Photo Attribution: US Presswire
1. I don’t know what people are going to write this week (and I’ll write about this more later) but to me the Lunt/Walsh1 narrative is how deep OSU is these days. Injuries happen2 and OSU has been really fortunate the last few years3.
No major QB injuries have derailed games save the atrocious OU-Ole Miss double dip in 2010 when Zac’s right shoulder was on the hearts of coeds everywhere. So QB1 goes down this year and J.W. Walsh steps in and plays really well. That doesn’t mean there’s a QB controversy or they should split time after Lunt gets healthy, it just means OSU is deeper than it’s ever been, and that’s something to be excited about.
2. As for Walsh — it’s not pretty, that’s for sure, but I have to give it up to him for getting the job done today. It’s not like Louisiana is Savannah State4 and he buried them early.
I lose control of my bowels when he stands in the pocket because he has happy feet that would make Nate Hybl guffaw but with as spread out as this offense is maybe having Zac 2.0 running around like a maniac isn’t a bad thing.
Plus he could have started mailing it in after an 18-year-old took his job but good on him for hanging in there and going hard. Deserves all the credit he gets for his performance today.
3. Totally agree with Slater that the performance of the defense was lost in the QB commotion. They were flawless in the first half after getting housed in Tuscon and the secondary especially played a pissed off game. Thumbs up all the way around.
4. The announcers today were unprecedented, they’re definitely getting their own post later.
5. Blake Jackson was a monster today. Whoever’s playing QB is going to be a big fan of his over the next three months. Also, I think I saw Tracy Moore massaging Lunt’s knee on the bench in the first half – Walsh threw at him seven times with not very much success (three completions, four incompletions).
6. Synopsis of the first three games: what channel is the blowout of the game and of Lunt’s knee on?
7. Of all the games OSU could set the school record for yards — shootouts with OU/Texas the past five years, with Dez and Kendall doing work, with Weeden and Blackmon, against Kansas last year, against Savannah State (!) — we set it with a backup dual threat QB (whom we weren’t sure could throw the ball successfully in a collegiate game) against a halfway decent Sun Belt team whose conference is having a banner year.
8. I usually have a lot of questions after OSU football/basketball games but my biggest is: how did Arizona beat Oklahoma State by three touchdowns?
9. The J.W. Walsh throwing experience is a lot like what I imagine the “Britney Spears going to a bar” experience is like. A hideous sight that usually works out but when it fails it fails on an historically grand scale5.
10. The biggest takeaway from today: 2007 OSU might have folded today if its first string QB went down, heck, it might have folded without its first string QB going down. OKC Dave and I had a conversation yesterday about how nervous we were about this game even though we feel like this program has moved past its “losing stupid games to Troy” days. I’m still not sure that we know how good this year’s squad is going to be but at least we know everything is moving in the right direction6.
Much more coming later…
- Lunt has a dislocated kneecap and is out 2-3 weeks btw. ↩
- You hope your star QB isn’t prominently involved in sentences like this but that’s the way it goes sometimes. ↩
- The 11 guys that started the season on defense last year started 138 of a possible 143 games, that’s just luck, guys ↩
- They won nine games last year, their first two this season, and were giving up 12 points a game coming in. ↩
- My question is how you can be a 4-star QB coming out of high school and not be able to throw a 15-yard out while on the run, and really not even come close to being able to throw it. ↩
- Tuscon not withstanding. ↩
Good points all.. but wasn’t ZRob 1.0 2007′s version of Walsh? Or would it have been Reid? I guess their rolls swapped after the Troy game.
Answer to #8 is a melt down of the D after the Pac12 refs zapped them for 167 yards. Coach Y wasn’t there to stop the bleeding. Believe this team has potential to be better than last years but we need a fast mend to Wes’s kneecap. Walsh doesn’t throw well enough at this point tomake this work. And the O line needs to make Wes their priority.
You know, come to think of it, believe we did this at Iowa State as well. Maybe we need a psych of sorts on staff or a grandmother. Some one to talk them through the hard places.
dont get me wrong its fun when you have a qb who can sling it and put it wherever he wants to, but i forgot how exciting it was to watch a dual threat guy take off when nobody is open, even if his throwing motion makes me think he may be left handed
Guys/Kyle – some of your comments are proof that Weeden has spoiled you freakin’ rotten. J-dub threw for 340+ yards on “only” 30 attempts. (that feels ridiculous to say, but these days…) BTW he could have easily out rushed Randle if left in the game any longer. That’s very serious talent regardless of what you are accustomed to seeing at the QB position out of OSU the last few years. No matter how much you want him to throw like a certain 28 yo pro QB, he’s a 19 yo kid with a good college arm. He may never have the zip or touch that Weeden has, but there was exactly one other QB in college that did last year and he now plays for the Colts.
If I were adding No 11 – there’s no way to ever categorize this but J-dub had one of the best “unfortunate circumstances” performances in the history of the program. He took a game that a lot of folks were “nervousing” about (fake word to describe any OSU fan who witnessed the 1990′s Cowboys and cant shake the butterflies regardless of talent level) and proved to all of us why we should just go take a crap before the game and get over it.
Your Tracy Moore comment is definitely getting retweeted. Hilarious!
Brandon Weeden spoiled us, yes…but I didn’t compare Walsh to Weeden, only to Wes Lunt at Arizona last week. Walsh is a good backup but he’s not in Lunt’s universe.
In retrospect, I am not sure Lunt is in JW’s universe either. I think Lunt will never have that motor or escapability/improve that JW is able to bring. Everyone seems to be down on the guy and picking every little flaw apart, but for some reason, Lunt is a Godsend with no flaws. He may be better than Walsh now, but what is Lunt’s upside compared to Walsh…it’s really too early to tell. Who knows how it will all turn out, but I am enjoying it currently and I have confidence in Walsh if he is the guy. It will be interesting how perspectives will change if JW comes out and throttles TX or even just wins the game.
Just got time to sit down and watch FSN’s coverage of the game and since the big boards at the Boone never showed a replay i’m finally seeing how bad the injury was. I could be wrong but it looks like Wes’ kneecap is way over on the outside of his leg. I had my wife (aka Dr. Shepherd) look at it too and she agreed. However, it may look gruesome but it’s not season ending….2 weeks though might be a little optimistic.
yeah, I’m a bit of a slow-mo replay freak and with HD you could definitely see the patella had slid over to the side on his left leg; pretty sick to watch. The impact didn’t look violent enough to tear anything but I also think it will take more than 2 weeks. I’ve had dislocations myself, and why nothing was torn, the deep bruising is pretty painful. Still, sports medicine is pretty advanced today and a knee brace does wonders for your confidence; the biggest problem is the victims own self confidence in the joint.
I hope the post on the announcers is about how absolutely bush league they were.
RE: #4 – I <3 Joel Meyers!
Man, I thought J-Dub did a heckuva job. Yeah, his throwing motion would never cut it in the NFL, Tebow not withstanding, but he moved the ball, and I thought made some very mature decisions. I respect him as a leader, and feel a whole lot better about seeing him against TX than I did when Lunt first went down. TX will obviously be a lot stouter on defense, but I still think J-Dub can give them trouble.