Originally published at: https://pistolsfiringblog.com/superlatives-from-osus-overtime-loss-to-texas/
Handing out game balls and pondering what-ifs after a scary Halloween game.
Gotta remember, this is still one of the best teams we’ve seen at Oklahoma State. From what I saw last night, definitely up there with Gundy’s best. They dominated and yes, the score didn’t reflect that because of the turnovers. Costly mistakes - they beat themselves, not Texas.
And a reminder, even the 2011 team had what was an even worse loss to Iowa State. They CAN fix things - that team turned around and then beat the tar out of OU and then won OSU’s lone BCS appearance against Stanford.
But like I said elsewhere here today, I think Gundy would be smart to move Sanders to RB and put Illingworth back under center.
Some people said we lost the battle of turnovers. Battle it was a massacre. If it was a movie they would call a fumble to far, staring sanders.
“ the biggest question will be how the Pokes respond.”
You respond by making Illingworth the starter the rest of the year. He’s not going to escape a collapsing pocket, but he doesn’t do anything too wild to put the entire team in compromising situations.
Sander has 3 interceptions and 3 fumbles (and to be quite honest, if Texas Defense was any good he would have more). This is all in just 2.25 games this season. That’s nearly 3 turnovers every game by just one player.
While I like Sanders elusiveness and mobility he’s just not a good decision maker consistently enough to get the offense rolling. Think if you were on this team and a defensive player, wide receiver, or offensive lineman how demoralizing that must be?
At least I know Illingworth has shown the ability and potential to get the ball down the field while making minimal mistakes so far. I would rather Illingworth get sacked and OSU punt the ball away instead of giving the other team three opportunities in the red zone to score a touchdown.
The defense has proven so far they are good enough to win games for OSU as long as the turnovers are kept to a minimum. OSU should really get into the QB graduate transfer business and see what happens.
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Sanders is 6’1 and 205. He doesn’t have the strength or frame right now to be a running back.
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I wouldn’t want him as a running back anyway because he’s a turnover machine (too many fumbles).