A win is a win, but not all wins are worth celebrating. You don’t celebrate beating a 6-year old at Chutes and Ladders. You don’t celebrate winning against your grandma in rummy. And, if you’re an FBS school, you don’t celebrate beating a lower-tear program from the Missouri Valley Conference in football.
Thus is life for Oklahoma State Football right now. The Pokes unveiled a new quarterback, defensive coordinator, and scoreboard on Thursday night while crushing Missouri State in the process.
The problem is, we could have found out more about the 2018 Cowboys had they played an intra-squad scrimmage. There’s no reason to celebrate because we’re talking about a team who’s only accomplishment was getting one game closer to bowl eligibility by stomping a program that’s just a step above Stillwater High School.
Sure, you can write off what I’m saying by declaring it as, “just being a hater,” but the truth is that Oklahoma State had no business sharing the field with Missouri State. When you look across the cupcakes of the Big 12’s opening week you’ll see the likes of Nicholls State, Abilene Christian, and South Dakota, all of which are superior programs to Missouri State.
Bears head coach Dave Steckel is into his fourth season and has eight program wins to his credit. Not only that, Missouri State was ranked 117th in defense last season. The fact that they somehow were able to take the ball away from Oklahoma State twice in the game is a bit of a reason to scratch your head.
When you play a team that has struggled as much as Missouri State has recently then your execution should be perfect. The problem I have with OSU’s 58-17 win is that the Cowboys were not perfect. Turnovers, bad reads, and missed blocking assignments all popped up on the offensive side of the ball. Those are all small issues that can present big problems against higher levels of competition, and that’s what is coming OSU’s way.
Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about. Why in the world would you run a reverse inside the red zone against an FCS opponent…if you’re any school other than Kansas? You only resort to those types of plays if you can’t create a push against the defensive line. Was that a problem for Oklahoma State on Thursday night? I don’t think so, but we really don’t know for sure.
We also don’t know how good Taylor Cornelius is? He threw for an impressive 295 yards, and five touchdowns, but he also had ten incomplete passes and an interception against a defense that’s just barely more stout than air.
The only thing that Thursday night showed us was that Justice Hill is good…he’s real good. However, we already knew that so basically the Missouri State game shed zero new light of this 2018 OSU football team. That’s the reason to put a halt on the premature celebration, and any celebration at this point is premature.
Instead, I encourage the Black & Orange Nation to walk it forward with baby steps. Next Saturday brings a slight step up in competition but the following week is the game you’ll want to circle. That’s when Boise State comes calling. That’s where we’ll find out how good Cornelius and the rest of Justice Hills’ supporting cast is. That’s when we’ll be able to measure defensive improvement. That’s when running a reverse inside the red zone actually means something. That would be a victory worth celebrating right there!
Hater 😂
Haha! I probably had that coming.