2011 Oklahoma State Football Predictions

Written by Jack Jones

The Oklahoma State Cowboys are coming off of the most successful season in the history of their program. They put together their first-ever 11-win season against just two losses. Their two losses came at home against Nebraska and Oklahoma, but they went unbeaten on the road and also topped Arizona in the Alamo Bowl 36-10. The Cowboys featured one of the most explosive offenses in the country and should be exciting to watch once again in 2011. They have 14 starters coming back, including nine on offense.

Mike Gundy enters his seventh season as head coach and has found a way to bring some of the best recruits in the country to Stillwater, completely turning this program around. He will be without offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen, who left for West Virginia. Former OSU WR’s coach Todd Monken takes over after spending the last four years in the NFL as the WR coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Bill Young returns for his third season as defensive coordinator. Here is a preview of the offense and defense, along with my prediction on where OSU will finish in the Big 12 come season’s end.

Offense:

The Cowboys are coming off a 2010 campaign in which the ranked 3rd in the country in total yards (520.2) per game. They lit up the scoreboard for 44.2 points per contest thanks to the play of junior QB Brandon Weeden. Since joining the Big 8 back in 1960, OSU had never had an all-conference quarterback before Weeden earned first-team honors last year. The 27-year-old threw for a school record 4,277 yards while completing 67% of his passes with 34 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. Under a new offensive coordinator it will be tough for him to match those numbers, but nonetheless he is still primed for another monster senior season.

Oklahoma State’s biggest loss on offense is RB Kendall Hunter, who was drafted in the fourth round by the San Francisco 49ers. Hunter rushed for 1,594 yards and 16 touchdowns while averaging 5.7/carry in his senior season. Talented sophomore Joseph Randle will step into his place after a very productive freshman campaign. Randle was the team’s second-leading rusher (463, 5.5) and he led all backs with 37 receptions for 427 yards as well. In Randle, they have a chance to keep their streak of four consecutive seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher alive. Sophomore Jeremy Smith will be the backup after rushing for 7 touchdowns a year ago, while Herschel Sims and Kyle Staley also figure into the mix at tailback.

OSU came into the 2010 season unsure of the production they would get from their wide receivers. Justin Blackmon and Josh Cooper answered their questions emphatically. Blackmon was named the Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Year after registering 111 catches for 1,782 yards and 20 touchdowns. He led the country in receiving yards and was named the Biletnikoff winner as the nation’s top receiver. Cooper had a productive season as well, grabbing 68 balls for 736 yards and 5 touchdowns. Both are back along with senior Hubert Anyiam, who led the team in receiving yards (515) in 2009 before being injured for much of last season. Junior Tracy Moore caught 17 balls for 212 yards and a score last year and is slotted as their No. 4 receiver.

Despite having to replace four starters last year along the offensive line, the Cowboys paved the way for a rushing offense that averaged 5.0 yards per carry while allowing only 10 sacks. First-team All-Big 12 RT Levy Adcock did not allow a sack in 754 regular season snaps. All five starters are back in 2011, and each started in all 13 games last year. They do lose their top two backups, but junior college transfer Michael Bowie appears to have taken over the starting LT job coming out of the spring. That means returning starter Nick Martinez will fill one of the voids as a backup.

Defense:

The one question that surrounds this team in their defense, where only five starters return from a unit that allowed 410 yards and 26.4 points per contest in 2010. Young has his hands full along the defensive line where senior DE Richetti Jones is the only returning starter. They lose their best guy in second-team All-Big 12 DE Ugo Chinasa, who started in all 13 games and finished with 38 tackles and 4 sacks. Also gone are starting DT’s Chris Donaldson and Shane Jarka, along with DE Darius Hart. No returning player had more than seven starters last year. Redshirt freshman Christian Littlehead and junior Nigel Nicholas should take over the starting DT spots, while senior Jamie Blatnick takes over opposite Richetti at DE. These two combined for 10 sacks a year ago, so the cupboard isn’t bare. Plus, junior college transfer Ryan Robinson arrived in the spring and should figure into the DE rotation.

The Cowboys will have to replace their top two tacklers at linebacker. First-team All-Big 12 MLB Orie Lemon is gone after registering 133 tackles last year, while WLB Justin Gent (77 tackles) is also gone. SLB Shaun Lewis replaced James Thomas midway through the season last year, and went on to be named a freshman All-American after recording 58 tackles. He also led the team with 8 tackles for loss and will be back as the starting SLB in his sophomore season. Sophomores Caleb Lavey and Joe Mitchell take over as at the MLB and WLB spots, respectively.

The weakness of the OSU defense last year was clearly their secondary, where they gave up 276 passing yards per game on 62.5% completions. They ranked 109th in the country against the pass, but with three returning starters they should be able to improve upon those numbers. Inexperience and injuries killed them last year, but it also helped them gain some experience heading into 2011 as six different true freshmen played defensive back at one point or another. Senior SS Markelle Martin and junior FS Johnny Thomas form a solid tandem. They combined for 118 tackles, 15 pass break ups and 6 interceptions in 2010. Junior CB Broderick Brown is also back after finishing tied for second on the team in tackles (77) to go along with 2 interceptions. Sophomore Justin Gilbert takes over the other starting corner spot.

Big 12 Prediction: 4th Place – There’s no denying that the Cowboys have the talent to nearly match that of Oklahoma and Texas A&M, two teams I have picked ahead of them. They even have more talent as a whole than Texas. What’s holding me back from picking OSU to finish any higher in the Big 12 is their brutal conference schedule, which I rank as the toughest. OSU has to play Texas A&M and Texas on the road, while also facing Missouri and Texas Tech away from home which are no easy outs. They do get Oklahoma at home, but the Sooners won in Stillwater last year and have more talent coming back than any team in the land. I respect what Gundy has done for this program, but unfortunately this isn’t going to be the team to break through and win him a conference title. Their defense is not strong enough, and as we’ve seen before, you can’t just rely on outscoring teams in the Big 12.

Big 12 Football Predictions by Team
Iowa State Football Predictions	Kansas Football Predictions
Kansas State Football Predictions	Missouri Football Predictions
Baylor Football Predictions	Oklahoma Football Predictions
Oklahoma State Football Predictions	Texas Football Predictions
Texas A&M Football Predictions	Texas Tech Football Predictions

College Football Predictions
ACC Football Predictions	Big 12 Football Predictions
Conference USA Football Predictions	Independents Football Predictions
PAC 12 Football Predictions	SEC Football Predictions
Big East Football Predictions	Big Ten Football Predictions
MAC Football Predictions	Mountain West Football Predictions
Sun Belt Football Predictions	WAC Football Predictions

Comments

Got something to say?