Originally published at: https://pistolsfiringblog.com/mike-gundy-is-very-very-excited-about-osu-football-in-2020/
But should he be?
The 5 caveats are fine ā¦ I would add another huge caveat (for me):
- Does Gundy have the moxy to effectively utilize/apply the āhand he is dealt in 2020ā ā¦
If the other 5 come true I would still enter 2020 season highly skeptical vs optimistic
Gundy has 5.25 million reasons to be very excited. The fans have a QB that canāt throw very accurate and ol that canāt protect on a passing down. Thereās two great receivers that were made for the long pass but no way to get it to them. You have a OC that refuses to throw to a 6.7 guy across the middle. And last but not least, a defense that couldnāt stop the same play 30 times in bedlam,
I think if we only get excited about beating OU then we are missing a lot of other reasons to get excited during any season. We can get excited about the star players that we always seem to have regardless of how the rest of the team performs. We can get excited about the close games. I would be creating perennial disappointment for myself if I judged each season by whether or not we could beat OU. Earlier this season it looked like we might not even have 6 victories. Then things turned around and then that got stalled by key injuries. If not for those injuries this would have been quite a season. The ups and downs were enough to get excited about. I am not excited about Gundyās crystal ball perception that Chuba is coming back. That makes no sense and I am really surprised that he stated that in public. I am curious how this team will perform without Chuba and Tylan. I remain excited about the receivers that we have but I see no running back in the stable. And I hope we can find another punter.
Hard to get excited when the team that you almost never beat (OU) just got their a$$ kicked for the upteenth time in the CFP. The fact that the Big 12 has not won any bowl games this year (pull for Baylor??) doesnāt help the outlook going forward. Not to mention that Iām sick of āalways next yearā at the end of every disappointing year. It would be nice to meet expectations sometime. It is nice to have 10 win seasons but when you look at our schedule some of those 10 are not impressive. One or two maybe, but we usually have 4 or more that fail to impress. Not sure Gundy is earning his salary let alone deserves a raise for disappointing performance. How many times this year that we were āoutcoached?ā
2 Likes
That last sentence is, ummm, interesting? I guess thatās the nicest adjective I can use for it, but woah. The path of that thing steered about as straight as a 3-year old with a permanent marker.
Back to the article. Super interesting how confident Gundy is in Hubbardās return. The level of excitement that most of these other returning guys have on social media Is also interesting. Do they know something about Chubaās decision that we donāt?
1 Like
Completely agree with this, but the amount of returning starters could be (depending on Tylan and chuba) like nothing weāve seen here before. If they can get those guys back, literally all of our most effective players will all be returning together. That almost never happens. We would without a doubt have the horses to beat anyone in the league, but do we have the coaches to lead them to success? No clue. We havenāt since 2013. For now weāll just have to hope that Gundy finally has some sort of magical coaching epiphany heading into 2020.
First do you think that all 5 of those caveats will come to fruition? I donāt personally. I donāt think Chuba comes back, and I think Tylan is part of the reason why. His ACL happened in practice and I donāt see Chuba taking the same risk next year. Iām not sure Tylan comes back, but if he does, thereās no guarantee heāll be 100% either. I am excited about #3 other than the refresh on the CBs. We have not appreciated how good both Green and Williams played for us. #4 is exciting as well. I do think Sanders gets even better. #5 isnāt worth getting excited over. Iāll believe in OUās demise when they actually fail.
In the end, what do you expect from OSU next year? If Chuba comes back we are what, 9 and 3 and if not 8 and 4 or 7 and 5? I guess if youāre excited about making the Alamo Bowl, then next year looks real exciting.
We got Collin Clay! BOOM. Howās that for a reason to be excited? I think this program is on pretty solid footing. Letās close out the rest of the 020 class strong baby!
1 Like
Okā¦just move along. This site is obviously no fun for you. Go annoy other fan bases you hateā¦
What I think of Mikeās excitement: 
1 Like
Agree with everything except about Sanders. He wasnāt helped at all with the predictable passing game plans. Defenses knew the plays were limited to one slant per game,mostly go routes and everything else will be out or near the sidelines. Very little passes in the middle so donāt worry about that, just donāt let anyone get deep. He was around 62~63% completion percentageā¦thatās pretty good for a freshman and like I said, give him better play calling esp stuff going across the middle and TE passes as you mentioned and that would easily mean 65%+ which is good!
1 Like
Amen to that TeaTown. Sanders would have been and will be better if defenses had to defend more space. If Gundy didnāt trust him over the middle, it only makes it harder when youāre so predictable.
To answer the topic of this thread, Gundy said the EXACT same thing after last years bowl win over Missouri, but I believe there is the potential for a great year if Hubbard and Wallace come back AND, most importantly, Sanders makes a significant leap from year 1 to 2. But, look at 2017 as an example to temper expectations about next year. We will always be out-schemed and out-coached which will result in 3-4 losses in conference play w the coaches in this league now
2 Likes