Porter: 20 Questions for 2020

I didn’t plan on writing this post as the calendar flipped. But so much has happened in the first two weeks of 2020 that I need to get a few thoughts, questions and notes down on paper.

Let’s jump right in.

1. Jerryworld? Let’s start with the big one. Of all the eye-popping tweets I saw after Chuba announced he was returning to the motherland country south of the motherland, Amen Ogbongbemiga’s about going to Jerryworld was my favorite. I want to cover a Big 12 title game. OSU is desperate to play in one. Is this the year?

2. Does a perfect preseason end in Omaha? As far as offseasons and preseasons go, OSU baseball is undefeated. They have a former MLB manager helping out as a student assistant. They have nine MLB All-Star appearances in the dugout (between Ventura and Matt Holliday). They’re opening a brand-new stadium in March. I want to see if what’s happened off the field will translate into a dream season on it.

3. Who is QB2? It’s going to be the freshman, right?

4. Chuba Heisman buzz? In case you missed it, No. 30 was No. 4 on the Heisman odds list that recently came out. I’m curious to see A. What his workload is in a bonus year for Gundy and B. Whether he can maintain the buzz throughout the entire 12 months and what kind of campaign OSU launches to help with that.

5. Which defense do we get? The one that gave up 1,100 yards to Texas Tech and Baylor or the one that held its last six opponents under their season scoring averages?

6. Can OSU golf reload? As was probably expected, it’s been a bumpy fall for the Pokes in the post-Hovland and Wolff era. Their best finish in a full-field event to start the school year was fourth at the Nike Collegiate Invitational. Does the spring get better? Do they land any pros to turn things around in the fall. Expectations are sky-high for wrestling and golf, and this team needs to take a few steps forward.

7. Does moving Bedlam matter? I don’t know that it does. Maybe it does. An October date is going to be strange, but maybe it’s best to get that out of the way earlier than put all your eggs in that basket at the very end of the year.

8. Will Tylan [gulp] be healthy? I know we’re all sunshine and unicorns and 1,400-yard seasons right now. And I also think it’s much easier to come back from an ACL than it used to be. But it’s not, you know, nothing. And even if he’s physically 100 percent. Will he be there mentally, too?

9. Can OSU soccer go back to back? They’ve won two of three Big 12 titles after WVU [checks notes] won five in a row.

10. Does Daton Fix get to the Olympics? For Fix to reach Tokyo in his Olympic redshirt year, he has to win the Olympic trials in April. Would be a pretty awesome achievement for a current Cowboy to participate in the Olympics.

11. What is Boynton’s trajectory? If I had written this at the end of December going into the new year, it would have had a completely different flavor. Now? I’ve seen hot-seat convo among OSU fans who were ready to construct a bust of him in Heritage Hall six weeks ago. Cade can’t be the only thing going for OSU as it progresses this calendar year. They need to make real progress in other areas or the whispers will start getting louder going into Year 4.

12. Will anything come of the, ahem, car situation? I vote no. Maybe that’s being optimistic. As many have pointed out, it would be literally the most OSU thing of all-time to get Chuba back and then lose him based on a rule that’s going to be changed in a few years.

13. Does OSU get its wrestling facility? Maybe more appropriately: Does Mike Holder get his check?

14. Cade + …? If Rondel Walker is a fish, Cade is a whale. Mike Boynton needs to land someone else between those two — maybe a dolphin or a shark — to really touch off his 2020 class.

15. And how about a 2021 whale? If Cade is going to be on the Pelicans in August 2021 anyway, who does Boynton snag to replace him to play alongside the Boone brothers, Ice and whoever else is still in the mix?

16. Does Rickie Fowler win a major? COMMAND+C, COMMAND+V (he’ll be 32 at the end of this year).

17. Can OSU wrestling win eight straight? The Pokes have won seven Big 12s in a row. The last time they did that was in the 20s. The 1920s. A hundred years ago. They won eight in a row from 1921-28. They’ll have a chance later this spring to match that outlandish mark.

18. How good are the Boone brothers on Jan. 1, 2021? They can ball. They certainly aren’t just AAU talents who can flash and run a little bit. They understand how basketball works. I’m fascinated by the leap over the next 365 days.

19. What kind of job does Brandon Weeden land? He said on our pod recently that he’s been training to go into broadcasting, and I think he’ll kill. Will we start seeing him on college football games? NFL games? Maybe this one is a little inside baseball for non-media folks, but I think it’s an arena where he’ll have a ton of success.

20. Does Sanders make the leap? No pressure, but OSU’s conference title hopes may be riding on it.