Trench Warfare | Oklahoma vs. Texas (1st Half)
Posted on: October 14, 2014
Sometimes I have to remember that while I’m a fan, I’ve got a responsibility too. I’m very opinionated about how things need to be done, so sometimes I can get down about a performance or a strategy I don’t like. I have to admit that I’m lucky to be part of this site where K is the voice of reason. He talked me off the ledge this weekend, and while I’m not excited about how well we played saturday, I am very happy we got the win. This team can win out, and definitely has the talent to do just that. I know that folks get tired of the coach speak that Coach Stoops can use when talking about execution. When I take the Joe Friday approach and get “Just the Facts Ma’am”, it doesn’t look as bad as I thought. In this first half I want to point out how a couple of things were just a touch off. We fix those things, and we’re light years better. Like K said in his post, a talent gap we can’t fix. Mental errors we can.
Coach Boulware has been a huge addition to the staff. When you look at the action behind the wedge, it looks like we’re pulling guards and tackles on sweeps and counters. Like Durron Neal here getting across the formation and outside, it’s a neat action that gets good seals, and doesn’t give the defenders solid looks at where the blocking is coming from.
“Chubs! Don’t fall down! Stay on your feet!” As a young player Coach Scheible used to say that a lot. Staying on your feet is a big deal. A lot of players think they need to lay out and dive at plays. If you ever get a chance to watch an NFL practice, just look at how few players are on the ground. Players fight to stay on their feet. The Texas defender fell down in the hole to Ross’ left. It was a six point fall.
Once Ross clears him, the kicker’s hips are turned north and south. No ability for power to even slow Ross down. Ross gets inside a great block by Stanvon Taylor to the left and it’s over.
Ross is just cartoonish fast. We need to get him more touches in space where he can break a tackle on a swing pass.
Our first possession didn’t even happen until six minutes left in the 1st quarter. On this 2nd down play, Perine completely missed the hole. Being a young back and amped up, he bounced it outside too quickly. He’ll learn to stay patient as time goes on. He’s one on one with the linebacker in the hole if he hits it up in there, and it’s likely a gain of four or five yards instead of negating leverage in getting outside of his blocks.
With the ensuing 3rd and 7, Trevor has to scan the field. Bell was open quite a bit, and here he could get the ball to him pretty easily. Hicks is turned and running with a pump fake, and Bell likely gets the 1st down with a catch.
When we get the ball back, Ross just missed a nice cutback lane. It’s a double edged sword with Ross. He hits the hole hard, and if it’s open it’s over. If it’s not open, it’s stuffed, and he hasn’t shown the vision at this point to hit big cutback lanes.
This was a good lookin’ play. Knight has really nice pocket to set in, and finds Bell over the middle. Trevor has to start seeing these guys when they’re open more consistently. He doesn’t trust his protection and wants to take off too quickly.
This was a nice pitch and catch. Blake Bell is a legitimate pass catching weapon. This got us in field goal range, and was one of Trevor’s nicer plays on the day.
Before the field goal, and the last significant play we had in the 2nd quarter believe it or not, Blake goes outside to the corner. I notated Blake with the left blue arrow. Blake has to work inside out on this play, and if he does, the linebacker with the other blue arrow gets blocked. Samaje would then be able to cut inside that and the corner could never get there. This play is like a TD for us if we block it correctly.
Finally, there wasn’t a lot to talk about in the 1st half. I’ll have the 2nd up tomorrow. Keep calm and Sooner on there folks, we’re really close to fixing the execution mistakes.
66 Comments
Good Lord, I hope so. That first half was a dayum out of body experience.
i hear ya man. Hopefully we’ve been saving stuff for Baylor like we used to do for Texas. It’s time to turn it loose and open the playbook in my opinion
Has Kansas State had 2 weeks to prepare for OU, if so coach Snyder will have them ready as always. OU can ill afford to have another 1st half like we seen at Texas (score excluded). Do you think OU will take the wraps off the offense or can we see more of the same?
Man, at some point TK has got to start running out of the zone read. Stoops made mention that he would like to see him run more in yesterday’s Presser, but also acknowledged that they didn’t want to take a chance of him getting hurt.
Again, no reason to save anyone or anything. OU in a loser out format right now. Makes me think Cody Thomas is nursing an injury and there is no back up.
That makes sense too. What did he injure before the season that kept him out of that first game?
I heard it was his shoulder and not sure but think it was non-throwing arm. But you know how the injury info is with Bob.
I think and hope we’ll see some changes. We have to.
What in your opinion seduces our last two OC’s into the ineffectual running into the pile time after time? And doing so with Ross and earlier with Murray who aren’t exactly optimal inside runners.
The problem with fans is that they only notice when it doesn’t work. As JY noted above, we had some open holes in the middle that our RBs missed. On the other hand, guess where Perine ran to get his TD in the second half? Between the tackles into the pile. For the number of times we ran it, it was open for big gain multiple times. JY, do you have a number on how many snaps were planned runs between the tackles?
Well, I’ll say that the coaches are lucky that they have JY doing this service for them. I don’t have much time to study film, nor would I know what to look for even if I did have time. JY’s Trench Warfare is what let’s me know that it’s not as bad as it looks. Without it, I would just assume that our offense was putrid. It’s a hell of a service he gives us!
amen!
Yeah. Always waiting for JY to serve the main course. Meat and potatoes here. So it’s JY’s turn to show us what’s fixable and get me back off the ledge. Have to remember these are young RBs and QB. Great stuff.
Thanks man.
Thanks Toats. The two return TD’s really limited the amount of time we had the ball in the 1st half, but the defense couldn’t get off the field either. Then when you miss little things against a good team, it stalls out drives.
Texsa’s first drive really drove me crazy. All of those penalties, and we couldn’t get them off the field! I seriously remember wondering why Charlie Strong was getting so mad at his players for getting false starts and what not, because we couldn’t stop them at all.
I’d be interested to see a breakdown of whence we got our run yardage vs how many attempts we made. Texas was stacking the interior, yet we ran outside comparatively little. To me, you always take what’s being given first.
I don’t. I can try to find out.
Not real sure. It befuddles me. Perine and Ford are great at it, but I’d love to see Ross and one of the others in there at the same time with a tight end. The flares are there, and when you get Ross in space, anything can happen.
Trench warfare is a completely appropriate title for last Saturday’s game, as OU reminded me of the French troops in WWI that stayed in a trench for years on end without advancing an inch.
British and German troops did the same.
Yes, I know that. Should have just said it reminded me of 1914 France.
Thanks JY, I kept trying to tell people it wasn’t as bad as it looked, as we had some open stuff that our guys just didn’t see. I noted both Perine and Ross’ open holes that they just flat out missed. I know people like to rag on Ross for his running, but no one is doing that to Perine, though he did the same thing. They both just need time finding those holes. That, and Bell could’ve had 100+ yards had Knight done his progressions just a tad longer. He was sitting in open field all night.
The play were perine missed the hole and took it outside….if trevor keeps it, the left side looks so wide open for him….uughhh! Its killin me
While it looks like it is, I went back to watch the game and if I remember right this shot is taking right after the DE crashed down. This one actually looked like the correct read.
I would agree with this
See what I mean.
I had a picture but for whatever reason it won’t post.
thanks leslie
I imagine WAY more often then not, the hand off has been the correct read. I always chuckle when a fan posts that Knight is ALWAYS wide open to keep it. That is simply not true.
I wonder if DC’s or dline coaches are teaching ends to show staying home for a split second longer and then crash like your hairs on fire. With somebody as young and inexperienced as knight it might just make him read give every single time
Coaches are going to teach that anyways, but when you have a running back hitting a hole hard, they simply are not going to make the play.
Actually this isn’t even a read. If it was a read then Thompson would work up to block the linebacker, instead he is blocking out on the end. If we run the read here then Thompson works up to the backer, which makes Cedric Reed make the decision, stay where he is or crash down on Perine. If we would actually run the dad gum read and let Trevor just play ball and use his best asset that would negate the safety you see at the 25 coming down late to be an extra defender in the box, it would set up big plays through play action and give Trevor much easier reads in the passing game. But not running the read here leaves a safety and a linebacker virtually unblocked. Looking at Perines path this looks to be headed to the right A gap, our guard 77, has pulled behind the center while the center has blocked down, looks like it may be a trap play. The only thing that makes it look like a read is the mesh point between Trevor and Perine. I’m sure the defensive staffs from other teams see this every week as well and by now they aren’t even worried about option football from our offense
Need to get the ball to Durron. Need to get the ball to Durron.
I would agree we need to get the ball to someone, and I am not saying I have lost all confidence in Durron Neal, he has had some huge drops in crucial situations and that is hard for a QB to forget sometimes. Either way, Trevor needs to have better full field vision.
He can run the Jet sweep as well as anyone. Don’t have to put SO much on Shepard’s plate especially when we know the entire secondary is focused on him.
He had two pretty bad drops against WVU, but I can’t think of any others. In fact, he’s been one of the most consistent receivers (when targeted) over the past two years. Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I can’t think of any other times he’s dropped a catchable pass in a crucial situation.
Durron has shown he has some serious wheels. I feel for him though, he has 23 catches with 306 yards but no TD’s.
Agree 100%. If TK could find Neal just a couple more times a game it would take some pressure off of Shep. I hate to use the “he needs more touches” line that we fans so often use, but he does.
Their DB’s were crashing down hard on TK when he got out on the perimeter.
Which would be huge if they call those POP plays K was talking about. Which is what Seattle does with Wilson, I assume. If 2 of you crash on me, you’re bound to have left somebody down field open
Yes. And if a corner leaves the receiver to cover the QB before he crosses the line-of-scrimmage, the QB can dump the pass over the corner – just like Swoops did to us
Great break down on the return. Very interesting as we always hear about ‘staying in your lanes’ and it is much more complicated than just running up the field to the first guy you see. Couch Bouyah getting it done with all phases of ST and prepping Blake, too. Another great hire!!
Not something I noticed so much earlier this year, but in the last two games, it appears Knight is doing a below average job in reading pass coverages, and knowing where the open WR should be. Plenty of examples. That is a problem. It is also something that is difficult to tell from watching games on tv, b/c you don’t always get a shot of the entire field.
I say that, to say this, I still think Knight and his passing difficulties (ie, missing throwing balls, or missing open receivers) is our biggest issue. If he would just be average or slightly above average in that regards, I think you’d see a pretty big improvement from our offense.
I know guys drop passes but you can’t help, seeing the drops each game, if KJ makes that 3rd down catch, TK sees Bell a couple of other times, we aren’t having this discussion. He’s never going to be more than a 60% or so guy. Come on, TK, and make me eat that!!!
Maybe he’d have time to read the defense if he wasn’t so busy watching for the play call and then communicating it to the linemen.
Perine’s walk-in TD, pushing the score to 31-13, was a nice set of blocking. Nila does a nice job and pulls to create a hole that allows Perine to walk in the end zone. There are good examples of OU blocking that makes is just silly easy to run for big yards.
In regards to Ross, I still think he’s is potentially more dangerous than Perine. Ross has sprinter’s speed. Julian was one of the fastest straight-line players on the team. Ross seems to have clearly taken that title for himself. Thus, maybe get Ross in situations where he can simply run around and by people.
I think OU has run some counter sweeps; don’t recall specific instances very well, however. Buck sweep maybe…
http://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/assets/4889870/BuckSweepVsMizz.gif
http://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/assets/4889894/BuckSweepVsTenn.gif
Just thinking about things here. None of this is really new or mind-blowing. Just spitballing.
Gotta thank JY. On the play where Bell missed the block inside, I was able to show off to my friends about “blocking with your eyes”. I learnded something here!
Learnin things iz gud
A little off topic, but how good would KD Cannon look in C&C right now? He has been outstanding for Baylor so far. Gotta think he’d be starting for OU this season had he decided to come to Norman.
And didn’t we think that Bibbs, the TE at ISU, was coming to OU too?
Every time I see Cannon, I get frustrated ’cause I’d love to have him in our offense. Can’t stand ’em, but Baylor has stockpiled scary strong WR talent in Goodley, Norwood, Cannon, Lee, Clay Fuller & Coleman. All can and have contributed. Hope our many young pups develop and soon we’ll be able to send a fleet of receivers onto Owen Field like that.
As always, good info. I particularly liked the KO return breakdown. If we are being more “creative” with the blocking than just straight ahead man-on-man, that is some smart coaching compared to what i recall seeing.
I guess it’s boring to say “you’ve done it again, JY,” but you have. This is another great post.
Great stuff JY. This is kinda where you start to miss Keith Ford. Runs with power, speed, and cuts on a dime along with the swing passes with his excellent hands.
Yep, I think Ford sees those cutback lanes that Perine missed. Perine’s vision will keep improving.
jy, question from an amateur………I understand the explanation of execution mistakes……..but don’t you think as a position coach, bb gets frustrated with continually having his line face stacked d’s due to the apparent shackles being placed on tk, his spotty play, and some questionable play-calling ……..I don’t know if it is true, but on game threads sat in the 3rid q, I think, it was reported/speculated that bb a/o norvell got on jh to speed things up and all of a sudden the o moved for a brief time and got the td………in any event, I would think the o coaches meetings might be pretty tense with all the disfunction……….any thoughts?…..thxs
The speeding up of the offense starts when they make first downs. It’s not bb a/o Norvell saying something. If they don’t get a first down, you won’t see the sped up offense. Pass completions are the answer to loosening up the stacked d, not different running plays.
When a pass play is called does it appear that Trevor has different reads or are the coaches drawing up plays to go to certain receivers? Because it seems like Trevor doesn’t scan the field and he’s young so going through progressions is tough but is he improving in that area or is it that the coaches aren’t asking/expecting him to go through 3 or 4 reads.
To me they might as well just roll him out every play because he stares down his target every time so he’s taking the rest of the field out of play, at least if the roll him then he doesn’t have 9 linemen in his way.
I think he struggles with that a little…or rather…I think he predetermines his target before the snap (based only off of what the defense is showing). He does need to do a better job of progression, but I don’t think it’s any worse than any other QB after 11 starts.
It’s also hard to know exactly what’s going on because we do run some run/pass option, and outside of the Tulsa game, I don’t think TK has thrown on those plays. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since the defense isn’t always going to allow for the pass, but it just makes it hard to know exactly what the options are from an outside perspective.
Predetermines that’s what I was looking for. But I’m wondering if he’s doing that himself or the coaches are telling him who the intended mismatch is for.
Also I was listening to the wronginance hour with al jim and dean. And I guess they were saying the last game only had a handful of read option plays but I guess JH wants to disguise the read option by making every running play appear to be the read option. Which could I guess hold the play side’s DE a little bit but I don’t think it’s working.
I disagree re: predetermined targets. Remember that scramble-TD to sheperd in the Sugar Bowl? No way that he didn’t check anyone else. Rather, I think he’s uncomfortable sitting in the pocket for so long, and takes the first opening he sees. Would love to see him relax or throw on the run some more though, as he does seem very comfortable there.
Personally I think he’s nervous in the pocket and locks on to the main receiver and possibly gives #2 a quick glance. He always looks more comfortable when he’s moving and seems to scan a lot more while he’s running.
Hey JY, since you’ve had a chance to break down the film…what was going on with Darlington? He really struggled quite a bit on Saturday, which is uncharacteristic of him. Thoughts?
I can’t answer the question, but will only say that this site highlighted Darlington as the key risk, going into the UT game, many times.
TFB was spot on calling that…no surprise, I guess. The site is getting quite a rep for being able to see the future.
Hang in there, JY, lots of football and big games left this season.
To me, aside from the X’s and O’s, the Sooners didn’t seem emotional or focused this past Saturday. They looked tired and many stated as much.
I’m expecting an energized effort from them at home Saturday.