Why Was Oklahoma State So Bad at Blocking the Run in 2024, Will It Be Better in 2025?

True, guard play was awful plus Joe Michalski at center was banged up for half the season and wasn't 100%. Also, you just didn't have the TE blocking last year that you had in 2023 where the edge would be sealed off and Ollie would get sprung on outside plays!!!

McKinney ?

Would you please enlighten us as to the injuries that Endean and Canepa have that will cause them to be unable to play until early in the season ??? I, personally, was hoping Canepa would be one of the OL starters.
Physicallity is more of a mental mindset than anything. If the new OL coordinators can I still a mindset of being nasty and physical, OSU's run game should improve considerably. And since OSU has an abundance of TE's this year, they ought to be able to find 2 or 3 that can be beasts at blocking the edge along with being athletic enough to catch the ball down the seam of the defense, ala Blake Jarwin. I believe the success of OSU's season will depend on how good the running game will be early in the season and beyond so OSU'S 2 inexperienced QB's won't have to win games with their arms, and can gain some valuable experience in the non conference portion of the schedule, and then be ready to surprise and amaze critics and skeptics during the conference portion of the schedule. If everything comes to fruition that I laid out, I believe that OSU could end the season at 7-5, or even better at 8-4.
The Football gods are going to have to look down over the team and keep the the players relatively healthy and injury free, though

Hmmm……. I'm not sure I learned why we were so bad at running the ball.

Without looking or reviewing tape I'd say we were bad running the ball because nobody, and I mean nobody, respected our QBs (and WRs) ability to beat man coverage and thus could almost always dedicate more defenders to the run game. But hey, what do I know.

GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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Hmmm……. I'm not sure I learned why we were so bad at running the ball.

Without looking or reviewing tape I'd say we were bad running the ball because nobody, and I mean nobody, respected our QBs (and WRs) ability to beat man coverage and thus could almost always dedicate more defenders to the run game. But hey, what do I know.

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yup, that's it all right...

but apparently the year before everybody, and I mean everybody, DID respect our very same QB.... SMH

You are spot on. Physicality is a mindset, you either have that switch or you don't. It can't be taught.

Is Endean out all year? McKinney?

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GumbyFromPokeyLand said:

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Hmmm……. I'm not sure I learned why we were so bad at running the ball.

Without looking or reviewing tape I'd say we were bad running the ball because nobody, and I mean nobody, respected our QBs (and WRs) ability to beat man coverage and thus could almost always dedicate more defenders to the run game. But hey, what do I know.

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RodeoPoke said:

yup, that's it all right...

but apparently the year before everybody, and I mean everybody, DID respect our very same QB.... SMH

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Actually, I think most teams looked at the B12 championship game against UT in '23 and decided that was the way to defend Bowman and Gordon. Play man to man and stack the box with a lot of disguises mixed in.

BTW, Bowman WAS dreadful against man to man in '24.

I'm hoping that the new portal players and the new coaching staff views this upcoming season with a positive mindset and fresh eyes, and doesn't expound on the toxic mindset that this team had last year. We will probably never know or find out what was really going on with this team last year, but it wasn't healthy, and it certainly was destructive...0-9 in conference.
Since college football is mimicking the NFL now, hopefully the new coaching staff will treat this season like the NFL, and not put up with the toxicity of last season. I think if everyone stays focused and works for a common goal, I don't see why OSU can't go 7-5, or even 8-4, which would be a vast improvement over last year. And it would get the bitter taste of last season out of our mouths.

Schick and Samuel will take over the guard and tackle spots probably by the Oregon game! You want physical go look at Schick video! It is on the net !

Defense was a significant issue in 2024 as well. We had two very good run defenders and one good pass rusher at the beginning of the year. They kept us in early games. Once they were either out or hobbled, we were mediocre at best.