Daily Bullets (October 15)

Halfway through October. Halfway through the season. Insane. It always goes so fast.

Washington’s Outrageous Day

The President averaged nearly 40 yards a catch on Saturday, and Jenni Carlson wrote about just how stunning No. 28 is right now.

But Washington’s performance Saturday reminded everyone that he is on another level. He caught only six passes but had 235 yards receiving. He had four catches of 40-plus yards, doubling his season total in just one day. Those are video-game numbers. You aren’t supposed to see such things in real life. [NewsOK]

And yet here we are, nearly 4,000 yards into his exceptional career.

Staying Focused

One of the themes postgame on Saturday was concentrating on each individual game. Coach speak, yes, but also a marker for this and all Mike Gundy teams.

“We don’t pay attention to the outside,” Ateman said. “We know who our team is.” If it’s who showed up to play Saturday, the next four weeks, however grueling they appear, should turn out just fine.

“We’re just lockin’ in, man,” Ateman said. “We’ve got somewhere we want to be, which is the Big 12 championship and further. From now on, whoever’s in our way, we’ve got to get to it.” [Tulsa World]

Who’s standing in their way over the next three weeks are Texas (on the road), West Virginia (on the road) and OU (in Stillwater). You don’t have to win them all to make the Big 12 championship game, but you do probably have to beat OU and Texas.

Every. Body. Is. Flawed.

I wrote this earlier this week, and it remains true. Bama is good. Everyone else is flawed. Four (!) top 10 teams fell this weekend including Clemson, both Washington schools and Auburn. That’s good for Oklahoma State, which lost at the right time of the year.

Clemson and Washington State’s losses have thrust Penn State and Georgia into the debate for No. 2 team in the nation while Washington continues to lurk out west and Ohio State makes a run at the top of the rankings with its fifth straight win. Teams move up in the rankings, but those rankings don’t reflect any fundamental change to the teams themselves. So get ready to meet back here next week after another set of ranked losses, opening up opportunities to move a few spots closer to Alabama’s orbit at the top. [CBS Sports]

That post, by the way, has OSU back inside the top 10. Here’s my top 9 after this weekend. ⤵️

No. 1: Alabama
No. 2: Nobody
No. 3: Nobody
No. 4: Nobody
No. 5: Nobody
No. 6: Nobody
No. 7: Nobody
No. 8: Nobody
No. 9: 31 teams

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) October 15, 2017

OSU and NCAA Notes

Marcell Ateman says OSU has places to be (like Dallas on December 2) … Good stuff on OU-Texas from Berry … UNC was (somehow) not penalized for its academic fraud … On the maturity of Justin Phillips … How Week 7 proved us all wrong.

OU planted the flag, by the way.

Oklahoma just planted the flag at midfield of the Cotton Bowl. pic.twitter.com/QMyXJRTBpH

— Scott Bell (@ScottBellDMN) October 14, 2017

Dave’s first tweet in three weeks!

Mike Stoops is the guy sitting behind you at games https://t.co/1fhUafCQqy

— Dave Hudson (@okc_dave) October 15, 2017

Good follow here. He has some awesome throwback stuff.

Some Homecoming games over the decades. We're all connected #okstate #GoPokes @CowboyFB @OKStateAlumni #TBT pic.twitter.com/gHe7sM6LS9

— Doug Shivers (@casdas29) October 12, 2017

Here are your unbeatens and beatens.

8 unbeatens left: Alabama, Georgia, Miami, PennSt, TCU, UCF, USF, Wisconsin; 5 winless left: Baylor, Charlotte, GaSouthern, UMass, UTEP

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 15, 2017

What You Missed on PFB

• Photos from the game on Saturday
• 10 Thoughts on the OSU win over Baylor
• Five takeaways from Kyle Boone who was there
• Pokes broke the all-time school record for yardage
• OSU sang the alma mater after its 59-16 W
• Tony Allen got his jersey retired in Memphis
• Jawun lit it up in his first start

More Stuff I’m Reading

• In a world without TV sets, what do we call TV?
• Don’t get too comfortable at your work desk.
• The email newsletter that raised $300K from its readers.

This was pretty great.

Now that @russwest44 and @nickcollison4 have done this, do we even need to have Halloween, or should we just call it?
???? pic.twitter.com/9MsQNofa43

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 15, 2017