Originally published at: https://pistolsfiringblog.com/10-thoughts-on-oklahoma-states-44-20-victory-against-south-dakota-state/
On Bowman’s excellent game, big play concerns and more.
I didn’t have any major concerns about the game. A little frustrated that we can’t convert on 3rd and 1 a few times, or that we still tend to give up chunk plays. Other than that I thought it was a solid win.
3 Likes
I still wanted to see better running lanes for Ollie. I felt like we had the size advantage and with experience hoped they justs opened more holes.
The defense gets a huge test next week. The Arkansas QB is very athletic, so we must be ready for that.
6 Likes
I would have liked to see more push from OLine. As well, did we run a single sweep in the game? I can’t remember one.
At least for this game we saw improvement in Bowman. 74% and 3-0 ratio and no sacks is nice.
1 Like
True. I think we need to be a little more reliant on our passing game this season. The defenses already know about OG. Didn’t Bowman complete like 14 passes in a row or something like that? If they’re going to key in on OG then just throw the stupid ball down field.
I think right before the half there was a point where OG had a four yard loss and then after we passed it for a big gain we ran it again for a one yard gain. Almost like we were trying to force it or something. Just keep passing it if they can’t stop it 
.
Felt like Ollie did more dancing and less slashing than last year. He had several 0 yard runs where it felt like he could have just put his foot in the ground and gotten something positive. And he needs to quit flailing about when someone touches him after the play is dead. He’s better than that. But he did catch the ball well and his touchdown catch was big boy stuff.
OSU took care of business which is the important part and was clearly better than their FCS opponent. Not every Big 12 team can make that claim.
Finally, one coaching complaint. I wasn’t upset with the decision to punt near halftime. I get that its the ‘safe’ play and when you pin them deep, you can increase the risk of your opponent making a critical mistake. But when you successfully pin your opponent at their own 2 yard line, don’t run a “3 man rush, umbrella zone” defense. I would have liked to have seen a little more killer instinct there and less prevent defense.
1 Like
First play of the game was a Pocket-Pass Sweep to Presley. Seems like we ran one other, jet motion sweep with him in the 1st Quarter. But those are the only sweeps I recall and neither did much.
Ollie has the natural hands of a receiver, looks comfortable catching the ball. Just no throws from Ollie … lol
Good win overall except for the chunk plays, Wish we could get the younger receivers in for these type of games
2 Likes
Only two negatives I saw was the chunk plays. We did seem to be playing a lot of man coverage which is going to lead to more shots taken at you but it concerns me for next week. The other one was there were 2 dropped passes for big gains, one would’ve been tough catch but we haven’t been able to take the top off a defense in a while so it’d be nice to make those. Also thought it was weird the last 2 drives up by 21 we didn’t put in our backups on O. Wanted to see Rangel/Flores.
1 Like
I’m thinking more a sweep with Ollie. It just seems that SD St had such good gap defense, that I would have liked to see what he could have done on the outside.
1 Like
21 points isn’t enough to put the backups in. Because (as backups) they have an increased chance of turning the ball over or making a significant mental mistake and you don’t want to kill their confidence by having to pull them back out when its suddenly a 14 point game with half the quarter to go.