What We Learned From Oklahoma State-Central Michigan

Again, this will be posted earlier in the week normally but holidays and such … anyway, Kyle Boone and Kyle Porter will bring you a few notes on what we (probably maybe sort of) learned from OSU’s last game. Let’s get to it.

Boone

Darrion Daniels Can Play

Just a month ago, Gundy hinted that Daniels was close to redshirting but his opportunity to play as a freshman would be evaluated later. So far, it looks like choosing to let Daniels play this season may pay dividends.

“Physically, he’s a little further ahead than players we’ve had in the past here,” Gundy said at his weekly news conference. Although his first game was against what should be considered lesser competition, Daniels displayed excellent push and was able to record his first career sack. The defensive tackle position looks a little less vulnerable after one game thanks in part to his contributions.

Chris Carson is a feature back

I was all but convinced that the running back position would be more committee based, but anyone who watched the game knows that simply isn’t true. Or it certainly wasn’t the case Thursday night.

I was very impressed with Childs when he was in the game. Yet he only carried five times for 36 yards, compared to Carson’s 21 carries. If that’s any indication, Carson is the feature back and we may not see the committee approach until Big 12 play.

Porter

Marcell Ateman was without a TD

I legitimately didn’t know Ateman had never caught a TD. I figured 6’5 wideouts who were extremely hyped every season would have lucked into one every now and then. I’m not disappointed that No. 1 came in a good spot on the road, just surprised that it hadn’t been done before.

OSU didn’t take CMU that seriously

Kevin Peterson was held out. Brandon Sheperd was limited. The playbook was more conservative than a Cruz-Huckabee 2016 presidential ticket. I’m not saying OSU was looking past CMU, but it wasn’t exactly pretending like they posed the kind of threat fans sort of felt like they posed. OSU was simply waiting to wear them out.

“We were a little more open in our attack and had a more vertical passing game,” Mike Gundy said about the second half. “I thought we blocked better. I think, because of the numbers, that we wore them down a bit later on in the game.”

J.W. is going to play more than I thought

Granted, I didn’t think he was going to play that much. But Gundy seems intent on going full Ohio State and swapping them out fluidly. He even mentioned after the game that he wanted to get J.W. out there more but he forgot the way the game played out didn’t allow it. I wrote on Friday that OSU used Walsh perfectly. I just hope they don’t use him too much.