The Morning Fade – 2.16.11

1. John Helsley on OSU’s issues – “OSU isn’t just winless on the road in the Big 12. The Cowboys are strikingly bad on the road, considering their 11-1 home record overall. Disturbingly bad if you’re an OSU player or coach or fan clinging to dissipating dreams of an NCAA berth that rely on a road breakthrough somewhere.” (News OK)

2. Ubben ranks the top 10 Big 12 performances of 2010 – Of course, Taylor Martinez’s “I cannot believe I’m throwing all over a Big 12 team on the road like this” day in Stillwater is #1. Blackmon against Baylor checks in at #3 though, “He just makes it look easy. Blackmon torched the Bears for 173 yards on 13 catches and a touchdown in the Cowboys’ 55-28 win. And he dropped another easy score! He touched the ball once in the running game, too. Of course, he ran it in for a 69-yard touchdown.” (ESPN)

3. Cool John Smith story by Kyle Fredrickson – Great research here and some absolutely fantastic quotes from John Smith who, by the way, terrifies me even through the written word. (O’Colly)

4. Pretty indicting (and old) article here by Jeff Goodman of Fox – “I’m not sure I’ve seen a worse recruiting class in terms of production in the last decade than Travis Ford’s recruiting haul [at UMass] in 2007. Actually, I’m sure. This is the worst I’ve ever seen. Period.” So we have that to look forward to. Yay! (Fox)

“We can give all kinds of excuses, but they’re all excuses. You’ve got to step up and play.” -Travis Ford

I’d forgotten about this video, somebody emailed it to me yesterday randomly. John Wall did stuff college point guards should not be able to do.

As a book lover the news that Borders is closing makes me sad. And a fantastic piece in the New York Times on Andrew Luck and his decision to come back. I’ll be pulling for him this year.