It would have been better form had somebody taken credit for Oklahoma State’s Sunday firing of defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offered a quote on the topic, too.
Instead, all we got from OState Illustrated, part of the national On3 network, which broke the story, was a simple announcement he was gone, after which the university simply confirmed the story.
There was, though, this one sentence:
“Our sources indicate that on top of his defense not performing,” read the original story, “Grantham was not well liked in the West End Zone.”
The “West End Zone” being coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, locker rooms and, above the field (and the literal west end zone), many, many, many game day suites and club seats.
Still, attribution might have been interesting.
Had they wanted to lift interim head coach and offensive coordinator Doug Meacham a little higher — after, free of Mike Gundy’s influence and vetoes, coordinating an offense that picked up 22 first downs, scored 27 points, gained 448 yards and averaged 5.7 per snap in a 45-27 loss to Baylor — they might have given him credit.
Then not giving athletic director Chad Weiberg credit appears very odd. If he’s really staying on the job, why not place it in his hands, especially when — even if it began from higher up — it must have gone through his hands at some point?
Not that the Pokes are obligated to make sense.
Still more interesting is what a difference pulling Gundy out of the program made in one week, offensively at least.
The numbers, mentioned above, tell a big story.
Even getting to play Tennessee-Martin opening day, the Cowboys entered Saturday averaging 14 points and 324.3 yards of total offense, yet blasted past those marks against Baylor.
Beyond that, the Cowboy offense just played differently.
It ran trick plays. It threw the ball from the start. It made big plays.
It was everything and the kitchen sink, not the lunch menu.
It played like it was trying to win.
It did not play like it was trying to keep the score down, run clock, shorten the game, keep it close and maybe win at the end.
Meacham risked a blowout, falling behind 21-10 early in the second quarter in a game that included 14 drives from each team. Yet, to begin the fourth, OSU remained within a touchdown and two-point conversion, trailing 35-27.
It’s not like I’ve spent my whole life watching Cowboy football. Instead, I’ve watched plenty, but mostly followed it just as I followed every program sharing the conference with the program I covered and wrote about all the time.
Nonetheless, I think I witnessed enough of the Gundy era to know even his own fans had to be semi-regularly dumbfounded by the way he ran his program.
He seemed to love taking quarterback races into the season. He seemed to always be a game or two late with a decision everybody knew he had to make a game or two earlier. He loved to not be aggressive with game plans and game decisions. He appeared to fear risk far more than he ever embraced putting his faith into his players to make plays.
Maybe his great skill was knowing his teams’ limitations?
Whatever, it produced a game plan and effort against Tulsa that made it appear the Cowboys were back on the field on a Thursday after playing late the previous Saturday, rather than what they were doing: playing on a Friday almost two full weeks after being embarrassed by Oregon, a turn of events not out of character for the since departed head coach.
Now they’ve gotten rid of Grantham, the first and most expensive ($1.3 million) guy Gundy hired when putting together a new group of assistants following last season.
Hey, if analyst-turned-new-coordinator Clint Bowen, who previously coordinated defenses for Kansas and North Texas, can do with the Poke defense what Meacham appears to be doing with the Poke offense, who knows what OSU might do?
The Cowboys still have time.
The phenomenon that’s Cade Horton
I’ve already written a big long column about former Oklahoma and Norman High pitcher Cade Horton, who, at the time, Aug. 17, had just finished a 29-inning scoreless streak, leading the Chicago Cubs pitching staff out of the All-Star break.
He’s hardly slowed down.
Here are his starts since:
• Aug. 18, Brewers at Cubs: 2 2/3 innings, four hits, one earned run, one walk, three strikeouts, one hit batter (Brewers win 7-0)
• Aug. 23, Cubs at Angels: 6 innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, seven strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 12-1)
• Aug. 29, Cubs at Rockies: 5 innings, six hits, two earned runs, two walks, four stikeouts, nothit batters (Cubs win 11-7)
• Sept. 3, Braves at Cubs: 5 innings, no hits, no runs, one walk, six strikeouts, no hit batters (Braves win 5-1)
• Sept. 9, Cubs at Braves: 6 1/3 innings, four hits, one earned run, no walks, two strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 6-1)
• Sept. 16, Cubs at Pirates: 5 innings, three hits, one earned run, one walk, six strikeouts, no hit batters (Cubs win 4-1)
• Sept. 23, Mets at Cubs: 3 innings, three hits, one run, no walks, two strikeouts, no hit batters (Mets win 9-7)
It wasn’t quite the 0.32 earned run average of his previous five starts, and still it was a fantastic 1.64 over a stretch of seven starts to close the regular season.
All told, in his rookie regular season in the big leagues, Horton tossed 118 innings, compiled an 11-4 record with a 2.67 earned run average, walking 33 and striking out 97 over 118 innings pitched.
Horton is also in a two-man race to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award with Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin, who’s slashing .274/.341/.469 with 19 home runs and 80 RBIs over 405 at-bats and 446 plate appearances, appearing in 123 games.
Bad news, Horton was placed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday (retroactive to Thursday) after being diagnosed with a fractured rib, perhaps the result of heavy coughing during a recent illness. Still, should the Cubs win their best two-of-three series over San Diego, beginning Tuesday afternoon, he could be eligible to pitch as soon as the fifth game of NL Division Series on Oct. 11.
The injury was known by Wednesday, but Horton hoped to pitch threw it before throwing sessions Friday and Saturday made it clear he needed to go on the IL.
Still, what a season for the old Sooner and Tiger.
Remember this guy?
You may remember Jalen Redmond as a fine but not amazing defensive end at Oklahoma. You might also remember him opting out of the 2022 Cheez-It Bowl, a 35-32 loss to Florida State, to prepare for the NFL draft. You may even recall Redmond was not drafted despite leaving early.
Well, he made it anyway.
Sunday, lining up for Minnesota, Redmond sacked Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers twice, bringing his season total to three. He also played 13 games for the Vikings last season, recording 18 tackles, six for loss and one sack.
All this after being cut by the Carolina Panthers in 2023 after going undrafted, a move that sent him to coach Bob Stoops’ then-USFL Arlington Renegades; after which the Steelers signed him in June of last year, cut him, then signed him to their practice squad.
Redmond joined Pittsburgh’s active roster last November.
Good stories are always good stories.