Will Oklahoma State get a faster start this season? Plus, Ollie Gordon, Alan Bowman and predictions!
Talking about the South Dakota State opener with Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel.
Oklahoma State football hasn't always started seasons quickly in recent years.
Remember those narrow escapes against Boise State, Missouri State, and Central Arkansas?
What about that loss to South Alabama?
But with lofty aspirations this season, the Cowboys need to play much better much earlier in the year. That starts Saturday against South Dakota State.
We'll talk about the Jackrabbits and much more with Tulsa World columnist Berry Tramel on The Jenni Carlson Show.
Sign up for my YouTube channel here: www.YouTube.com/@Jenni-Carlson.
Episode highlights
1:21: Will OSU start faster this season, beginning with South Dakota State?
3:49: How much does having an established starting quarterback in Alan Bowman help the Cowboys? (Also, we rewind on Ollie Gordon only getting 19 carries in non-conference play last year!)
6:08: If OSU loses a non-conference game, does it matter less because of the expanded College Football Playoff?
9:14: Quick question: is the Big 12 really interested in adding UConn?
11:45: Who does this game matter to most?
18:10: Predictions!
Producer: Jacquelyn Musgrove
Creative Director: Michael Lane
Transcript
Jenni: Well, BT, quick starts haven't exactly been the Cowboys' forte to start seasons here these last couple of years. They've had close calls. They had the loss last year to South Alabama. This year, it would seem that things need to be different with South Dakota State, defending back-to-back FCS national champs, coming in. Arkansas is on the schedule. But the question is, will it be different? Will it be different for Oklahoma State and their slow starts to the season?
Berry: I sort of think so. I think Mike Gundy has done a pretty good job this year of delivering the message to everybody that this is a real team, South Dakota State. This is a legitimate threat. Don't know if he's used the analogy, but he can get in front of his players and say, ‘You know, the last time we played somebody with South in front of their names, we treated them like it was Southmoore High School, and they beat us, what was it, 30-7? 33-7?’
South Dakota State's the real deal now. Personally, just me, I think he's a little over rating the Jackrabbits. They are not a Big 12-level roster
Jenni: I don't think they could compete Power Four.
Berry: No, I don't either. I mean, power to them. They've done unbelievable, but they're not going to come into the Big 12 and go 6-3, you know. I might pick them over Cincinnati, Houston, Arizona State, but you know, I don't think I'm picking them over Texas Tech, Central Florida and Arizona. So, I do think, though, that Gundy's got that message across and going to 1 o'clock, he told his fans not explicitly but implicitly, ‘Hey, we're pulling out all the stops to win this game. We're not fooling around. This is a team we gotta be serious about. If we gotta put them in the cauldron of a 1 o'clock kickoff … ’ Turns out it's not gonna be as hot as we feared, and thank the Lord, but I think maybe he's done a better job this off season hammering home the point that, ‘Hey, this is a game we could lose. And it's gonna be bad if we lose. It's gonna ruin the start of the season. Doesn't have to ruin the entire season, but why would we wanna mess with it? Why would we wanna risk it?’ So I think he's done a pretty good job of delivering the message.
Jenni: If you rewind to a year ago today, Oklahoma State had the three-way quarterback rotation, BT. We saw that for the whole non-conference before Alan Bowman became the starter. We know Alan Bowman's the starter this year. There's no rotation. How much does that alone change things for the Cowboys?
Berry: I think it's a psychological help. To this day, I'm not going to roast Gundy too much for it. To this day, I'm not even sure settling on Bowman's what turned them around. And you're going to agree with me on at least part of this, which is, what would happen if they'd have kept rotating, you know, like, some sort of carousel of the three quarterbacks, only they give the ball to Ollie Gordon 30 times a game and run downhill instead of just screwing around in the backfield? That's what turned the season around is when they said, ‘Hey, this is our best player. We can have Pistol Pete or Gunnar Gundy or Kasey Schrum quarterback; as long as they're handing to Ollie Gordon, things are going to get done.’ So I don't want to toss the three-quarterback rotation off the cliff.
You know, Tulsa's Kevin Wilson last week said he's going to play all three quarterbacks in his season opener. I have no idea if he will. But a lot of cracks about, it really worked out well for OSU, it didn't work out well. But I don't know that it was a disaster if you're not utilizing your best player.
Wasn't it you? Yeah, I think in your column at Beyond the Boxscore earlier this week pointed out that Pro Football Focus has Ollie Gordon as the second best player in college football. The second best player.
Jenni: And they said he that he has an argument to be the best.
Berry: And they gave him 19 carries the first three games last season. And we're blaming the quarterback rotation? Let me tell you, they should have had a zero-quarterback rotation and just snapped the ball to Ollie. That's what they should have been doing.
Jenni: He had a game in non-conference play last year where he had three carries. Three carries! What the heck?
Berry: I don't know what was going on. I don't know what's going on.
Jenni: It still blows my mind. But anyway .. A non-conference loss, I’m with you, I'm not here to say Oklahoma State's losing to South Dakota State. But considering the state of things with the College Football Playoff, you mentioned this a second ago, you don't want to mess up your season. But the way things look is, even if OSU would suffer a non-conference loss, does that really derail things? Does it matter? Because it seems like to me in the Big 12, you're probably gonna need to go win this thing, win the league, to make the playoff. IDo you feel like it matters any less considering where the Big 12 is in things?
Berry: It's a great point — the importance of non-conference games to a league like the Big 12. I would say this: there's no reason to lose. I mean, maybe it's not gonna hurt you that much, but why risk it? However, I did think last Saturday was a very good day for the Big 12. The ACC took it on the chin. Florida State lost. SMU looked bad. Some people were touting SMU's this dark horse. I don't know if the ACC or the Big 12 will get a second team in, but the ACC chances went a little bit down, which means the Big 12’s went a little bit up.
West Virginia, they're playing Penn State. If they lose to Penn State, then go, I don't know, 9-0 or 8-1 in the Big 12, lose a Big 12 title game, go 10-3. They would have a shot at least. I don't know if they'd make it, but they'd have a shot to get in.
But if you lose to South Dakota State, you're not getting in as an at-large. That's not going to happen. So I take care of business.
The other thing is this: I think it's important on a seeding basis. I assume the top two seeds are gonna be Big Ten and SEC champions, but after that, you'd much rather be a three than a four. Is there chance the sixth seed is gonna be a juggernaut? Probably will, but the five seed almost surely. Like Ohio State and Oregon could meet in the Big Ten title game at 12-0 and 11-1. They play each other, so somebody's going to lose. Whoever loses that game probably it's going to be a five. Or Georgia or whoever turns out to be the second-best team in the SEC. Could be Texas. Could be who knows? But if there's a juggernaut at five, you don't want to be the four seed. You want to be the three seed. It gives you a little bit better strategy, a little bit better placing when it comes to this new 12-team playoff.
Jenni: Speaking of the Big 12: can we take a quick time out from OSU football talk to say, is UConn really going to be a new member of the Big 12? Is that happening?
Berry: Don't think so, but it's possible. I mean, Brett Yormark beating the drum for UConn.
Jenni: No football membership, it sounds like.
Berry: Not for seven years or so until they get things together, and I don't know if they will or not. My sources say there's not a ton of support for it, for UCoon right now. Both financial and from a football standpoint. Connecticut football, we saw them now 14 years ago in the Fiesta Bowl, played Oklahoma. And it was a fun story. They tied for the Big East title, got the major-bowl birth, went to the Fiesta Bowl, had a nice time. OU whacked them around pretty good, but it wasn't 62-7. Wasn't temple. But since then, they've lost their coach, Randy Edsel went to Maryland. And he's come back and coached. Disaster. Lots of losing seasons. They just haven't done much. The crowd support is minimal. You know, They didn't bring a bunch of people to Phoenix, which I know Connecticut to the desert’s a long way. So I get that. But Connecticut football just has not caught fire.
We’ve got 68 Power Four, power conference teams. The next 20 football programs below that would not include Connecticut. Maybe the next 30. So it's a hard sell if you're the athletic director at Iowa State or Utah or Chad Weiberg or Mack Rhoades at Baylor, whoever. The basketball already is good in the Big 12. Kansas, Arizona, Houston, you got three primos. Plus, here comes Iowa State, K-State. Texas Tech always getting going. I don't know if they'll get it done.
Jenni: It’s interesting talk, though, percolating up again about conference membership and those sorts of things. We'll keep an eye on it obviously. But back to this opener for Oklahoma State. Seems like you and I, we haven't got to predictions yet for the game, but sounds like we're both gonna pick Oklahoma State and maybe by a double-digit type of score. So if this game is a fairly winnable game for Oklahoma State, maybe not a rout situation, but still, who does this game matter to, Berry? With so many returners on Oklahoma State's roster, do you feel like this game has some added significance to anybody or any group of somebodies from Oklahoma State?
Berry: Well, the Cowboys are a unique team in that they are so veteran and almost every element of this team is established. The guy or the group that might be the most vulnerable might be the quarterback. Alan Bowman threw quite a few picks last year, didn't take a lot of sacks, throwing the ball away, throwing it to the other team on occasion. OSU is among the Big 12 favorites, but Bowman would probably not be among the Big 12 upper half of quarterbacks in reputation and status. So if he has a really good game, I think that would get people enthused. I think his teammates believe in him. I think he's the leader of this team. I mean, he's 74 years old, he ought to be the leader. But of course he's leading a bunch of other old guys. You know, Bowman's in his seventh year. Justin Wright, the linebacker, also in his seventh year and a whole bunch of six-year guys, most of them on that offensive line. He’s the leader of a veteran team, but I do think he would inspire a lot of confidence in his players, fans, media and even his coaching staff if hey, he can get some things done against South Dakota State. I think that means, ‘Let's lighten the reins a little bit. Maybe we can do a little bit more in the passing game, open things up.’ I think Bowman might be the guy in the crosshairs more than most.
Jenni: The veteranness of this group does make it interesting. I will say, I'm curious to see how the moving up and moving back of both Collin Oliver and Kendal Daniels affects other positions, especially that Cowboys secondary. Sounds like South Dakota State can throw it around a little bit. So what kind of pressure is there as they do some of that? Daniels listed at linebacker, Berry, on the two deep. It sounds like he's going to play more close to the line of scrimmage than back at that safety position. So what does that mean for Lyric Rawls and some of those guys in the secondary? To me, that'll be a question that may not be costly to victory, but how does that look? How do they perform when they move those guys around a little bit?
Berry: Yeah, that was fascinating. You know, a savvy defensive coordinator, which I assume Bryan Nardo is, if you got guys like Oliver and Daniels that line up a lot of different places and can play different places and the opposition doesn't know what they're going to do, it confuses them. That's how game planning is built in this day: ‘Hey, when they're against this personnel, this grouping, we do this. And when this guy goes off the field, we do this.’ It's a little bit like when teams have had big tight ends who can also split out and you don't know if they're going to go forward or not. And it really jacks with their personnel strategy. And I think OSU's defense will have the ability to do that. We saw Oliver clearly can. Is he playing linebacker or rush end? He's been solid at both. If Daniels can go back and forth with equal efficiency, then that really gives the Cowboys a leg up, I think, on game strategy, game planning, all those things.
Jenni: For sure. All right, time for predictions. In the Tulsa World, you had Oklahoma State 38-20. I don't know when you do your predictions for the World, but the forecast keeps looking pretty decent. High of 85 according to our friends at the National Weather Service. Chance of rain in the morning, which means probably humidity. Does that change your prediction at all?
Berry: No. I actually think they've got some pretty smart coaches at South Dakota State. I think they know what Mike Gundy was doing when they saw the 1 o'clock kickoff.
You've been keeping me up to date on the temperatures in Brookings, South Dakota. The day we talked about it, it was 70. You know, mid-August 70 degrees, but it gets hot in South Dakota. These guys, they're not strangers to 94-degree days. So the humidity could be the difference because there’s not a lot of water, the Mississippi Delta does not go through Brookings, South Dakota. So I think that might be the key to this whole thing of being in shape or handling the weather. As they say, it's not the heat, it's humidity.
The Cowboys need to win this game for all the super powers that fear losing to I-AA teams. Interesting game we need to keep an eye on Thursday night; the twin brother of South Dakota State, North Dakota State, the one that sort of set the path for South Dakota State before South Dakota State won these two national titles in a row, North Dakota state had won nine of the last 10. They play at Boulder on Thursday night. Will they hold up and take care of the Buffaloes? What will they do against Deion? That'll be an interesting. If you want a sneak preview of the level of athlete, the kind of players that are winning all these I-AA championships, there you go. Thursday night on ESPN.
Jenni: I had a chance to watch some Montana State football last weekend. They came back and won. Now they were they were playing New Mexico. So you would assume Colorado and Oklahoma State at a higher level than that. But I'm going to go with the Cowboys winning pretty comfortably on Saturday. I've got them 34-14.
I don't know about you, Berry, but I'm just glad the football is back.
Berry: And kudos to Joe Castiglione, Mike Gundy, whoever's responsible, everybody for giving us the chance to do a doubleheader. I'm actually gonna go to Tulsa-Northwestern State on Thursday night. I'm gonna see a tripleheader, my first ever three college football games in three days. I've done two in one day, but I don't think I've ever done three in three days. So that's gonna be fun. But yeah, I'm glad it's here.
Jenni: By the way, you and I have done two games in two days in two different states. And that's a story for another day when our sanity will be questioned by anybody who hears the story.