The Morning Fade – 1.3.11

Chatmon on the importance of defense this year – “The OSU defense was superb away from home, allowing just 4.4 yards per play in six games away from Boone Pickens Stadium. And Young and the rest of OSU’s defensive coaching staff did it with a roster that finished the season full of freshmen on its two-deep depth chart. The Cowboys’ youth on defense put Young in a difficult position. OSU was unable to rotate its defenders as much as it did in 2009. And with the new up-tempo offense brought in by Dana Holgorsen, opponents averaged 82.2 offensive plays per game in 2010 compared to 70.7 in 2009.
Yet, the Cowboys’ defense played a major role in OSU’s 11-2 record.”

Good article by Chatmon on Gundy’s success – I go back to what might have been the stat of 2010 in regards to Oklahoma State athletics: three straight years of 9+ wins along with three other schools — Bama, Oregon, and Ohio St. That’s company I want to keep.

Haisten with an excerpt from a Shaun Lewis interview – “‘I believe that anything less than 10 wins next year is a failure. We’re shooting for 12 wins next year.'” They ought to put that on a banner and hang it in front of the locker room entrance…

Great John Klein piece over the weekend on the state of the football program – As much as we (I) complain about Gundy, Klein is dead-on that he’s revolutionized the program. I got a text from one of my buddies, somebody who’s been following the program for 20+ years, at halftime of the Alamo Bowl that said “dude, we’re really good…I don’t know if people realize how good this team was.” He’s right too, we’ve already started taking it for granted. We were faster, more talented, and better coached than most teams we played this season. That means something.

Ford rips hoops team in media for Gonzaga performance – Tonight is going to be really really interesting. It’s one of those games that, although it doesn’t seem that big, could determine if this team is dancing in 2 months.

Lengthy (and good) recap of OSUs rout of ASU in wrestling – “Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith became the first coach in OSU’s storied history to hit the 300-win mark for his career after leading the Cowboys to a 40-4 win over No. 24 Arizona State at Wells Fargo Arena Sunday. The win improved Smith’s career record to 300-44-5 in his 20 years at the helm of his alma mater.”

Phenomenal article by Steward Mandel on the Rose Bowl – He’s the best college football writer out there and keeps proving it every weekend.

K-State Salute part II – This is pretty clever…