Game Day Thoughts – Week 4
Published: 9/26/2008 8:49 PM
Last Modified: 9/26/2008 8:49 PM
Maturity never gets lumped in with terms such as speed, strength or talent when it comes to describing a pretty good football team.
Maturity, though, is an intangible whose importance is undervalued and not always recognized by followers of the game.
Coaches and players, though, recognize the importance of maturity. Ask Oklahoma State coaches and players and they point to the maturity of this OSU team as a major difference between last year's team.
This group of Cowboys has been battle tested. Tough experiences, such as last season's debacle at Troy, helped the maturation process for this team. Losses are hard to take and accept. Those experiences, like it or not, harden a group and make them better down the line.
Many of OSU's key players endured that terrible Troy experience last year. Come Saturday night, when OSU hosts Troy, expect those same key players to apply the lessons learned over the past year and hope the results are way different this time.
Three things I'll be watching closely:
***Pettigrew's presence? The news that was reported Friday first on tulsaworld.com about Brandon Pettigrew's possible sprained ankle could have a significant impact on the OSU offense. If Pettigrew plays, he very well could be less than 100 percent and possibly not be the impact player he is accustomed to being each week. If Pettigrew does not play, someone else other than Dez Bryant is going to have to step up and catch some passes.
***Big sticks: OSU defenders have taken pride in trying to achieve the weekly big stick award coordinator Tim Beckman hands out for the best and hardest hits in the previous week's game. It's time for some of those big hits to result in difference-making plays – sacks and turnovers particularly.
***Rise up: The Cowboys are on the cusp of entering the top 25. Being a ranked team helps a program's perception. Winning Saturday could very well provide the voters another piece of information to show this OSU team is different from the previous two years. Losing to Troy again, however, would not be the way to enter the start of conference play.
---Matt Doyle
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
