From the Sideline: Oklahoma State Knew What Oregon Plays Were Coming

Our special guest columnist Mike Ostrom was on site in Stillwater for some great insight into the ‘little things’ that became big things

Oklahoma State Knew What Oregon Plays Were Coming

Oregon Tipping a Run or Pass - This isn’t sign stealing; this is good old fashioned film study and insight. Oklahoma State saw something on film and the result was Cowboy players knowing whether a run or pass was coming.

“We were noticing earlier in the week that their (Oregon’s) offensive line had tendencies that helped us key into run (or) pass and a couple areas we could take advantage of,” said senior linebacker Tate Romney, “and obviously our defensive line was keyed into that. That was one big thing that gave us a big advantage.”

What were those tendencies? “Just their offensive line had a few stance indicators for most of the time run/pass,” said Romney.

QB Runs and Misdirection Will Work Against Oregon – Another thing Eric Morris and his staff noticed on film is Oregon not prioritizing the quarterback as a ball carrier.

“We thought just with their gameplan going into it, we thought we could run the quarterback a little bit,” said Morris.

Yea you can say that again, first play of the game quarterback Drew Mestemaker goes 75 yards basically untouched until the Ducks catch him at the 3 yard line. Mestemaker had five additional rushes and averaged 7 yards a carry on those for a total of 109 yards rushing. . . by a quarterback.

The Heat was Hot - An on-field photographer checked the turf temperature at halftime and it read 146 degrees. It went up from there.

OSU coaches had their players practice outdoors everyday last week to prep for the Ducks, and one Cowboy player called out a toughness factor that he believes Oregon doesn’t have.

“I kinda use the moniker ‘west coast kids’ that I felt like they weren’t as tough as us, and they hadn’t been through as much and that showed,” said senior defensive lineman James Williams. The Florida State transfer recovered a fumble late in the 4th quarter that helped seal the win for OSU.

“My entire side of the family is from Oregon and California . . . it’s just a difference. When I play with my cousins, when I’m playing basketball with them . . . they’ll call fouls all the time. . . It’s like, ok you guys gotta play tough eventually (but they don’t). . and that kind of thing showed during the game.

“A lot of teams will come out and see if you’re willing to fight, how much you’re willing to put down. Are you willing to drop your you-know-what and stand there and fight? Or, are you going to lay down and roll over, which is what they (Oregon) thought we were gonna do.”

What’s Oregon going to do now? Answer: Dan Lanning is going to do what Dan Lanning always does. He’s going to learn from what went right and what went wrong and the Ducks will improve. Few coaches in college football have done it better than Lanning over the last four years and two games.

3 of the most popular questions I was texted after the game:

1- Is Oregon going to turtle like Penn State did last year?

Answer: No.

2- Are the Ducks going to miss playing in a Bowl game this year?

Answer: Heck No.

3- Should Oregon fans be worried about Portland State?

Answer. That would be a No.

Dan will find a way. He always does.