Expectations High in Stillwater;
Defense the Major Concern
By: Brett Hill
NCAA Correspondent
Stillwater – Coming off the best single-season in Cowboy football history, expectations are soaring around the football program these days in Stillwater. Coach Gundy knows it; Brandon Weeden knows it; as does Justin Blackmon. The coaches, players and fans can’t wait to see what new offensive product new offensive coordinator Todd Monken will put on the field.
Monken returns to Oklahoma State after 4 years at LSU and the last 2 with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He takes over the “air raid” offense that Dana Holgorsen left behind when he took the head coaching job at West Virgina. Monken will surely be looked to in keeping pace with what many fans became accustomed to as the Cowboys embarked on their historic season in 2010.
Blackmon said he has made a nice transition with the team. “He’s been great. He came in in the spring and we’ve just been running with [the new offense] ever since.”
And, if Cowboy Heisman hopeful Brandon Weeden has anything to say about it, Poke fans just might see another Cowboy receiver emerge as a second Biletnikoff candidate on the OSU receiver core: Josh Cooper. When I asked Weeden about a player he thought might surprise fans, he had this to say, “A guy that I think had a big, humongous year last year and that I think doesn’t get enough ‘pub’ , and I really don’t understand it, is Josh Cooper,”
“Josh Cooper is about as good as it gets. He’s the best route-runner – probably in the country – and he’s got some of the best hands. The guy is a great wide receiver. Fortunately I have [Justin] Blackmon, which takes some of the shadow off of him, and it sounds crazy, but I might rather throw the ball to Josh Cooper over Justin Blackmon.”
The Cowboys also return a veteran group across the offensive line and, while losing former All-American running back Kendall Hunter to graduation hurts, the Cowboys have a returning weapon in the backfield with sophomore Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith.
“Having Kendall was great, but he’s gone now and we just have to step up, keep working hard and not let that situation get to us. We learned a lot from Kendall and we’ve just had to take those things and give that to the younger guys,” Smith said.
While the offense looks to be set across the board, it’s defensive coordinator Bill Young and his front seven that might give some pause when discussing how far this Cowboy team can go this year. After losing both defensive tackles and two of three starting linebackers to graduation, the pokes look to be a little thin in the front. Defensive tackles Nigel Nicholas and Chris Littlehead / Anthony Rogers, along with linebackers Caleb Lavey and Joe Mitchell will be leaned upon heavily in the early going.
“We have a defense that will have to grow up fast in the front seven,” Gundy said. “These guys will be key on the interior seven on the defensive side of the ball for us.”
Cowboy defensive back Broderick Brown had arguably the most stellar play in college football last year when he tipped a Landry Jones pass from out-of-bounds back into play to linebacker Shaun Lewis. Brown sounded very confident, “Defensive expectations are very high. We were top ranked in the Big 12 and the country last year in turnovers and total defense, so we have big expectations going forward.”
One Cowboy defender that was identified by several of his fellow teammates was safety Justin Gilbert. Gilbert said, “We expect to be among the top ten or top five secondary’s in the country this year. Coach Young has stayed on us and made sure that we’re where we need to be and in the right position on the field.”
With so much talent and high hopes for another run at the Big XII title, the Cowboys will have a lot to live up to in the eyes of college football and the fans that follow them. Last year at this time, the media had Coach Gundy’s Pokes picked at or near the bottom of the Big XII South Division. This year, they are picked no worse than third and many feel that on December 3rd, the Big XII Championship Trophy will be handed out to whichever team walks off the field victorious.
Make no mistake about it, the Cowboy offense will yet again have the weapons to attack and scorch opposing team’s scoreboards. OSU is confident and ready to step up to the challenges set forth to them. The only problematic areas you can find with this team are, once again, nagging questions regarding the defense and those high expectations. This group has never had to deal with pressure from within and from outside the program to perform at a national-title-contender-level.
It will be an interesting September for the Pokes as they take on Arizona September 8th, travel up the interstate to Tulsa on the 17th, then that all important, highly talked-about showdown in College Station with Texas A & M on the 24th. October should prove to be just as challenging as they face road trip to Austin to take on the Longhorns on the 15th, then turn around and head to Columbia the following week to take on the Missouri Tigers.
And lastly, November will see the Pokes take on one sure-fire test when they travel to Lubbock on the 12th to take on the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, a place that has continually haunted Cowboy fans. If the Cowboys can successfully navigate the schedule unscathed until December 3rd, well then all bets are literally off. Bedlam could very well see not only the crowning of a Big XII Champion, but a birth for the BCS National Championship granted to the winner as well.
My prediction for the Cowboys this season: the many road games the Pokes will have to face will prove a little tougher than most realize or are willing to admit. The difficult thing about being on the road is that you have to be able to defend the run. The questions along the front seven are too concerning and with little experience to put out on the field, the Cowboys will finish behind OU and Texas A & M in so certain order. I predict they trip up twice on their tough road schedule, lose what will be another wild Bedlam game and go 10-3 with a trip back to the Alamo Bowl.
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