STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) – In Dana Holgorsen’s only year as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, the school set records for scoring and, more importantly, wins.
Todd Monken gets to pick up where Holgorsen left off.
Coach Mike Gundy hired Monken away from the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars to take the reins of Holgorsen’s offense, or at least one that closely resembles it. When Holgorsen left for West Virginia, Gundy set out to find someone willing to adapt to the existing offense instead of installing something new.
It only made sense. With quarterback Brandon Weeden and Biletnikoff Award-winning receiver Justin Blackmon coming back instead of jumping to the NFL, the Cowboys have almost their whole offense back after the school’s first 11-win season.
“As far as the Xs and Os, our offense hasn’t changed a bit,” said Weeden, who threw for 4,277 yards last season to break the school record by more than 1,100.
“We’re running the same stuff, the terminology is the exact same, the only difference is the guy calling the plays,” he said. “We’ve got the same players out there. Everything’s the exact same.”
Monken’s fingerprints figure to show up here and there on the offense, even if there’s little reason to tinker with an attack that finished third in the nation in scoring (44.2 ppg) and total offense (520.2 ypg).
All-American running back Kendall Hunter is gone to the NFL after running for 1,548 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior. Third-leading receiver Bo Bowling and fullback David Paulsen are the only others who won’t be back from the offense that led Oklahoma State to a share of the Big 12 South title for the first time.
“We’re going to try to duplicate it and probably try to do more. Our goals are to win a championship – a Big 12 championship – here and set ourselves up for a BCS chance,” said Blackmon, who led the nation with 1,782 yards receiving and 20 TD catches last season.
By coming in to tweak a system that had been working so well, Monken said he had to prove himself to the Cowboys. He did it by implementing new plays that proved successful in the spring and by showing game film from his four seasons as the Jaguars’ receivers coach.
Yet most of what he’ll be overseeing this season will be whatever he’s able to inherit from Holgorsen.
“Eventually, if I don’t know it and can’t teach it, then we won’t call it,” Monken said. “They might have had unbelievable success last year but we won’t because I won’t believe in it. … Whenever you put the time and heart and effort into because you’ve seen it, you’ll get the success out of it.”
It will be Monken’s second stint at Oklahoma State. He also coached receivers for three years with the Cowboys when Les Miles (now at LSU) was the head coach and Gundy was the offensive coordinator. That was before any of the current players had arrived.
“The thing I’m curious to see is how he game plans throughout a game, how he changes stuff throughout a game,” Weeden said. “Dana was really good at keeping the same 45 plays but changing what we did … subtle changes that were huge and really helped us in the second half.”
The Cowboys broke down some barriers on their way to last season’s success – and some will pop up again this season. Among the 11 wins last season were the program’s first road triumphs since 1944 at Texas and Texas Tech, and a victory at Kansas State for the first time in seven tries.
OSU plays at Texas and Texas Tech again this year as part of a schedule shuffle created by Colorado and Nebraska leaving the Big 12.
Still, Gundy sees his team among 10 to 12 who have a chance to contend for the national championship if they stay healthy and play well.
“If you look across the country, not everybody has the perfect case scenario anymore,” he said.
“Even your teams that are in the top 5 in the country right now, you’ll see where they’re in a position where they’re lacking and would want more,” said Gundy, listing his chief concerns as defensive tackle and linebacker. “We’re just about in the same boat as anybody else and if we stay healthy and guys play hard, we’ll have a shot at it.”
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