Implications of Oklahoma State's Victory

Everybody seems to be all a-fuss over Okie Lite's 24-10 victory over Georgia on Saturday. But let's delve deeper into both how the game looked to me personally and what it means for college football as a whole.

First, let me be honest with you and vehemently state that I was NOT at all impressed with OSU's win over Georgia. I expected a good deal out of the Pokes' most talented team since the late '80s, when Thurman Thomas, Barry Sanders, Hart Lee Dykes, and, yes, even a non-40-year-old Mike Gundy were terrorizing Big Eight defenses.

They have Dez Bryant, likely the best and most talented wide receiver in all of college football, a solid, if not spectacular quarterback in Zac Robinson, two top tier running backs in Kendall Hunter and Keith Toston, and maybe the best offensive lineman in the country in Russell Okung.

Georgia is a mid-level SEC team at best this year, but supposedly they had the speed on defense that could shut down OSU's high powered offense. Well, turns out they basically did just that. Georgia limited the Cowboys to just 24 points on 307 total yards, 16 points and 180 yards below their season averages from last year--approximately 3/5 of Georgia's average production from the year before. This includes a 46 yard bomb to Dez Bryant that accounted for about a third of Robinson's paltry 135 passing yards.

Defensively, the Pokes have been lauded all week for finally turning the corner under new defensive coordinator Bill Young, who left Miami to return to his alma mater after more than four decades. Anybody who watched the game saw Oklahoma State getting scorched up the middle by basic Georgia running plays on the first few drives. Then something miraculous happened. Mark Richt completely forgot how to coach. He started throwing the ball with career backup Joe Cox like he was the new Mike Leach, except without a modicum of success. A.J. Green is a nice receiver and all, but they were throwing to him like they were trying to win him the Heisman in a video game.

Yes, technically the Cowboys defense did surrender a stingy 257 total yards, but what do you expect when the offense they're facing is:

1. Not calling plays to their strength
2. Less complex than many A-team middle school offenses

I guarantee you, if Georgia continues with their original gameplan of running the football down Okie Lite's throat, you see a completely different score--something along the lines of 31-17 in Georgia's favor. Not only does the rushing attack bruise and beat up Oklahoma State's smallish front seven, but it keeps their offense off the field and disallows them from wearing down the Bulldog defense like you saw at the end of the game.

Time and time again I used to see the same completely lost playcalling scheme from Greg Davis at UT, so it's refreshing to see it happen to somebody else. My oh my, how Mark Richt has fallen since his days as the hotshot, air-it-out, wizard at Florida State.

The second part of this article, and what you really should take away from Oklahoma State's victory, is the immediate implications for the Cowpokes themselves and the rest of the Big 12.

First, Oklahoma State is firmly thrust into the limelight as a legitimate national title contender. OU has, astonishingly, already fallen off the map after the first week of the season. OSU is on the road for the Bedlam series this year, so that's never a gimme, but certainly easier now that Oklahoma is missing multiple key components to their team. More importantly, they get Texas in Stillwater, a game that should ultimately decide the Big 12 champion.

For the Big 12, simply a huge win. The conference (especially OU in BCS championship games) has struggled chronically with SEC teams and their speedy, hard-hitting defenses. Tech got embarrassed against Ole Miss last season, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of prognosticators for the opening weekend game between the Cowboys and the Bulldogs. The Big 12 gets a lot of flack for having mediocre to terrible defenses; OSU's defense's holding Georgia to only 10 points goes a long way to restoring the tougher image the Big 12 had when physical teams like Nebraska and A&M were shutting down opponents in the late '90s and early 2000s.

It will be interesting to see whether Oklahoma State can sustain the momentum from a big early win this year, unlike last season when they beat a higher-rated Missouri team in Columbia early in the Big 12 season and ended up losing four games over the course of the season. My guess is that they lose two games this year, one being Texas and the other being some shocker that they shouldn't lose where it's just not their day and they aren't used to being in that situation. Texas Tech at home fits the bill. The Pokes don't rate to shut down Tech's offense, and if Robinson and the rest of the O struggle, look for a potential upset there.

-Blake Borron