Stripe-outs are the hot “new” trend in stadiums. I guess. Sure. Guess what Oklahoma St. has planned for Saturday afternoon?

The idea had been floated around in the Oklahoma State football offices a few years now. Discussions that never came to fruition. But Gundy kept pushing the idea, and on Saturday against Pittsburgh, his borrowed vision will finally become reality.

“I think college football is about striping the stadium and having orange pom-poms,” Gundy said. “I just think that’s the gameday experience.”

For the first time in history, some fans will be encouraged not to wear orange inside Boone Pickens Stadium. The Cowboys’ 2:30 p.m. kickoff is featured as the “Stripe the Stadium” game where alternating orange and white seat sections are planned for the ESPN telecast.

I won’t deny they look pretty cool when well-executed, but the optimism and enthusiasm for this in Stillwater is seemingly lukewarm.

When OSU began planning for the theme last spring, fan development coordinator Matt Fletcher fully expected pushback. “It’s funny,” he said, “because it’s our own fault.”

…

“We’ve been pushing this, ‘Wear orange. Wear orange,’ and we’ve been trying to make it a thing,” Fletcher said. “Now there are fans on board with it and they’re fighting back against us. We kind of created our own monster.

“I try to look at it as a good problem.”

The solution? Providing fans with several tools to be ready on Saturday.

The seating chart can be found on all of OSU’s social media platforms and is printed on the ticket for season pass holders. The university also paired with local vendors to display the map on storefronts.

The article also notes that attendance has been slipping for OSU. The averaged a bit over 50,000 for their first two games.

Meanwhile, Dontez Ford appears to be done for most of the season. It would seem that he has a broken collarbone and will have surgery on it. I use “seem” and “appears,” because Pitt and Coach Pat Narduzzi will not confirm it.

“I’m not going to comment on injuries,” he said. “He’s a guy we hope is back.”

Which is a bit different from his comments in the beginning of the week when he said, they hoped to have him on the field tomorrow.

Still, the way Narduzzi handles injury information borders on the comical. Ford would be the third significant injury in two games, and Narduzzi will say that the player is “day to day” or what not. You can’t convince me that there is any significant — or even insignificant — tactical advantage generated by playing games with reporting injuries. I think it creates more drama and attention to it then is necessary.

For on the field, Ford’s injury (and I’m assuming he’s out) means that the WRs are even younger and more inexperienced. Which does play a factor in the lack of passing game involving WRs.

Tight end Scott Orndoff leads the team with nine receptions for 83 yards. After Orndoff and Ford, Pitt’s top candidates for receptions are Quadree Henderson, Jester Weah, freshman Aaron Matthews and redshirt freshman Tre Tipton.

“I know their defensive backs like to press,” said Henderson, who planned to do his homework this week.

Sherman knows that, too. He worked with the Cowboys safeties coach Dan Hammerschmidt at VMI with Mike Tomlin in 1995.

“I tell you they’re very aggressive,” said Sherman. “They’re very aggressive. They’re long. They can run. They’re very athletic. They present a challenge for us in man coverage. We’re going to have to step up and win our one-on-one battles.”

Honestly not sure how much Pitt will pass the ball against OSU. Some of it is situational. If Pitt can jump out early on the Cowboys, you know the running game is going to lead and stay the dominant aspect.

A tighter start will force Pitt to show a little more balance on offense

Oklahoma State has their offensive issues beyond even their lack of running game. Despite the strong passing numbers, the biggest issue in the last game — other than losing and the officials screwing up — was that they couldn’t keep drives going. OSU was only 1-11 on third downs. Against Central Michigan.

It’s not all on the QB, but without a running game, the offense is all on the QB.

[OSU QB Mason] Rudolph was as mature and responsible in postgame last Saturday, when he said: “It was more on me and our offense’s part for kind of sputtering and putting our defense in a bad situation. I deserve as much blame, and this offense, as anyone else.”

It was a noble gesture, considering how flimsy Rudolph’s offensive line looked, and how little support offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich provided with a one-dimensional game plan. It was also an honest one.

Rudolph got outplayed by his counterpart. He missed open receivers, Rush found them. He never settled into a rhythm, Rush did. Neither quarterback got any help from his ground game, so one of them had to step up and make the difference. Rush did that up to his last play, however unwarranted it was.

Rudolph can’t lose any more battles. It’s that simple.

Until we see proof that OSU can balance its offense, he can’t miss the receivers he did last week. He can’t fall off stride. Otherwise, the Cowboys can’t move the ball and score points.

Maybe the offensive line gels and starts opening holes. Or maybe coaches give their shiftier backs more carries and ask them to turn cotton into cotton candy.

However managed, it would be nice to take some of the load off the quarterback. You only need to read Yurcich’s postgame quote from last Saturday to know that:

“Whether Rudolph had too many plays going through his brain, minimizing the menu and getting him squared away is my job and I failed to do that. I’ll take the blame for that. I needed to help him out with more of a ground game. I failed to do that. I short-changed him and probably asked him to do too much, obviously.”

OSU fans have been less than enamored with OC Mike Yurcich. The start to this season isn’t helping. He’s got a veteran offense — most experienced in the Big 12 — but things have not come together.