Will The Pokes Thrive Without Pettigrew?

by Peter Bean on Aug 27, 2009 1:05 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns Football

Hopefully you're already reading closely TES's excellent 'State of Oklahoma' series, and I'm sure he'll get to talking about this soon enough, but in the meantime, check out these videos I came across while doing some research on Pettigrew and Oklahoma State. You may recognize a few clips from the series.

While the bulk of OSU chatter centers on Bill Young's rescue mission, most simply assume that their offense will be as good as last year's. Maybe, but with no receivers to complement Bryant and no Pettigrew to maul for Kendall Hunter, it's far from a sure thing. I'll shut up and let the video do the rest of the talking.

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Tough to figure

I seem to remember him being out for some time last year and they did just fine without him.

This is the million dollar question every year. When we lose one of our top contributors like Ogbanaya we just assume we can find such a reliable 3rd down go-to back for passing and rushing situations. Will he be replaced? Basically, i think we downplay (generally speaking) our losses and OVERplay our opponents losses.

I think this one hurts, but its not the same as losing a QB (Bama) or most of your Oline (OU)

by Orangechipper on Aug 27, 2009 3:04 PM CDT reply actions

I dunno if OBGYN is the same thing.

OkState was dangerous last year because of Zack Robinson, Dez Bryant, Kendall Hunter and Brain Pettigrew, probably in that order.

They don’t have the same type of talent coming through their doors every year that the Texas, OU, Florida, tOSU, USC etcs do, in essence, they rely more on their stars than the other schools do, because the drop off from their star to their backup is large. Their recent rise to prominance is due to gathering those 4 at the same time. Take two of them away, and you have your normal OkSU. Take one of them away and how good are they? Well, we will see this year.

I love what Chris did for us last year, but I dont think anyone considers him to be a large step above McGee or Newton in general (Or Fozzy/Johnson for that matter). I hate using NFL to judge college players, but since it fits my point, Ill go ahead and do it. Pettigrew went #20 overall, when do you think another TE from OkState will go that high? In contrast, great as he was for us, OBGYN went undrafted (Quan too for that matter, though Im more worried about picking up his peices than Chris’s).

by BoddickerIsClutch on Aug 27, 2009 3:27 PM CDT up reply actions

Good point..

However… take a peek at last years Okielite game… we were like 8 of 11 on third downs… I’d venture more than half of those were to Ogie Won Kinobi. He was clutch when we needed clutch. Same thing with Quan… He always held on in the big situations. No doubt we’ll reload, but who knows what the dropoff will be.

by Orangechipper on Aug 27, 2009 3:35 PM CDT up reply actions

I agree...

…but Chris got drafted by the Rams in the 7th round

by vy til i die on Aug 28, 2009 1:43 AM CDT up reply actions

My bad.

Point still stands though, 7th round is far enough from #20 overall for the argument I was aiming for. My apologies to Chris though.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Aug 28, 2009 9:12 AM CDT up reply actions

Being "multiple"

The reason I think it is a bigger deal than is being given credit for is that he was both an excellent receiver and an excellent blocker. Most of the talk is about his production in the passing game, but the fact that you had to account for him as a pass catcher on every play, plus he could also open holes really helped their running game last year. Defenses couldn’t sell out to stop either the run or the pass – they could do both equally well with the same players on the field.

This year, at least as it relates to playing UT, I just don’t see them being as effective. We can double Bryant and have the rest of the defense focus on stopping the running of Hunter and Robinson.

Also, keep in mind that last year our secondary was really banged up for this game and one of our backup corners (Curtis Brown) and Co. held Bryant in check, even with the threat of Pettigrew for the secondary to worry about. This year with Bryant as the main focus of the secondary, and without the Pettigrew factor I expect more of the same.

by Horncasting on Aug 28, 2009 10:17 AM CDT up reply actions

I think it’s critical that Akina select a specific defensive back with good size and strong man coverage skills (probably Williams) and have that guy assigned to learn Bryant. By “learn Bryant” I mean figure out everything there is to Bryant’s game, how to interfere with his rhythm, root through his garbage, etc. Missouri’s no slouch, and looking ahead can let such a team sneak up, but having Williams dedicate pre-Mizzou time to preparing for Bryant might make sense. I was only a part-timer at the college level, but in HS we certainly did that for particularly dangerous receivers when we were facing a softer opponent the week prior.

by burntorangehorn on Aug 28, 2009 10:36 AM CDT up reply actions

My answer is No

After watching your compelling videos evidence, no way they can be that thriving like last year. But I have to give credit to Mr. Gundy who has throwing out a lot of tricky plays to our D last year. We still need to be careful about this team.

by Horns98 on Aug 27, 2009 7:40 PM CDT reply actions

I don’t think the backup TE will be quite the same blocker, of course, but I do think he’ll be capable in terms of his receiving production. He certainly should be more productive than Pettigrew in the end zone.

Also, Justin Blackmon’s a solid enough talent that he should draw some attention away from Bryant.

by burntorangehorn on Aug 28, 2009 8:51 AM CDT reply actions