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Mailbag: How to Keep Students at the Second Half of Football Games

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Welcome back to the weekly mailbag. I’m going to attempt to bang this out every Wednesday by taking Twitter questions and giving you my “totally unqualified but somebody has to do it and I’m the one running this blog” answers on here. Hope you enjoy.

It’s a good question because, ultimately, that’s why we read and think and talk about this stuff. You can peruse Chris Brown’s Smart Football books and be on Football Outsiders all you want, but the reality is that none of this can actually be predicted.

I say all that to say that my gut tells me that OSU is going to be about what everyone thought they would be. I wanted fireworks and a foreshadowing of the College Football Playoff, but that’s not what this team is. Not what it’s ever going to be (at least not this season).

Think about how different last year’s team was in October than against Florida State (not for the better, mind you). This squad will be good, really good. Last Thursday doesn’t concern me if my goal is going 9-3 or maybe even sneaking out 10-2. This won’t be an elite team, but that was probably always a pipe dream anyway.

I mean, we’re just going to roll on Bobby Reid like that? Didn’t Gundy run Bobby out wide as soon as Zac took over the reins? Or am I not remembering that correctly. CFB Reference tells me Bobby caught a few passes in his career but they were mostly from Donovan Woods. He caught one from Zac but it was at Georgia.

Anyway, yes, Braxton was unreal on Monday night. I’m so jealous of Ohio State’s team that I’ve almost forgotten how jealous I am of Baylor’s offense.

Not sure if serious…..

I feel contractually obligated to say the 3OT Durant game. Pretty much every Bedlam football game was a delight, though, even when we lost. I will say the most underrated game was probably the 2006 Bedlam game when Bobby and Zac kept getting switched in and out and we had a pass into the end zone at the end to win it.

The most distinct memory I have of college, however, is driving around Stillwater the night in 2007 when OSU beat Texas Tech 49-45. I don’t know why I remember it so well but it was a perfect night. Full moon, starting to get chilly, the whole deal. I rarely miss college but when I think about evenings like that one, I get a little nostalgic.

The only thing I can think of is telling students that if 90 percent of them remain for 15 straight games then Travis Ford will be fired.

Such is life when Glenn Spencer and Mike Yurcich are at the helm. While we’re here … I don’t want to go all body language doctor on you or anything, but when you guys watch interviews and videos of those two dudes, does it not seem like it matters that one is more inspiring than the other?

I’m not saying you have to go Braveheart every day, but I’m of the belief that the personality of your leader matters. Spencer (clearly) has it. Yurcich, it doesn’t seem that way. That’s not to say he’s a bad dude (he’s not!) but it just feels like we keep trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

[OSU drops 55 in Austin and I erase every single post mentioning Yurcich in a negative light].

I laughed out loud at this. Can we talk about the Stevie Clark thing for a minute? I’m not sure where to beg…oh I know, Stevie Clark is claiming that Travis Ford “derailed Stevie’s opportunity to make a living playing professional basketball.”

That might be the greatest part of the whole thing. Also, drugs and Camaros? This guy thinks that’s old school.

On a serious note, as one person who shall remain unnamed mentioned to me, is it that farfetched to think OSU’s coaches might have slipped Stevie something under the table that seemed innocuous (Adderall?) and could result in everyone losing their jobs? I mean, it’s not likely, and it probably didn’t happen, but it’s feasible, right?

As a threat? Carson’s second half against Central Michigan was pretty awesome. But really, i sthere a better three-headed RB monster in the Big 12 than these two plus J.W.?

https://twitter.com/sigxwales/status/641613752329043968

The 400+ club: Brandon Weeden (7x), Wes Lunt, Mike Gundy, Bobby Reid and Zac Robinson. The 500+ club: Weeden (1x).

It’s hard to see Mason not joining them, isn’t it? He’s thrown for 281, 273, 299 and 266 and not really had a great game yet. I’m not sure he hits 500 but 400+ seems like a lock.

Rickie will win an Open in the next five years. People don’t really understand how difficult it is to win majors. I blame a. Tiger and b. tennis. Tiger, because he made us think winning majors was straightforward and that anybody who was good to great could do it with ease. The reality is that he played at an historic clip for so long that we forgot it was historic. I blame tennis because it’s easier to beat seven dudes on the way to a Wimbledon title than it is to beat 155 whose actions you don’t at all control.

Fowler has three wins and six top-10s at majors in his first 150 events. History has shown us that the 150-tournament mark is a healthy one to start expecting an avalanche victories.

Little Rickie is a great bad weather player and can maintain a low trajectory as well as anyone. He’s a modern day poor man’s Tom Watson. As long as he catches the right Open (i.e. a poor weather one that Rory can’t destroy), he’ll be drinking from the Claret Jug soon.

The former. I feel like the CFO who just got a big bonus and splurged on a suite for his favorite team’s football season. I don’t know how to go back to real life.

I am loving these golf questions, people!

I pick Rory whether we’re playing for money or fun and I play Cypress Point. If we’re playing for money, Rory’s best is better than everybody else’s best by a decent margin. Day and Fowler are great players. Spieth may be a legend someday. But Rory’s talent is generational. He is the dude the same way Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Big Cat were the dudes. It is really unfathomable how good he is at golf, even compared to the other great players around him.

Also, he’s fun. I’ve met, strangely, everyone in that group except for Spieth (who I live like 15 miles from) and Rory is the most enjoyable to talk to. The most interesting. He would be like playing your local muni with a buddy … who can hit it 360 with a draw that will make your knees weak.

https://twitter.com/herrmannator2/status/641616340986388480

We forgetting somebody there?

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