The Football Brainiacs

This is rather last minute and abbreviated but since we are still a few hours from the OU vs. KSU game I wanted to post a few thoughts on KSU. I had a chance to review some of the KSU vs. TCU film.

– First, TCU played horribly in the first half. In fact, coach Gary Patterson said that his defense should be ashamed of themselves. I say that only to note that the score may have been a bit misleading.

– Kansas State is, as usual, a very disciplined team that rarely makes mistakes. However, that is partly due to the fact that there are a fairly vanilla team. The less you do, the less you’ll make mistakes. But that also means you are more predictable which is an advantage for someone like Lincoln Riley. He will likely have a better grip on how to attack Synder’s team.

– Defensively, KSU is a quarters based team that will match up man to man downfield. Their normally, off-alignment (standard in quarters) should give the Sooners more room to throw those quick stop routes and slants. But KSU is also a good tackling team so a key to the game will be OU’s ability to get yards after the catch versus KSU’s ability to tackle consistently in space.

– KSU is not a team that likes to blitz much but they’ll pick their spots. Last week against TCU they brought a cornerback blitz that resulted in a Boykin thrown interception. I will say though that they blitz was not well disguised but it was brought as a stunt, instead of a straight corner blitz.

– I will be surprised if the Sooners can’t move the ball with consistently on the Cats but another key to the game will be OU’s ability to touchdowns in the red zone, as opposed to settling for field goals.

– Offensively, KSU likes to use a lot of different personnel groupings. They can be power and they can be finesse.

– The Cats have a nice running game that is only enhanced by their QB’s ability to move. The QB isn’t the most explosive, start/stop guy but he reads blocks well, is decisive and wants he’s moving…he’s got some pretty wheels.

– You’ll see KSU show a lot of run action (even pulling linemen) on pass plays so a key to the game will be Oklahoma’s safeties being disciplined. Perhaps this is more of a reason we’ve heard that OU will  leave Parker at safety in the nickel package and bring in Will Johnson. Byrd has shown on multiple occasions this year that he tends to bite down and inside heavily, something that would leave the Sooners vulnerable to the Cats option game and POP and downfield attack.

– Because the safeties will need to remain disciplined, it will leave the Oklahoma front 6/7 alone in stopping the run. Last week, Texas was able to salt away large portions of the game by racking up first down after first down on the ground. The OU front 6/7 needs to play more inspired this week.

– KSU’s offensively line is pretty good this year. They’ll open holes in the run game and do a nice job of giving the QB time on passing downs.

– One of things that stood out to me about Kansas State that I don’t recall seeing as much from them in the past, is the fact that they are taking a lot of shots downfield. Against, TCU it seemed like every other play was a downfield throw. Their QB has a decent release and he doesn’t hesitate but did not connect on a ton of those deep shots against TCU. Patterson always has a lot of speed on the corners and KSU doesn’t necessarily have elite speed at the outside WR position so that didn’t leave a ton of space for KSU to work with. Nevertheless they still took those shots. So another key to the game will be JT and Sanchez ability to hold up against that deep passing threat.

– As many of you know by now, there was a debacle at the airport yesterday and the Sooners were delayed hours. They didn’t end leaving Oklahoma till around 11 o’clock last night. For some folks that may be a distraction but a lot of times, in high pressure situations, a distraction takes the nerves away and you just go out and perform.

– Last week, Oklahoma was flat. They did not play well. A normal coach Bob Stoops team will follow a flat performance up with an inspired one. If this one follows the Stoops script, the Sooners should come out ready to play. Let’s hope they do!