Daily Bullets (Nov. 25): Looking at OSU’s Defense Against OU’s Offense, Marcus Smart Calls Out Rogue Fan

At an early Thanksgiving celebration, Brother Bullets had a brilliant observation: Dillon Stoner is the ultimate New England Patriots wide receiver. He’s a mashup of Julian Edelman and Wes Welker. I prefer a rich man’s Charlie Moore but Pats receiver works too. 

Bullets Rundown

• OSU defense vs. OU’s offense
• Dogging OU as a playoff contender
• Marcus Smart interacted with a road fan

Scores

• Wrestling: OSU 21, Minnesota 12

OSU Bullets

• I agree that Chuba vs. OU’s defense will be important but I’m not sure it won’t be the strength-on-strength matchup of OSU’s defense vs. OU’s offense that’s more important.

(Jalen) Hurts is obviously problematic (watch the second half against Baylor), and I’m not sure OSU’s defense can get enough stops to give its offense a real chance.

The other factor here will be pace of play. OSU will try to turn this into a Big Ten game. Like, a Rutgers-Iowa game, not an Ohio State-Michigan State game. The fewer possessions the better as the Pokes try and control the pace and limit how many times Hurts touches the rock. [PFB]

Team with the most rushing attempts wins? I joked to a buddy yesterday if Spencer Sanders were to play (he won’t) in this game, would this be the most rushing attempts in a Bedlam game since a Pat Jones-offense played against Barry Switzer’s wishbone?

After a long sequence of wild west shootouts, I’d take the under if somebody put the over/under at 60 points.

Last season, the #OKState Defense surrendered at least 28 points in every Big 12 game.

Last four games:
ISU 27
TCU 27
KU 13
WVU 13

Last time the Cowboys held 4 straight Big 12 opponents below 28 points?

Never.
It's never happened in Big 12 play.

(1985 in Big 8 last time).

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) November 24, 2019

• In a piece making arguments against playoff contenders, there’s some juicy OU commentary to get you fired up about Bedlam. Check out the piece for the last paragraph on OU if you want OU narratives from OSU fans affirmed.

Hate the team: Have you actually watched Oklahoma the last four games? The Sooners have gone 3–1, with a combined score of 145–144, living dangerously on a weekly basis. They have gotten lucky and gotten sloppy, committing 10 turnovers in that time. They’re also tied for 125th nationally in turnovers forced. All that hoopla about defensive improvement has dissolved as the season has worn on. Do we really want to watch Oklahoma give up a gazillion points in a playoff semifinal loss for the third year in a row? [Sports Illustrated]

A team playing sloppy coming in to play an opportunistic team thriving off of sloppiness (and pressure) seems like a good fit. We saw the law of averages doom Baylor when they played OU and they finally dropped a close game. It may as well be OU’s turn to lose (another) one, right?

• Marcus Smart had a much tamer interaction (than with a Texas Tech fan in 2014) with a rambunctious fan in Denver late last week.

“We’re gonna end up protecting ourselves eventually, and it’s not gonna be pretty for those fans. We don’t want that, the league doesn’t want that, we don’t want that as players, but at some point you have to stand up and you gotta protect yourself as a man.”

Video showed staff members talking to fans in the area of the incident, but no action was taken.

The Nuggets told The Denver Post that security looked into the incident but could not determine what happened. [ESPN]

It’s an interesting topic. The NBA is in an age of “player empowerment” where player movement driven by short contracts, booms in league revenues, and the sport’s massive popularity. Smart is voicing an opinion from an informal position of authority and it wouldn’t be surprising at all if the NBPA didn’t try to work some sort of formal punishment for fans into these scenarios.

• The “extra points” about the West Virginia game in this Oklahoman piece were interesting for the most serious of OSU fans

• This play drawn up for Jelani was incredible (the Trace Ford play was nice too):

Cool play design, didn’t matter bc everyone went for fake. But 3 TEs off right side. Metcalf blocks down to secure edge, Carter gets width and climbs/turns to block Safety who is supposed to be covering Woods. Woods stays behind LOS to avoid Off PI. This needs to be staple. pic.twitter.com/OpNhxhTXQl

— TapeDoesntLiePod (@Tapedoesntliepd) November 24, 2019

• Woof – this tweet about Texas caught me off guard.

*Whispers*

Tennessee and Texas now have the same record.

— Adam Kramer (@KegsnEggs) November 24, 2019

Non-OSU Bullets

• Knowing the answer before you ask the question (LOLed at the Tesla truck line)
• Trend I’m curious about – the eventual transition of Baby Boomer homes (via WSJ)
• Finished a few books over the weekend: this solid faith-based leadership book, a decent small business management book, and finished this year-long jaunt about Jesus’ 50 commands in scripture

This return was breathaking:

One hell of a play call… pic.twitter.com/WpRjRGddRA

— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) November 23, 2019