville, who speaks well and with a lot of emphasis on certain words, but seems to talk in circles and never really say anything. Even with that, he was roughly 23 times more charismatic than Gundy, Pinkel, and nice-guy Snyder combined.
- This is just a gut feeling, but I think Tubs is a major league asshole when cameras aren’t on him. I can see him yelling “Get your shit together!” at your grandmother if she were in his way at the store or something. Just has that look to him.
So let’s all watch us some Day 3 Media Days today, and pray for a little excitement. I’m not sure if any of the WO staff will be available today to live-comment on the proceedings, but feel free to add your own commentary and/or bottomless pics.
Big 12 Media Days 2010: Monday Recap, OSU at 9:45
Big 12 Media Days 2010
So the 2010 version of Big 12 Media Days started with an angry Bo Pelini. The first thing out of the Nebraska coach’s mouth was “No Big 10 talk” Ok Bo. Great to see you too!
After that, he didn’t really say much. The usual “We could be good”, etc. was all we really got. But you can sense that there is a lot of optimism in the Husker Nation.I even heard things like “Big 12 Champs” “Blackshirts” “National Champs” — yes, it’s getting crazy in Lincoln.
Bottomline Huskers — You lost an All American defender that was triple covered most of the time and your offense stinks. Iowa State beat you at home. You’re a long way from the good times of the 80′s and 90′s.
After Pelini, we saw Baylor, Iowa State and Texas A&M. You can read the real time coverage at our Twitter site here It’s a real hoot!
A few interesting bits from Art Briles, Paul Rhoads and Mike Sherman
- Baylor will be “Fresh, Fast and Fearless”
- Robert Griffin is healthy
- Iowa State has the #1 Grad rate in the Big 12 (He really pointed this out)
- Iowa State has the toughest schedule in the country (reported here first)
- Texas A&M is ready to take the place of Nebraska!?!?!
- Mike Sherman is crazy..In a real “Texas Calm” way
Up this morning at about 9:00 CT is Missouri, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Texas Tech.
We’re going to do things a little differently today by keeping some of the reaction here on the site in the comments section. Hopefully that will mean a good conversation with our 3 fans.
I’m looking forward to hearing what Coach Gundy has to say. Snyder, Pinkel and Tuberville should be good too.
The live video can be found here See you in a couple of hours..
Big 12 Media Days 2010
The first of 3 days previewing the upcoming (and final) season for the Big 12 as we’ve known it begins today in Irving, TX.
At 1:00 CT, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini will kick it off with Niles Paul, Pierre Allen and Jarred Crick to discuss how fucking stupid everyone else in the big 12 is. Not really…He’ll probably talk about how great he expects their defense to be, how their offense looks sharp, yadda yadda yadda..
Of course my name is Bo you ignorant F@%k!
Apparently, our press passes were lost in the mail so we’ll be following everything via the live feed here.
We’ll update any outbursts, uncomfortable questions, etc.. via Twitter.
The full schedule for the next 3 days is below…
Monday, July 26
2:00 Nebraska: Coach Bo Pelini, WR Niles Paul, DE Pierre Allen, CB Prince Amukamara
2:45 Baylor: Coach Art Briles, LB Antonio Johnson, OT Danny Watkins
3:30 Iowa State: Coach Paul Rhoads, QB Austen Arnaud, RB Alexander Robinson, DE Rashawn Parker
4:15 Texas A&M: Coach Mike Sherman, QB Jerrod Johnson, LB Von Miller, DT Lucas Patterson
Tuesday, July 27
10:00 Missouri: Coach Gary Pinkel, QB Blaine Gabbert, RB Derrick Washington, CB Kevin Rutland
10:45 Oklahoma State: Coach Mike Gundy, QB Brandon Weeden, LB Orie Lemon, DE Jamie Blatnick
11:30 Kansas State: Coach Bill Snyder, RB Daniel Thomas, S Tysyn Hartman, OL Zach Kendall
12:15 Texas Tech: Coach Tommy Tuberville, QB Taylor Potts, QB Steven Sheffield, DL Colby Whitlock
Wednesday, July 28
10:00 Kansas: Coach Turner Gill, DE Jake Laptad, CB Chris Harris, OL Brad Thorson
10:45 Oklahoma: Coach Bob Stoops, DE Jeremy Beal, LB Travis Lewis, WR Ryan Broyles
11:30 Colorado: Coach Dan Hawkins, CB Jalil Brown, WR Scotty McKnight, OL Nate Solder
12:15 Texas: Coach Mack Brown, QB Garrett Gilbert, OT Kyle Hix, DE Sam Acho, DT Kheeston Randall
Position-alysis: The Backfield
Continuing the process of semi-analyzing the depth at every position, introducing you to the men playing those positions, and revealing how difficult it is to write something about someone you have never seen play.
Previous Position-alysis:
Today we will take a look at the Running Backs and Fullbacks (some call this “The Backfield”). I should note that the official Oklahoma State depth chart won’t list anyone at the Fullback position, but for the purposes of this article anyone that is listed at RB, but looks like a FB, will be presented as a fullback.
Obviously this is a position that is pretty set at the top spots, so this position-alysis won’t have nearly the amount of uncertainty as the receivers. The backfield consists of two clear-cut senior #1′s at both positions, with mostly unproven guys backing them up. It is a lot like when Ricky and I are with our boys at Incahoots (still open?). However, these young, unproven guys have the pedigree, and the hype, to potentially have a big impact this season… so let’s get to know them a little.
The Old Guard
Kendall Hunter | RB | 5-8 | 197 | Sr | Tyler, TX
We all know Kendall… the 2008 All-American was injured most of 2009 resulting in an 89 carry season, and only 30 of those were at full strength. I think we can all agree that when healthy, Kendall can carry the load and has the ceiling of a dark horse Heisman candidate. Kendall really deserves an entire post to himself, but I will summarize his main attributes here for now. Kendall Hunter is a shifty runner that possesses some of the quickest feet in college football, in addition to superb breakaway speed (4.38 forty). He hits top speed in about 1.5 steps and if he gets past that first level, it is rare that a LB is going to be able to get a hold of him in open space. If you had to nitpick, his only weakness is that despite having some massive thighs (hott!), he isn’t really big enough to push a pile. At full strength, there is little doubt that Kendall is a top 5 college running back, and you could make the argument that he is #1.
Kendall needs to touch the ball 20+ times a game for Oklahoma State to be successful in 2010, and he will… the only variable is in what form those touches will come. The Holgorsen approach loves to dump short passes to the back that are basically running plays, but show up in the statsheet as passing and receiving yardage, so it is expected that Kendall will receive more touches than usual in the passing game. However, I can’t see them ignoring how effective of a runner Kendall is running zone reads, how explosive he is when he gets around the corner, and how shifty and sneaky he is running between the tackles, just so they can stick to a scheme. I would expect Kendall to get around 17 carries a game, in spite of the Air Raid, and possibly add up to 10 catches on top of that.
Interesting Fact: 2010 will also mark a continuation of Kendall not returning any of John Titmanson’s sexually charged emails.
Bryant Ward | FB | 5-11 | 223 | Sr | Stilly
Former walk-on that quickly played his way on to the field, and in to our hearts… then into a starting role, then back out of out hearts, then to first team All Big XII and back in our hearts. When at fullback, Ward is used entirely as a blocker, and he is damn good at it, but he also sees time on special teams making 9 tackles and recovering a couple fumbles last year. As with Hunter, there is some question as to how Ward will be used in the new system. The Air Raid utilizes mostly single-back sets in order to get more receivers out on the field, and it is rare to see the fullback when in a shotgun formation, but Ward is a special talent and the coaches won’t want to leave that talent on the bench.
Interesting Fact: Bryant has a vlog on the Stillwater News Press site that I can’t seem to get sound on. If someone else can hear him, please summarize in the comments. Although it might be great to invent our own dialogue based on just the video.
Click the Jump to read about the Backups
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