Bullet Points from OU vs. Tulsa
Posted on: September 8, 2014
Image via Soonersports.com
– Was really scary to see Charles Walker go down. Walker needs the reps. The physical tools are there. Thankfully the injury is only an MCL sprain. Coach Stoops reported it was a sprain but I’d be lying if I said coach Stoops’ reports on injuries are always met with complete confidence by me. I have confirmed this through a family member and it sounds like this is indeed just a sprain and he should be back in a few weeks.
– Also, sad to see Zack Sanchez go down. Would really like to see him begin to tackle properly…head up, driving up through his hips and wrapping up instead of going for the kill shot. Julian and Q Hayes showed everyone that you can form tackle and still make someone never want to catch a ball on your side.
– Phillips continues to dominate. He’s just too big, too quick and too long.
– Really surprised at just how strong young Mathew Romar is for such a young and undersized guy. Does a good job of preventing offensive linemen from clearing him out.
– As much as I felt Trevor Knight was up and down throughout the game, something that I really love is just his ability to make plays with his feet. His mobility can mask a plethora of problems.
– Very interesting to see Steven Parker get the start in the nickel package. Last week in the nickel package, Q Hayes went to nickel and then Hatari and Ahmad became the starting safeties. This week the first time I saw the nickel package, Parker played nickel and Thomas and Byrd were the safeties.
– Also saw Parker come in at safety in the nickel early in the second series. In that same series Parker was in a pattern match man zone and immediately came down and stoned a receiver. Parker continues to impress. Just looks ice cold for such a young player. I think I’m gonna start calling him “The Ice Man”…just to be lame.
– Shead really struggled early getting out on that tunnel screen. Whiffed on both of his first two attempts.
– That QB draw where OU looks to see if the ILB vacates is going to really pay dividends on those swing passes later and is going to change the coverage options for opposing defenses. That subtle play where Shead gets out there and blocks for Trevor is going to have not so subtle implications down the road. Really like that play and what it means.
– Man, I like Blake Bell in the passing game. He does a great job of catching the ball with his hands. He also does a nice job of using a little lean and head fake to get cover guys to bite just enough. Additionally, he’s got good vision and knows how to get himself up field in a hurry. I’d like to see him more and more involved in the pass game and I think we’ll get to see that.
– Loved the TD pass to Bell late in the first quarter. In general that’s a really tough play to guard. Because you’re in the redzone and your personnel is 2 WR, 1 TE and 1 FB (Rip). They’ve got Rip lined up in line and you’ve really got two runners in the backfield in Trevor and Ford. So here you’re forcing the defense to go man across against your two WRs and your flex TE (Bell). We play action to the weakside so you’re getting a run action from the offensive linemen which confuses the LBs and the single safety in the box in their read. They all crash to the weakside and we’ve got an option of Trevor actually running strong side or a one on one pass to Blake Bell. Trevor can read the single safety, if he drops he can run and if he comes strong side (like he did in this play) then he’s got Bell one on one. Really difficult to defend this, especially with the size of our OL.
– Chuka quietly had a nice game.
– Geneo is nice. That pick was incredible. Look how naturally he changes direction! There is actually a play late in the first quarter where the RB fakes like he’s going to block and then slips out of the backfield. Geneo actually does a really amazing job of turning and running a few steps with him. We’ve finally got some NFL guys in the front 7 of our defense.
– That little flea flicker play is another one that’s going to pay dividends. One might think, “why show this in a Tulsa game?”. Because again, when you’re a physical running team like OU and you’ve got three big guys in the backfield in the diamond formation along with Trevor Knight you’re going to naturally get the safeties coming down hill to help out. This play is going to force the Tennessee coaches to tell their safeties to watch for the flea flicker out of this power formation which means OU is going to have an extra tick or so to run the ball out of that very formation.
– Man I love Dimitri Flowers. He looks so natural as a WR, as a runner, etc. He’s got no stiffness in his knees and ankles. He’s just a more fluid athlete than Trey Millard was. Obviously not the same playmaker or blocker yet but just more fluid in his lower body.
– Before Walker went out…he was disruptive! Again, really hope he gets better soon. He’s quickly becoming a difference maker. In the second quarter on a 2nd and short he gets great push and almost single-handedly prevents the first down.
– Saw Torrea at both nose guard and defensive end.
– Jordan Thomas did a pretty decent job for such a young guy.
– Man what a play by Ross. Not only did he show great speed but he had a nice hesitation move in the hole that really opened things up for him.
– I love that little double eagle lookin front that OU shows where they’ve got Evans and Byrd (I know I know…he’s a safety) lined up over the A gaps like their about to rush. And then at the last second Byrd drops fast. Byrd does a beautiful job of dropping in coverage and would have had an interception if he could have held on to the ball. This is going to be a devastating blitz/drop play. I will say this though, on that play Ahmad Thomas absolutely got beat in a bad way. Really didn’t look good there in man coverage.
– OU is going to get poor KJ young killed on the passes to him in the flat.
– OU ended up giving up over 300 yards of offense but actually only gave up 95 yards in the first half. OU came in the second half and just looked sloppy on defense. Missed assignment and then a missed tackle right away.
– Interesting to see Wade and Dimon not playing. Not sure what that was about but we’ll try to find out.
– OU LBs better get a lot better at shadowing those inside WR slant routes before Baylor comes to town because they will take those to the house. Tulsa started to realize that they could find space on inside routes and our LBs regularly were either too shallow, too deep or breaking on the wrong WR. Definitely something I’d attack if I were a team like Baylor.
– So cool that Caleb Gastelum earned a scholarship! He definitely did some nice things in the Tulsa game.
– Overall pretty decent effort in the rain against a vastly outmatched opponent. Lots of talent on this team and you’ll see a fired up team next week.
– One last note. Was interesting to see Tulane (a team Tulsa beat) really put up a good fight against Georgia Tech.
63 Comments
I am shocked the OU defense gets so sloppy in the second half. I can understand getting the twos and threes reps but it gives me no confidence when they are unable to play disciplined football. As much as we raved about this D in the off-season, it’s not “there” yet and it had better gets its shizzle together or you’re right Baylor and even some other Big12 teams will gash them.
Want to see Baylor play a real team before getting worried about them.
And a road game at that. It’s amazing how different Baylor looks when they aren’t playing on their home field.
Yes it is! And as Scott pointed out they’re playing what has to be the easiest OOC schedule of anyone in the Big 12.
I’m very much not happy with our secondary. We’re letting way too much happen in opponents passing games.
Those slants scare me to death, we have got to fix that before conference play.
Agree. Went back and watched them and they were wide open often. Baylor will house those.
I couldnt agree more. Slants have always killed us and this year seems to be no exception. MStoops better focus on getting a LB to anticipate those and get inside of it somehow or we’ll be in trouble down the road.
Mike Stoops said Wade and Dimon got dinged up in practice so they didn’t play.
Mike also alluded to a few plays that OU looked bad on and they will fix this week, assuming the inside slants.
wish Walker would be available for this Tenn game, depth is always great but when your depth has that kind of talent it’s devastating to other teams.
I’m with you Kelly.
Hate Walker being out but if Dimon is back that will kind of equalize it.
[ I think I’m gonna start calling him “The Ice Man”…just to be lame.]
I laughed. A lot.
Pretty sure the coaches were asked about Dimon and Wade and said they were injured during the week. Nothing major but just for precaution held out of the game.
Why the hell was Walker playing without a brace on his knees?
What’s the latest on Sanchez for the Tennessee game? I saw someone post that it was just a “stinger” and that he’d likely play this week. Has this been confirmed?
Nevermind, just saw via twitter that Stoops said he will practice during the week and is expected to play. We’ll see if that actually happens, of course.
That’s great news! Although coach Stoops plays his cards very tight to the vest about injuries, as you say.
Also, La Tech blew out ULL who was conf. USA preseason favorite..
Yes. That surprised me, but makes OUr win look even better.
OU played ULMonroe, not Tech or Layfayette
Huh? They played LA Tech, and La Tech beat ULM…am I missing something here?
Nope. La Tech.
I see. My bad.
A lot of LA directional, technical and regional schools to keep straight. But I love it when OU steamrolls one of them only to watch them go on and win their conference and have a winning season.
I think Tech beat what used to be UL-Lafayette (now just UL). The Ragin’ Cajuns. ULM played Idaho.
Ohhh…I see. I was just going by the graphic on James’ phone when he posted it on the Tulsa game thread….thanks, Kuzi!
It was LaTech unless ULM hijacked their uni’s.
played and Beat Tech… who then played and beat Lafayette..
While it was frustrating at times with the 2’s & 3’s, I finally set back to remember that they’ll never be wholesale team changes in a big game. They’ll mix in a couple 2/3 in rotations, but not all like a blowout situation.
Absolutely loved that Caleb Gastelum got the game ball and a SCHOLARSHIP! How cool is it that a walk-on fights the good fight for all those years and is finally rewarded and you can tell his teammates absolutely loved it. Couldn’t be happier and prouder for the young man.
Totally agree!! Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!
Let’s give Gastelum some credit here! He’s no Rudy! He was 5′ 6” 185 and known for little other then poor grades (which he now attributes to dyslexia) and working hard. He was later indicted by the SEC (the other SEC) for insider trading, and paid something like $400,000 in fines. So much for the “character” part of the four C’s!
I have a huge amount of RESPECT for any guy who is man enough to make the commitment to walk-on at any major university. These guys know they are facing a monumental challenge to ever even see the field, but they believe in themselves and love the game so much! The challenges that a walk-on faces is so huge and these guys give so much for very little in return. Caleb is undersized but man does he play with a lot of heart!
Rudy! Was “exactly” what I thought of when I saw the video too!!! Awesome!
Whats your thoughts “K” on Trevor floating those long balls? imo Sheppard going up for all them jump balls scares the tar outta me…and yes he did come down in a bad way on one of them
Yeah too much air under them and your odds go way down when the DB has two inches on both your outside WR.
Going north, the light wind came around the end zone building and held up long passes. At the game, it was more noticeable than it was on DVR/TV. But TK did throw behind some receivers.
Well I was wrong about GameDay coming to Norman. Until the Big 12 starts beating the EspnSEC on a regular basis, OU is going to remain the elephant in the room. I’m not watching that show until they come to a Big 12 game. That’s my story……….
Me too I say we protest and not watch
Alright. But I have to confess I haven’t been watching them for years now UNLESS they were in the state anyway, Zack. LOL
I quit watching Gameday about 5 years ago.
I thought it was a joke that Gameday was going to be in Fargo, freaking North Dakota instead of Norman. But that is actually for real. Wow, that is so tired!
I couldn’t be happier with the way this team has started the season. We have come out and DOMINATED the first 2 opponents. This team has an edge…they have an attitude. We have seen a lot of good Oklahoma football teams come out sluggish and beat over-matched opponents by a lot less. This team looks in mid-season form and Stoops is great at making sure his teams IMPROVE through-out the year. I think it will be a huge disappointment if this team loses a regular season game.
So far, 2 games against teams that were unable to mount any kind of challenge, the areas of concern are the same as pre-season: ILB and WRs. Need to plan on Shannon not playing this season and get Franklin more involved. At least 1 other receiver needs to step up. Need Quick and KJ to be the playmakers they’ve been advertised as.
Isn’t Rashod Favors also in that group?
One of my favorite signees coming out of hs but has been moved so much and asked to gain weight, now a 250# OLB. Franklin has the speed necessary to play in space and cover in this OU D where the ILB is asked to do much more.
Would or can Shannon come back next year? If Shannon, DGB, and Mixon are back and good to go in 2015 plus Mayfield, that would be 4 very good athletes to have around.
Hope to see a new wrinkle on OFF/DEF for Tenn. Done with the Vanilla. But like the old sang says, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
Vanilla offense will probably be more than enough to take care of TN.
Vanilla ice will be enough to take care of Tennessee
These are great bullet points K. Excellent job. I particularly agree with the comments about stuff that will pay dividends down the road. Seems to me that there’s a lot of that going on, which is a great thing.
Agree with your praise for Flowers. Don’t know if he can run over folks like Millard did, but he’s as solid as we’ve seen as a receiver coming out of the backfield. Every play that went to him looked like “no sweat.”
There’s a part of me that see’s Bell’s move into the starting spot as an indictment of how really weak the other guys have been the past couple of seasons, but the other part of me loves the fact that he’s really doing it. His blocking is ok and getting better fast cause he’s a smart player and has so much talent, and his ability as a receiver is undeniable, he’s great in that role.
Matt dimon hurt his elbow last week. I have a class with him and he was telling me about it.
How badly?
Yeah, Drake mentioned on The Original Posters that he chipped a bone in his elbow.
What about C. Tapper? Haven’t heard much about him.
“The Ice Man” is not a lame nic, it even comes with a theme song.
That Grissom INT isn’t getting enough pub in my opinion on the national scene. That was one of the more impressive plays you will see even at the NFL level. Mix that with his play last year against Texas & Alabama and dude is making his move to be a high draft pick next May.
I think he should have a first round grade especially if he keeps playing at a high level.
he’s going to test really well at the combine. And unlike a lot of your 40 front rush ends, he’ll have a ton of film of him playing standing up and in coverage, playing in space, etc.
Right now you see him as a DE in the nfl? Do you think he may end up with better value/upside as a olb?
I can see him being in the mold of a ware/Matthews/miller/orakpo as an olb
“OU is going to get poor KJ young killed on the passes to him in the flat.”
If he doesn’t get killed by his own teammates in practice (like how J. Evans laid him out for that INT during the spring game)