Bullet Points | Things Aren’t So Bad
Posted on: October 13, 2014
Image via Scout.com
Like many of you, after watching the game (the first time) this past weekend I was left a little concerned about OU’s performance. A win is a win and that win keeps OU in the mix for a possible playoff spot. But when I watch OU, or any team, I’m always trying to get a sense of how good this team is and what one can expect against better competition down the road. Most importantly, I’m trying to get a sense if the issues are correctable.
I’m a defensive guy, so I’ll focus my notes on that side of the ball. Going into the season, OU was expected to have a fantastic defense. But currently OU’s total defensive rank is outside the Top 50. Last week against TCU the defense gave up a lot of yards and a lot of points. Going into this past weekend’s game, Texas had it’s best offensive production in terms of total yardage against North Texas (around 350 yards or so). Texas somehow managed to put up 482 yards on Saturday. And while Texas only mustered 7 points of offense against Baylor and BYU, they put 26 on the board this past weekend.
Based on those numbers, some are probably asking “what has happened to the defense?” After watching the game back, I still think this defense has a chance to be really good!
DEFENSE
– Against TCU, Oklahoma had a busted assignment on a wheel route that cost them a touchdown. This past weekend, OU once again had some missed assignments that cost them points. This is obviously a problem, but busted assignments from a team like OU are less scary to me than getting flat out beat. One is fixable, the other isn’t.
– Related to the point above, last year Mike Stoops was first installing his 3-4 and he had a number of injuries. This may have forced him to keep things simple and rely more on man coverage. This season we are seeing very little man coverage from the Sooners. OU’s primary coverage appears to be some form of a Cover-3 mixed with some quarters coverage. OU is trying to disguise a lot of what they do and the particular coverage that OU busted on that cost them a touchdown was a zone coverage I haven’t seen them run this season. While OU did give up a deep ball on a wheel route in man coverage this past weekend, they also got a pick and a number of throw aways out of their man coverages. I’d like to see OU simplify things a little and go back to a little more man coverages.
There are a ton of athletes on Oklahoma’s defense and as the season has gone on we are seeing more hands up looking to the sideline and more busted coverages. These are things we all remember seeing when Coach V was here. It had disappeared the past couple years under coach Mike, but it looks like it’s back. Again, this isn’t about OU’s lack of talent or athleticism so it’s an easy fix. I’d like to see them scale things back a little and perhaps play man or banjo coverages on 2nd and 3rd down.
– Currently OU seems to want to play zone on the first two downs (which is pretty traditional). That’s giving OU more eyes and bodies to compete in the run game, but it’s also leading to more holes in the zone and missed assignments. I mentioned earlier in the year, after the Tulsa game when I broke down a particular play, that OU’s defenders aren’t playing through their zones very well. We continue to see that happen. So again, rather than playing man one time or less on every three downs, I’d like to see it go to two.
– Continuing with these coverage scheme issues, OU tries to pattern match their zone coverages. The old high school style of zone coverage where a player simply runs to a particular area and covers that patch of grass is over. Offenses will pick you apart if you do that. This is why you’ll see OU’s defenders, especially in the secondary, playing their zones with man principles. They are attempting to do the same on the underneath routes against the linebackers, but it’s just not working right now. In particular, Jordan Evans seems to lose his man on occasion resulting in easy completions. Evans has incredible athleticism and could probably cover the receiver in man if you asked him to. In fact, the pick he had against TCU was manning up the running back on a wheel route. But when you’re a linebacker playing underneath, trying to watch the quarterback and make sure you’re maintaining leverage on the football, it can be difficult to pattern match a receiver through your zone. It may sound simple, but this is a lot of what’s extended drives for other teams and again, it’s fixable.
– I’ve seen fans taking shots at Oklahoma’s defensive line saying they aren’t getting a push or aren’t as good as advertised. I respectfully disagree. The talent is there. And for folks that are wondering where Charles Tapper went, part of the reason you don’t hear hiss name called as much is he’s eating a lot more double teams than he was last year. And he’s holding the point pretty well against them I might add. What I’d like to see is more balanced aggression from our linebackers. On one side you’ve got Dom Alexander, who is one of the most assignment sound players on Oklahoma’s defense. But he lacks that downhill aggression. He probably grades out very high each week, but you don’t see him make that bone crushing hit or that game changing play. And he’s not going to make that play until he starts to play with a little more reckless abandon. Jordan Evans, on the other hand, isn’t as assignment sound but he’ll give you the highlight. It’s obvious Evans has some special qualities, but it’s also obvious that he hasn’t been on the field as much as Dom. The defensive line for the most part is doing a good job of giving the LB’s opportunities to make plays and they are making some, but I’d like to see them make more.
– One thing I would criticize from the defensive line this past weekend was they had moments of mental lapses and moments where they didn’t always appear to be giving 100% of their effort. When Tapper, Chuka, Phillips, etc. play like they mean it…they are damn near unblockable. But that fire needs to be more consistent. I do really think the loss of Dimon and Walker is showing up in the lack of play making depth along the defensive line. It’ll be nice to have them back later in the season.
– OU is going to have to clean up their option defense or their going to keep seeing it. Again, it’s not that OU doesn’t have the players to defend the option, they’ve just got to get better prepared for it.
– By the way, Devante Bond could end up being an absolute stud. And OU is starting to showcase the pass rushing ability of Obo more and more and I’m loving it.
– Overall: I still truly believe the pieces exist on this team to have a really really good defense. I think perhaps a little more back to basics approach and just letting the athletes play would help. I’m still optimistic about what the defense is in terms of it’s potential and talent. But I’d like to see the Oklahoma staff just let their guys line up, match up and play.
OFFENSE
– As most of you know by now, I’m not particularly interested in the offensive side of the ball. In fact, a lot of times when I watch a game back, I skip through the offensive plays just to get to the defensive side of things. However, this time I made myself watch the offense.
– Ok, call me crazy, but I don’t think it’s as far off as it may appear. I say this primarily for the same reason, I’m still high on the potential of the defense, OU has talent on the offensive side of the ball.
– Let me talk about the running game first. First of all, a run game, in general, typically has more success in the second half (which we saw against Texas). From what I saw, Texas was basically run blitzing one of their LBs and using their safety to play the role that a LB would normally play which is to man a gap. This was basically giving them three layers of run defense very close to the line of scrimmage. They would attempt to disrupt the run game with one or two linebackers and in order to ensure that they didn’t get creased, their free safety would come flying up as well. Jason Hall is a free safety and he’s the player who met Perine in the hole and double-legged him in the first half. As soon as I saw that the first time, I said to myself, “deep post these guys.”
– Related to the point above, OU didn’t seem to try to attack the deep middle part of the field. That was a little curious to me, but I suspect they’ll incorporate more of that going forward. Because as they face teams like Baylor, who play their safeties very close to the LOS, it’ll be important to look for that deep middle shot off the play action.
– Would like to see OU try some POP plays (play-option pass). OU is going to see it a lot against Kansas State. Trevor does seem to throw well on the run, and he’s good runner in general. With OU’s power run game, this could be a way to get the best out of all of OU’s parts and make life very difficult for opposing defenses. Essentially a POP play is when when a team shows a run play, play-actions, the QB runs and then either continues running or throws the ball to an open receiver. I’m not saying anything everyone isn’t but I think letting Knight pull the ball more often and then giving him the option of running or passing would play to his strengths, prospect him from injury and stop opposing defenses from keying in on OU’s inside zone run.
– Blake Bell has some freakin’ hands! It is obvious that Trevor is staring down Shep. There was a play where he threw the ball to Shep on a 3rd down but Shep was short of the first. Well behind Shep, Blake Bell was coming wide open. There are receivers to throw to but I think people forget that Knight lost Saunders and Bester (2/3 of his starting WR corp last year). He made a beautiful throw to a receiver this past weekend who dropped it. There have been other receivers that have dropped passes as well. So while, Knight has been inaccurate at times, he hasn’t always been given help when he is accurate. He targeted Blake Bell more this past weekend than he did in previous games so perhaps he’s starting to trust him. And as he trusts his WRs and trusts his own ability to make difficult throws, we’ll hopefully start seeing the better version of Knight.
– OU’s offensive line is better at run blocking but not quite as good at pass blocking, which is to be expected when you build a different type of athlete. Again, this is why I’d like to see OU run some of these POP plays. Keep the defense a little more honest and give Trevor the opportunity to improvise. Also, would like to see OU give him more simple hitch routes and tell him to take those immediately. There were times when I’d watch the route combination and based on the coverage I’d think “wow a stop route right there get’s you 3-5 yards plus a chance to make a play”.
– I’m glad to see OU started to attack the edges of the Texas defense with some sweeps. Those seemed to be successful. Opposing teams are keying the inside run game so intensely that any diversification of the offense as in QB keepers, QB keep and pass, jet sweeps, PA posts, etc. could really open things up. Right now when you see opposing defensive alignments, they are really squeezing OU’s offense. As OU starts to stress defenses vertically and horizontally that should help.
– Overall: While OU may be struggling with catches and accuracy, I still think there is a great offensive performance just waiting to happen. I’m glad to see Blake starting to get some touches and I’m hopeful that Trevor will start trusting that he can throw the ball to his big targets even if they are covered and they’ll help him out. But I really think that the POP plays may be exactly what OU needs to resolve a lot of their issues. I’d also like to see a little more quick stop routes that are predetermined in the same way TCU is doing with Boykin. Most folks think Trevor’s only great game was against Alabama last year. But he played well against KSU and Iowa State and has flashed moments of brilliance this year. He’s throwing the deep ball well and we know he’s got legs. We also know that when OU can match numbers they run the ball really well. That’s a lot of good things to work with as a start and then add to in order to field a complete offense where you have a confident QB and a stressed defense.
122 Comments
So whoever was lecturing me about the dark path this site was headed down after my post on Heupel, this post here is why there’s more than just one person writing on the site.
We all have our own take on things and personally I think having the opportunity to share them here w/ fellow OU fans, be it as a writer here and/or in the comments, helps to make this site so much fun for me to be a part of everyday.
I think people need to realize you all have a specialty, and you all have your own opinion. You aren’t writing to impress an editor or even a fanbase, etc. You are writing how you see things. That is what brought me to this site and that is what has kept me. I feel like I am just having a pleasant conversation with other OU fans instead of reading a copy paste article that has been reused on 40 different sites.
Keep up the good work guys!
I even wore my Brainiac shirt on Friday in Dallas, I got a few nods from other brainiacs!
You’ve got to send us a picture of you wearing the shirt at the game! And yes, we are all passionate about football but we definitely have varying opinions haha. We debate amongst ourselves quite a bit…but always with civility.
Well I had a pull over on 🙁 So it covered it up! But I should be at KState game so I will get one there in my Boom. shirt!
And you can tell us you guys throw punches every now and then! Football is a violent sport you know! lol
Ummmmm Actually I am what brought you to this site. Though it was their writing and info that kept you!
Better watch that tone LITTLE brother!
Your posts are fine, in that they’re looking at how do we get better rather than just attacking someone. Venting helps, obviously. No one wants to see the murder rate rise on weeks when we lose. As to whether a post critiquing the team opens up the door for the doomsdayers , that shouldn’t matter. I’ve been on other sites where the “here’s what I think…well you’re stupid…nuhuh you are” is just exhausting
I like to lecture Jordan… thought your points were spot on. Yeah, ain’t no one gonna believe it but as I was watchin the game I ended up calling the same plays as Coach H a full half the time. And I ain’t a coach but ifn I am predicting the plays correctly… Nah, Coach gotta do some changin around ifn I know what’s comin.
Last – for those of an age there was a show on TV years back called West Wing. In an episode an actor says (paraphrased) “Let Bartlett be Bartlett.” I say – Let Knight be Knight… he ain’t no manager he a dang football player – DUAL THREAT – quit handcuffin the kid.
Right on. I wasn’t trying to call anyone out as my comment may have read. I’m fully willing to admit my emotions get the better of me at times when it comes to this program. But I’d also like to believe I’m not just ranting for the sake of ranting (most of the time). I’d like to believe I can be objective about things even if there is emotion involved.
Exactly Jordan, and I thank you for your candidness.
Personally, I’m also getting tired of people trying to compare this site to others, namely LandThieves. Now, I have nothing against landthieves, and actually visit myself sometimes, but this site is far and away different from that site, and I have NEVER seen one comment on here, that even approaches some of the stuff said on that site. People here are courteous, and respectful of everyone else’s opinion, even when/if they don’t agree. Same can’t be said over there, but again, the sites have totally different agendas, and I’m certainly not calling LT out, as I said, I like that site too, they are just different.
However, I do have a suggestion for those on here that don’t like to see all the back and forth that goes on during a Gameday thread…. DONT VISIT THE GAMEDAY THREAD. It tells you in the title what you’re getting. A bunch of overzealous fans, commenting on nearly every single thing that can be commented on. Some of its encouraging, some of its doom and gloom. BUT, that is the nature of a GAMEDAY thread. So just don’t visit those, or do as EasTex does, and visit after the game (hope you dont mind me using you as an example Tex, I mean nothing but good by it..). People have every right to express any opinion about this football team they have, as long as they are respectful to others. Even if thats a “Fire BOB” rant, which I personally dont agree with, but that person has every right to say that. If we never question our leaders, why the hell do we question anything?
LOL, LT is the raging Id of OU football fandom. I’ll go there from time to time as a guilty pleasure to enjoy the rage. TFB is my main place to go for actual analysis though. I don’t know of any other site that does anything nearly as in depth as this site.
As far as Heupel and his play calling goes, I’ve read on another site but someone who I believe to have some good sources that Heupel is being handicapped by Coach Stoops. So maybe it’s not all Heupel. Who knows.
One man’s analysis is another man’s rant. I tend to share your view, but I hope Super K is right. I’d like to think the problems we’ve seen are correctable. I find it odd that the past two weeks we made mistakes that we didn’t make the first 4 games. Bob said as much at his presser. Not for certain, but Bob seemed to imply that Trenor just didn’t see a situation to keep the ball in the read option. That’s not the way it looked to me.
Its hard to fault the defense when our inept play calling and lack of a passing game keeps our defense on the field……..did you actually look at the time of possession stats during the Oklahoma vs Texas game……..atrocious…..and someone should have been fired Monday morning
The issues on the defense actually showed up quite early in the game and really didn’t appear to be a result of fatigue. I think they are just some things that could be immediately remedied with some changes in the defensive calls. My bottom line question is always, does the team have the talent to be great? If they don’t then it really doesn’t matter what is done. But fortunately, the talent appears to be there in my opinion.
The time of possession differential screams defensive mistakes and offensive failure. What frustrates fans the most is calm, almost accepting of this performance by those who spoke. Gosh, we are half way through the year and we’re regressing. That should be reason for concern.
A pretty good analysis, but a couple of thoughts: I’m not at all convinced we can improve significantly defensively with this kind of safety play in the passing game. Thomas is a huge liability matching up.
Offensively, I think K gets to my paramount concern – we are not exploring the wide variety of alternatives we have to open up the offense, be it the POP pass, sweeps or even the occasional counter play in the run game. I continue to believe that Knight’s mechanical issues – footwork, opening up early with his left shoulder – make trying to convert him into a pocket passer a fool’s errand.
And let’s be honest – the first-half run game was the belly play to Perine. Period.
Kansas State, despite the Snyder myth, is an opportunity to get well defensively. They don’t have much of a run game beyond Jake Waters, and their passing game is possession-oriented – with the notable exception of Lockett.
Offensively, a different story. They are a quality defense, and calling drop back passes and the pistol belly is a recipe for a home defeat.
I do think Thomas’ future may be at LB (and I think he’d be a darn good one) and I fear that part of the reason we are seeing so much zone is because they are concerned about him offensive lining up and forcing him into man situations. Having said that, if OU could eliminate the underneath errors and assignment busts it would be enough to change things significantly from what I can tell. Last week Julian was responsible for one TD and Sanchez was the primary culprit on another. This week Jordan Evans repeatedly was out of position on underneath routes giving Texas easy plays underneath that extended drives. Parker busted on what appeared to be a modified quarters coverage (though I think Thomas should have played through the zone).
Traps, counters, wham blocks. Counter sweep with Ross who has the speed. Bootleg out of the same play with Trevor. OU isn’t old school Nebraska. Thus, I’m not sure if it would work or if our guards and tackles can pull.
^ this! A good offensive scheme keeps a defense off-balance and spread out. Traps, counters, just a little mis-direction helps set up blocks and makes it easier. OU’s run offense is EASY to read off the RB’s initial move… thus linebackers and DB’s hitting our RB’s at the Line of Scrimmage. JH gotta be smart enough to make the defense second-guess their initial read.
First I only read the Defense part of this because your a D guy….
I want to thank you for your time…your efforts…you remind me of the little guys in the military that everyone ignored until we started pinning metals on their chest.
I told you last week we win if we go beef on beef..it’s stupid to ask 3 or r guys to rush against 5 or 6 with the TE..when we put five on five and stunt ed or shifted they moved (off).admit it….i agree go man to man against receivers..but key to me is not lining up driectly in front of them but shifting to the gaps when we got away from this they scored
Boomer Sooner
I think to your point on running more simple hitch routes, etc. I was watching the Patriots game this weekend thinking the same thing. We need to do more of this on down 1 and 2 to set up an easy 3rd down. My only concern though is these type of plays are the ones that Knight is having tipped at the LoS quite often.
Random thought: Sanchez needs to focus more on his tackling and coverages rather than how he looks or what his headband says. This is an issue that Oklahoma has had for a long time now, they get kids who want to look cool instead of wanting to knock people in the mouth. Another issue I have is prior to the TCU game, after Katie Perry went gushing over knight, there were Twitter account of players mentioning it and laughing prior to the game. Where is the focus? In my opinion, it displays a lack of discipline and shows their mindset just prior to taking the field. Had to get my negative post out of the way…but this team does not have a killing instinct attitude, typical of Oklahoma since 2001.
Katy Perry does seem to have cursed the Sooners haha!
I don’t mind looks…In fact, having both is better. Sanchez was legit this weekend. Multiple (clean) pass breakups and keeping up with his man and bringing the heat this time. He stepped it up this weekend and I hope it’s sustainable.
Toast played very well. Almost every corner will get beat, and likely badly, at some point, if they are playing press coverage. I can take getting beat if he’s playing soundly most of the time and wrapping up guys tackling. I really liked the Sanchez we saw this past weekend. If he’s allowed to be aggressive, he’s very good.
K, a recurring theme in the comments this weekend was Ahmad Thomas. Many seem to think he is the weakest link in the D. The coaches raved about him in camp, but he’s had some very visible busts during the year. What’s your perspective? Is he doing a ton of things right, and we just see the few mistakes? Or is he struggling? Is he still a better option than Parker?
I think Parker gives you a much better athlete with respect to that position. He gives you someone that you can trust can’t be picked on or schemed to isolate in man coverage. But Thomas understands the defense better and you can tell. I’d lean towards playing Parker more simply because I’d rather get a kid with his kind of upside the reps that will pay off soon. Parker is going to develop into a legitimate playmaker in my estimation. I think Thomas isn’t a bad player, he just appears to be out of position based on his size vs athleticism (I think he could be a fantastic LB). He’s a big kid but is, as we always thought, not elite in terms of fluidity and speed. That is part of why he’s not triggering quickly against the run and why you rarely see him involved in a play protecting his corners and why you saw him get beat on that wheel route this past weekend. In fact even on the Parker bust…Thomas actually appeared to lose his man through his own zone. Having said that, he is more assignment sound and right now that’s what appears to be keeping him on the field. But again, I think Thomas can be a good football player…just might be out of position at free safety.
When he runs with his man, Thomas also seems to take less optimal angles, as if he squares them off too much. It seems that he is trying to bump them or get so close that he rubs them to slow them down. Maybe that was just a couple plays that stick out to me and he doesn’t really do it that much.
What I can manage to see it seems that Julian runs with his man, because he can.
Lately, many teams appear to be picking on Sanchez, not Julian. This makes me wonder…
Great insight, thanks!
Not going to lie, I’d much rather see Baker Mayfield in the QB position at this point.
A lot of WRs on the team agree with you haha. But I agree with most, Trevor can be used effectively…but it doesn’t appear he is being used as such right now. Hopefully that gets rectified soon. In the meantime I’m looking forward to the defense cleaning some things up and carrying the team. Defense…it’s the only side of the ball that matters to me haha 🙂
Have any WR’s publicly stated this? If so, which ones?
No…just stuff I know through guys I talk to 🙂
But that’s exactly my point, Trevor CAN be used effectively…but he isn’t. The way they are using him now is almost as an option 2 rotational QB, everyone knows he can run so pass pass pass, run big, pass, run. That keeps a defense on its toes. But if we are going with a traditional pocket passer who only runs when he has to scramble for a few then Mayfield is much more prefered to me.
I agree.
Not going to lie, I’d much rather see Cody Thomas in the QB position at this point
Well I suppose that is more practical considering he is eligible haha
Ha. I’m a huge fan of Cody’s physical abilities. If he can get his head around everything he’ll be stellar. If we’re not gonna allow Trevor to run, what’s the point of having a guy with lesser passing ability in there? Eligibility doesn’t hurt either.
I tend to lean on the positive side too so I appreciate your words, K. However, if KSU comes into Norman and beats us…all bets are off and heads need to roll.
haha I feel you bud.
Great post K. I LOVE Bell @ TE. He’s one of the few guys that actually gets open AND catches the ball. This is the second game where he was integral and for the life of me, I cannot figure out the hesitation use him given our WR struggles. Team has it, but we have to get creative
They don’t even need to get creative. They just need to use what they have in the best ways they can. They just aren’t doing that.
Thanks Indy! Hopefully Trevor will continue to look Blake’s way.
Seen one play where TK tried to force it to Sterling and if he would have lobbed over the top Bell would have gotten a first down. This is where I worry that TK doesn’t see the whole field, get’s a little tunnel vision if you will.
yeah I’ve seen that a few times.
Was suffering through the second half of the TCU game, and found that the INT Trevor threw to the safety, if he had read the safety (who was flat footed) before making up his mind, he would have found Bell in the corner of the endzone for a TD. I think TK is moving too fast through his reads, except when it is Shep in which case he just sits and waits for him to get open or forces it no matter the coverage. Needs to improve in this area.
Agreed, I am seeing TK progressing through reads more now, but he’s uncomfortable in pocket and rushes his throws. Just waiting another second and so many more WR’s are coming open…a second he almost always has too.
He has been great catching, he’s definitely the best by far after Shepard. You’d think Trevor would go his way more because hes been trustworthy to make a play. Seems like hes wide open quite a lot, including in the end zone when Trevor threw the second interception in the TCU game.
Agree and disagree. Bell has shown good hands. I’ll definitely agree with that. I haven’t seen Bell (admittedly I don’t scour TE footage) be able to consistently get open. He’s a big strong kid, but he’s not very fast even for a TE. If he can start to learn to sit in the zone, I think that he’ll really improve. I’d actually like to see more of the other TE. McNamara is an actual TE with TE speed. He’s been on campus for 3 years now. He caught a ball in the SB. He has to be as ready as he’ll ever be. I’d like to see the coaching staff give him a chance out there.
Disagree. Bell has been open on plays he wasn’t even planned for…he consistently uses his body as leverage and sometimes that’s what you need. No on McNamara, I would love to see a 2 TE set like what Tx run on us, but I fear even that would make Josh’s head explode.
Nice K…
Thank you for the insight.
Thanks for reading James!
Are you kidding me, I read everyday. I love this site, you guys are awesome.
I think I can safely speak for everyone that follows this site, that all the info / insight that you provide to us fans is very much appreciated.
BOOMER!
“– Would like to see OU try some POP plays (play-option pass). OU is going to see it a lot against Kansas State. Trevor does seem to throw well on the run, and he’s good runner in general. With OU’s power run game, this could be a way to get the best out of all of OU’s parts and make life very difficult for opposing defenses.”
Preach it Brother!!
” Most folks think Trevor’s only great game was against Alabama last year.”
They used a lot more play action passes in this game. Sooooooo……
TK was throwing on the move a lot and he’s good at it. Run-pass option is the way to go.
A little play action off the so called “zone read” we run. Sounds good to me, then at least it wouldn’t hand it off everytime.
The defense played like its capable of in the 3 QTR and so did the Offense…. The TOP was heavily done in the 1st for multiple reasons but mainly cause the defense couldn’t get off the field…..Man Defense definitely should be used more on third down especially….. Would like to see the diamond formation come back ….. It gives you the option to work the edges or go inside…. Glad we got the win now its time to go back to work and get ready for a good K State team….
They had a lot of success using man coverage on 3rd down. They get a lot of pressure with 4 but against someone like Swoopes I’d like to see 5 come. Some A gap blitzes or overload Striker’s side.
Any reason OU doesn’t use Neal on those jet sweeps. I know Shep is a dynamic player but the WR screen to Neal was the type of play I could see them running with the jet sweep too and getting big yards.
K, what was the issue with Grissom not playing much if at all in the second half? Any ideas?
He did play in the second half some but they gave Bond a lot of reps. As tforce mentioned above, geneo lost contain on a play and Bond starting getting reps after that. But Grissom and Bond are both darn good players.
I may be in the minority, but the O did have over 200 yards and 2 TDs in the second half and were a drop by KJ Young away from having first and 10 around the UT 30 with a chance to eat another few minutes and score a clinching TD. The first half it seemed like they couldnt block Malcolm Brown and Knight (first time starter in the RRSO) couldnt settle in. I think they will be better this week, but I am very worried about Lockett having a repeat performance on Sanchez
Lockett versus Toast one-on-one isn’t too big of a concern for me. Lockett versus our zone is a huge issue, especially with Ahmad Thomas and/or Hatari Byrd back there. That said, the coaches need to allow our CBs to play some press and give our d-line a chance to get some pressure so Waters doesn’t have all day to wait for a guy to clear one zone to the next deep.
Was it just me or was the 9 yard crossing route open almost all game? That has to be a LB in the wrong spot.
It’s some of them being in the wrong spot and some of them not pattern matching through their zone. Once they get that fixed it’ll help a lot.
I agree, UT kept a lot of drives alive with a 8-10 yard pass on 3rd and 8. The D was just exhausted by late 4th quarter because they played the entire first half
They better do it soon.
Yeah, I believe the announcers were pointing out that even though you are in zone you still have to apply some man principles when a man is in your zone. Hope it gets cured before Saturday because Lockett could house some of those mistakes we were giving Texas.
Yeah, I noticed a few times it appeared we had 2 LBs in one zone. Thats probably the miscommunication Stoops was talking about. They better fix it or KSU and Baylor are going to light them up.
You hit on a lot of the issues I’m having with the D as well.
– I’d rather get beat, for the most part, playing more man coverage, than to watch us play zone, and give up open throw after open throw. If we can’t “match patterns”, as you called it, we need to play more man.
– What is the problem with defending the option? Seems like every time it’s been ran successfully against it, you can tell even before the snap that it is going to be one Sooner defender trying to cover both the QB and pitch man. Is it an issue with alignment? Are we giving that up to be able to stop something else?
– I’d rather give Parker a shot over Thomas at this point. Parker is a smart kid, if he hasn’t picked up the D yet, he should very soon.
– Who did Bond come in to play for? It wasn’t Alexander when he went out, I don’t think, b/c I thought I saw Franklin replacing him for a short while.
Speaking of safety play, when I saw Parker in the game against UT, I also saw Thomas out there. Did Parker replace Byrd some in that game?
Yes he’s now the safety in the nickel package.
I think Bond was in for Grissom. So that had our LB’s as Bond, Alexander, Evans, and Striker.
I saw someone say that Grissom actually was moved back to DE during that time.
Okay, thanks. I didn’t pick up on that.
He came in and rushed off the edge in Grissom’s place oppo of Striker.
Re-watched game last night and share many of your insights.
DEFENSE: Everything is fixable.
DL is largely playing well.
– Jordan Phillips is playing like this is a contract year.
– Grissom lost the edge and got benched. Nice to see OU have the depth to do that now.
– Dimon and Walker need to come back soon. Especially Walker provides a unique athleticism that is a good counterpoint to Striker.
LB and S are blowing too many coverages.
– Wouldn’t be surprised to see Wilson move back to Nickel, Hayes to S, and another corner tried to improve assignment.
– Agree entirely RE: Evans. He needs quality time instruction.
********CAPTAIN OBVIOUS WARNING**********
You must be sound vs option FB when playing KSU. You must be aware of Lockett.
OFFENSE: It’s complicated and some of the same problems are re-presenting.
– TK is playing to keep OU out of bad plays, which is admirable and was enough vs a error-prone UT team. However, he currently lacks patience with route progression.
– The ZR needs to be a true read. On the first OU offensive play, he had the outside alley CLEAN. Would’ve changed the game.
– The chemistry TK and Bell are developing is a positive.
– Young’s had his run. Time to see if Smallwood, Cavil, Woods, can get it done.
Good notes!
Agree on all counts. I ‘m sure it’s based upon practice performance, but I have feeling that if Woods weren’t injured he’d be seeing some playing time.
Have become very disappointed with Young, particularly after dropping two catchable 3rd down passes. After the first drop I don’t think I’ve ever heard Norvell get after one of his guys that way.
That Quick kid out of Cali? Man, he showed up w/a lot of promise…
Yessir, and he may yet keep that ‘promise’. Young made some good catches early in the season and I don’t think I’m the only one that expected he would continue to improve, not regress.
Was such a relief to see JH finally attacking edges after 6 quarters of play (TCU & 1st half RRSO). We’ve got speed. TCU is a very disciplined D, so why not try to push them out of control with more unpredictable plays. I’d REALLY like to know the % of time we ran between tackles in that 6qrtrs, must be astronomical.
I was hoping to see it in RRSO, but if they don’t at least attempt to get in Quick’s hands soon I’m gonna freak out ;). I know he has been reported to bobble passes occasionally, but a end around with him taking is something we need to explore badly. Someone with that kind of ‘make you miss’ ability has the potential to open up so many other avenues. Get D’s nervous about his speed/agility then mix in power Perine once they have smaller D on field to catch the speed. Heck, anyone with more end arounds for that matter, Shep too.
Great post, Super K, once again.
I’ve said it elsewhere, here, but I completely agree with the “not as far off as it might appear.”
I think the lack of passing over the mid range middle is most interesting. I wonder if part of it is some caution in calling “dangerous” passes, but it may also be that Trevor isn’t progressing to that read. I think that Bell has been open over the middle more than Trevor has thrown, and so I thought it was a positive that he hit him a couple of times. Agree on Bell’s hands as well. Just great.
I just hope this team realizes what all the fans see is they just need to play to their strengths. Sometimes it seems we are playing to lose instead of playing to win. We know these guys are very talented but as we all see, there are missing pieces to this team that we haven’t gotten yet. I truly hope they can put a complete game together against KState.
I agree with you on the pop.I thought for sure against TCU right before half we were on left hashmark in red zone they we would pop to right side of field. Rolling TK out and flooding receivers to the right and make the defenders choose to defend TK on the run or stay with receivers.Cut loose the reins and let him go. I love option football……and the more options you present……harder to defend!
Will the coaches make these changes before it’s too late (another loss)? Sorry, but I doubt it.
I’d rather go down fighting using all my options than have to what if it to death. If TK gets hurt….and good chance he could…..it’s football! Time for the next guy to step up. If we are going to lose……let’s at least go down using every option we have. Play tough or go home!
Had said as much earlier. They knew he was dual threat when they recruited him… dual threat seemed to work in the Sugar Bowl, this is where we all say – DUH. Let the kid play ball… No disrespect to Coach H or Coach S but guys… let him show what he can do not what you think he should do. Rant over… have a nice day. ha
TK needs to be able to adjust out of a play if he sees the one he has is not going to work. These kids have been playing football since they were 8 years old and JH does not see the whole field plus many times he just does not have the feel. We go uptempo and play lights out for a few plays and then he decides to see the alignment and starts his changy-chANGY BULLSHIT……
Those were my thoughts as well. At this point, I am not sure coaches will make the appropriate adjustments. TCU failure should have been the wake up call.
On a lighter note…..since I’m a newcomer to making comments on this site, let me just say I now read you guys everyday……article by JY on the Royals brought me to tears! Best writing I’ve had the pleasure to read in awhile. You guys are awesome….keep up the great work and Boomer Sooner!
Thanks bro! Glad to have you. Boomer Sooner!
on the bright side… at least we know how to high 5…
https://vine.co/v/OAjqElh0Me7
lol I saw that and thought, “dang that would be annoying!” I also thought…”I would have slipped it!”
I’m not sure that was an attempt at a high 5. lol
About the defense I agree with you on tapper I’ve seen the same questions and without me having much knowledge of schemes especially on the lines, I assumed that teams were focusing more on him because I’ve noticed them leaving chuka one on one and he’s having a heck of a season statistically. And the depth is becoming a bit of an issue so I would like to see them on obvious passing downs bring in ward and Grissom as the DE and let obo, bond and striker disguise their coverage and have Evans man the middle (give Dom a breather) therefore we may have our best athletes on the field.
I’ve watched Tapper, he is almost always doubled and some times a RB chips in on the double team, as well.
Well it’s smart on their part and I’m not sure how often we flip DE’s but we should switch tapper and chuka. I think one reason they let chuka go one on one is because he’s underrated and he’s not on the qb’s blindside.
Switching won’t matter, they will always adjust to where Tapper is.
But give chuka the one on one to the qb blindside
Also would like to buy one of your shirts but I need at least a 3X…..maybe 4X since you say they run small. I’m 6’3 and a little over 300 lbs. Gotta make some for the road graters too guys!
To me, it’s a big problem that we have to say, “as OU starts to stress defenses vertically and horizontally, that should help.” The best offensive minds are using option concepts like POP plays to make defenses defend most of the field on every play, and we’re sitting here hoping that we can force defenses to defend most of the field over the course of the game.
On to the offense. I don’t think it was as bad as we may think. The defense was on the field a whole lot in the first half and that’s the bitter side of having touchdowns on special teams and defense is that yes it’s points but now a defense goes back that isn’t rested meanwhile the offense didn’t get those snaps to see if a rhythm could be gained.
I know a lot of people criticized heupels double reverse call but I liked the call, I just wish it was a pass and I think the field conditions were not ideal for that type of call but I thought it was clever and may have worked if the DE didn’t bite on the initial action and just ended up in perfect position.
One thing I thought we would see against tcu was more belldozer formations to try to build on that and make teams practice for it. However the last 2 games ou hasn’t ended up in many 2nd/3rd and shorts. Hopefully they take the easy 5 yards on first down and allow themselves better opportunities on 3rd.
And I think kstate will be the trendy upset pick this week so hopefully they smell themselves a little too much because I don’t want them to have a shock the world mentality.
Double reverse is a good call, just not a few plays after a reverse. That was my issue with it
Well put.
It’s easy to bag on the O in the first half, but they only had what…3 possessions, scored 1 FG? Granted, they didn’t get much done with them, but still.
i do think zach is right, if that was a pass it could have been nice. and, the couple drives we had for scores were things of beauty. well called plays, well run plays, well executed plays. i get the first half is where you wanna set your opponent up and whatnot but you don’t need 3 and outs on every 1st half drive and you don’t wanna put yourself behind the 8 ball with a team like baylor that can score on every single play(like we did last yr)
Against Baylor we will we need to do what tcu and texas did to us and keep their offense off the field. The problem tcu had against Baylor is they kept the up and down pace which allowed Baylor to stay in the game and eventually they won. Keep that offense on the sideline and out of rhythm
In the 4th qtr., Knight actually keeps the ball and runs for 5. Very next play Perine runs right up the middle for 7. Next knight skips a ball to a wide open receiver, then connects on an inside screen. Soon after Perine runs up a wide open middle for a score. Did that one keeper open all those other lanes? Who knows but it sure looked a lot better than what we were seeing early in the game.
Sooner Ray, I saw that also. Before we punted the ball to texsa for their final possession, Knight gave the ball to Perine. If he would have kept it, he would have got the first down easily, possibly scored. There wasn’t anyone out there to stop him.
Everyone can see it but Knight still claims that the “keep” reads aren’t there. SMH.
Love the write up, K, but one has to wonder…6-7 games in and OU hasn’t fixed these problems yet. It’s starting to get awfully panicky in the warped recesses of my mind.
Excellent piece, K.
I agree that OU isn’t too far off from being lethal on both sides of the ball.
I agree with the effects of the lose of Dimon and Walker, as well as the POP plays. Can’t help but think about the way that the Seahawks use Russell Wilson.
Jordan, I agree totally with your post. I am a Heupel fan and always will be, but he has to start calling plays to our offensive strengths. We don’t have a pocket passing QB. Knight is at his best when the pocket is moving. If I told everyone after the WV game all we will need to do against TCU to win the game is to line up and get 1 yard. Everyone would have said no problem. We get to cute sometimes and over process. He seems to always want to run what the defense gives us instead of just taking what we want on occasion. I know taking what you want doesn’t always work but sometimes you just have to in order to win a championship. We needed 1 yard against TCU and we attempted a dive out of the shotgun. Tell me we couldn’t have lined up in the I, under center, with our huge o-line and a FB not get 1 yard? I don’t care if they got a man on a man. win the battle in front of you or lose the game. I hope he starts trusting our talent and getting back to the basics on occasion.
Super K posted this article.
That’s why we don’t allow you to drink the alcohol Tex, someone has to be responsible enough to watch the details! Glad your on duty! 🙂
Lol…..he’s probably the only sober one on the board 😉
Proper attribution, its not just a good idea its the law.
I’m really tired of the old “we missed an assignment” or “we had a player out of position” excuses for everything bad that happens to OU.
This stuff just drives me crazy and we hear it from the coaches every week and in every PC.
I love these coaches, but this stuff is really tiring.