Football
Breaking Down the Oklahoma State Schedule (Part 1)
We have nine days until the season starts. This is not a drill. We are in the single digits.
Let’s walk through the schedule over the next week or so and force a 12-0 record upon the Cowboys objectively evaluate where we think Oklahoma State will be after each quarter of the season. This is not meant to be a deep dive into each team (that will come later) — simply a general overview of what we can reasonably expect going into 2016.
Game 1: Southeastern Louisiana
Southeastern Louisiana lost to Incarnate Word last year 16-2. They gained 204 total yards. These numbers are not made up. You could theoretically draw names out of a hat to play QB (now starting … Amen Ogbongbemiga!) and still win by five touchdowns. The only drama here will be which table Mason Rudolph gets at Murphy’s.
Record: 1-0
Game 2: Central Michigan
This should be another steamrolling although CMU was surprisingly frisky last year in the opener (and they have their stud QB Cooper Rush back for his senior year). You get them at home though so the rout should be thorough and all-encompassing. I do like the rhythm you get this year going into Big 12 season. Your level of difficult rises with each game before the Baylor-Texas duo to close out September/open up October.
Record: 2-0
Game 3: Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh is good, not great (love to play the game though!). A quick scan of their 2015 schedule shows that they only played two ranked teams last season (Notre Dame and Navy) and got beat by a combined 28 points. So again, good not great. Return a senior QB (who started out at Tennessee) and a sophomore running back who sniffed 1,200 yards (must be nice!). Interestingly both OSU and Pitt allowed 5.69 yards per play on defense last season. I would expect OSU to win not a close game but a reasonably competitive one.
Record: 3-0
Summary
Anything worse than 3-0 going to Waco at the end of September is an abject failure. You have a glorified scrimmage, a game you win 9,999 times out of 10,000 and the ghost of Larry Fitzgerald (remember when he put up like 39 TDs on Texas A&M that one season?) to deal with.
I’ve made it clear that I’m in favor of big boy non-conference games (i.e. Florida States and Mississippi States), but this is a fine September schedule. Nobody is really going to get super excited until the Baylor game, but if it helps thrust OSU into the CFB Playoff conversation in the middle of October, so be it.
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