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How Last-Minute OL Injury Changed Oklahoma State’s Gameplan Against Oregon

‘Those changes that we made in the night before (Oregon), so that puts you in a difficult situation.’

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

It takes a little reading between the lines, but it sounds like Oklahoma State will miss starting left tackle Markell Samuel for some time.

The first bread crumbs dropped when left guard Bob Schick answered a question about Nuku Mafi on Monday afternoon after Mafi moved over from right tackle to left tackle to replace Samuel at Oregon.

“I think Nuku, personally, is a really good athlete and a really good player,” Schick said. “He’s able to go from the right side to the left side in less than 24 hours’ notice. And I thought he played really good, and it’s gonna be fun to see in the rest of the season over there on the left side with me.”

Then, coach Mike Gundy dropped what feels like definitively bad news for Samuel’s status during his radio show on Monday night.

“Those changes that we made in the night before (Oregon), so that puts you in a difficult situation,” Gundy said. “Now, the good news is that we’ve had, they’ve been able to practice this way most of this week, last week and most of this week. So it opens up our opportunities a little bit.”

As Schick and Gundy noted, the injury to Samuel occurred the day before the game. That didn’t just put guys in new spots without practice to prepare. It also had an impact on the Cowboys’ game plan.

“So what it did is it limited our call sheet,” Gundy said. “The call sheet is what coach (Doug) Meacham has to call plays with. On game day, he goes up in the press box and got all the plays on, you know, eight-and-a-half-by-11. And the call sheet, you know, based on 1st-and-10, second (down), normal down and distance, third-and-short, goal line, whatever. Well, a lot of that, not a lot, but quite a bit of that goes away when you have to make those changes that we made in the night before, so that puts you in a difficult situation.”

Of the seven offensive linemen to see meaningful time this season for the Cowboys, Samuel graded out fifth overall, according to Pro Football Focus. However, he finished third of six such linemen in the opener, and half of his fellow linemen improved their grades against Oregon. So it’s possible he would have improved as the line continued developing chemistry.

Whatever PFF might think of him, it’s clear Gundy will miss having Samuel in the lineup. The Cowboys coach described him as “arguably our best offensive lineman” during his radio show on Monday night.

Samuel led all Cowboys on the offensive side of the ball in FBS experience coming into the season. Now it appears Oklahoma State will attempt to replace his 1,479 snaps with Mafi at left tackle (115 snaps and counting) while Nebraska transfer Grant Seagren (98 snaps) takes over at right tackle.

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