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Daily Bullets

Daily Bullets (May 24)

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Bit of a Personality

Mike Gundy personifies his football team in a way fans who follow the team closely probably wouldn’t expect.

After years of keeping it pent up and out of the public eye, Gundy is letting his Okie freak flag fly. And it’s rubbing off on his team.

Last fall, six FBS offenses racked up fewer than four passes of 40-plus yards: Army, BYU, Minnesota, San Diego State, Wisconsin, and Tulane. Five of these teams went to bowl games, one won its conference (SDSU), and another won its division (Wisconsin). Long bombs aren’t a requisite for success, but they were are fun.

Oklahoma State, meanwhile, had four passes of 80-plus yards. [SB Nation]

The paradox that is Oklahoma State football: a mullet-wearing, tenured alum head coach with a three-year starter (essentially) at quarterback wielding a rocket launcher arm that leads the country in deep balls connected on with minimal interceptions that coaches (relatively) conservatively.

Mike Yurcich famously had to prod Gundy to throw the bomb to James Washington that saved the day in Manhattan in 2016 and we don’t need to bring up Bedlam-induced tremors. But it’s interesting that Gundy’s extreme confidence comes out in his hobbies and haircut but not his playcalling preferences.

Boynton  over Underwood?

An ESPN article outlined that surprisingly, Boynton has a better shot to make it to the NCAA’s than Underwood does at Illinois.

Carroll and Mitchell Solomon will be the returning starters on a team that also will feature Dawson, Averette, Smith, St. John’s transfer Yankuba Sima, Cameron McGriff, Davon Dillard, Tavarius Shine and Lindy Waters III. Evans and Forte will be missed, but Boynton could have enough talent on hand to make a run at the NCAA tournament in his first season. [ESPN Insider $$$]

Versus Underwood’s situation in Illinois:

Plus Illinois is in the running, albeit with a number of other programs, for two graduate transfers: Akoy Agau of Georgetown and Mark Alstork of Wright State. Nevertheless, the Illini appear to be a year away, even factoring in Underwood’s prowess on offense. [ESPN Insider $$$]

Truth be told, Underwood walked into a loaded gun offense last year (roster teeming with shooting and a first round pick at point guard) but was able to whip them together masterfully. Boynton inherits key parts from that team and handpicked incoming talent.

Underwood walks into a situation where throwing millions at a guy who’s won a pair of tourney games is a no-brainer. But that an unbiased third party found it likely that OSU will go further than the Illini is…interesting.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Breakout-junior Garrett McCain is racking up the awards….Intriguing idea: salary caps for coaches in college football….An equestrian Cowgirl took home the Heisman of reining….West Virginia’s big man is going pro….Bill Self now runs Big 12 basketball and the National Assoc. of Basketball Coaches….Pair of Cowboys are headed to NCAA Tennis Championships

A run in OKC would be just what the doctor ordered. First up is the Red Raiders at 12:30 p.m. today in Bricktown.

Insane number for the king of the deep ball. The K-State QB wasn’t half as productive (or efficient) as Rudolph.

Basketball GPA is climbing but it’d be nice for them to miss some more school in March at some point…

What You Missed on PFB
Other Stuff I’m Reading

Theo Epstein’s Yale grad speech was incredibly profound (read the last quarter if you’re impatient)….The NBA’s deadliest play….Being neighborly, AKA an extrovert’s joy and an introvert’s nightmare (right?)….Celtics’ big decision on Isaiah Thomas/No. 1 pick

Lol. The bitterness subsides at some point, right?

 

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