Saturday, November 29, 2008

About that season opener in Stillwater next year


Image by Jim Hipple

Not sure if you saw the Big 12 South game tonight or not, but Oklahoma State's offense is ridiculously good. They put up 41 points and 452 yards of offense against a strong Oklahoma Sooner squad. Granted, the Cowboy defense couldn't stop a red rover game, but their O is amazing.

According to the O-State Illustrated Depth Chart, the Cowboys return 8 starters on offense for 2009 including all the critical skill positions. They only lose their tight end and two interior offensive linemen. Defensively, they lose most of their secondary and both starting defensive tackles.

In other words, Mark Richt has to get our defensive woes figured out at a DNA-level pretty quickly because things don't get easier next year.

The 2008 Schedule never actually ended up being as tough top to bottom as people thought it would. Yes, UF and Bama are world beaters, and we just got beat by Tech. But we only played three teams that will finish the season ranked. Plus, we faced the worst LSU, Auburn, Tennessee and Arizona State teams in a decade or more each. It could've been much worse.

Lastly, one positive note about opening the season against Ok State. Our overachiever seasons under Richt have come in years where the team has started with a strong or heavily hyped opener. Our underachiever teams have started with cupcakes.
    Year: Opening Team = Record
    2001: vs. Ark State = 8-4 season (underachieved)
    2002: vs. Clemson = 13-1 season
    2003: at Clemson = 11-3 season
    2004: vs. GSU = 10-2 (underachieved)
    2005: vs. Boise (hyped) = 10-3
    2006: vs. Western Kentucky = 9-4 (underachieved)
    2007: vs. Oklahoma State = 11-2
    2008: vs. GSU = 9-3 (underachieved)
Maybe starting with a strong team next year will be one more reason for Richt to take a long hard look at everything.

PWD


No comments:

Post a Comment