Originally published at: https://pistolsfiringblog.com/record-book-reset-spencer-sanders-climbing-osus-career-passing-lists/
Sanders breaks the Top 10 in completions, yards and touchdowns.
Robinson is such an underrated Cowboy. Did so much, played big in big games, and started the turnaround of the program. Still one of my favs.
Sanders has more ability passing the ball, but to this point he can’t hold a candle to Zac because Zac was so much smarter than Sanders. Not sure if it’ll ever happen with how much time Sanders has had to get it down, but if by some miracle he can slow
Himself down and actually play in control this season he has the raw talent to be better than Zac was. His erratic tendencies have killed him up to this point.
Side point- is the Mizzou ‘08 game the most important game in program history? Obviously not the biggest win but might be the most important in terms of program trajectory. Feels like that was the game where OSU finally turned the corner from an afterthought to a respected program.
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I agree Zac was my favorite cowboy as a kid and really led the turnaround of the program that Weeden cemented in 11. Agree with your takes on Sanders too, lots of talent but so far hasn’t shown he’s smart enough to slow the game down to use that talent.
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I got to be at the bedlam game in 06 when zac came in and took over 15 years old getting to stand in the front row of the student section with a bunch of college kids , I know we lost but one of my all time favorite games and zac has been my favorite cowboy ever since
I love this! Way to put things into perspective.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
The last 4 years, OU hasn’t had a quarterback complete less than 67% or throw for less than 3000 yards. If we can get a quarterback that can do that, then a coach. Maybe.
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The article states that Sanders has a shot to finish in the neighborhood of Gundy (57)or Zac (66)in TD passes. If he finishes tied with Gundy, I would say his career was a disappointment considering he has thrown 30 including a pandemic year and in both years he missed games to injury. Now maybe Illingworth overtakes him, I don’t know. That would be only 27 more in his junior/senior year vs 30 in frosh/soph year. 27 is 13.5 avg his last 2 years? If he ties Zac at 66 then be throws 36 more which is better at 18 per year and it depends how our rushing attack is and how many TDS that creates including Sanders rushing TDS. However, and this might be a long shot but if he could tie Weeden at 75, thus 45 more Tds which is 22.5 TDS per season which might be doable, then he reaches a point where his legacy is even more qualified, although ultimately we judge more on wins/losses to teams in Norman and Austin and maybe Ames.
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As far as the most important game in OSU history I have to go with Bedlam 2011 because in 2008, we lost bedlam again and did not win the trophy. If we lose in 2011, then we have no titles, we don’t go to Fiesta and beat Stanford we end up in an Alamo bowl playing a 7-5 Washington team and ou shares the league with us and K State but it’s the Sooners who go to BCS game and the whole Blackmon/Weeden senior year becomes Rudolph/Washington senior year: talented but not epic.
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Every quarterback with less than 64% completion rate has zero conference titles.
You sure bout that
Half of Sanders touchdowns for the entire season last year came in the last two games. The difference was they spread the field instead of loading the box those last two games. I might be wrong but I think Chuba had a lot to do with that. They kept trying to load the box to give hubbard blockers and force the ball in his hands all season long, and once he bounced on the rest of the year and the coaches realized that style of play wasn’t working, they switched to a wide spread and ta da! The passing game started magically working. I’m really hoping they paid attention to that and continue that style this fall. If so, and Sanders is just halfway closer to a complete QB, they’ll score much more than they have lately. Pass blocking will have to improve too. And they don’t have a stat-focused RB in the backfield anymore to worry about appeasing like they did last year. Just a solid pile of backs, any of which can get good chunks of yards when we need it to combat the passing game. In fact, all 3 of them averaged more YPC than Hubbard. Out of all of our backs that had at least 40 carries Hubbard was dead last in YPC last year.
And I agree with the bedlam 2011 game, definitely the biggest win we’ve ever had. I just meant the Mizzou ‘08 game was the most important in terms of program trajectory. We really hadn’t ever seen any sort of national attention until that night. Everything changed after that.
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Yeah, they really had no business playing Ou that close with that team, and unfortunately fell inches short on that last pass. Gotta be a tough spot for a freshman to be in and he gave us a shot. That Mizzou game in 2008 was just so important though, their offense seemed impossible to stop going into that game (I think they hadn’t gone 3 and out one single time all season going in) and we really shut chase Daniel down for the most part. Zac had some clutch TD passes to seal the deal too, and we were off and running at that point. Really unfortunate that season came in possibly one of the toughest B12 slates we’ve ever seen. I think at one point OU, Texas, TTU, Mizzou, and OSU were all in the top 10. OU, TTU, and UT might have been 1, 2, and 3 at one point actually. Such a tough year.
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Just looked, 5 of their 13 games (almost 40%) were against top 5 teams that year. 4 of them were on the road. I don’t think we’ll ever see a schedule that tough again.
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Exactly right!!! It was just a special year not record wise but when zac stepped in we found our identity! I really think we had a shot in 09 but the dez deal and injuries screwed us. People don’t understand how one minor deal can completely unreel a season for a program like Oklahoma state
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I would like to say I agree, but we lost that game to Houston before Dez received his punishment. I think we lost that game at full strength. But Keenum was a stud
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I agree that we could have won the conference. We lost Kendall Hunter for most the season and then Dez was a killer and Zac was so beat up at the end.
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We had the pieces and also a lot of bad luck
I forgot about that Houston game
I remember it vividly, that was a rough day. Same day as my Grandfather’s funeral. I think OSU has lost every single game that has ever occurred during a funeral/wedding I have attended. 
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I don’t like to set a standard for such a young kid, and I’m in no way implying he HAS to be exactly this way but here is how I view Sanders right now.
Sanders is currently the Tony Romo of the Big 12 in my opinion. He has all the ability and potential in the world and we catch glimpses of it. However, he makes crucial mistakes that change the outcomes of a game.
I need him to be more like Tom Brady. He doesn’t need to have the best statistical game in the world but I need him to be smarter with the football. The coaches also need to be better at putting other players into a position to help make Sanders more successful.
Some things are Sanders fault, but if the coaches are going to stick with him through thick and thin then they better figure out ways to help him. He’s been on campus for three seasons now. Why has this not been done?
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Yea well tom Brady was not a great college qb. So if u like ar0 are more worried about are qb going to the nfl then ok. But I would like us to have guys win for us.
The kc qb is another fine example of not winning in college