Bedlam Coming: On Thin Margins and Orange Lenses

When I got in the elevator to go down to the field on Saturday, my 10 Thoughts were done. I’d written glowingly about several aspects of a game that was 85 or 90 percent over. When I got back after postgame interviews I had to re-write the entire thing. It took me nearly two hours. All because of one play.

Against Texas, Oklahoma State’s defense gave up 35 points on 13 drives (2.7) in a three-point win. Against Baylor, Oklahoma State’s defense gave up 28 points on 11 drives in a four-point loss. Against Texas, OSU scored 38 points on 13 drives (2.9). Against Baylor they scored 31 on 11 drives (2.8) (unless we’re counting the final kick return). But boy do we not view those two outings the way the numbers say we should.

Mike Gundy interestingly alluded to this earlier in the season, but the way we see and talk about teams in defeat is so much different than the way we see and talk about them in victory, even if the actual game that was played didn’t vary that much. That’s what I thought about for a long time on Saturday. Because OSU didn’t convert on fourth and three with 90 seconds left, a variety of #narratives flipped.

Here’s a reality: OSU didn’t play that much differently overall against Baylor than it did against Texas. But because of the outcome, they were “gritty and locked in and had their best stuff and put it all on the line” against Texas but were “undisciplined and laid down and can’t get it done late” against Baylor.

I get that opponent matters, and I get that the rhythm of the two games was quite different. I watched both games, and they certainly felt different. This is why we can’t run to the stats and use them as a prop. I don’t blame anyone for having a perspective that OSU was fundamentally better against Texas than against Baylor. It’s the perspective I have, too. My 10 Thoughts are so often tinted by whether there’s a tally in the W column or the L. That’s why I went through a two-hour re-write on Saturday after watching Baylor score the game-winner even though nothing about the first 55 minutes of the game changed!

One thing I think maybe didn’t get enough attention on Saturday was the blocked punt for a TD. Looking back on the game, that more than anything was the difference. It wasn’t the penalties or the defensive collapse or the missed field goals. It was a special teams gaffe Gundy pinned on OSU’s coaching staff that turned the game around. Baylor was in the thick of a sluggish offensive stretch, and that buoyed their hopes of winning that game. In the end, it turned out to be the difference.

I don’t have some overarching point to make about OSU or its season or Mike Gundy or the staff. This was just something on my mind all weekend. Evaluating sports, trying to figure out what went wrong or right is difficult, and Oklahoma State — king of the one-possession game — makes it even more so. Things are never as good as they seem (Texas), and they’re certainly never as bad as they seem (Baylor). That’s why, I’m hesitant to even go here but whatever … I think OSU has a real chance to win in Norman this weekend.

All I’m saying is that the two games were closer than they felt based on the outcome. One game ended with Jim Knowles scratching his head as trash swirled around McLane Stadium and the other ended with Taylor Cornelius trying to find his way through a drunk-on-winning student section as Friends in Low Places blared into the Oklahoma evening.

Nine feet stood between Oklahoma State’s offense and myriad spoils of victory — bowl eligibility, momentum going into Bedlam and a sort of resurrected season. For me, nine feet stood between a thriving, need-to-up-the-server-space Saturday and Sunday on PFB and internet desolation. The margins may be thin in CFB, but the chasm between how we perceive them is not. That’s why trying to figure out this insane, wacky sport is often so fascinating.