Take Georgia

Happy New Years to you and yours, Poke Family! Be safe, have fun, Be Loyal and True.

Is Knowles in Phoenix for the Bowl Game? If so, any guess if he’s advising/has advised Joe Bob or Gundy about ND Offense tendencies and best defenses against?

Pretty much the last good game we had for quite a while with the impending sanctions.

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Who you rooting for?

So should OSI pool money and “sponser” a future player. Let’s stop beating around the bush.

Lots of elites need some swinging - asap

https://gab.com/MamaOwen/posts/107531447642983726

Read this article and I have no idea what to make of it. I’m curious what you think.

“What did every black man in America say when they heard Candice Owens got married?”

Please tell them we need to make sure it’s the Cowboy script.

Whomever changed the helmets for the Championship game needs to be shot.

This administration is a complete debacle.

Just rewatched it. Kenny jr fell asleep and said Rudy tackled like a little bitch.



Can anyone ne a more overrated sports movie? Bull Durham is overrated imo but not on the level of Rudy.

Our 2022 week 1 opponent playing Wazzu

Tramel: Why the enigmatic Spencer Sanders is the key for OSU against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl​

Berry Tramel
Oklahoman


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Brandon Weeden in 2011 on OSU’s Fiesta Bowl team of 10 years ago. Mason Rudolph on OSU’s Sugar Bowl team of five years ago. Spencer Sanders on OSU’s Fiesta Bowl team of right now.

One of these things, isn’t like the others. One of these things just isn’t the same.

And it’s the 2021 Cowboys who stick out. An elite team, without an elite quarterback.

It happens from time to time, particularly in places like the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference, though not so much lately in the latter.

But in the Big 12? Not often. Great quarterbacking usually is necessary for excellence.

So OSU is bucking the trend with Sanders, a good but not great quarterback.

“It was kind of like a rollercoaster,” Sanders said of his 2021 season. “I had some bad games, some good games. But we played together as a team, and I feel like we had a great season overall.”



No doubt. Beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday, and the ninth-ranked Cowboys will tie a school record for victories in a season (12) and finish in The Associated Press top 10 for only the fourth time in school history.

But OSU will have gotten to such heights the hard way. With a hit-and-miss quarterback.

Sanders is a consummate leader, and his mobility gives OSU a coveted offensive trait, but his decision-making and throwing are not dependable. Sanders this season has thrown 16 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. That’s straight out of the 1980s.

Sanders’ career TD/interception: 46-31. Here are the ratios of OSU’s other 21st-century QBs: Rudolph 92/26, Weeden 75/27, Zac Robinson 66/31, Taylor Cornelius 32/13, Josh Fields 55/25, Clint Chelf 37/15, Donovan Woods 14/5, Bobby Reid 27/16. Sanders’ backups have better ratios: Dru Brown 7/1, Shane Illingworth 7/2.

The only OSU quarterbacks who played much at all and had worse ratios in the 2000s were Al Pena, Daxx Garman and Wes Lunt.

Make no mistake. Sanders has made a bunch of winning plays. But he’s a three-year starter who has thrown seven interceptions in two games against Baylor and two more in Bedlam.

That can’t happen against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are too good.

“The thing we need from him, and it's always been this way, is just to manage the game,” said offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn.

The only OSU quarterbacks who played much at all and had worse ratios in the 2000s were Al Pena, Daxx Garman and Wes Lunt.

Make no mistake. Sanders has made a bunch of winning plays. But he’s a three-year starter who has thrown seven interceptions in two games against Baylor and two more in Bedlam.

That can’t happen against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are too good.

“The thing we need from him, and it's always been this way, is just to manage the game,” said offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn.

That’s the thing. While everyone in orange and black praises Sanders’ leadership, most everyone also pulls punches on Sanders’ actual quarterbacking.

Tailback Jaylen Warren: “When Spencer is calm and collected, we're just doing our thing, I think that's when he plays his best. Obviously, emotions run during the game and some people handle it different than others. But when he keeps his composure, I feel like that's when he plays his best game.”

Dunn: “Probably the No. 1 thing that he brings to the table for us right now, is just this ability to have a comfort out there about him. He's not panicked about things. He's not missing signals. He's not getting himself caught up in a situation where he can't get himself out of it, as far as understanding the play. Do we wish he would pull it down sometimes and take off and run? For sure. I just said that a little bit ago, because he can go. That's him.”

Here’s the truth. Sanders is a wild card. He’s a good quarterback with a propensity to occasionally throw the Cowboys out of a game. Sure, two of Sanders’ interceptions against Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game weren’t much his fault. But that still leaves two, in a game OSU lost 21-16 and finished a couple of inches shy of the goal line in the final seconds.

Sanders appears to dwell in that nebulous neighborhood of being too good to replace and not good enough to rely on for sustained quality play.

That doesn’t mean Sanders won’t produce a big-time game against Notre Dame. Having Warren back will help. Warren missed the Big 12 title game.

“Going to make a difference,” Dunn said. “He's a hell of a player, and to be able to just get him the football and get him running will make a difference for us. So I think it just comes back to Spencer, again, managing the game.”

Sanders’ experience pays off. He operates the offense efficiently. The calls, the formations, the adjustments. They all come natural to Sanders now.


Despite the occasional brain lock, Sanders is a cool customer. A great example is the 90-yard drive at the end of the Baylor game, which ended mere inches shy of glory.

And that came after a mostly-miserable game that included four interceptions. Dunn said Sanders put that game behind him even before it was over, which is hard to do.

“He put together one hell of a drive,” Dunn said. “I think he put it behind him before we ever got to that point. I don't think he's thinking about it at all. The kid is pretty resilient. We all saw that on the final drive of the game.”

Sanders is talented. There’s no doubt. But he’s an enigma. Football is a game of big plays. Offense and defense. Sanders produces plenty of the former. Alas, he also provides opportunity for some of the latter.

“At the end of the day, people are going to love you or they're going to hate you,” Sanders said. “But the people you surround yourself with, your team, is what really matters.

“As long as you're getting up and doing everything possible you can do to help your team, I feel like it's pretty good. So it kind of just helps me shut out all of what's around and what goes around. As long as I'm making sure I'm doing my best and giving 110 percent, there's nothing more than I can do.”

Sanders’ story is quality quarterbacking interspersed with bewildering plays that hurt the Cowboy cause. Will that be the story of the Fiesta Bowl?

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Shettron vs Trequon Fegans
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Shettron vs Zion Branch (Branch was committed to Ohio State at one point)
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Shettron vs JQ Hardaway
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'We'll have a plan for him': How OSU is prepping for test against Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer​

Scott Wright
Oklahoman

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — With 13 games worth of Oklahoma State film to break down in preparing for the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees found himself particularly interested in the Iowa State matchup back in October.

In that game, Rees saw how Oklahoma State defended one of the best tight ends in the country, Iowa State’s Charlie Kolar.

Iowa State focuses its offense heavily on Kolar, who finished the year with 756 yards and six touchdowns on 62 receptions, second-most on the team.

Rees and the Notre Dame offense focus even more heavily on their tight end, Michael Mayer, who produced similar numbers to Kolar this season, but is targeted much more frequently than his teammates. Mayer has 64 catches, while no other player has more than 42.


In the meeting between ninth-ranked Oklahoma State and No. 5 Notre Dame at noon Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, the Cowboys’ ability to contain Mayer will be critical to their hopes of winning.

“He's been a major focus,” defensive line coach Joe Bob Clements said of Mayer. “Our players had better know where No. 87 is on the field. Notre Dame is going to do a good job of moving him around and getting him involved.

“He's had 100-plus targets on the season. So we know, when they need to make a play, the quarterback is probably going to be looking in that direction and we need to be looking towards him.”

In reviewing that Iowa State game, Rees saw the ideas Oklahoma State had for containing Kolar, who finished with an average day by his standards, six catches for 69 yards and no touchdowns.

“The kid from Iowa State, they had some things on third down to double him,” Rees said. “That's clearly part of what they do. I think the biggest focus for them will probably be third down. How do we get a couple people around him on third down? The kid at Iowa State, they literally put two guys on him and said, ‘Hey, we're going to take him away.’”

Mayer finished the regular season with 768 yards and five touchdowns on 64 catches, playing in 11 of Notre Dame’s 12 games.

The 6-foot-4, 251-pound sophomore had at least 50 receiving yards in nine games, and went over the 100-yard mark twice, including his most recent game when he had nine catches for 105 yards against Stanford on Nov. 27.

“I think when you play against a really good tight end — and 87 for them, he's really good in the pass game,” OSU senior safety Kolby Harvell-Peel said. “He's also really good in the run game. He's a great blocker.

“They bring an edge to the offense that when a team runs a lot of spreads, you can kind of hone in on the pass and try to make sure that you cover well in the back end. When you add that element of a tight end that can catch passes well as well, they are just versatile and it makes you have to always know where he's at and always account for him on the field.”

OSU coach Mike Gundy said Mayer “looks like Tom Brady’s friend,” referring to Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski. And Notre Dame has a knack for producing talented tight ends. In just the past decade, they’ve put out NFL starters like Tyler Eifert, Kyle Rudolph and Cole Kmet.

Mayer is next in that lineage.

“He can both do good run blocking and he's good in the passing game,” OSU senior linebacker Devin Harper said. “You don't see that very often with tight ends in any conference. He has it all.

“But we'll have a plan for him.”

That’s the big unknown — what will OSU’s plan for Mayer be? Rees figures to see a lot of what he watched on that Iowa State film, but without defensive coordinator Jim Knowles calling the shots this time around, Rees knows the plan could look different.

“There's a lot of unknowns right now with their defense, obviously, with the change in coordinator and extra time to prepare and what they want to do,” Rees said. “We got to be multiple in how we use Michael and make sure that we don't become stagnant with where we want to play him and find ways to create opportunities.

“Look, if they want to double him, that usually means we got a favorable matchup somewhere else. So we got to make sure that we're seeing that and adjusting to it.”

Tramel: In the Fiesta Bowl, can Oklahoma State football recover from two losses by inches?​

Berry Tramel
Oklahoman

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Iowa State defenders Kym-Mani King and Isheem Young wrapped up wispy OSU flanker Brennan Presley, but not without a fight. From Presley or the Cowboys.

OSU center Danny Godlevske grabbed Presley, with the Cyclones in tow, and pulled him closer to the promised land of the Iowa State 40-yard line.

This was back on Oct. 23, when OSU was unbeaten and ranked eighth nationally. The sideline official at Jack Trice Stadium that day sprinted in, grabbed the ball and placed it just shy of the 40. Replay review

didn’t change the spot.

With 1:09 left in the game, Iowa State was assured of a 24-21 victory. By mere inches.

Then came Dec. 4, when Baylor safety Jairon McVea hauled down OSU tailback Dez Jackson on a fourth-down mad dash in the final seconds. Jackson stretched his arms, trying to will the pigskin to the pylon. The ball landed an inch or two short.

Baylor won the Big 12 Championship Game 21-16.

Two OSU losses. The latter determined by a tiny piece of real estate. The former potentially determined by a tiny piece of real estate.

The Cowboys play Notre Dame on Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl, which is a good place to be. But there was a better place for OSU to land.

The College Football Playoff. The Cowboys were oh, so close. And they were denied by the width of an iPhone.

“It's one of those things where you kind of think about it all the time,” said OSU receiver Tay Martin. “It's tough. But at the same time, you've got to look ahead.”

Ahead is Notre Dame. And the Fiesta Bowl could be determined by how much the Cowboys carry the burden of those two defeats.

“I wouldn't say it's something you just kind of get over,” said guard Josh Sills. “It's something you just look past. We have a new week, a new opportunity, a great challenge in front of us with Notre Dame. I think with playing such quality opponents, you can't dwell in the misery or dwell in the past.”

Still, those two defeats were particularly frustrating. All kinds of teams lose by a point or two. Few lose by an inch or two, much less twice.

You can make the argument that the Cowboys are as close to unbeaten as any team in America, other than Cincinnati, which did indeed win them all.

Georgia was rolled by Alabama. Michigan lost a tough game at Michigan State, but not by an excruciatingly close play. Alabama lost to Texas A&M on a last-play field goal, but the Aggies dominated most of that game. Notre Dame itself was pushed around by Cincinnati.

“We didn't want to obviously lose the way that we did, but you've got to control what you can control and only hope for the best at this point,” Martin said. “We definitely wish we was 13-0, but it happens. Everything happens for a reason.”

Well, it happened because opponents made great plays. Sure, Presley might have reached that 40-yard line. But that was great Iowa State defense on fourth-and-2, with an elusive ballcarrier. That was a play for the ages by Baylor’s McVea.

And let’s be fair. The Cowboys won a game by inches – Jason Taylor’s fingernail block of a Boise State field goal late in the fourth quarter preserved what became a 21-20 victory.

Defensive end Brock Martin admitted the Cowboys dwelled on the loss to Baylor. For a week. Coaches gave the players time off for final exams and to visit family.

Now, he says, the dwelling has ended. But the memory remains.

"That's your time to look back, if you want to look back,” Brock Martin said. “It sucks, man. As a defense, we did everything we could. I know the offense wanted to get in there and score that touchdown and win the game just as much as we wanted them to. But we do look back on it.

“We still talk about it every once in a while. It's just locker room talk, this and that, at practice, whatever. But at this point, it's just dust in the wind. We can't go back now.”

Ten years ago, the Cowboys were in the Fiesta Bowl. They weren’t coming off a defeat – OSU routed OU 44-10 in the regular-season finale to secure the Big 12 title – but in the penultimate game, the Cowboys lost 37-31 in overtime at Iowa State.

Another game of inches. With 1:21 left in regulation that night in Ames, OSU’s Quinn Sharp kicked a 37-yard field-goal attempt over the right upright. The ball needed to be inside the right upright to provide the Cowboys the three points needed for victory.

OSU thus was denied a spot in the national championship game. The Fiesta Bowl became a consolation prize, and the Cowboys made the most of it, beating Stanford 41-38 in overtime.

The 2021 Cowboys get the chance to do the same, now that dust in the wind has brought OSU back to the desert.

Any expectations on how many fans will show up? I’m in Scottsdale now haven’t seen many OSU fans (yet)

Watch the video linked (fan fight after Pitt/MSU) and then read the comments. 😂🤣

https://forums.rivals.com/threads/you-fight-cuz-your-team-choked.1036517/

Oklahoma State vs. Notre Dame football: Score predictions, TV info & more for the Fiesta Bowl​

Jacob Unruh
Oklahoman

Nearly a month after falling inches shy of a Big 12 title, Oklahoma State has one final chance for a statement on a national stage.

The No. 9-ranked Cowboys face No. 5-ranked Notre Dame at noon Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

It’s the Cowboys’ (11-2, 8-1 Big 12) first meeting with Notre Dame (11-1).

Here is what you need to know about the game:

Predictions for Oklahoma State vs. Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl​

Jenni Carlson, Columnist​

OSU 23, Notre Dame 20

BETTER THAN GOLD

Cowboys top Fighting Irish with late defensive stand

Berry Tramel, Columnist​

Notre Dame 21, OSU 20

BY A PINCH

Late touchdown lifts Fighting Irish

Jacob Unruh, OSU beat writer​

OSU, 21, Notre Dame 17

GOLD STANDARD

Cowboys close with another top-notch defensive performance

Scott Wright, OSU beat writer​

OSU 24, Notre Dame 21

DESERT DUEL

Cowboys win Arizona thriller

On the air: No. 9 Oklahoma State vs. No. 5 Notre Dame​

TV: ESPN (Cox 29/HD 720, Dish 140, DirecTV 206, U-verse 602/HD 1602)

Radio: KXXY-FM 96.1, ESPN Radio, Sirius/XM/SXM 84

About the broadcasters​

The ESPN crew of Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Dan Orlovsky (analyst) and Kris Budden (sideline) has the call. Wischusen joined ESPN in 2005, calling college basketball and football games. He added NHL play-by-play duties this year after calling Arena Football League and providing coverage of golf and college baseball. He’s also the radio play-by-play voice of the New York Jets. Orlovsky — a former UConn star quarterback who played 12 seasons in the NFL — joined the network in 2018 as a college football and NFL analyst. Budden is a college sports sideline report covering football, basketball and baseball. She joined ESPN after a three-year stint with FOX Sports that ended in 2015.

Who has the edge in the Fiesta Bowl? Let's take a look at three key matchups between OSU & Notre Dame​

Scott Wright
Oklahoman

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Ninth-ranked Oklahoma State takes on No. 5 Notre Dame at noon Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl, where the Cowboys look to put a positive wrap on a successful season.

Here’s a look at three key matchups in Saturday’s game:

Oklahoma State running back Jaylen Warren vs. Notre Dame linebacker JD Bertrand​

Warren was banged up down the stretch of the regular season, and missed virtually all of the Big 12 title game, where his absence was noticed. He’s healthy now and energized for his final college game as the featured back in the OSU offense, where he has rushed for 1,134 yards and 11 touchdowns. Bertrand is Notre Dame’s leading tackler by a mile — he has 92 while no one else has more than 49 — and is a major key in the run defense that is allowing 3.7 yards per carry and 127 yards per game.

Edge: OSU

Notre Dame quarterback Jack Coan vs. Oklahoma State defensive end Collin Oliver​

Coan has completed 67.6% of his passes for 2,641 yards with 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. But the Notre Dame offensive line has allowed 33 sacks this year, which is the area where Oklahoma State will have to attack Coan. OSU set a single-season program record with 55 sacks, and Oliver, a true freshman, led the way with 11.5. The Cowboys will need to keep Coan off balance by getting pressure on the veteran quarterback.

Edge: OSU

Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer vs. Oklahoma State safety Kolby Harvell-Peel​

Not often do you see a tight end lead a team in receptions, but that’s the case with Mayer, a 6-foot-4, 251-pound sophomore. He has 768 yards and five touchdowns on 64 catches — 22 more than anyone else on the team. With only a couple of exceptions, the Cowboys have defended tight ends well this season, and while Harvell-Peel won’t be the only player covering Mayer, Harvell-Peel is the leader among the safety group that will take on the challenge. Harvell-Peel leads OSU in interceptions this season with three and he’s the top tackler among the Cowboys’ safeties.

Edge: Notre Dame