2011 Oklahoma State Football Spring Review/Fall Preview
by ccmachine on Jun 23, 2011 1:02 AM CDT
in Oklahoma Sooners Football
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PrintThere are very few questions regarding the Oklahoma State football team heading into the 2011 season but the few that are out there are pretty big. The Cowboys failed to reach the Big 12 Championship game last season thanks to a fourth quarter offensive explosion by the Sooners. It was the closest OSU had ever been to reaching the championship game and with round-robin play taking place in 2011 there's no reason to expect they won't be contenders for a championship yet again.
Super stars Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon return for another year and are taking aim at being the Big 12's top quarterback/receiver combo. The Cowboys actually return nine offensive starters but will be without a key part of their 2010 offensive attack and the mastermind behind the offense. Thus there are still big questions surrounding the offense despite the number of returners.
1. Can Todd Monken keep the offense performing at a high level? The same talent will be there but what about the play calling? There are two aspects of a great offensive coordinator - 1) a great offensive system. 2) calling the right play at the right time. That combination has helped guys like Dana Holgorsen thrive in college football. Holgorsen is off to West Virginia and Monken has been tabbed to be the guy to continue coordinating the offense. Will he be successful? We should find out pretty quickly when the Arizona Wildcats come to Stillwater on September 8th.
2. Can Joseph Randle be the feature back? O-State fans say yes but the jury is still out. Randle thrived last year in the shadow of Kendall Hunter who led the team with 1,548 rushing yards. Now Randle has to step up as the starter which means his season carries will be a lot closer to Hunter's 271 last year as opposed to his 82. Is he ready for that?
3. Can the defense improve? A strong defense has been the Achilles Heel for OSU more times than they'd like to admit. Last year they ranked 61st in the nation in scoring defense and completely laid down against Nebraska and Oklahoma. To take the next step that has to get better. The Cowboys will attempt to make an improvement without 2010's leading tackler (Orie Lemon) and six other defensive starters. Among the absent is Andrew McGee who led the team in interceptions last year with five.
Oklahoma plays at Oklahoma State on December 3rd
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and James Hanna!
"You see we got another championship banner up? It’s not a South Division one, either." Bob Stoops
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and it's 8:29 pm and texass still sucks
"You see we got another championship banner up? It’s not a South Division one, either." Bob Stoops
Crimson and Cream Machine - There's only one Oklahoma!
Listen to Sooner Nation, the #1 podcast for OU fans
Ok, ladies. Let me give you the breakdown.
1. The offense is going to be fine under Monken…for this year, at least. Generally, it takes at least a couple of years for a successful system to wear off when a new coordinator takes over. Plus, with Weeden at the helm, the offense has a terrific field general that will keep things humming like usual.
2. Joseph Randle doesn’t have to be Kendall Hunter. With Smith and Sims sharing the workload, he only needs to fill his role. Not saying that it was purposeful, but Gundy recruited the three different types of backs—a bruiser (Smith), a scat back (Sims), and a versatile back (Randle). All three will play their role and continue the stout running tradition OSU has had in recent history.
3. Not only can the defense improve, it absolutely will. Unfortunately, it won’t be by leaps and bounds. Nonetheless, it will be better than last year. The difference this year will be depth and athleticism. The biggest area of weakness right now is the WLB position. A lot of people think that OSU is going to miss Orie Lemon a whole bunch but I think that Johnson and Lavey are going to fill his role nicely. Expect to see Lavey more on running downs and Johnson on passing downs.
OSU graduated both of their starting DTs and to that I say….ok, next. Let’s be honest. OSU DT’s haven’t been anything special since Kevin Williams graduated. What OSU lost were two guys with tons of injury issues and they are replacing them with younger guys and more depth. I’ll take it. Yes, these guys are less experienced. But what good is experience when you don’t have any cartilage in your knees?
Other than those positions, OSU brings everyone back and will be stronger. Let’s just hope that Todd Monken can keep the offense on the field long enough so that the defense can actually catch its breath this year.
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