OSU football, the stat that will make or break us

[MustangPokeFan]

Why is it that our entire fan base seems completely oblivious to the reasons for Spencer Sanders turnovers. Every single game Sanders has had decent offensive line protection even to an average degree and had any amount of legitimate weapons available like a starting running back or even one legit wide receiver, he has excelled and set records. His games with multiple turnovers are games when he had to make something out of nothing and run around like a chicken with his head cut off because he had zero protection.

I’m so sick of hearing Spencer Sanders blamed for four turnovers in the Big 12 championship game. We were missing two offensive lineman and Sills was limping so badly he shouldn’t have been playing. The Baylor nose guard was absolutely molesting our backup center and was on top of Sanders immediately after every snap. We didn’t have Warren, Dominic or Presley due to injury and/or illness. He had one legit weapon to use which was Tay Martin. Two of those four picks hit the receiver right in the hands and the receiver failed to hang on causing a tip drill, not the QBs fault!

Despite all these missing players, zero protection and unlucky bounces, we came 6 inches away from winning that game and a Big 12 Title. The sole reasons we came that close were a world class Defense coupled with the absolutely gutsy never-say-die play and leadership of our quarterback Spencer Sanders.

This season is simple, give Sanders protection and we win every game we play. Continue to leave him on an island running for his life forcing him to try to make something out of nothing and you’ll continue seeing turnovers and they will absolutely not be his fault.

Good comments overall, but if you’re going to include the defense as one of the sole reasons for our success last season, then in addition to protection for Sanders it’s also going to require them to step it up this season.

I agree, and I am cautiously optimistic that we may not lose that much if any on defense this year. We certainly could with the losses we’ve had but I think it’s more of a reload this time than it is a reinvent the wheel. I think Joe Bob Clements had a heck of a lot to do with the success of the defense last year and I think he will this year as well.

 

[llcoolw]

I agree, and I am cautiously optimistic that we may not lose that much if any on defense this year. We certainly could with the losses we’ve had but I think it’s more of a reload this time than it is a reinvent the wheel. I think Joe Bob Clements had a heck of a lot to do with the success of the defense last year and I think he will this year as well.

Suddenly, the world doesn’t seem so bad.

 

[OSU1994]

I've said this before, but thought I'd research it with actual numbers. First, Sanders was #1 in the Big 12 and #10 in the country running the ball, so that alone makes his passing stats a bit more irrelevant because he's productive in other ways. But look at his pure passing stats and you'll see that only ONE team figured him out last year. Baylor. Otherwise, he was a quite effective passer:

Using the NFL Passer Rating formula:

2021 Season:
View attachment 96506

2021 Season minus the 2 Baylor games:

View attachment 96507

To put the numbers in perspective, the BEST QB last year was Bryce Young with 118.26 rating, while maybe a more comparable dual-threat QB was (the fantastic) Desmond Ridder with 109.25 rating. He's not at either of their levels but fix whatever the Baylor D did to him (and other QBs they played) and he's not that far off.

In conclusion: You can look at Spencer Sanders and find the negative or you can find the positive. I'd say it's more likely than not that with an extra year under his belt he looks more like the guy that we saw against Notre Dame, who had his best game against our best opponent and took home the MVP. But I tend to be optimistic about OSU players.

missing the point. baylor put pressure on sanders and caused those results. sanders has been unable to make good decisions under pressure. if that does not change, he will lose us two games minimum and this assumes we have a very effective DC.

fix it and he could have a special season.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[CowboyOrange82]

The thing about Sanders is... Yes, oline injuries are never good for a QB. But the four interceptions in the Big 12 championship game were all forced. Sanders should have thrown the ball away. Instead, he handed Baylor every opportunity to win the game. If my memory serves me well, Baylor benefited greatly on each interception. Of course, Sanders wasn't the only reason OSU lost... The running backs played horribly, especially the last series. Couldn't punch in a one yard run to save a life. The final play... When all the RB had to do was cut back from the only defender anywhere near him and OSU would've won the game. Unsurprisingly, that RB was told to hit the road.. he's no long on the roster.

I don't like beating up on Sanders.. but he's been a turnover machine, and to place blame only on the oline is absurdly ridiculous. Most interceptions should've been thrown to the stands. Instead, Sanders recklessly thrown the ball to defenders. We all know that stars and rankings are not guaranteed to translate at the collegiate level. Based on Sanders ranking, he's been a total and utter bust. He hasn't come close to the performance evaluators thought he could achieve.

Unfortunately, QB recruiting has been a disaster every since the previous OC was hired away. Sanders is our only hope this season. And if he is injured and unable to play, the offense will be an utter disaster. I am not looking forward to the 23-24 season.

 

[MustangPokeFan]

The thing about Sanders is... Yes, oline injuries are never good for a QB. But the four interceptions in the Big 12 championship game were all forced. Sanders should have thrown the ball away. Instead, he handed Baylor every opportunity to win the game…….

That is simply factually incorrect. Yes he was under massive instant pressure every play with two lineman missing, the top two RBs missing and our star slot receiver missing. However, two of those pressured interceptions against Baylor in the Big 12 title game were amazingly great passes that hit the receiver right in the hands and the receiver failed to secure the ball causing a tip drill that Baylor won both times…… to blame Sanders for those two interceptions is short sighted and wrong! He can only pass the ball, he can’t make the catch for them!