Top 10 Comments of the Week: Your Thoughts on Cowboy Football Thus Far

The comments’ section was buzzing last week with news of McCleskey’s transfer, Gundy’s media ultimatum, and the Pokes frustrating loss to Tech. Lets dive into the best comments from last week.

1. Yes, Boone picked KU to beat the Pokes, 30-27

Gundy’sDrunkUncle: dont let this post distract you from the fact kyle boone picked osu to lose 27-30 (29 upvotes)

A couple things on this. First, Mr. Gundy’sDrunkUncle, I’d like to make you aware that you obliterated the competition in upvotes this week. 29 is unprecedented territory since I began writing this weekly post.

Second, Boone made his pick, and stood by it. To Boone’s point, trips to Lawrence haven’t been exactly easy as of late. In the past three road tilts with the Jayhawks OSU won by an average of just 12.3 points. He also owned the L.

So turns out, I was wrong. ???‍♂️ https://t.co/uPfKtpEGQq

— Kyle Boone (@PFBoone) September 29, 2018

2. McCleskey is gone

OKST 1990: How about 6 things Jalen & his dad should know?
1) he could catch 10 balls a game and he’s still not gonna get drafted
2) he’s way too small for the NFL
3) he’s not even the 3rd best receiver on the team (neither is Tyron J) by the way
4) he was minimally recruited out of HS and OSU gave him a chance. In fact, he got to play as a true freshman!
5) his production has been going in the wrong direction and that didn’t start this year
6) he’s the 6th leading receiver in OSU history – how many more balls can we throw him? (15 upvotes)

I would be curious to know OKST 1990’s rankings of OSU receivers … other than Wallace and Stoner, who does he have above Tyron? After this week, some might have Wolf in that conversation. McCleskey certainly had plentiful opportunities — and took advantage of many (!) — while at OSU. I was shocked to hear of his decision to transfer. It will be interesting to see where he ends up.

3. On Boone’s 10 Thoughts Against Kansas

John P. Stover: Corndog has a connection with tylan and landon because they were his WR he was practicing with last year. (14 upvotes)

Stover is on to something here. I’m not sure it had anything to do with McCleskey transferring, but it does help make sense of the situation — Tylan is CornDog’s go-to guy, and he looked for Wolf early and often against KU.

4. Instant Reaction from OSU’s victory over Kansas

B: Haven’t learned anything new about the team.

1. Cornelius is not consistent at all and is NOT improving

2. Hill is great but our OL is below avg. again, not much improvement

3. This gundy led team continues the recent tradition of poor discipline and way too many penalties. No improvement

4. Our D (minus front 4) are below avg in coverage

5. Tylan Wallace has Dez like ball skills

6. Gundy isn’t playing another qb unless corn gets hurt (14 upvotes)

1. I don’t agree here. Going 15-20, for 4 touchdowns and only 1 pick is an improvement over the prior week’s 18-38 mark.

2. Give the TapeDoesn’tLie pod a listen this week – great analysis of OSU line play week-by-week.

3. This has been frustrating. It seems like the Pokes have been plagued by untimely penalties (roughing the kicker) over the last few years. Really hope to see some improvement in this area at some point.

4. It’s easy to give all the praise to the group up front wreaking havoc. I think much of that praise is well-deserved. But, realize that coverage in the Big 12 is tuffff. Every week. Not saying OSU’s secondary is the best, but those positions will be exposed more than any other in the Big 12, it’s just the nature of the way this league plays the game.

5. Wallace is a Dude.

6. Barring a mental meltdown by Cornelius (ie. multiple INTs in a half), I tend to agree with you here. Might as well hop on board at the CornStation, there might not be another stop in 2018.

5. Did anyone mention Boone picked Kansas?

VA Cowboy: He should be required to spend the week watching Finebaum and the SEC network. Serves him right! (13 upvotes)

ICYMI – Finebaum thought Kyler Murray-led Oklahoma beat Boise a few weeks ago, and VA Cowboy wants to compare Boone to Finebaum for it. Pretty funny comment here, but I’d be lying if midway through the third quarter against the Red Raiders I didn’t have doubts as to OSU’s ability to beat Kansas.

6. On Whether Cornelius had involvement in McCleskey’s Transfer

CowboyinKansas: That McCleskey clip is hard to watch. Wide freaking open, and Corny bails and dumps it to his new favorite target, the turf. (10 upvotes)

Here is the clip CowboyinKansas is referencing:

Going through our video of #OKState-Texas Tech game.
Feel like I may have found the exact moment Jalen McCleskey decided to transfer. pic.twitter.com/YE9GBmqaQE

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) September 25, 2018

The angle above gives dramatic effect, and makes it appear that McCleskey is streaking free, but here is a more wide-framed view of the same play.

Regardless of how you analyze those two clips, there were many contributing reasons to Jalen’s departure. But as seen on Saturday, I think Wolf will be more than an adequate replacement.

7. On Porter’s Article Addressing Gundy’s Media Threat

OneOStateFan: I disagree. I love this blog and come here for great reads (and some fun entertainment reading the comments) but not putting players in positions they are not prepared or trained to handle is 100% his job. (In fact he may need to handle this on the field a little better) They are still kids.

Hell adults have a hard time saying the “right thing” which we all know can be twisted and turned until it resembles nothing the actual statement was intended be. Having players available to talk about the game they just played and their own emotions is one thing, feeding them to the wolves is something else all together, and before jump down my throat for calling the media wolves, there is definitely a sense of pack mentality – just look at the outrage from them over something like a player transferring to a different school.

And one more thing, no one is required to talk to the media EVER. So, let’s remember that being credentialed is a privilege and what you are ALLOWED to hear is at the discretion of the coach and the University. Whether you like the words he used or not is irrelevant. The outcome is the same. (9 upvotes)

This is a good comment and OneOStateFan makes some great points, particularly by recognizing Gundy’s role in helping protect his players. I don’t think anyone would argue that one of the HC’s jobs is to keep player’s interests above the media’s. But I would point out two things:

One: I didn’t see any arguments put forward last week that shunned Gundy’s protection of his players. Rather, the primary criticism seemed to be how Gundy went about that protection — threatening a group of journalists.

Two: You are correct, no one is required to talk to the media. But it is almost always in the best interest of a program to have solid rapport with the media community because the media create free publicity for the program. At the end of the day, both parties need (and want!) good relations with one another. While Gundy’s purpose may have been well-intended, he probably could have went about it in a better way.

8. On Jalen McCleskey Transferring

Burg: Would love to see Chuba play some slot. Jelani Woods is a matchup nightmare too. (9 upvotes)

I agree with this take! I’m not sure if Chuba has the route-running capabilities of a slot receiver yet, but I would love to see him get a few more touches in space. I liked the look OSU gave Jelani down in the red zone against Kansas on Saturday as well. Wouldn’t be surprised if his role increases as the year progresses.

9. On the Instacap v. Kansas

CCowboy: The takeaway from all of this is threefold: we have a great group of receivers who somehow are able to mitigate over-and-underthrowing from a mediocre QB, we have studs on the D-line but our secondary needs to improve dramatically, and that we need to hire a special teams coach immediately because ‘yuck’ doesn’t cover how bad we are there. (9 upvotes)

I will say this: When a player is streaking wide open and a QB underthrows him, but it is completed for a touchdown, I do not complain. I understand it may not look pretty — or perfect — but guaranteed points trumps any possibility of overthrowing a wide-open target. The special teams’ errors are frustrating, no doubt about it! Would love to see an offseason hire to help out in that realm.

10. Dez wants #KellyB2Stilly

Kelly Bryant to Oklahoma state … 123 go!

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) September 26, 2018

Chris: Oh, he’ll end up at OU and win the Heisman. (8 upvotes)

*Winces*

They wouldn’t have to change much after Kyler Murray leaves…