Texas Debriefing: Despite Disappointing Loss, OSU’s Ceiling is High

I think you learn more in failure than you do in success, and Oklahoma State’s Big 12-opening loss to Texas taught us plenty.

The Cowboys fell short in an ugly game (on both sides) in Austin. There are plenty of gripes to be had on the OSU side of things from red zone ineffectiveness and questionable playcalling to an ill-conceived and ill-executed fake field goal and a shoddy sideline spot.

Those aforementioned issues have been mostly addressed and rehashed on the blog over the last day or two, so I’m going to switch up our normal Debriefing format to focus on some other things I picked up from the Cowboys’ conference opener — and why I’m low-key pretty excited about this team moving forward.

First off, let’s get started by doling out our Brand Phantom Pete helmet stickers.

1. Offensive Standout: Spencer Sanders

The Mr. Texas Football looked right at home in the Lone Star’s capital. Sanders rebounded from an early interception and struggles by him and the offense with a nice first half, heading to intermission at an efficient 11-of-14 (78.6 percent) with 180 yards.

Things weren’t exactly smooth sailing from that point on. Sanders was 8-of-18 in the second half and at one point struggled through six-straight imcompletions including his second INT.

But this is one game where I truly think you have to throw the numbers out the window. Sanders did enough with his legs and his arm to show how truly special he is from a talent standpoint and, most importantly, the stage was never too big for him.

There were always going to be growing pains, but Sanders showed more leadership skills and talent than you expect to see from a QB just four games in. On Monday, Mike Gundy even put Vegas odds on the likelihood of a quarterback in Spencer’s cleats folding under that pressure. He said we all would have lost money.

“I’m not gonna just dump the Kool-Aid on my head yet,” said Gundy. “He’s still young, so don’t put him out there yet. He’s a hard-worker. The game’s important to him. He loves to play football. He competes. But he’s still playing a game in an offense where quarterbacks handle a lot.”

Somehow I think his ceiling might be higher than what we thought coming into the season.

Defensive Standout: Amen Ogbongbemiga

I went back and checked, and my defensive helmet stickers so far this year have gone to: Trace Ford, Phillip Redwine-Bryant and Trace Ford. While I am a card-carrying member of the Trace Ford Fan Club, I realize I might have been letting the glare from Jim Knowles’ flashy new defensive weapon distract me from a role player turned full-time starter who has been nothing but solid throughout the early goings of this season.

In Austin, Amen led the Cowboys in both total tackles (11) and solo stops (7) and he’s the second-leading tackler on the team through four games (36) and his 23 solo tackles leads the team. He’s also second in the Big 12 in both tackles for loss (six) and sacks (3.5). He’s on course for a double-digit sack season. The only Cowboy linebacker to ever do that was Jason Gildon (12.5 in 1991) and he went on to earn multiple Pro Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Amen is been a steadying presence among a front seven that’s been in flux over the first third of the season and for that he gets a well-earned scary Peter decal.

Final Observation from Texas: This Team is Fun

Like I said, we can (and will) continue to debate the short-yardage play calls and that counterfeit kick for weeks and years to come. But I want to focus on something positive from last weekend, the fact that OSU’s offense — while it hasn’t yet arrived — can be scary good this season.

I already mentioned that my Spencer Sanders fandom hasn’t waned, despite his less than perfect stat line. And we already know what kind of playmakers OSU has in Chuba Hubbard and Tylan Wallace.

But I like that the Spencer spread the ball more around than he has all year. Dillon Stoner had as many targets as Tylan Wallace (eight each). Aside from the ball that was stripped from him, he had a good and productive night.

Jelani Woods got his first three targets since the two (zero catches) from Week 1 in Corvallis, and he turned them into two catches for 22 yards. His third target was the botched fake. Jordan McCray and C.J. Moore have both shown to be intriguing talents so far this year, as well.

Braydon Johnson, the most efficient receiver in history (don’t fact-check me) has had one target in each game this season. They are as follows:

Incompletion
69-yard TD
2-yard catch
55-yard catch

That’s 31.5 yards and 1.5 points per target (!).

In all seriousness, I like that Spencer is feeling his way through the offense and was able to make use of more of his weapons. This won’t be the last time teams try to take away his Weapons Nos. 1 and 2, and the ability for he and the coaching staff to adapt will be huge going forward.

If the offensive line can continue to gel, I think this offense could go from fun, up-and-comer to a truly dominant and scary unit by late October or early November.

Questions for K-State

While we learned a lot about this team in its first Big 12 game, we stand to gain even more knowledge this weekend.

Will they come out against Kansas State in a game that won’t even be on television with less vigor than they did against the No. 12 team in nation, in front of 100,000 with Kirk Herbstreit in attendance? I hope not. We watched the 2018 Cowboys ebb and flow with each change of the wind. How they start and finish against Kansas State will be huge.

More specifically: How will the OL bounce back? How will Mike & Sean® (doesn’t quite have the same ring as Mike & Mike) adjust after falling short on the road? Can the defense continue to improve?

Plays of the Game

If Spencer and Co. keep this up we may have to go back to having a separate post for Plays of the Game. For this week, I’ve got several.

First off, just wow… ?

After listening to Kyle and Carson on Monday’s podcast, I went back and rewatched this Tylan catch about 22 times. He’s become such a great player that his #SCTop10-worthy grabs become almost routine. Let’s try not to take this guy for granted while we get to watch him every week.

On this circus grab, even Herbie got hoarse.

And that eye-popping throw and catch to Braydon Johnson was equally impressive.

Finally, we’ll highlight reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, Kolby Harvell-Peel, for his streak-ending interception of Sam Ehlinger.