Top 10 Comments: Thoughts on Gundy, Taylor Cornelius and the 2018 Season

After enduring what Bullets writer Steven Mandeville dubbed the “Manhattan Massacre” on Saturday, lets get into some of the best comments from the last week.

1. OSU starts 2 Freshman at Safety

ckb24: Why are we playing Freshman in the secondary? They could get hurt.. (18 upvotes)

If you missed this reference, ckb24 is referring to Gundy’s statement about not playing freshmen QBs for fear of injury, which is funny. All I will say on this is that while youth in the secondary may be causing issues this year, gaining experience for safeties early in their collegiate careers will bode well for the Pokes secondary down the road.

2. Getting Political in the Comments? Fuhgetabout it

looking up: This is a sports blog — go post on CNN, Politico, or Breitbart if you want to talk politics. That is all. Thank you. (15 upvotes)

Keep that Political garb on Politico!

3. More on Gundy not Playing Freshmen QBs

CowboyinKansas: Can’t he just say “Spencer would be murdered behind this o-line, I don’t want to completely annihilate his confidence and hurt his long-term career at OSU”? Freshmen don’t have a tendency to get injured more than any other year, but QB’s behind bad o-lines do. (See: FSU). (14 upvotes)

Well, CowboyinKansas, he could say that. But good luck trying to get an O-Line to perform after telling the media that your O-Line is hopeless. Bold strategy, Cotton.

Gundy has been heavily criticized for not making any major adjustments thus far this year. And maybe there are some adjustments that could have been made, but keeping a level-head for the rest of your coaches and players seems important.

4. On the Instacap after Saturday’s Loss to K-State

looking up: At this point, I truly believe Gundy doesn’t want to be proven wrong on his QB choice like he was with Alex Cate. This is about HIS EGO not about what’s best for the team! (13 upvotes)

We will see how the rest of this season plays out, but at this point, it sure doesn’t seem that any changes are going to be made at QB in Stillwater.

5. On “Is the sky really falling?”

Last week, Porter laid out an analogy for this football team, using Henny Penny to explain that oftentimes poor decisions are made from an irrational adjustment overcompensating for a problem that really isn’t so large. One point he made was that Georgia’s transition from Mark Richt to Kirby Smart was an outlier, and that the majority of 10-win teams, with a similar history as OSU, don’t make a switch at head coach and quickly elevate to a CFP contender.

CCowboy: About Richt and Smart – both of them are VERY GOOD coaches. Richt, however, had worn out his welcome at UGA. He had become complacent (hmm), had been recruiting below where they should (hmmm), was unwilling to make changes (hmmmmm), and had basically been there too long. Now he’s rejuvenated in Miami and they’re winning and Smart was a great hire and UGA is winning. A divorce, in that case, was best for both coaches, teams, and universities. I’m not saying that’s the best move here, but it’s something to keep in mind. (12 upvotes)

Good points here, CCowboy. But when no other OSU coach has even sniffed the success Gundy has had in Stillwater, he gets the benefit of the doubt during a down season.

6. On Porter’s 10 Thoughts

KC: I put the majority of this loss on the coaches. As many have stated Yurcich refuses to play to Corn’s strenghts the entire game. He’s been pretty good on throws under 15, let him live there.

Defensively they were not prepared to stop Skykar T on the ground. He was terrible passing early and they should have sold out on stopping the runs. (11 upvotes)

My main complaint was the lack of touches Justice garnered. But I also agree that the Cowboy’s passing offense seems to have turned into deep-ball-or-bust for some reason, when OSU has great tools in the intermediate passing game. I love Tylan, but utilizing Tyron on a slant, Stoner on a dig, or Wolf on a quick-out are routes the team doesn’t seem to hit much. It is debatable whether that is actually a play calling issue or just Corn’s decisions to air it out.

7. Some Optimism from Porter’s 10 Thoughts

Matt A. Matthews: It’s a bad season for sure but I wouldn’t say we have fallen to pieces. A lot of programs have bad seasons. I’ll start to worry next season if it’s like this. (9 upvotes)

Good to see some encouragement, Matt Matthews. Agreed. High expectations for this year, after one of the program’s best classes departed, simply shows the height Gundy has taken the program to in my opinion.

8. On Recruiting

jmiller583: So, on the recruiting thing, I’ve got to side with pre-season Holder comments here. He knows it, and we know it. Mike Gundy is not recruiting at the level he should be for this program. He’s just not. You can almost hear Gundy saying “This is OSU. This is all we’re gonna get. No sense trying harder.” (8 upvotes)

Oh boy. That’s tough. As a coach paid amongst the top 10 salaries in College Football, I’d say its fair to have high expectations on the recruiting front.

9. Case for and against Burning Sander’s Redshirt

If you haven’t read Boone’s cases for and against burning Sander’s redshirt, it is a must read.

MulletPower: “Remember 2014? Remember how the offensive line was blamed for all our issues? Remember Rudolph coming in and leading OSU to a road bedlam win? Did the line magically get better THAT DAY?
Corndog isn’t getting it done. Do what Tech and Iowa State have done – play your best player, freshman or not.

“Matt Campbell: I realize Brock Purdy is our best option at QB but he’s a freshman and all freshman QBs should redshirt” is a quote you won’t hear because it makes no damn sense.” (7 upvotes)

All of the arguments have been laid out on both sides of this debate, so I’ll just leave this here.

10. PFB Predicted OSU to get the W

Zombie Willham: “The Wildcats currently have the worst passing offense in the Big 12.”

We’re doomed. (7 upvotes)

In PFB’s defense, Oklahoma State has been favored in every game it has lost.