Daily Bullets (Oct. 22): Talking Through Gundy’s Presser – Potential Cost of Poor Attendance

I’m headed to Ames with some buds this weekend – hit me in the comments if there are any “must sees” after KC barbecue on that road trip.
Also – this trip was planned before the 2019 season really blossomed, so to speak. 

Bullets Rundown

• Gundy on attendance for the sake of bettering recruiting
• Strides toward better balance
• TCU game looking more and more winnable

OSU Bullets

• In OSU news, Mike Gundy’s press conference was front and center yesterday. Boone had some pointed comments that I think drew attention to the appropriate aspects – namely one bit about how better attendance would lead to better recruiting.

As for recruiting …. really? The program peaked when OSU won a Big 12 title in 2011, and attendance only took off from there. Only problem is, unlike Gundy’s logic — that more attendance equals better recruiting — the program’s recruiting slowly trailed off. In the 2019 cycle, OSU is being out-recruited by Les Miles and Kansas, for instance, and currently rank in the bottom half of the league. Only thrice has OSU finished fourth or better in the Big 12 in recruiting rankings, and while attendance has been steady, recruiting has stagnated. [PFB]

I really appreciated that Gundy alluded to frustrations he’s experiencing as a head coach. Nothing burned my tail more than driving home after OSU mailed in games against Kansas State and Texas Tech listening to Gundy just “well, we’ll get back at it tomorrow…”

Here’s my take: I don’t think less attendance will kill recruiting. Will the recruits we go after, swiping them from the grips of SMU and K-State not commit to OSU because 40k are in attendance as opposed to 55k? I’m not saying attendance should drop – this is not a Travis Ford situation. But I’d be surprised if a few thousand disgruntled fans see our class drop into the 50s from the 30s nationally.

• The latest PFB pod with Carson and Porter is good venting for anyone feeling frustrated

• It was great that Jelani Woods had six catches on Saturday – a step towards a more balanced offense.

Getting (LD) Brown, (Jelani) Woods and (Jordan) McCray more involved is important. It makes things easier on the offense and opens things up more for (Tylan) Wallace and (Chuba) Hubbard. However, getting more players involved won’t result in more wins if the Cowboys can’t stop turning the ball over and giving up big plays on defense. [TulsaWorld]

It was a great move to get the ball into the hands of the other playmakers more.  I’m a bit curious as to why it’s week seven before we really get into that – was that a result of training wheels on Spencer Sanders? A general call for “if Tylan’s not open then scramble”?

• While I’m not overly enthused about OSU’s matchup this weekend in Ames, the next week’s game looms as a more winnable game than I anticipated.

The Horned Frogs lost the Skillet Game to SMU. They were doubled up by Iowa State. They lost to Kansas State. They’re 3-3 with three ranked opponents to go. The offense hasn’t been great, but a Patterson defense that hasn’t forced a turnover the past three games is a shocker. Last time it happened: 2008. [Yahoo Sports]

A 2:30 p.m. kick time isn’t terrible either. Night games are more fun obviously but I like getting home at a reasonable hour too.

• Looking at the turnover margin for OSU this year isn’t a pretty thing

• It’s hard to disagree with Bill about the below – when teams you owned start fighting back, you see those nine, ten-win seasons drop down to six or seven.

#okstate While Mike Gundy calmly says he'll pull OSU out of this slump, I believe he has shifted into crisis mode. If OSU loses this week, the Cowboys over the last two years would be 0-6 vs. Iowa State, Texas Tech and Baylor. In 2009-17, Gundy was 21-5 against those programs.

— Bill Haisten ?? (@billhaisten) October 21, 2019

• This one cracked me up on Saturday – loved that fake punt call.

29-year-old Tom Hutton completes a pass for Oklahoma State. Shades of Brandon Weeden.

— Mark Cooper (@mark_cooperjr) October 19, 2019

Non-OSU Bullets

• This faith-based article on one guy’s response to “how are you doing?” is terrific
• A little nerdy but I liked this piece looking at “explore vs. exploit”
• Projecting this Thunder team’s success is a bit of an act of futility