There are a lot of incorrect statements in this thread.
OSU returns an incredible 36 out of 44 of this year's two deep including the best running back corps and offensive line in the conference. We were one of the youngest teams in the conference.
Parker Graham
Michael Bowie
Lane Taylor
Nick Martinez
All 4 of those OL players were starters for multiple games during the season and are returning. Nick Martinez was injured early and managed to be granted a medical redshirt. He was our 3rd best lineman before last year and will be returning. OSU has arguably the best offensive line coach in the country. Wickline was offered around a ridiculous $700K to be the OL coach at Texas but turned it down. There's no one better in the business and he reloads every year, OSU hasn't skipped a beat at that position group in quite some time. Wickline would have a new starting OL unit each week sometimes just to see what works best for that opponent, that's how deep/talented we are in that group and a luxury he has. OL is the last thing an OSU fan worries about.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...ectid=93&articleid=20110117_93_B2_CUTLIN40417
As far as WR losing a guy like Blackmon or Broyles hurts but OSU is loaded at WR and we spread the ball around a ton. We have plenty of guys that can be plugged right in. If we're going to suck at WR because we lost Blackmon I guess you guys are since you lost Broyles?? Come on now. WR hasn't been a problem for OSU in over a decade, it's been a strength year after year. We have 1690 yards of receiving yards returning including the following players:
Tracy Moore 672 yards 4TDs
Isaiah Anderson 315 yards 4TDs
Michael Harrison 255 yards 3 TDs
Josh Stewart 291 yards 2TDs
Justin Horton 101 yards
Projected 2011-2012 Starters: (asterik if they were previously a starter). I included 3 RBs considering we're constantly in a 2 and even sometimes a 3 back set. I used AP for both All-Big 12 and All-American accolades.
QB: Clint Chelf or J.W. Walsh
RB: Joseph Randle* 1st Team All Big 12 208 carries 1,216 yards 24 TDs!!
RB: Jeremy Smith* 91 carries 646 yards (7.1 avg) 9 TDs
FB: Kye Staley* 2nd Team All Big 12
WR: Isaiah Anderson*
WR: Tracy Moore*
WR: Josh Stewart
WR: Michael Harrison
OT: Michael Bowie*
OT: Parker Graham*
G: Nick Martinez* Honorable Mention All-Big 12
G: Lane Taylor* Honorable Mention All-Big 12
C: Casey LaBrue
DE: Cooper Bassett
DE: Anthony Rogers*
DT: Nigel Nicholas* Honorable Mention All-Big 12
DT: Ryan Robinson
LB: Shaun Lewis* Honorable Mention All-Big 12
LB: Caleb Lavey*
LB: Alex Elkins*
CB: Brodrick Brown* 1st Team All-Big 12 / 3rd Team All-American
CB: Justin Gilbert* 2nd Team All-Big 12
S: Daytawion Lowe *
S: Johnny Thomas* (11 starts in 2010, season ending injury before 2011)
Kicker/Punter Quinn Sharp* Honorable Mention All-Big 12 Kicker / 1st Team All-Big 12 Punter / 3rd Team All-American Kicker (I find it especially weird that he was an AP 3rd team AA yet AP HM All Big 12 but whatever)
That's 17 players (only counted 2 RBs) that either finished the season as a starter or started at least a solid handful of games last year. OSU's defense is extremely young and talented. It should be better than last years and last year's defense was vastly underrated.
#1 scoring defense in Big 12 play
#12 nationally in redzone defense
#1 nationally in fumbles recovered
#2 nationally in passes intercepted
#1 nationally in turnovers forced and 2 shy of an NCAA record per 12 games
#20 nationally in pass efficiency defense
#24 nationally in tackles for loss
Points allowed are all that matter, when you're scoring as often and as fast as OSU did you're going to give up higher yardages. I want to say they had the 2nd or 3rd highest points scored per minute in the country. For example, OSU had 1089 plays ran against them in 13 games, Alabama had 720. (And no I'm not comparing our D to Bama's, just showing a number) As OU fans and the hurry up I know you guys know the feeling, you had 950 ran against you this year and I'm sure it's been even more in the previous few years. Teams that run ground and pound clock control offenses are going to have better defenses yardage wise "on paper", that's just the way it goes.
I'm not making any record predictions on how the season is going to go, just merely setting some inaccuracies straight. QB play is extremely important and until you see in game results you can't make any assumptions. From what I've read OSU will be more run heavy as we've recruited some tight ends the past few years and both QBs are very mobile players unlike Weeden who was a pure pocket passer. We will be far from a pushover and one of the top 3 teams in the conference IMO. If Chelf can play at a high level OSU can win 10 games, QB is everything in this offense.
