Daily Bullets (Sept. 23): Who’s Calling the (Offensive) Shots in Stillwater?, Rudolph Makes his First NFL Start

Sign me up for a season full of games like Saturday night – it’ll take me a week to figure out how I feel about it though. 

Bullets Rundown

• Who’s calling the shots on the OSU offense?
• Rudolph made his first start
• Not hating on the fake field goal

Scores

• Soccer: OSU 2, SMU 2

OSU Bullets

• Texas was a good game, more fun than less fun. Missed opportunities in the red zone appear to be the biggest culprit bringing us back to one of OSU’s biggest mysteries: who’s calling the shots? 

“Coach Gundy was pretty clear over the headset that we could still run the ball,” (Sean) Gleeson told the Oklahoman. “Chuba is one of our best players. He’s going to get the ball for us.”

There are a lot of different things this could mean. But it at least raises more questions than it gives answers, right?

Again, this is complex. How much of this might be on Sanders for making the wrong reads and trying to force it to Tylan in triple coverage? Or how much is on him for making an incorrect read at the line on a RPO and giving the rock to 30? [PFB]

Part of an unproven coordinator taking the OSU job is agreeing to Gundy’s calls on the headset. You won’t hear Gundy throw Gleeson under the bus for this reason.

One of Sean Gleeson's calling cards was uber-creative plays in the red zone. We've seen none of that, which leads you to believe Gundy is calling the plays once they get to those crucial spots. (Which used to enrage Mike as OC under Les Miles. Circle of Life.)

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) September 22, 2019

• Mason Rudolph made his first career NFL start yesterday (losing by four on the road against the 49ers) – but him landing in Pittsburgh was a deliberate move by the Steelers’ front office.

The Steelers continued to scout (Rudolph) closely the duration of his final season at Oklahoma State and were very impressed with his work ethic, attitude, leadership and other intangibles leading up to the draft. Team officials were convinced the rival Bengals were locked in on Rudolph in the third round, which prompted the Steelers to trade up ahead of them, with an eye to Rudolph being an eventual replacement for Roethlisberger. [CBS Sports]

The Steelers traded up for pick No. 76 as the Bengals had picks Nos. 77 and 78 – and apparently a strong appetite for Rudolph.

• I didn’t hate the fake field goal call – namely that special teams coordinator Mike Gundy had the guts to go for it. But if you’re thinking what gives the highest percentage chance to convert on fourth down… it may not have been a shovel pass to Jelani.

The Cowboys had some interesting short yardage calls and what in the world was that fake field goal call? You take a delay of game penalty and then run a fake? The fake was so bad I questioned as to why the offense didn’t just stay out there. I would have much rather seen Spencer Sanders with the ball in his hands. [HCS]

• Kansas Basketball is facing allegations over paying players, we’ll see how far the NCAA will go with punishing a blueblood

• OSU is taking donations for the T. Boone Pickens’ statue coming on campus

• This was a fantastic tweet from Saturday – if 25 percent of those Texas players were injured they should just tear down DKR and build a hospital wing on site.

Somebody tell that Texas player the quarter is over and he doesn't have to lay down.

— John Helsley (@jjhelsley) September 22, 2019

Non-OSU Bullets

•Georgia’s $200m quest to catch Alabama

• You’re worth the trouble in the NFL until you’re not

• Finished this fun read on creativity – some unnecessary language but good ideas