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Daily Bullets (Sept. 25): Mr. Pickens’ Celebration of Life, The Fun of an Electric Dual-Threat

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7 years ago

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OSU-K-State games have been agonizingly fun. If this new K-State coach calls less than five QB run plays, he’ll be my hero. 

Bullets Rundown

• Pickens’ stance on non-con scheduling
• The fun of an electric dual-threat
• By ground or by air

OSU Bullets

• Today will be Mr. Pickens’ celebration of life at Gallagher-Iba in Stillwater at 3 p.m. In honor of the occasion, Tramel dug through his notebook for comments that Pickens made to him over the years and unearthed this gem.

Pickens on OSU opening the 2014 season with Florida State in Arlington: “Holder heard me. We said we wanted to play some real football in the non-conference.”

How about honoring Pickens by making sure that OSU’s future schedules are robust? [NewsOK]

I’m not sure if the desire to play big games in the non-conference was greater than his desire to win championships. It sure as heck is more entertaining though.

• I’ve been hesitant to embrace a duel-threat quarterback since the Holiday Bowl where Zac Robinson struggled to toss quick outs. But my goodness, watching Spencer Sanders extend plays is something else. 

Sanders rushed for 109 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries, and his running clearly made the Longhorns uneasy. Never was the Texas defense more on its heels when it was trying to figure out whether Sanders was going to throw or run.

Sanders appreciates having the leeway to decide when to go full speed ahead and when to pull back. Sanders thinks doing otherwise would be detrimental, would be limiting what he might be able to do.

“It’s like telling a race horse to only go, I dunno, 30 miles an hour when he could maybe go so much faster,” he said. “I feel like I wouldn’t be playing my game. I would be playing a modified game.” [NewsOK]

Sanders is a different kind of athlete than we’ve seen – a bigger, stronger quarterback with the quickness of JW Walsh and the breakaway speed of a receiver. It’s a sight to behold and untethering it will only make this more fun.

And besides, how much of this run would we have missed out on?

• Something I can’t get over from the Texas game was how OSU didn’t gouge Texas through the air. Was Texas playing their third-string at some spots in the secondary?

In particular, the Longhorns pass defense stinks, ranking No. 126 entering Saturday night’s game at sold-out Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. That was better than only four other schools – Vanderbilt, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico – in the entire 130-program classification.

Yet through three quarters, Spencer Sanders had attempted but 20 throws, even though he completed 16, for 242 yards. The Cowboys were committed to running, 43 times at that point, averaging 3.2 per carry. [GoPokes]

I don’t know if this is all just a product of getting used to a running quarterback and how that looks. Taylor Cornelius only threw the ball two more times against Texas last year than Sanders did this year.

• Will breaking tackles be Chuba’s defining characteristic long after he’s gone?

• Boone repped hard yesterday, rode for the brand:

Non-OSU Bullets

• The rise and fall of the front porch

• I’m fascinated by why the Heat would bite on Chris Paul

• It looks a bit hokey but just finished this faith-based read on marriage – it had some solid thoughts (separately, this is my favorite on the topic)

• This island in the middle of Lake Huron looks like a really interesting vacation spot (#nocars)

CC: Jim Knowles

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