Photo Attribution: KT King

So imagine you’re headed up to the intramural fields in Stillwater. Your 2-2 team with the not-as-witty-as-you-think name is playing the Sigma Nu B team. Winner goes to the playoffs.

It’s a Monday night, Halloween, the real football team is 8-0, the campus is alive. You’re couldn’t be more excited about the 60-degree weather and smattering of friends and girlfriends sure to be there.

You warm up, get your flags on, win the coin toss, come out for the first drive, and get things rolling.

You score first, they answer, you get the ball back 10 minutes into the first half, look up across the field, and all of a sudden Kevin Durant is staring back at you playing free safety for the other side.

Photo Attribution: KT King

Wait….what?! Who?!

And all of a sudden, 500 people are gathered around the field like Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon have just decided to throw a squad together.

Well, that’s what happened in Stillwater on Monday night. First, Durant tweeted this on Monday afternoon:

Then next thing you know Twitter turned into an “omg Kevin Durant is playing flag football at OSU right now” festival. A sampling of tweets and pics after the jump

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Photo Attribution: @eknielsen

I know Robert Griffin is probably a little upset that the second half of his Heisman campaign was derailed Texas A&M-style, and honestly, I was going to let it slide, but then he went and rolled on Justin Gilbert.

Sorry Robbie…

JG4 > RG3

Here’s what Jason Kersey wrote about what  the third best QB in the Big 12 had to say about the move Gilbert pulled on his near 109-yard INT return,

Griffin said Gilbert deployed a common trick called “slingshotting” where cornerbacks grab a receiver and slyly pull them forward.

Yeah because K.J. Morton wasn’t borderline humping Justin Blackmon on deep routes all day or anything.

He just did it sly enough that the ref didn’t see it or the ref saw it and thought it was funny, I don’t know, Griffin said.

Clever, I bet Art Briles doesn’t find it funny that you couldn’t find the endzone against OSU’s 111th ranked defense until your 12th career quarter of play against them.

He goes on:

When we bring the play in, I’m thinking, ‘Here we go.’ I see (receiver Terrance Williams), I see his numbers, he’s wide open. The ball’s thrown, all I see is No. 4 (Gilbert). That doesn’t happen naturally.

You’re right, it doesn’t. Because this is not a man who does natural things.

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Photo Attribution: CoachGundy.com

If you missed it yesterday, here are my first 10 thoughts on the OSU Baylor game as well as a few superlatives. And now we put a cap on another year of Baylor thinking they’re a lot tighter than they actually are. Let’s get to it:

1. I hope [fill in basically any national media personality on ESPN or otherwise here] only looks at the stats for Baylor: 622 total yards, 36 first downs, 39 minutes total possession and continues to say things like “this OSU defense just is quite porous” and “the Cowboys can’t seem to stop anyone” just so we get to see that same defense get pissed for the next five weeks and keep feeling like they have to prove themselves over and over again. That would be lovely. It would also be lovely if I didn’t write 150-word sentences.

2. Speaking of the defense, I felt like RG3 got lit up all over the place (in addition to the Drogba-esque diving). My favorite hit was in the first quarter when Markelle literally flipped him onto his head.

3. Again on the defense (I promise we’ll get to some other things), I feel like one of the biggest differences in this year’s D is how tight they play to the ball. In the past you’d see Andre Sexton and Jacob Lacey playing like, 17 yards off the ball on third downs and now you see corners and linebackers playing really tight to the line of scrimmage.

4. How good is Joseph Randle? 14 for 152 and 4, the TDs and yards both career highs. OSU has only had 19 1,000-yard rushers in its history (not exactly a bad history either), Randle needs 156 more to make that a round 20.

5. When they showed the crystal ball in the east endzone in the second quarter I had to stop looking at it, I was afraid I was going to go blind if I stared at it for too long.

6. This came out of Bob Davie’s mouth in the second quarter: “Phil Bennett (Baylor’s DC) is one of the best defensive coaches in the country.”

7. One trend I’ve noticed in the last few years is that fans and the media love to call OSU something other than “Oklahoma State.” Let’s clarify the acceptable substitutions: OSU, OK State, the Cowboys. The not-acceptable ones: Okie State and the Fighting Gundys. And the “omg if I hear this again I’m going to Plaxico someone” term…..Okie Light.

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Photo Attribution: CoachGundy.com

Another week, another rout from the best team in Oklahoma. Here are a few superlatives from Saturday’s shellacking of Baylor and their 146 fans.

Best play: That 40-yard strike Weeden hit Tracy Moore with over the middle in the 2nd quarter.

Play that the NCAA should consider outlawing: The fade from Weeden to Blackmon. You’d need Nnamdi Asomugha to make it borderline fair.

Play that made 50,000 OSU fans say “but it’s football!!”: Alex Elkins’ “hit” on RG3 that got flagged as a “blow to the head.” Bob Wischusen openly wondered if the refs should dust RG3′s helmet for fingerprints.

Coolest moment: Kye Staley getting his first career TD before Tebowing. And Weeden in the background taking it all in.

“Duh!” of the day: Is it good to average 12.1 yards per carry?

Stat ESPN will love: Baylor outgained OSU 622-601

Stat OSU fans will love: The turnover margin per game record since the stat started being kept in 1992 is 2.36 by that filthy ’01 Miami team. OSU is at 2.375 right now.

Craziest stat: Baylor never punted.

Dorky punter stat: Quinn Sharp is now averaging 47.59 yards per punt. The OSU record is 46.2, the Big 12 record is 47.6.

Plays Baylor ran inside OSU’s five: 14

TD’s Baylor had from inside OSU’s five: 1

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Photo Attribution: Icon SMI

On Saturday night while the Trees were invading Troy I innocuously threw this question out there: ”What does Andrew Luck do better than Brandon Weeden?” The responses I got were pretty classic, here’s a sampling of some of my favorites.

Many people: “Grow facial hair.”

Austin Keeney: “Grow lamb chops.” – Kind of the next level rendition of “grow facial hair.”

hefley001: “Play in an easier conference?”

Bsteph71: “Marketing???”

Arin5000: “SAT scores?”

KevinDeShazo: “Beat teams without winning records.”

HTDLtd: “From what I’ve heard, Luck is more fertile.” – Ummmm…

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1. That is what a #3 team in the country looks like. Shoot, that’s what a #1 or #2 team in the country looks like.

2. When Kye Staley caught his TD on a crossing pattern you could see Weeden in the background behind him nodding his head as his visor kept catching the sunlight reflecting it up and down as if to say “we’re coming Bama, we’re coming.”

3. “The difference between RG3 and Brandon Weeden is that RG3 throws the ball downfield a lot more.” Thanks for the analysis, Bob Davie. He also said “my partner and I just saw Brandon Weeden for the first time yesterday.” I’m not a big “that guy sucks” guy when it comes to announcers, but Bob Davie sucks.

4. Text of the day goes to Nolo after JG4 (nickname coined by KT King) tried to house that RG3 pick 109 yards: “I call your salmon Masters pullover if Gilbert even attempts to do that again.”

5. Joseph Randle won’t touch Barry’s 37 rushing TD mark (who will?) but Terry Miller’s runner-up 21 rushing TDs in a season is within reach. He has 16 now.

6. I feel like the media was obsessed with this game being a shootout. Davie and Bob Wischusen couldn’t stop talking about it. Then Griffin threw as many incompletions in the first half as he had all season…

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1. When ABC had the camera pointed on the corral with smoke pouring out and the crowd bumping “Ready For War” and the announcers talking about how 5 more wins means New Orleans, the only thing I could think was, “how much fun is this?!”

2. Baylor fans are all shaking their heads saying things like, “I thought this defense was supposed to worse than ours!!”

3. Is Bob Simmons calling Baylor’s plays today? You have one of the most athletic, diverse, talented QBs in the country and you’re trying to jam it up the middle on third and fourth down? How about a bootleg or a roll out?

4. Quade texted me from the stadium and said the team looks possessed. I think is one of the first times I can remember when OSU had a swagger about it. These guys looked like they wanted to come out and show the country, “hey, we know Bama and LSU are off, so how about you watch the best team in the country playing this weekend.”

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Photo Attribution: Icon SMI

Teams: #3 Oklahoma State 7-0 (4-0) vs. Baylor 4-2 (1-2)
Time: 2:30 AM CST
TV: ABC/ESPN2 – Coverage map
On the call: Bob Wischusen, Bob Davie and Jeannine Edwards

Kickoff: Two of the six highest scoring offenses in the country meet up at Boone’s house on Saturday. The problem for Baylor is that one of those teams also has a legitimate defense. Football Outsiders actually says Baylor’s offense is more prolific on a play-by-play basis (that stat is explained in further detail here).

OSU is looking to protect the highest BCS ranking in school history and is (I cannot believe my fingers are punching these keys) two games from moving into the #2 slot in the country.

For entertainment purposes:
Spread: Cowboys -14.5
Over/Under: 79.5

This line opened at OSU -18 which means people are piling cash on RG3 and the Bears. I think that’s fair, 18 seemed a bit extravagant. The real money to be made is on the over/under though. You guys know me, I’m all about taking the over, but I think Vegas is preying on people’s perception of OSU’s defense. Will OSU score 50+? Probably, but that means they’d have to give up 30+, which is a number they haven’t hit yet in conference play. Go under.

A few stats you should know:

• OSU has never played a home game while 7-0.
• Justin Gilbert got his first kick return against Baylor which means he has 4 in the last 12 games.
• Great find by Gavin Lang here: Nigel Nicholas has 8.0 tackles for loss this season. No OSU tackle had more than 4.0 TFLs all of last season.
• OSU is 2nd in the country in points scored but 95th in time of possession. I think that’s called being efficient.

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