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The Best Overreactions to OSU’s Season-Opening Win Over Oregon State

Four reactions to Game 1 we need to discuss.

Published

4 years ago

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[USATSI]

Chuba is Reggie Bush reincarnated. Spencer Sanders has a Heisman in his future. The OSU defense is maybe the worst it has ever been in the Mike Gundy era.

Those are just a few of the knee-jerk reactions — and let’s face it, overreactions — that at one time or another crossed my mind late on Friday night as the Cowboys push Oregon State into 52-36 submission.

Here are the others, along with some more fleshed out musings from my aforementioned ramblings.

1. Tylan might actually be the GOAT

Reaction level: Maybe

I know, I know, the list of GOATs in OSU’s history at receiver is long: Justin Blackmon, Rashaun Woods, Dez Bryant, Hart Lee Dykes, James Washington. But guys … Tylan might seriously be as good as all of them.

I don’t know that he’ll ever definitively be better (unless he goes for 2,500 yards this season or something absurd), but Game 1 was enough evidence for me that his stellar sophomore season was far from a fluke. He’s got jets, with turbo, and as good a go get it instinct as any receiver that’s come through Stillwater.

2. Spencer Sanders has hardware coming

Reaction level: Slow your roll

OK, I’m prepared to tell myself to pump the brakes here. Am I proud of my large adult son for one of the best OSU quarterback debuts of all time? Darn tootin’! But do I think this is going to be a weekly expectation? Probably not.

The reality is that Oregon State is kind of the Kansas of the west coast — they’re really bad, and they’ve been really bad for awhile — so Sanders toasting the Beavers’ D was kind of expected. But if he can do something similar to the OUs, West Virginias and Texas’s what he did Friday against inferior OSU, then OSU might just have a QB worthy of some national praise. For now, we wait and see — and enjoy what we’ve seen so far.

3. The defense reached a Gundy-era low

Reaction level: … maybe

Oregon State scored 32 points or more only once last season — and that came in a 56-37 blowout loss to Wazzu. I buy in to why Oregon State had a good outing — its starting running back is elite, it was a premier season-opener against a top-25 level team — but I do think there’s at least some cause for concern. If you can’t limit an Oregon State team likely to win fewer than five games to under 30, then what is OU, Baylor, Texas Tech and the other offensive juggernauts in the league going to do to this OSU defense?

The good news is that at this point it’s way too early to tell. The defensive line is starting anew essentially, the secondary, while talented and deep, is still young and inexperienced. It might be an atrocious defense, but there’s still not much to glean from a one-game sample size.

4. Chuba for Heisman

Reaction level: Start the campaign

Hold me.

Look, I know I just said the whole one-game sample size is overrated thing, but I’ve seen enough. This dude can be a Heisman contender if he stays healthy and keeps playing this way.

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