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I Have a Few Thoughts About the 2015 Oklahoma State Fan Survey

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OKC Dave just wrapped up and posted the results of his 8th Oklahoma State fan survey and, you’re not going to believe this, but I have a few thoughts about how it played out.

• First, Dave is world class at doing stuff like this. He somehow makes handling 1,500 surveys and producing comprehensible conclusions from the data look easy. It’s not. So a hat tip and a fired pistol to him for his work.

• It’s interesting to me that more and more people continue to take the survey. Is that because more OSU fans are online now than in 2013 when only 1,000 took it? Are more interested this season than that season? Do the outlets where Dave posts just cast a wider net?

I’ve been thinking about this as it relates to PFB as well. Look at this graph for Eleven Warriors — a site I admittedly admire and want to model this one after. From 6 million pageviews (which is what this site does) to 60 million in 24 months. How does that happen?

• As a fan base, I’m not sure we get enough credit for our realistic stance on what OSU is as a football program. Look at the yearly predictions of how many wins OSU football will accumulate. We have only overrated the team twice — 8.9 wins in 2012 and 7.7 last year. That gives me hope for 2015 even if I’m scared we’re a bit overrated right now.

• More people think the WVU game in Morgantown (58 percent chance of winning) is going to be more difficult than OU at home (60 percent chance of winning). That’s not wrong, but what a difference one punt return makes. Also, at Iowa State (which won zero Big 12 games last year) was only 80 percent. Oh, the scars.

• On this chart:

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I appreciate the love (really), but the reality is that without the Oklahoman and Tulsa World, I’m not sure Pistols Firing even exists.

I (sort of) get the WWLS hate, but what has the Oklahoman ever done to besmirch its reputation as a quality news provider? They have the best sportswriter in the state (Berry Tramel) and two really good reporters (John Helsley and Kyle Fredrickson) covering OSU football. Are we still hanging on to the Jenni Carlson thing?

I don’t mean to rail against my own website, but the two Oklahoma newspapers are sports coverage in the state. I read a lot of local newspapers online as the PGA Tour hops from town to town and the Oklahoman is right there nationally with its coverage and quality. You guys might think PFB and Orange Power provide the best coverage, but if the Oklahoman goes away and we’re left to simply sift through whatever OSU puts out there as news, there won’t be any stories like this to ready anymore.

• We have never expected OSU’s defense to be “much better” than last year’s as a whole. More 1990s scars probably.Screen Shot 2015-08-26 at 11.25.19 AM

• I continue to be in the 1 percent 7 percent.

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• As I was reading through this, I realized how clear of a divide there is between the five best coaches and the five worst coaches in the Big 12. Snyder, Gundy, Patterson, Briles and Stoops are clearly the five best and the other five (Holgerson, Strong, Rhoads, Kliff and Beaty have a lot to prove). I think Strong eventually joins that group (but I’m going to need to see him prove it at a school that isn’t Louisville, like Patterson has).

• Twice as many of us would rather our children play for Dana Holgorsen than Bob Stoops. Really.

• The Dow Jones thinks Travis Ford is going in the wrong direction.

Screen Shot 2015-08-26 at 11.32.04 AM

Also, Holder’s approval rating is declining because …. ? He made one bad hire — and it wasn’t even in the wrong sport to make a bad hire (football). I think Holder is pretty underrated as an AD, despite my criticism of him for that insane Ford contract.

Lastly, who are the 1 percent who disapprove of Gundy? Has to be OU fans taking the survey out of spite, no?

• The greatest proof we have that Le’Bryan Nash was criminally underrated will be OSU going 13-19 this season and missing the NCAA and NIT. How on earth do we have MORE confidence in this team than last year’s?

Screen Shot 2015-08-26 at 11.37.11 AM

• The “who do invite to dinner” list was incredible. Rusty Hilger (!) got votes. Thayer Evans got the same number of votes as Emmanuel Ogbah. Brent Parker got more votes than Russell Okung!

This from Dave was great:

I played a little game where I randomized the names to see what kind of a group I could come up with. Here was my first group (not making this up): Frank Eaton, Prentiss Elliot, Boone Pickens, John Lucas, Dexter Manley. I think I could sell tickets to that.

Again, great work by Dave and I would like to echo what he said about taking the survey. It’s great fun for us (especially me because I don’t have to work on it) and a steady reminder that football is just around the corner.

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