Daily Bullets (June 17)

Happy Father’s Day to all of the dad’s out there, particularly mine who continues to selflessly love and care for me. I’m new to the game but it’s probably my favorite job yet.

Finding a Middle Ground

There’s still plenty of meat on the bone around the popular PFB pod from last week – let’s take a look at what’s reasonable for an athletic director to expect.

What Holder offered are complaints without solutions. Actually, what he thinks he offered is motivation. But asking Gundy to do “a little bit more recruiting” demonstrates a lack of appreciation for the difficulty of recruiting to that program and in that state. You win at Oklahoma State with superior evaluations, development and long-term continuity, just like TCU or Kansas State. Gundy has mastered that blueprint to make the Cowboys annual contenders. And they better appreciate it.

I suppose I don’t blame Holder and Oklahoma State’s boosters for experiencing some angst this offseason after what could’ve been an all-time great Oklahoma State team finished 10-3 and in third place in the Big 12. Perhaps they fear some amount of drop-off is about to occur now that Washington and Mason Rudolph are gone. And they probably believed all these 10-win seasons would magically transform their access to top-shelf recruits. [TheAthletic]

On a level – Gundy has created a monster. In 2006, if you were told that Gundy would finish top ten in wins between 2010-2017, you wouldn’t care if they were from one stars from Guymon or five stars from Fort Worth. Just win baby. But we’ve tasted the land of milk and honey and it tastes good.

The truth is that unless Nick Saban or Urban Meyer is your coach, there’s going to be good and bad. Sumlin could pull in Johnny Manziels and Myles Garretts all day but another deck of Aggie fans couldn’t will his teams to win a game in November. Art Briles had the Bears doing the flying-v up and down the Brazos but he emptied the state penitentiary to do so. Mike Gundy wins ball games but he doesn’t win signing day. Good with the bad.

This is undoubtedly good though:

But go look at where Texas is today without elite R&D and continuity. The Longhorns have signed six top-10 classes in this decade and have won 25 fewer games than Oklahoma State. They’ve lost six of their last eight against the Pokes. Texas isn’t churning out many of Holder’s so-called seven-stars. [TheAthletic]

Wide World of Fun

It sounds like Mike Boynton picked one heck of a competitive pre-season tournament for this year’s Pokes – if they’re left out of the tourney, it won’t be because they didn’t schedule enough opportunities.

The Invitational at ESPN’s Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex (Nov. 22-23 & 25) in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., is another hidden gem. The teams should be seeded: 1. Villanova; 2. Florida State; 3. LSU; 4. Oklahoma State; 5. Memphis; 6. UAB; 7. College of Charleston; 8. Canisius.

How the organizers want to handle seeds 6-8 is moot. But getting the top five will be important. Memphis will need this tournament to jump start its season and make a case for the NCAA tournament if it can finish in the top three in the AAC. Oklahoma State missed out on the NCAAs last season by a game or two. LSU is going to be a riser in the SEC behind Tremont Waters. I could see my pick of LSU at No. 3 being challenged, but the Tigers are legit. And a semifinal of LSU-Oklahoma State/Memphis would be a hit. [NCAA.com]

A rebuilding Memphis team against Penny Hardaway’s boys would be super fun. To be followed up with a matchup against an SEC squad sporting Shaka Smart’s VCU successor on the sideline should be entertaining too.

OSU and NCAA Notes

Enjoyed this piece on incoming Cowboy point guard, Isaac Likekele….Thought this wins to NFL picks comparison was interesting….Six reasons to get behind the new redshirt rule for college football….Steelers says that Mason Rudolph has all the tools to be successful….Big 12 football schedules have turned it up a notch

This may be one of the smartest takes on the Gundy/Holder situation I’ve heard yet.

… Holder saying he’d like Gundy to recruit better is like KP suggesting I improve my writing. Take it in stride and improve. Whole thing has been way overblown. People would be WAY more mad at Holder if he said he was satisfied with Gundy’s crooting. He shouldn’t be.

— Kyle Boone (@PFBoone) June 16, 2018

Mississippi State games have become must-watch (ninth inning) baseball.

How do they keep doing this?! ?

? pic.twitter.com/zRSypVuDQy

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 17, 2018

SB Nation says Cowboys-Neers in week 12 is the game of the week.

Wyoming-NMSU
Washington-Auburn
Clemson-A&M
Three-way tie
FAU-UCF
Ohio State-Penn State
Washington-Oregon
OU-TCU
Clemson-FSU
Bama-LSU or PSU-Mich
Auburn-Georgia
WVU-Oklahoma State
Rivalry week; watch 'em all
Bama-Georgia (yeah)
Army-Navy

your list? https://t.co/36YRPw6NVf

— College Football by SB Nation ? (@SBNationCFB) June 16, 2018

Porter recaps round three of the Open:

On a chaotic, awesome Saturday from Shinnecock: "Be careful what you wish for. We've all been asking for a real U.S. Open again. So I guess we got one for sure this week." https://t.co/NV9HEpXxW0

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 17, 2018

Phil acting like your boy at a hometown four-man scramble.

Phil Mickelson is off the rails. Putting like a four year old out there. pic.twitter.com/doUMMHORNJ

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) June 16, 2018

Father’s Day Articles

• Enjoyed this piece -” to be a good father, you don’t have to be a superhero”
• Faith-based look at the wound of fatherlessness – good for those today is a rough day for