Morgantown, WV. What an atmosphere. 60,410 in attendance. It was really, really loud most of the night. Where else can you see a person drinking out of a shoe?
Unis. A+. Love that combo.
WTIB. Well done, defense & defensive staff. We have now matched our takeaway total from ALL of last season (14)!!!! Incredible.
The Punter. It seems special teams kind of slip under the radar unless you have a huge mistake or huge game-winning FG, but Sinor had a great game. 44.9-yard average on 8 punts. He really pinned them several times & flipped the field in crucial moments. He's only a redshirt freshman, too!
Ogbah. How important was this game to #38? Quote for Big 12 media days back in July: "I really want to go back and play West Virginia again, because that really hurt us in 2013....that was the year we were supposed to win the Big 12." Not only the defensive MVP, but he is also the team MVP. He anchors the best unit on this team. I feel like he'd kind of disappear at times last year, but his motor has been incredible this season. He is everywhere. He's making himself a lot of money. We are watching one of the best defenders in Cowboy history right now. Appreciate every game we get to watch of #38!
Mount Chad. Prayers up to Ryan Simmons on his recovery. Enter Chad Whitener. How's this for a 1st start? 11 tackles, forced fumble & a recovered fumble. Well done, sir. It's nice to have that kind of depth.
Mason Rudolph. He now has 3 turnovers in consecutive road games, yet we win both games. Should we be worried? Well, let's look look beyond the box score. Our offensive line is not good. Our WRs are inconsistent. We have no running game. If you subtract the 40-yard scramble by #2, we had 37 rushing attempts for 94 yards. He is 9 games into his young career and is 8-1. Not excusing all the turnovers because he must limit his mistakes. I'd say wins in Morgantown, Norman & Austin + the 4th highest passing total in OSU history is a pretty impressive resume for just 9 games!! Excited to see how he builds on that and finishes this year.
WRs. Ateman is playing confident football and continues to be really good. Tremendous catches all night. Can we throw it to #3 more please? Glidden is a 3rd down machine. But, as a group, they are are not getting consistent separation and it's really hurting us. The crucial drops are really, really hurting us. We were driving in the 1st quarter trying to put points on the board. We are in WV territory and Washington drops a ball on 3rd down. That would've put us in FG range at least. Instead, we punt.
WV Series after 1st INT. Mason tried to go deep for #28 and they picked it off. After each team punted before that play and a huge 3rd down conversion to Glidden, you could feel the momentum swinging towards the home team. This series was huge. What happens? PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE! I love this defensive line. WVU gets holding call setting up a big 3rd down. Ogbah comes off the edge and hurries Howard into an off throw. That drive really is the difference between this team and teams of the past (especially in the Gundy era).
Lampkin & Flowers. They had their best games of the season. Peterson goes down with a groin and we had guys step up. Lampkin got beat on the long TD pass, but came back with great deflections on consecutive drives late in the game. Flowers made great open-field tackles all night long. #31 continues to grow as a RS sophomore.
Burton & Averrette. They are getting better with every snap. Towards the end of the first quarter WV seemed to be driving after converting a 3rd down play. On 1st down, they ran a little sweep play and Burton was able to get an arm out there to turn a potential 15-yard gain to only a 6-yard gain. Howard missed a 2nd down throw and then Seth Jacobs made a great tackle on 3rd down and they punt. That little arm trip up was a drive-ending play by #20. Then, you have Averette with an INT. Really excited about these 2 guys. Both guys have another year to play after this one, so that sets up very well.
Last Stand. What a call on 4th down by Spencer. Jones has to make that play, but what a perfect time to bring pressure and from that side.
6-0. Can you believe it?! I'm still in shock, but so proud of this team. In Mike Gundy's 11 seasons as HC, this is now the fourth time his team has started 6-0. In 103 seasons prior to that, we only had started 6-0 twice in our football history (1945 & 1997). Let's get healthy in the bye week then go for 7-0 vs Kansas the following week!
GO POKES!
Unis. A+. Love that combo.
WTIB. Well done, defense & defensive staff. We have now matched our takeaway total from ALL of last season (14)!!!! Incredible.
The Punter. It seems special teams kind of slip under the radar unless you have a huge mistake or huge game-winning FG, but Sinor had a great game. 44.9-yard average on 8 punts. He really pinned them several times & flipped the field in crucial moments. He's only a redshirt freshman, too!
Ogbah. How important was this game to #38? Quote for Big 12 media days back in July: "I really want to go back and play West Virginia again, because that really hurt us in 2013....that was the year we were supposed to win the Big 12." Not only the defensive MVP, but he is also the team MVP. He anchors the best unit on this team. I feel like he'd kind of disappear at times last year, but his motor has been incredible this season. He is everywhere. He's making himself a lot of money. We are watching one of the best defenders in Cowboy history right now. Appreciate every game we get to watch of #38!
Mount Chad. Prayers up to Ryan Simmons on his recovery. Enter Chad Whitener. How's this for a 1st start? 11 tackles, forced fumble & a recovered fumble. Well done, sir. It's nice to have that kind of depth.
Mason Rudolph. He now has 3 turnovers in consecutive road games, yet we win both games. Should we be worried? Well, let's look look beyond the box score. Our offensive line is not good. Our WRs are inconsistent. We have no running game. If you subtract the 40-yard scramble by #2, we had 37 rushing attempts for 94 yards. He is 9 games into his young career and is 8-1. Not excusing all the turnovers because he must limit his mistakes. I'd say wins in Morgantown, Norman & Austin + the 4th highest passing total in OSU history is a pretty impressive resume for just 9 games!! Excited to see how he builds on that and finishes this year.
WRs. Ateman is playing confident football and continues to be really good. Tremendous catches all night. Can we throw it to #3 more please? Glidden is a 3rd down machine. But, as a group, they are are not getting consistent separation and it's really hurting us. The crucial drops are really, really hurting us. We were driving in the 1st quarter trying to put points on the board. We are in WV territory and Washington drops a ball on 3rd down. That would've put us in FG range at least. Instead, we punt.
WV Series after 1st INT. Mason tried to go deep for #28 and they picked it off. After each team punted before that play and a huge 3rd down conversion to Glidden, you could feel the momentum swinging towards the home team. This series was huge. What happens? PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE! I love this defensive line. WVU gets holding call setting up a big 3rd down. Ogbah comes off the edge and hurries Howard into an off throw. That drive really is the difference between this team and teams of the past (especially in the Gundy era).
Lampkin & Flowers. They had their best games of the season. Peterson goes down with a groin and we had guys step up. Lampkin got beat on the long TD pass, but came back with great deflections on consecutive drives late in the game. Flowers made great open-field tackles all night long. #31 continues to grow as a RS sophomore.
Burton & Averrette. They are getting better with every snap. Towards the end of the first quarter WV seemed to be driving after converting a 3rd down play. On 1st down, they ran a little sweep play and Burton was able to get an arm out there to turn a potential 15-yard gain to only a 6-yard gain. Howard missed a 2nd down throw and then Seth Jacobs made a great tackle on 3rd down and they punt. That little arm trip up was a drive-ending play by #20. Then, you have Averette with an INT. Really excited about these 2 guys. Both guys have another year to play after this one, so that sets up very well.
Last Stand. What a call on 4th down by Spencer. Jones has to make that play, but what a perfect time to bring pressure and from that side.
6-0. Can you believe it?! I'm still in shock, but so proud of this team. In Mike Gundy's 11 seasons as HC, this is now the fourth time his team has started 6-0. In 103 seasons prior to that, we only had started 6-0 twice in our football history (1945 & 1997). Let's get healthy in the bye week then go for 7-0 vs Kansas the following week!
GO POKES!
