The Football Brainiacs

I haven’t had a chance to go back and watch the whole game. Still not sure I can stomach it. But after watching it the first time through and then looking at the first defensive series I really feel that what I’ll likely find is a lot of the defensive issues repeated themselves. I decided to break down most of the first series so that we could look at some of the issues. After watching the first series and remembering my first viewing of the entire game, I feel pretty certain this loss wasn’t about talent. There are going to be defenses that have a lot of success against TCU’s offense. And to be honest I’m more convinced that my preview wasn’t far off. The inside run game wasn’t there for TCU. The slant routes and the stop routes were there because OU game them to TCU. Boykin did throw some errant passes. The defensive line did not get whipped. I don’t believe TCU is some offensive juggernaut now that some want to make them out to be. OU just didn’t play well and I think there are some fundamental technique issues that have to be rectified.

Consider this. OU gave up more passing yards to TCU than Minnesota. The Oklahoma defense showed it’s ability to shut TCU down in the second half but the slow defensive start that we saw in the West Virginia game showed up again in the TCU game. This time, however, a poor decision by Knight in the second half and some questionable play calling in the third quarter and the offense finished the job that the defense started.

OU should not have lost this game.

Anyhow, let’s get into this first drive. And by the way the images are just pictures I took with my phone on my movie screen so forgive the odd angles and occasional shadow of me.

On the first defensive play we see a problem that is going to reoccur and is something that has to be remedied. Julian Wilson is playing more than 10 yards off his man at the snap and he’s playing to the boundary! The only reason this wasn’t an easy completion was because Boykin way over threw his wide receiver but the receiver was wide open. How could he not be?

Below OU is going to show their press look to the boundary and play off to the field. This is pretty common but wow, more than 10 yards off? I guess there is no desire to incorporate this corner in the run game whatsoever or contest the route. The play ends up being a run to the boundary.

Below you see the play unfold. I have one main issue here and it’s something that has to get fixed. OU just doesn’t consistently wrap up and they don’t drive up and through the tackle. You regularly see OU defenders either miss a tackle or get dragged by a ball carrier. That’s what happens here. Tapper has Boykin dead to right and he makes contact but Boykin bounces off him. No way that should happen. Evans is the next man there and though contact is made by Tapper behind the LOS and contact by Evans is made just after, Boykin is still going to pick up 5 yards. This just isn’t acceptable for a championship defense. Boykin should have been slammed to the ground so hard and a rally to the ball should have yielded repeated hits on Boykin to make him fear the front.

This next play is just a bust by either the player(s) and perhaps by scheme. TCU is going to start in a 2×2 formation. The receiver with the 1 marked on him motions across the formation. I marked him “1” because he is going to go all the way outside changing the formation to a 3×1 (3 WRs on one side and 1 WR to the other side) and the inside WR on the field side will become the number 3 receiver. Oklahoma is in man coverage so Steven Parker is trying to get across the field to cover his WR. He seems to assume (as I would as an outside observer) that each man defender will shift over and he will pick up the #3 receiver on the inside release. Clearly that wasn’t the case or at least the 2 outside defenders didn’t get the memo if that was the case because Parker hesitates when he sees the #3 receiver take the inside release and further loses leverage on the number 1 receiver. This was just too easy for TCU and had nothing to do with OU’s physical talent or ability. It becomes a pass outside to the number 1 receiver and he gets up field in a hurry.

Below is a designed QB run. The guard and the tackle are going to scoop Chuka. The tackle makes the first contact and then gets up field immediately to find Dom. Dom reads possible option so he’s going to play outside as he likely expects Chuka and Geneo to play this inside forcing Boykin wide. The running back is going to come out and chip/block Geneo just enough to leave some room in the C gap for Boykin. However Dom is going to beat that tackle coming up to the next level and have a shot at bringing Boykin down. I’ve drawn a line to where I think Ahmad Thomas is (unfortunately I can’t see him) and where he should immediately be heading as he reads this play. I’ve drawn the arrow too far over if he reads QB run so ignore how far the arrow goes (that would be his positioning on a spread option). The point really is to indicate that he should be triggering.

Again, notice below that Dom does a nice job of not allowing the tackle to wall him off and has a shot at Boykin near the LOS. Unfortunately he can’t bring him down.

Now it’s Ahmad Thomas’ turn. He misses too and Boykin picks up a lot of yards.

This next play was something I alluded to in my preview. The mistake I made was in assuming that either OU would play the routes tighter or Boykin would miss. On this particular play the ball was actually tipped at the LOS but Sanchez (or the technique he is taught) takes himself so out of this play from jump it doesn’t matter. The outside receiver is going to run a slant as I’ve indicated below. At this particular moment Sanchez is playing off 8 or 9 yards. By the time the ball is snapped he’s actually going to be playing off 10 or 11 yards! You’re just giving them a slant (and plenty of other routes) at the snap. Why?

They’re in man coverage here and while Sanchez isn’t going to play a full open shuffle technique (butt completely to the sideline) he’s going to play this shuffle at a 45 degree angle. Some teams will play shuffle because they don’t trust the speed of their corners and some teams will play it because they read the QBs all the way through the route. Whether Sanchez is reading the QBs eyes and then coming back to the WR or not he reads the three step drop and shuffles accordingly (3 shuffles). The problem is you’re doing it while beginning your shuffle 10 yards off the WR. What’s the point of the technique then? OU needs to start coaching proper closed technique and really focusing on the details and if they’re going to play shuffle then they’ve got to play it up tighter.

As you can see, this slant goes for a ton of yards and Sanchez isn’t even remotely in the vicinity to make the play. Baylor would have housed it. What is also odd to me is the fact that they’re playing this technique in this part of the field. The TD line is only 35 yards away. Simply put they just made this way too easy on Boykin and the WR. Free release, tons of cushion…easy.

Below TCU is in the red zone and look at the cushion Sanchez is giving the WR to the field. Even Julian is playing off to the boundary. On a side note, look at Sanchez’s stance. Back too high. Feet aren’t properly spread or balanced. Look at Julian…nice stance except the fore of his front foot appears to be off the ground.

What’s going to ensue here is the reason I believe Sanchez still isn’t healthy. The WR is going to run a simple stop route and will be short of the first down by about 3 yards. Sanchez is there easily and all he has to do is immediately hit the receiver and he stops the play and brings up a 4th and 3. He would have lit the receiver up because the errant throw forces the WR to leave his feet. Instead he lazily tries to play the ball and plays it really poorly. It was played so poorly that it almost looked like he wasn’t trying (and I know he was). The image below really doesn’t show just how bad an angle Sanchez takes on the ball. You have to go back and watch it live. Again, I think Sanchez is in a lot of pain and is concerned about even the smallest amount of contact.

This next play was an option. Striker immediately gets into the backfield. I don’t know how OU teaches the option defense here but I would play this outside in so Striker would take Boykin and allow the safety and LB time to get wide and pick up the pitch man. Instead OU seems to play it inside out (unless Striker made a mistake) and Striker takes the pitch man leaving Boykin to run inside. The safety and the LB are unable to stone Boykin and it’s a TD.

 

What do I take from this first series? That for the most part OU wasn’t getting beat up in the trenches or outgunned on the edges. To me it just looks like a conservative defensive design that makes things easy for TCU and execution that was lacking. The best defenses are the ones that make people earn things. I feel like when you don’t pressure the QB and you don’t put your players in a position to compete on the outside then you’re making things too easy on the offense and you’re also setting the wrong tone for your defense. I’ll never forget the way Alabama pressured Golson in the national championship game and never allowed him to set his feet or get any forward momentum. They played tight coverage and harassed them all night.