Some Thoughts On OU vs. Ohio State By: Jordan Esco Posted on: September 18, 2016

Image via Sooner Sports

* I want to start with a positive because there probably aren’t going to be many of them in what I’m about to write.

The new south end zone….was immaculate.

If you haven’t already been, it’s a completely different feel to the stadium now. I wanted to get into the stadium early so I could walk around and talk everything in from different spots throughout the stadium. Which actually worked out in my favor avoiding being stuck out in the rain (although that two hour weather delay SUCKED something awful having to be in the stadium with literally nothing to do but sit and wait).

Also spent a decent amount of time walking around/hanging out in the new fan plazas prior to kickoff and came away thoroughly impressed.

Major kudos to all those not only involved in the project, but also to those who funded it.

* I don’t know how, as a fan, to truly judge just how loud it is in the stadium so I can only offer that it did ‘seem’ louder to me. Maybe not “Tennessee loud” though to be fair OU isn’t manufacturing crowd noise by pumping it and/or the same stupid f’ing song every third down (FOR WHAT) through the stadium speakers.

* One other quick tangent regarding my game day experience. Got stuck directly in front of an Ohio State fan who knew everything about football and couldn’t wait to share with everyone around him just how much he knew about football. You know those people who offering a running commentary on literally every play/penalty call/replay as though anyone around them has asked them to do so, let alone cares what you think.

The scoreboard made for more than enough of a miserable experience, but then this jacka$$ had to go any amplify it ten times over.

Just unavoidable bad luck on my part of course, but figured some of you could probably relate.

Otherwise, really nothing but positive experiences regarding my interaction with tOSU fans over the weekend. I will say it was slightly disturbing just how many of them have appear to have an affinity for wearing jerseys to a game, but to each their own I suppose.

* 🙂

**Okay, that probably concludes most, if not all, of my positive takeaways from Saturday, so if you would prefer to stop reading here I promise you won’t hurt my feelings.**

* If you’re anyone other than a player on the team and haven’t accepted the reality, however harsh it may (or may not) be, that this 2016 OU season is now effectively over, I apologize for being the bearer of bad news.

Please don’t come at me with “well, they can still win the Big 12.” I could give a F about OU winning the Big 12. If we’ve learned anything through these first three weeks, it’s that the Big 12 sucks. Thus “winning the Big 12” wouldn’t qualify as much of an accomplishment.

The simple reality of things is in this team’s only two games that mattered, they showed beyond a shadow of a doubt they were nowhere near the level of other elite teams. Which means the only goals that mattered, getting back to the playoff and #8, well….that ship has now officially sailed.

* 7-5 is now legitimately on the table. And there’s a big part of me that can’t actually believe I just typed that.

Are any of the teams in the Big 12 on the level of a Houston (probably not) or Ohio State (DEFINITELY NOT)? I suppose that’s in the eye of the beholder. But based on what we’ve seen to date, are several of those teams capable of beating this OU team? I think you know the answer to that already.

* Nothing is going to change with regards to the play of OU’s defense until the person who is in charge of it changes.

If it wasn’t Saturday night, then it was two weeks ago, or this past New Year’s Eve, or Dec. 2014 in Orlando, or parts of the last 3-4 years in general.

I don’t know what else has to happen or if anything can actually happen — short of some really BIG $ donors forcing his hand — for Bob Stoops to acknowledge this, but until he does we’ve seen the ceiling of this program, in my opinion. And it simply does not meet what should be the standard (i.e. national championships).

* I wrote something on B.Stoops for TFB a couple weeks ago that K wouldn’t let me post. Which was totally fine as I completely understood his reasoning behind it. I only mention it now, however, to offer proof what I’m about to say isn’t convenient hindsight second-guessing.

The gist of what I wrote was that there is a flip side to the ‘careful what you wish for’ crowd that tends to get really vocal following OU losses. Their favorite theory being that OU fans who dare suggest replacing Bob Stoops better be careful what they wish for because “remember what it was like under John Blake?” The ‘careful what you wish for’ crowed LOVE to remind others about John Blake. As though the program returning to that level is the only possible result were Stoops no longer the head coach.

Well, the flip side that I mentioned is being afraid to replace a guy because of the inevitable ‘what if’ scenario of doing so to the point an apathy infects a large part of your fan base.

And that’s where I feel like Sooner Nation is right now. They’re tired of losing games like the one OU lost Saturday night. They’re tired of hearing the program get trashed on national television. They’re tired of looking like they aren’t capable of competing with the other elite programs they consider themselves to be.

In my opinion, that’s a really dangerous place for a fan base to be, specific to a coaching staff. Because once people stop caring, or at least caring as much as they once did, it ain’t always easy to reignite that passion within a fan base.

Bob Stoops did it when he arrived in 1999 and will forever be a legend in Norman as a result. But after Saturday night, I can’t help but think it’s fair to ask whether or not he has it in him to do it again now. Because from where I’m sitting, that sure looks to be the task he’s facing.

* I guess I was just stupid to assume a second year under Lincoln Riley and within his system would lead to an even better Baker Mayfield. Just as I was stupid to assume that surely Mayfield would learn from his mistakes in the Houston game and not repeat them against Ohio State.

In short…I’m stupid, apparently. Although I suspect that’s not really news to some of you 🙂

* In the hours since the game concluded, this following sentiment has become a popular one. So while I won’t win any points necessarily for originality, I think it still bears repeating.

A big part of what you saw Saturday night on that field was a program who has routinely recruited on an elite level and another who has not.

I’m guessing you don’t me to tell you which is which.

* As strange as it feels to say/write, it sure looks like OU has a “problem” at running back. At least to the extent that Joe Mixon looks to be clearly the better back, or at least better fit for this system right now, as compared to Samaje Perine.

* Always a different perspective watching in the stadium versus on TV, but in-person it was amazingly disturbing just how routinely OU’s defense got dominated on the edge and what looked to me like a significant difference in speed between the two teams.

And how many freaking years in a row is shoddy tackling going to be an issue before something is actually done about it?!?

* Remain befuddled as to why Mykel Jones can’t seem to get more than a handful of snaps.

* Feel like it’s pretty clearly time to take some of the workload off Austin Seibert’s shoulders (or right leg as it were).