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Daily Bullets (Aug. 30): Gameday Edition, How AJ Green Blossomed

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Gameday is finally here – Go Pokes, beat the Beavs.


Bullets Rundown

• AJ Green blossoms
• Resetting fan optimistic views
• James Washington turning heads with his deep ball skills


OSU Bullets

•  In a great piece highlighting veteran cornerback AJ Green, a contrast is visible in how Green developed over the course of last season.

Boone Pickens Stadium erupted. Fourteen days after walking his former high school teammate off the field (against Baylor), LD Brown chased Green across the field to celebrate in his game-winning disruption (against West Virginia). [PFB]

• This OKC Dave survey result surprised me.

Fans were asked what they expect out of the offense and defense. Much better than last season, better than last season, the same, worse than last season or much worse than last season. “Better than” ruled both offense (65 percent) and defense (61 percent). [NewsOK]

For a team that returns a handful of starters on defense, is breaking in a new quarterback, and a pair of coordinators with a year of experience in the Big 12 between them, it’s hard to imagine both sides of the ball getting better – that optimism may be a bit unfounded.

• Similar to Justice Hill, James Washington is turning heads in Pittsburgh the same way he did in Stillwater: with elite ball tracking and being a deadly vertical threat.

The offense still needs an additional vertical threat, and Washington’s playmaking elicited this reaction from staff members a few times during camp: ‘That’s a heckuva catch.’

On deep balls, Washington is getting open consistently enough that he often has to back-track to secure throws in practices and games.

Washington is quick to point out he’s facing vanilla preseason defenses and isn’t always going up against first-string defenders. But that hasn’t quelled the excitement from (Juju) Smith-Schuster, who sees a “huge difference” in Washington. [ESPN]

• Enjoy the last (relatively unfounded) comments about the quarterback race – John Helsley had some thoughts about the significance of who takes the first snap tonight at QB.

If it is (Spencer Sanders), I’d say he’s the leader and the favorite to claim the job at some point. And, frankly, that’s the best scenario, considering he’s set up as the future of the position, and the program, given the importance of QB.

If it’s (Dru) Brown, it could be that he’s edged ahead, or it could be a nod to that loyalty that Gundy holds near and dear. [GoPokes]

There’s about a dozen ways you could think about the race (and we’ve written pieces on all of them) but my prediction is that Brown starts Oregon State but Sanders starts Texas.

• If you’re looking for positive indicators going into tonight, Mike Gundy’s teams have been pretty successful against this Beaver staff.

It is not the first time that Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy has coached against the Beavers brain trust of head coach Jonathan Smith, offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren or defensive coordinator Tim Tibesar. Gundy has seen all of them before in his tenure as head coach at Oklahoma State. Gundy is 4-1 vs. the Beavers coaching brass. [GoPokes]

The offensive coordinator at Colorado and the defensive coordinator at Kansas State… That probably helps with game planning (on both sides).

• It’s crazy to think about “what if” OSU could have landed this guy (Arroyo was hard after him), he’d be an amazing tandem with Chuba.

• Baseball field is moving right along – looks on pace for this season for sure.


Non-OSU Bullets

• Really good faith-based read on aspiring to live quietly – great thoughts on social media and significance too

• Pretty crazy to see this list of most “gender-switched” names in the US over time

• Bonus Bullet – I finished AFI’s “top 100” movies yesterday (it took over a year) but here were my favorites by decade:

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