The Football Brainiacs

Mike Stoops on Getting Better

– The message from Mike is that much of the issues the defense has had is “a lot of little things…execution…letting the quarterback get out…not running a blitz or a coverage the right way.”

– A theme that kept reoccurring with Mike was how one of the things that the defense seems to be grappling with is getting their players to adjust properly to the “different formations of so many different plays.” But the good news is he also talked about the need to “make our system where it’s player friendly…where they can execute and go out and play fast and understand what they’re doing and not be too complicated, but still have enough variations of our own to complicate the offense as well.” Hopefully that means there will be some simplification towards the end of the season.

– It was tough to tell whether Mike was implying that the defense has become more complicated than it was last year (and it certainly has, for example, OU played almost exclusively man coverage on the back end last year in the Baylor game) but he did clearly indicate that they were a better defense last year…at least on 3rd down execution. Talked about this year, part of their inability to get off the field is just their inability to play “clean” and to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

He didn’t indicate reasons for this, though he didn’t mention inexperience but didn’t necessarily mention it as the cause.

– Mike definitely sounded frustrated with the defense though. He said, “we just haven’t been quite good enough to win in tough situations…that’s frustrating for us all…I still believe we have great players, we just need to be able to execute better.”

– On Steven Parker, “Steven’s got incredible talent…it’s just understanding the nuances…the movement…the adjusting…being able to adapt.” What Mike seemed to be indicating is that Steven is a special player but he’s still going through that process of learning to adjust to the offensive adjustments and play without thinking so that his elite athletic ability can shine. But overall he indicated that Parker has tremendous upside and talent. “You see him getting better and better.”

– It was interesting to hear Mike talk about the teams motivation despite having two losses and facing a very steep, if not insurmountable climb, to getting back into the playoff picture. He certainly didn’t seem ready to concede that they had no chance saying, “a lot can happen in this league…there’s a lot of competitive games left. Some things need to happen for us to climb back in the race…nothing is going to help us if we lose another one, we certainly understand that…you concentrate on yourself…we just gotta go out and play…play better.”

– The word Mike used to describe the kind of defense they want to have is “versatility.” I think a lot of what OU fans are seeing on the field is a process of them trying to become more versatile and complete. Last year OU struggled against the run and changes were clearly made in an attempt to be able to get better against the run while remaining sound against the pass. That process hasn’t gone as smoothly as they would have liked it would seem but it’s clear that they continue to work towards being a more complete defense.

Wide Splits

– Last week Tapper talked about how the team spent quite a bit of time working on how to defend the wide splits that Oklahoma continues to see. This week, Jordan Phillips was asked about how much of a focus there was on defending the wide splits this week and he said:

“We’re just trying to figure out some ways that we can have them get out of those (wide splits).”

He was also asked what he thought when he first saw the wide splits and he said, “honestly, I was like ‘what am I going to do here.’ I just didn’t know what to do.”

His response becomes a little alarming, for lack of a better word, when he continued by saying that he didn’t know what do against the wide splits, “especially against K-State because they have that run pass option…I was like…I really don’t know what to do.” He said that the he felt the wide splits really schemed him out of the play (which is obviously a win for K. State).

Jordan did indicate that they have sufficiently prepared for the wide splits and said, “we will be ready next time it happens.”

Super K’s Commentary on the Wide Splits: As a general matter, wide splits are something that you have to attack but you need to do something that the defense seems somewhat reluctant to do, which is put your corners on a true island in man coverage because you have to get your safeties involved. Against the splits you want to have a lot of gap exchange because your offensive linemen are going to be man blocking for the most part. But anytime you start blitzing a line backer or getting a lot of movement with wide splits, you can open up run lanes, especially if you get your blitzer chipped. The safeties can act as…safeties…meaning they offer you support in your gap integrity and allow you to be more aggressive up front while still being sound against the run in the case there is a possible mistake. In general much of Oklahoma’s defensive problems, while nuanced, can still be summed up in what I believe to be a lack of aggression and risk. That shows up in their secondary alignment, in the calls and it showed up against the wide splits.

The Offense

Durron Neal talked about the hot topic with wide receiver core, Sterling Shepard’s rib injury due to the camera in the corner of the end zone: “ That’s him (his toughness). We battle through a lot of injuries and we take pride on stepping up and making plays for our team. Just lean on each other like brothers like we’ve always done.”

– Iowa State plays a lot one-on-one coverage. Durron was asked if he was excited about it: “Always. If you can’t beat one on one coverage you shouldn’t be playing.”

Durron was asked about Iowa States physical bump and run and how he liked playing against that: “ We love that as receivers. You lick your chops knowing you have to get ready for stuff like that. It’s one on one. That’s what you like. It’ll bring the competitiveness out of you.”

– Durron was then asked how he thought Trevor Knight played outside of the pick six: “ He looked like the Trevor Knight of the Sugar Bowl. It was good to see him get into a rhythm and get his confidence back up. He started finding guys down field and we got the offense going.”

– Asked what it’s like going up against Sanchez in practice every day: “ It’s fun. I go against Julian more, but in camp, before Shep and I switched sides, I went against him a lot. He’s a great competitor. That’s why he’s a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award.  He’s one of the best DB’s in the country.  I’m glad he’s on our team.”

Jay Norvell then came into the room and talked for an extensive amount of time. He’s always a great interview. He talked a lot on the young guys and DGB’s progression.

– Norvell  was first asked on how they went through the bye week as an offensive/wide receiver unit:  “Pretty typical off week. We wanted to focus on some things we aren’t real strong at and, obviously, work with some of the young guys and put them in some tougher situations.”

– Norvell on Trevor Knight: “He had a good game. He was zeroed in and accurate. It was good. We got a lot of people involved and we’ll continue to do that.”

– Norvell and media had a good laugh at Neal’s comment that he better beat one on one or he shouldn’t be playing college football. Norvell’s response was classic. “ He better believe that or I’m playing the wrong guy.”

– He then got serious and elaborated more on the question: “Durron is really confident.  He’s been very patient throughout his career.  He’s really enjoying playing, and he’s playing well.  He continues to improve. As the year goes on, different players are going to get different opportunities. I’m Durron will have more as the year goes on.”

– Sheppard and Neal have been great leaders this year. They’ve been vocal and leading through action and work ethic. Norvell was asked if it was something that was taught by others that have come through the program: “They’ve had good examples on how to practice and prepare.  Those two need to pass it down to the younger players. We talk about that a lot.”

– The offense has been inconsistent this season. Norvell explained how they need to go about getting more big plays: “Execution. Big plays can come from any part of the game.  Running game, short passes or screen game. It’s just guys making plays and being confident at every position.”

– Norvell explained how OU dictates the tempo. Not experience on the field: “We dictate the tempo. We dictate it on who we want out there.  When we decide to go fast when we feel like we need to, and we slow it down when we feel like we need to.  I don’t think it(experience) has anything to do with it.”