Reality?

[possumfat]

Is it me or do the pokes really expect minimal drop-off from last year. I keep reading the articles, coaching comments and reading fan forums and I'm just scratching my head
at the things that are said.

I will be the first to admit the program is better along with recruiting and last year was special for them, but they talk like their Bama or something????

[Memtig14]

You are right, every poke I talk to says they will be as good or better. I say they will miss Weeden more than they know. But they continue to
assert their running game will carry them. Time will tell.

[cleller]

They were a two trick pony last year. Boone's money had bought them a better team than their old status quo, unfortunately though. Weeden and Blackmon won a bunch of games. Until they have another pair like that they'll be a just a notch above average, which is still a huge improvement. Hard to believe.

Where's Pat Jones when you need him? Oh yeah, talking like an expert on the media. Says alot about the media. Only an ex-OSU coach with such an embarrassing record would pull a move like that.

[badger]

They have been a team on the rise for so long that they cant fathom being a team on the... fall???

[SoonerorLater]

I work (sad to say) with a lot of big time OSU Fans. The consensus among them is the pokes will only have a small drop-off, if that. Yes, they may be a better, deeper program than in the past but not so much that they lose two first round NFL draft picks and take up where they left off last year. I see OSU fighting for an upper half of the conference record.

[85sooners]

Hahahaha

[olevetonahill]

One of their fans Posts here. He also bet me a 100 bucks that the Pokes finish higher in the B12 than We do

Does that answer yer question?

[badger]

I also work with poke alums (cuz we all know that only osu has true fans that are school alumni, nyuck nyuck).

They are mostly realistic though... they expect bowl gamin' at the very least. Beating the goonerz tends to inflate poke expectations

[Breadburner]

How did Texass fair with out McCoy and his boy the following year they were drafted.....???

[badger]

Fair comparison, especially seeing how iffy old man weeden was for da browns a few days ago :D

[goingoneight]

The chips have fallen for them to be as good as they've been in recent years, that's for sure. With Leavh leaving, Texas collapsing, Nebbish leaving and OU's bad luck last year for example. Not to mention a Chris Weinke-type QB and an out-of-nowhere story in Blackmon's 2010 rise to fame.
We all saw in 2005 that you don't just reload forever. You also don't just get lucky forever... unless you're :les:

[8timechamps]

There is no question that these aren't your grandpa's pokes, but the alternate universe they live in is amazing. I get that they won last year's bedlam game, and won it big, but to hear them talk, you'd think OU hadn't beat the pokes in 50 years.

They won't drop down to KU's level, but they won't be anywhere near as good as last year.

[SoonerofAlabama]

Here's my guess, er, prediction :). I see them as a possible eight win team. Definitely think they'll go bowling this year. Their last six games are going to be brutal though. It will be interesting to see how they do.

vs*Savannah State W
@*Arizona W
vs*Louisiana-Lafayette W
vs*Texas Toss-Up
@*Kansas W
vs*Iowa State Toss-Up
vs*TCU L
@*Kansas State L
vs*West Virginia L
vs*Texas Tech W
@*Oklahoma L
@*Baylor W

[thecrimsoncrusader]

OSU isn't even in the same zip code as Oklahoma and Texas as far as a program is concerned and look what happened to Oklahoma and Texas when they bot lost their best QBs in history. Vince was effectively a one year wonder that feasted on one of weakest roster of Big 12 teams ever, so I go with Colt being Texas' best QB ever, especially factoring in the entire career. And in this case, OSU lost their best QB and receiver in history. They're foolish to not think there will be any significant drop-off and despite Bill Young's focus on forcing lots of turnovers in trade for giving up 450 yards per game, they won't be near as fortunate this year in the number of turnovers their defense gets. And I am fully aware of their turnover numbers from two years ago. True freshman QBs are almost always guaranteed to lose at least 2 or 3 games no matter how good they are and that is not including the games the team as a whole is expected to lose.

[Harris County Sooner]

Look at the Aggies 1987-1988 success vs. 1989 debacle. The loss of two franchise players on an otherwise mediocre program is devastating. No bowl for them in 2012.

[KantoSooner]

Somewhere between 6-6 and 8-4 will about do it. I see the pokes as being a brittle team. If they get unlucky and lose one early (Arizona?), the roof could fall in and they could end up pouting through the rest of the year.

[Widescreen]

Didn't they lose a significant portion of their OL? That same problem is going to hit us too but we generally have better depth than they do. Of course they have a much better OL coach than we do.

[olevetonahill]

Somewhere between 6-6 and 8-4 will about do it. I see the pokes as being a brittle team. If they get unlucky and lose one early (Arizona?), the roof could fall in and they could end up pouting through the rest of the year.

If one of em would bet with me Ill take AZ over em heads up

[thecrimsoncrusader]

Didn't they lose a significant portion of their OL? That same problem is going to hit us too but we generally have better depth than they do. Of course they have a much better OL coach than we do.

Their offensive line departures is usually a non-issue for them as they have the best offensive line coach in the nation. They don't really rebuild or reload there, they retool and do it quite well. Regardless, their receivers are going to find life a lot different without having an unstoppable receiver on the roster like Justin Blackmon and they will have a QB throwing to them that doesn't have the arm or experience of Chris Weinke, I mean Brandon Weeden. Blackmon changed defensive strategies like Roy Williams changed offensive strategies. That's gone now. And that in turn will negatively impact the running game.

[nativesooner]

The Pokes I've talked to say if they can get Lunt to be half as good as Paul Thompson was for us, then they should show up in Norman undefeated. Their reasoning is because Smith and Randle are two of the best RB's in the nation and all Lunt has to do is dump the ball off to them and let them make plays.