Photo Attribution: US Presswire
Winners: Cox Communications, Rich Rodriguez’s agent, the Pac-12 Network, all of OSU’s backup WRs, Wes Lunt, Twitter (it’s the best during games), Hibbett in Stillwater (they sell WR gloves, right?).
Losers: J.W. Walsh, Isaiah Anderson’s hands, all of us for having to watch the Pac-12 Network, OSU’s punt return team, newspaper writers for having to file like 11 minutes after the game, the desk Todd Monken was at, Calvin Barnett, Savannah State’s strength of schedule.
Best play: The seed Lunt threw to Tracy Moore on his second TD. Moore was wide open, yes, but Lunt threw it like he had nine guys hanging on him.
Worst play: The ball Josh Stewart caught, set down on the ground, wrapped in Christmas tree paper, and handed to the Arizona DB covering him.
Best player: Lunt, and it wasn’t close. Although Randle played pretty well too.
Worst player: Trust me, this hurts me more than it hurts you…Justin Gilbert was not good last night. Busted coverage, dropped kick returns, I’m with @carsonc5 – he and Brodrick need to stop reading about how great they are and start being it.
“God, why?!” moment: Quinn Sharp banking one in off the uprights. I had ‘Nam like flashbacks to Ames.
Uniform Heisman: Joseph Randle looked really slick. I feel like I should also mention Gilbert’s gray sleeves (awesome) and Lunt’s Tom Brady chinstrap (all the great ones wear it).
Quote: “It’s gonna be a basketball game, both teams are gonna want to hold serve.” -Glenn Parker (play-by-play)
Other quote: “We aren’t going to throw Lunt out there and expect him to throw it 60 times to win.” -Monken two weeks ago (and technically right)
Hashtag: #FailDozer (on Walsh’s 4th and 1 disaster)
As someone who didntbget the game, Twitter and the NewsOK were the best methods to get. Real time score updates. Score mobile and Okstate app were too slow.
Ok, this didn’t really affect the game, but I was probably the most pissed off last night when we trotted Walsh onto the field for the 4th and 1 call. WHY, WHY, WHY? The one thing I learned in the Savannah State game was that Walsh isn’t in Lunt’s universe when it comes to throwing the ball.
So why is there this notion that the coaches HAVE to get Walsh on the field? They don’t and they shouldn’t. Ok, he’s a good athlete, but the dude is a midget. You can’t run any sort of “dozer” if the guy you’re running it with is the size of Wes Welker. If they really want to run that gimmicky crap then directly snap it to one of the three backs.
I’m going to be livid anytime Walsh is seeing significant minutes in close games. Doesn’t help the team at all.
+1, Nate.
Liked the breakdown with exception of uniform talk. Barry Tramel did the same thing and it kinda burns me up when were talking about stuff that should only be brought up when we dont lose by 3 tds. But whatever, maybe it’s just me. Sorry about the rant pistols guy; still love the site.
Thanks, and I talk about unis whether we win by 84 or lose by 84.
From one perspective, we seem to have growing confirmation that Lunt is the real deal and our O-line can protect him. Early season loss isn’t the end of the world and may just be the wake-up call needed. I noticed we dropped from #16 to “gone” on the polls; not necessarily a bad thing. From the other side, I was totally flabbergasted at the defense, Gundy’s been telling everyone it’s possibly the best D since he’s been head coach and they totally didn’t show up. I listened on the radio, so honestly, I thought maybe Brown and Gilbert missed the team bus to the stadium or something. The 15 penalties vs. 4 penalties is pretty suspect; AZ isn’t that good, but that sounds whiny….
It’s interesting you mention #FailDozer (and Nate calling him a midget). During the game against Savannah St I started calling it the “BabyDozer package” as the size difference between Collin Klein/Blake Bell vs Walsh is laughable. Not to mention the previously mentioned bad passing performance by Walsh. The worst thing is Chelf seems to have regressed so we pretty have no one behind Lunt that can throw reliably. Gulp.
I was going to go on another rant about the poor officiating, poor performance, and how the talent this team has at every position should overwhelm AZ on any given day. However, I erased all of that and will instead say: If this team will focus, find some leadership from the players, and execute the game plan, then they can still win the conference. Face it, this team had long odds of contending for a national championship before the season. However, they do match up well with everyone else in the Big 12.
No mention of Blake Jackson? He was a major contributor, (good and bad).
I (unfortunately) attended the game in Tucson, and to me the biggest momentum changer was Randle’s fumble. I’ve been a big Randle fan, but he has to stop fumbling. It killed us in Ames, and from someone who was in the venue, his fumble Saturday night really changed the atmosphere at the game.
If I’m Gundy/Monken, I’d put him on notice that one more fumble, and Smith is the #1 RB.
Love your blog……..it’s become my #1 OSU source.