Originally published at: https://pistolsfiringblog.com/10-thoughts-on-oklahoma-states-21-16-loss-in-the-big-12-championship/
On movie-esque heartbreak, Squinky and legacy.
I don’t think this team is getting a NY6 bowl. I’d say a shot at that went up in flames today.
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I agree. I’m guessing Alamo
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Let’s be honest. This year we were one competent QB and OC away from making a big push for a national championship. Dunn has a lot to work on as a play caller or he needs to be demoted back to WR coach and Sanders well… he’s had 3 years to make drastic improvement and while he’s had good games his bad games are so bad that we really can’t keep him as our starting QB. Stoked for the Alamo bowl vs Oregon though since it’ll be close to home.
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Playing Oregon would be the most miserable watching experience of all time. Probably would see a 10 turnover game with both QBs being complete garbage.
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I’ve said it from the beginning of the 2020 season. So what’s the goal? Just make a bowl game? Or play championship-caliber football?
Just take a look real quick:
2013- Gundy plays conservative with inept play-calling, loss
2015- Gundy plays conservative with inept play-calling, loss
2016- Gundy plays conservative with inept play-calling, loss
2021- Gundy gets conservative after being down 21-3 with nearly inept play calling the entire game, loss
What do all these years have in common? They were opportunities to win another conference title. Gundy is 1-4 when a conference title is on the line.
If we want to be a championship-caliber program you have to have at least one of two things: Championship caliber coaching or Championship caliber players
Our coach has one conference championship to his name in 17 seasons. Meanwhile, Baylor has three of them in 8 seasons, been rebuilt three times, and under three different coaches.
So at what point do you start believing some OSU fans when they say “Gundy’s conference title was like catching lightning in a bottle!!!”? Even Aranda called three timeouts for him to come up with something new inside the 10-yard line and still failed to deliver.
Why do you guys think I biotch so much about us not having a Top 25 recruiting class in 10 years? How many years does Sanders have to develop before you teach him that turnovers are bad? How many years does it take for a former college QB (and Rattay a former pro) that you have to lead a receiver on a pass and not throw behind him?
Looks to me like Shrum and Weiberg are all in on throwing more money towards football. That’s good, and when that comes I don’t want to hear any more excuses from Gundy. Because anyone with vision could see today that we have championship-caliber coaching and players on defense while we have bowl-eligible coaches and players on offense.
So if we are going to hold onto Gundy so be it. If 2025-2026 rolls around and we’ve been in a conference that doesn’t have OU or Texas to compete against, we better right there with Baylor playing in Big 12 title games and winning a couple.
If you are going to hold onto Gundy you HAVE TO sign championship-caliber players. Because he isn’t going to win anything meaningful with this same mentality he’s had for years!!!
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On a side note: it looks like they should spend an hour every day practicing goal-line offense.
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All I ask, is this administration demand more from your football coach.
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I was surprised when they signed a center transfer this past year. I was certainly a good decision and needed today. 3-4 years ago I thought Tyrese Williams was the center of the future. Anyone know what happened?
11th thought: Why are they trying to make Spencer Sanders a drop back QB. It makes no sense. We just watched a freshman QB hit 17 passes to start a game doing exactly what oSu quit doing when Monken left. I think Spencer is more than capable of doing what the Baylor QB did. I think both QBs would have a hard time doing what was asked of Spencer Sanders today.
Squinky is a fan thing. These players were amazing this year IMO.
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“Imagine a 200-pound running back taking on a 150-pound defensive back — genetics just aren’t on the smaller man’s side.”
I can and saw him run to the sideline.
In the bowl game, use that big frame DJackson!
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Injuries equal poor protection from O line equals poor performance from QB and poor blocking for the RBs and that all equals a loss. I think even if we won, Cincinatti would be in the playoffs instead of OSU. Gundy early in the season said that running Warren too much would result in him taking too many hits and it would mount up and hamper him. And that is what happened. They decreased his carries after he got injured. But with the missing key guys on the O line I am not sure how effective an uninjured Warren would have been. But he surely would have crossed the goal line a few times. This one will hurt just as long as 2011 still hurts. Gundy after the game seemed his usual cool, calm and collected Katie Winters self. Other coaches would have been pissed and throwing stuff.
I’ll probably get downvoted into oblivion for this, but kicking the field goals was the right decision. OSU’s red zone offense was terrible; if OSU goes for all those 4th downs, the end score of this game is probably 21-7 instead of 21-16. The problem was not conservative 4th down play calls. It was a total lack of creativity in the red zone. Where was the Tay Martin end around type play that got a score against OU? Too many runs straight up the gut with a banged up O-line.
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Here are OSU’s offensive plays (neglecting field goals) inside the 10:
- 1st & Goal at BAY 6: (3:51 - 2nd) Spencer Sanders pass incomplete to Tay Martin
- 2nd & Goal at BAY 6: (3:46 - 2nd) Spencer Sanders pass incomplete to Tay Martin
- 3rd & Goal at BAY 6: (3:38 - 2nd) Spencer Sanders pass incomplete to Jaden Bray
- 1st & Goal at BAY 4: (7:30 - 3rd) OKLAHOMA ST Penalty, Unnecessary Roughness (Josh Sills) to the Bayl 19
- 1st & Goal at BAY 4: (7:09 - 3rd) Dominic Richardson run for 4 yds for a TD, (Tanner Brown KICK)
- 1st & Goal at BAY 1: (10:05 - 4th) Dezmon Jackson run for no gain to the Bayl 1
- 2nd & Goal at BAY 1: (9:20 - 4th) Dezmon Jackson run for no gain to the Bayl 1
- 3rd & Goal at BAY 1: (8:40 - 4th) Dezmon Jackson run for a loss of 2 yards to the Bayl 3 Dezmon Jackson fumbled, recovered by OKSt Brennan Presley
- 3rd & 3 at BAY 6: (1:27 - 4th) BAYLOR Penalty, Defensive Pass Interference (Mark Milton) to the Bayl 2 for a 1ST down
- 1st & Goal at BAY 2: (1:19 - 4th) Dezmon Jackson run for 1 yd to the Bayl 1
- 2nd & Goal at BAY 1: (0:53 - 4th) Dezmon Jackson run for no gain to the Bayl 1
- 3rd & Goal at BAY 1: (0:30 - 4th) Spencer Sanders pass incomplete to Tyler Lacy
- 4th & Goal at BAY 1: (0:24 - 4th) Dezmon Jackson run for no gain to the Bayl 1
13 plays inside the 10, 3 plays for positive yardage (1 penalty). Those other 4th & Goals are not resulting in touchdowns if OSU chooses to keep the offense on the field.
It was a frustrating game with a lot of mistakes (and poor play calling near the end zone), but to go through all that and have 1st and Goal at the 2 yard line with 1:19 left and a touchdown will win it, it’s hard to blame the game on the 4th down decisions.
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No I agree the field goal was the right call. Gave them a chance to win with 30 seconds left you just have to execute. I agree I would’ve liked to see Presley get an end around or at least fake it to him give the defense something else to look at
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Biggest game ever and Gundy blows it. Stick a fork in him, he’s done. Can’t recruit. Can’t coach. Can’t motivate. Can’t perform up to his salary. Can’t keep from licking his lips in an interview. One word to sum up Gundy—“Insufficient.” That’s right, not enough.
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Only problem with that is who on the market would want to come to Stillwater and coach? Stillwater is a unique place that isn’t the place to be for a lot of people. If we could get someone who could perform to our expectations sure fire Gundy. For now though we have to keep on riding with him.
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Bingo.
Pay Dunn $1M/year to field a Belinikoff finalist every other year as WR coach, help Ratatty find another job and hire a good OC.
Sanders is arguably less reliable than his Frosh season and play calling has not effectively put our offensive players in position to be successful with Dunn calling plays. Even WR play has suffered.
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I don’t think Rattay is a problem he’s got the resume to have the job he has. I do agree we have to demote Dunn. That experiment has failed miserably. I wish we could go back to the days of Stoner, Jalen Mc, and Washington with slants and posts making teams respect our passing game. If we made Baylor respect the pass and didn’t rely on 50/50 balls and Tay the run game would have benefited tremendously.
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Am I mistaken or are there only 9 thoughts here? Did Baylor’s nose guard tackle Thought #3 behind the line of scrimmage?
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Full Disclosure: I turned this game off about midway thru the second quarter. I did so because deep down I knew this game was over and I wasn’t going to let it rile me up and piss me off, especially since my wife was graduating with her masters later and she deserved a happy(ish) husband on her big day. I watched the highlights later.
If I had to rank the worst losses of the Gundy era, this one would have to rank 2nd (ahead of Bedlam 2013 and behind Iowa State 2011) because of the implications involved. They just won Bedlam, they were the better team (on paper), and with a win there’s a good chance of making the playoffs. They then preceded to go out and shat the bed.
Another wasted opportunity.
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I think he did.