Initial Thoughts
Posted on: November 2, 2014
Image via Soonersports.com
First off, it’s good to see the guys back at it after a week off. You could tell that the time off gave them a chance to get healed up and get their legs up underneath them. I felt bad for Sterling Shepard going down right after a great effort in getting the catch on the first play. In a way, barring a big injury for Sterling’s sake it may be one of the best things that could have happened for the overall development of the team. It forced Trevor, and the coaches to get the other receivers involved. Subsequently we saw Neal, Quick, K.J. Young and Blake Bell step up. Maybe it will give the other guys some confidence and the folks calling the shots some confidence in them.
This was the most offense we’ve seen out of an Oklahoma team in a long time. 102 plays and 751 yards later, we saw three players get over 100 yards rushing. Trevor Knight(146), Alex Ross(144) & Samaje Perine(110) all cleared the century mark, and David Smith looked really good in relief gaining 76 yards on 10 carries. I’ve been a David Smith fan, and being up here in Chicago, I actually work with a family friend of his. I’ve heard nothing but good things about him, and it really showed on the touchdown when he got mobbed on the sideline by the guys.
I’ve been staying away from the site this week because I’ve been so down and negative. I started to write a couple of things this week and cut myself off. I was licking my wounds from the Royals losing the world series and dealing with the frustration of the Sooners being only 5 points away from being undefeated. We were out and about this morning and the wife had to tell me to shut up after she asked me about the game today. I told her that the Sooners normally don’t play quite that well in Ames, and that Iowa State had played Texas and K-State really tight while also beating a tough Iowa team. I really thought they’d be ready to go on the home grass yesterday, but they just couldn’t execute. Numerous dropped passes on their part and having no answer for OUs running game really took them out early.
It appears that the coaches have taken the handcuffs off of Trevor. We saw several qb draws, keeps on counters, rollouts, sprintouts and a filthy good pitch on the triple option really late to Dmitri Flowers. While Trevor threw two interceptions, he also threw three td’s and rushed for three more in a role that I had hoped to see him in earlier in the year. Maybe Cody Thomas’s play against K-State gave Stoops and company some reassurance and they decided to turn him loose. Iowa State had no answer for the Qb run game, and it opened up so much on those normal dive plays you see us run. Needless to say the run game was crazy good today yielding 510 yards on 59 carries for 8.6 yards a clip.
Speaking of Cody Thomas, he’s a lot faster and more elusive than I thought he’d be, so this spring with him, Baker Mayfield and Trevor battling it out for the spot in the fall, it’ll be fun to see. I guarantee you that had we seen Baker Mayfield this year, that the QB run game would have probably been a centerpiece of OUs offense this year already. Sometimes you go conservative to protect a player like they did with Trevor so far this year and it comes back to bite you. Now with the playoff being a mirage on the horizon and an outside shot at the conference championship that they decided to say the heck with it and cut em loose. We’ll see how it goes from here on out. If we pull off a win next week against Baylor anything can happen. I’ll get the trench warfare going here in a little while.
94 Comments
I hear you JY, I too have refrained from posting for the last couple of weeks. Been pretty frustrated from losing all the toes that we have shot off this season. I just don’t understand this “playing it safe” crap.
Bittersweet to see this offensive and defensive production and think…what might have been
True but to be fair, I don’t think anyone in their worst nightmares saw Knight struggling with his throwing like he was against TCU and Texas.
And the WRs dropping all these passes? I don’t remember ever seeing OU WRs struggling with receiving like they have this year.
Colorado 2007. That’s the worst game for dropped passes that I remember. And when I was watching the KSU game with my dad I mentioned that all the dropped passes reminded me of that game…and sure enough, we lost by a similar margin.
J. As always, an excellent write up.
What JY said……….all of it.
Great to see the chains of of TK. He’s a baller and this is his cup of tea.
I agree with ya JY about how refreshing it is to see the QB run game turned loose but I feel it was the handcuffing of defense that is responsible for our two losses. We scored enough to win.
I’m not sure if the defense was handcuffed as much as the DC had serious case of brainfarts!!
But I liked the aggressiveness we saw in Ames!
and stellar clock-management.
All true. What gets me is that, in both losses, we had a chance to come from behind and both drives got stuffed on 4th and 1. ISU did it again on Saturday. Gotta make those if you want to have a chance at the NC!
I watched Cody play in HS quite a bit, he played top notch teams in the DFW area. There was never a doubt in my mind that the kid could run, and I’m not so sure he’s not just about as fast as TK, other than the first step or two. I remember countless highlights of this kid on the news throwing on the run or running for scores for Colleyville. He is VERY underrated in my opinion, with the biggest football drawback probably is that he also plays baseball still, and will continue as he he also could likely play pro there. He went to the national elite QB player camp with no preparation whatsoever arriving late–second day, and although he didn’t stand out he was something like I think 11th or so. If he was all we had, we’d be in pretty good shape–probably could be a Hybl skill level or better?
Pretty sure he went to that QB camp after he was playing travel baseball most of the season. Saw him play at the Area Code BaseballTournament in Long Beach the summer before his Senior year, against some of the best players in the country and he held his own.
another reason i love this site. the info. not only from the brainiacs but from posters too. thanks you 2 for the stories. love it
I first heard about Cody when he was the starting QB at Heritage as a freshman. He had an outstanding high school career in one of the toughest districts and regions in the state.
I was ecstatic when he committed to OU and have always believed he would perform at a high level when he got to play. He didn’t do so well yesterday throwing the ball, but having gotten live experience in two games it will all slow down for him.
He did seem out of sync throwing the ball, but did a nice job running. That delayed run he had up the middle was really nice. Seems like it was a perfect storm for OU to not use TK as much in the run game (CT injury, BM not being deemed eligible and wanting to keep JH’s redshirt intact), at least until Thomas’s injury healed. Can’t wait to see what wrinkles OU comes up with for Baylor.
The Baylor DC, Phil Bennett, is an old friend who grew up across the street from me. While I could never wish Phil any ill will, I don’t think there is any harm in hoping his diet and sleep habits are disturbed all this week. One thing I do know about Phil, from his time as a DC at OU under B****e and at KSU under Snyder, there isn’t a blitz he doesn’t like at any time, down or distance.
You should call him up and invite him out for late night drinking binges for this entire week.
He did, some of his incompletions and the int were just odd.
Wind may have been a factor throwing for him. Knight with his experience is more used to the wind to the point you couldn’t tell there was much but it was cold and windy.
Moneycutt’s FG was straight and true, but his PATs veered sharply after crossing the bar. That’s what told me the wind was a bigger factor than I had thought.
Speaking of the weather, I looked at accuweather’s extended forecast and it should be in the 60’s on Saturday with a chance of showers late in the day. Of course that forecast is subject to change…at any time.
they may have veered but they all were straight no nonsense down the middle, and plenty high as well…
They were, I was referring to how strong the wind was. It seemed even stronger in the second half.
I’ll never judge a QB’s play on a couple of series, in a blowout, with a lot of backups. Agree he didn’t play particularly well, but I’d seen enough to be encouraged should he win the job down the road. Which may be tough with Knight being so young and Mayfield having 2-3 seasons left as well.
It’s sad to think that because they are out of the playoff picture they decide to unleash their weapons.
Yeah…shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Having watched teams from the SEC/ Pac 12/ B1G yesterday, I observed many teams playing ‘in your face defense and man defense in their secondaries. it would be nice if the Sooners could / would recruit the talent to do likewise. Zone coverage packages seem to hurt OU more than playing an aggresive style like top teams in other conferences do. If it takes a different set of DB coaches to make the transition, then get a different set of DB coaches.
The preseason goals of the Sooners are all gone. There will be no conference title and no playoff. OU has beaten just one top 25 team all season–WV. Just one. Might as well let Knight run the ‘zone read’ offense he seems to flourish in. OU might be undefeated now if the reins had been removed at TCU.
We didn’t lose either of those games due to the lack of qb runs. Poor execution or mental errors on qb runs wouldn’t have yielded any different result than poor execution and mental errors on the other plays we ran did. That just wasn’t the issue.
I’ve wondered for some time if JH plan for year was not let TK run/protect him until just before Baylor game circled as biggest obstacle….ie ISU like last year. It would force Baylor to gameplan differently as it did Bama rolling into that game. Now I’m nearly convinced.
It was just 5pts from working if so. Doesn’t explain many other issues or planning of course.
Everyone was happy to see it finally, but the gambled risk (of not using strengths & holding in back pocket) is just as much of a gamble as letting him run. Lost that gamble.
Well, OU’s first loss against TCU Knight ran 13 times. The second highest total this year.
Somewhat accurate, about 1/2 were actual scrambles rather than designed run. I did forget that he did have some designed though.
At least 1 was the sack before halftime too, not sure if another sack. I want to say there were 6 QB draws.
Your point is true though, it wasn’t as defined as my original post.
IF that was the plan, and I certainly think it might have been, it would not have been JH’s call alone. So let’s not put all the blame for that at his feet. At a very minimum, Bob and Norvell would have signed off on that too.
No doubt, I’d bet that the decision is far more Bob than JH when it comes down to it. I just always identify JH with O, probably shouldn’t say it in way I did. I’ve said before, many down on JH need to realize that is likely largely CBS choice that he’s following. Bob says as much often.
The issues that caused us to lose to two games we did had nothing to do with qb run game. It’s not a gamble that didn’t pay off. Frankly, if we execute better on just two plays, we win both games.
Kind of a chicken/egg argument, who knows. I’m partial to believing it was the egg.
But of course, limited better execution would have made difference, just as opening playbook would.
What makes it different from chicken/egg in my view is this: Accurate execution and the plays we ran work. Everything good. On the other hand, simply open the play book but don’t add in accurate execution and you’re still in trouble. So it’s not quite a one or the other type thing.
A plan like that is playing not to lose, and I just don’t buy into the idea of saving the good stuff for the important games. They’re all important because to win championships, you have to win ’em all. I’ll never again buy into the belief they’re keeping plays under wraps. I’ve seen – they aren’t. 🙁
Any word on Shep? Stoops holding him out the ISU game was a blessing in disguise IMO.
Guys not named Shep had to step up and TK had to find the open guy. Bell had a really good game as well as the O-Line.
I don’t think I’ve seen the offense that loose since Bama and that worked out well. TK is a wildcard unless you understand what makes him tick. He LOVES playing on that edge of disaster. He thrives on beating it back and thumbing his nose at conventionality. That’s when he’s relaxed and at his best. His throws had zip and accuracy. If a D has to think about him running loose, it changes everything. Only an NFL bound safety or corner will be able to not get caught looking in the backfield too long. Baylor has several more facets to deal with now. Not only can we uptempo, we can run and play ball control as well. I like our chances.
Stoops said on his coaches show today that Shep had a groin pull, hopeful he’ll play. I can say from experience you can play with one but it is painful and being 100% after a week is questionable.
I could see on the play where his leg slipped in the direction of doing splits as he landed, just the move that causes the groin pull. I wonder if that’s one of those injuries that sports medicine with shots and freezing and who knows what-all can deal with. If not, I’m with you. He might be able to do some things but will be severely limited, and in major danger of reinjuring or making it worse.
Does anyone else here ever get annoyed with one or two Debbie-Downers that show up from time to time? Maybe I need to just chill, but dayumm I hate seeing that here.
That’s just the way it is in every facet of life- not just an OU message board anomaly. I’d rather have a balance of opinion than a blanket of sunshine-pumping, rose-colored glasses wearing Stepford wives blindly banging away at their keyboards 😉
Well as long as I’m here you will have an optimistic fan around. I may be crazy but I think ou has a shot to get in the final 4 but we obviously can’t lose another game. If we are #15 this week for the committee then we are right on schedule. If we move up and average of 3 spots per week then we will be third by the time the final week ends. I think we still need to rely on chaos especially in the big 10 and PAC 12. I don’t think we will make it if Oregon and Ohio state win out and possibly even michigan state. I’m actually surprised espns little Sunday night show, everyone there was no longer on the Alabama band wagon.
really?! i never thought that would happen. who’s wagon are they drunkily steering these days? i’ve been saying for awhile that bama hasn’t beaten anybody and if we beat baylor and they get beat by LSU….we have pretty even resumes but we beat WV and TN by more than them. would be nice, IF THAT HAPPENS, for some vindication from this committee(huge leap on my part but we’ll have to see what the future holds). and thank you for always keeping us level headed. really appreciate it
You mean, you haven’t heard of the new SEC darling, Miss St.? Get ready, they’ll be just as overplayed as every other flash in the pan (Texas A&M) SEC team before you know it.
I’ve stopped watching “the worldwide leader” except for games and NFL stuff. Talky talky talky, too much talky
LOL! Love the Billy Madison reference!
Same here, I have two TVs in my living room, and used to keep one of them on ESPN with no sound. Now, I keep the second TV on one of the Fox sports stations. Will only watch ESPN when a Big XII team is playing on one of their channels.
Auburn. They think auburn is special and I am tired of hearing about auburn who should have 3 losses already. Kstate gave that game away and they had to break a kids ankle to win the other.
Sorry would love to see the sooner’s in the final four football playoff but we have no chance
Hey Zack. I do NOT wear the crimson glasses. If we suck, I’ll be the first to say so. We are 5 points from being in the mix, but to only a couple of posters we always suck and woulda, coulda, shoulda. Just wears me out sometimes.
As long as they don’t take over the place I can deal with it by ignoring, scrolling over or mocking.
I can understand strong emotions about wanting the Sooners to always win, I feel anger and disappointment when they lose. In general I’m not a sour puss, but for some that is just their nature.
Life is good and made even better by Sooner football.
Speaking of negative – I am glad to see that I was wrong – I predicted another soft defense. Way glad to be wrong on my prediction. Also glad to be wrong on my score prediction. OU scored more, ISU scored less than I predicted. Not that my 2 cents matter one Iota, just glad our squad got some style points and momentum for Baylor.
But thank you for being civil about everything. I can’t speak for all us “pumpers” but that’s all I ask for is a discussion and not to be talked at or down to or like ones opinion is the only one that exists. So thank you for your discussions. They are appreciated
Good to see you, JY.
I’ll tell you what you missed this week, some guy (who got banned) claimed that I had herpes, or so I was told.
Other than that it was another gruelling bye week and disappointed Sooner fans.
All that running and scoring yesterday would not have been possible without the outstanding blocking by the OL and the backs. Rip and Samaje just flat laid some folks out.
Looking forward to your TW this week, so much good action.
Somebody sayin you got the herp is always better than having it. haha!
Who said he didn’t have it? LoL
Well played!
I guess he found out after I gave it to him on another thread. :0
You ain’t never lied!
Seriously? I didn’t see that. I really hope we can avoid that sort of nonsense here. It makes other boards so damn tedious.
On Coach Stoops show tonight, he talked about David Smith and they showed the sideline video of him being mobbed by his team mates. He said the players call David “Sooner Dave.” Obviously some deep affection for their team mate.
Think of all the training and the licks he has taken in practice. Sure would like to see the young man get some more pt.
that scene really meant a lot to me. my teammates that had retired before me told me that would be the most missed thing…the camaraderie. now that i’m gone, they were right. that is what i miss most. the game will always be the game to me, but always busting chops with teammates and going to “battle” with them night in and night out will be what is missed most
Blood and sweat create an amazing bond, like a spiritual glue.
And even those that go on to play in the NFL and make new friends say it is never like it is in college, when you go to war beside your brothers every week, and it’s not complicated by being your job and having a 50 page contract with all that that entails!
Definitely different when you’re all getting paid, but it still is very much a second family
By far my favorite part of the game! Great to see the support he has from his teammates.
I have a slightly different take on the “handcuffs” thing. My thought is that running TK was not any kind of big picture, won/loss thing at all. IMHO, by far the main reason was the I-State defense. What they saw on film and know from playing them in the past. Remember that TK ran for over 100 yards against them last year as well. So I don’t think it was a big surprise to see it this time again.
Also, he was aggressive and accurate in taking that read when they presented it, which was often. To a very minor extent, Cody being so poised the other day may have given them a bit more confidence to take chances, but it’s not like they would be ok with him taking over with his inexperience at this point.
I don’t think you can say that we lost either of the previous games because we didn’t run the qb more. I certainly haven’t seen anything to indicate the coaches think protecting TK came back to “bite us” in any way. Therefore I don’t think that played into it either. And it wasn’t because we needed it in this game. I think they just saw the opportunity, knew it would work, and decided to use it because of that.
We’ll know the answer to that over the next few games. If the QB run game is a big part of our offense going forward, I’d say your idea is wrong. If it’s not, you may be right.
Wrong?! Never…:-) But seriously, I think the qb run game will be a bigger part of the offense going forward. It’s been a consistent albeit slow progression in that direction all season.
If it’s a major part of the offense in a given game it will be because they believe it will be successful, if the defense is giving it. I suppose there’s a slight possibility that, unlike previous games, they might decide that it’s needed to win a particular game, but I think that’s less likely, and certainly not if it isn’t working.
I also think they may feel less need to protect TK as the season continues. The way Stoops expressed the concern was that they want to limit the number of hits he absorbs. As the season progresses, particularly if he isn’t getting hit, they won’t worry about it as much–fewer games left, fewer hits to absorb.
I was pretty excited about what I saw from Ross, more tackle breaking and elusiveness, and the Perine like run up the middle where he pushed the pile for several yards, refusing to go down.
He has certainly shown huge progress and in an earlier post I confessed to having been one of the guys that was doubting he was “getting it” in spite of his amazing HS history. But he improves steadily every game and it is just too easy to forget how even Peterson or Demarco Murray had bad games and took a while to pick up on everything needed to play at D-1 levels. A level which only pro players were asked to reach as little as 10 or 15 years ago in complexity and knowledge of the game. If it was nothing BUT sheer talent then almost all of the folks that were great in HS would be good in college. But they are not. I now think Ross has a possibility to be one of those special running backs himself, and an unlimited future if he continues to work and improve as he has and doesn’t sustain an injury. I have long felt like running backs are, and have to be, as tough or tougher then anyone else on the field!
well said. I didn’t mention it but I also noticed that even in the midst of his most aggressive zig zagging run, he seemed to be totally conscious of ball security, making obvious moves to protect the ball in traffic.
there was one really pretty run he had. he was trying to get outside but there was a pile of bodies and he would have been stopped about four yds in the backfield but one subtle little move got him about four positive yds and then his power broke a tackle and he got about 20 additional yds…i think it got us inside their 10 or 20. this might be the run you mentioned, tho not sure on that. LOVE the way he is progressing
Big 77 on his hip didnt hurt a bit either. 🙂
Yes on the Debbie downers! Driving me crazy! Ou fans talking about how bad we are is killing me. 2 games by 5 points against good teams, and made so many correctable mistakes. I Still believe we are the best team in the big 12. I also believe the big 12 has shown they can compete with sec. We need to make a statement against Baylor though, and they will be another tuff opponent. There are four or five teams who’s fan base should think they are the best in our league. So OU fans please believe we are the best! OU players believe in yourselves and leave it all on the field. And most of us will have your back win or lose. BOOMER SOONER!
“It appears that the coaches have taken the handcuffs off of Trevor.” Have said for a bit that I thought Coach should let Knight be Knight – seems I wasn’t the only one. ha
“I’ve been staying away from the site this week because I’ve been so down and negative.” Me too, JY. I’ve had a hard time dealing with the losses. Not only because of their nature, but because I personally think that we could have won those games had we been running the offense and defense that we ran against ISU. Yeah, ISU has a horrible rushing defense, but it doesn’t change the fact that, when the QB is getting yards on those running plays, it really forces the defense to respect the read option, which they haven’t really had to do as of late. You’re right, it really opened up the dive plays. Also, when the receivers actually catch the ball, Knight starts to look like the Sugar Bowl version of himself…
It was good to see all of the blitzes again as well. Striker was actually able to be himself, and it showed. Finding ways to get pressure has been a problem recently, but the blitzes sure looked good on Saturday. Hopefully Baylor got an eye full of Knight, and OU can really put together an offensive game plan that will stress the defense, like we saw on Saturday.
boomersooner & Eastex……………the camaraderie on a team is similar to the military experience : going thru boot camp, PT, missions, etc…..there is a bond of shared experiences that exist long after the time together has ended……….
Thanks capt obvious. I played pro sports for 15 yrs but I didn’t realize it til you just told me
Wow
sorry. this guy’s been trolling for far too long
yeah, I think responding to his posts at all may be an mistake. (one that I’ve made, btw.)
Dang, son!
That’s quite a time period regardless of the sport.
I never played beyond high school but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express a time or two and I am a veteran from the “Great Asian Vacation.”
Saturday was a strong performance, but for me that just makes the experience of this season more painful. There’s no doubt in my mind that this team can beat anyone in the country. Anyone. This was the team to finally bring home #8. After getting so close so many times, this was the one that would have pulled it off. And now it’s all but over. With all the SEC worship going on they’ll probably get 2 teams in while FSU is a virtual lock. After that Oregon or any 1-loss PAC 12 champ, Notre Dame, and probably even a 1-loss MSU over a 2-loss Big 12 champ.
Frankly JY I don’t know how any Sooner fan could feel anything but negative right now.
Missed you JY. Missed your insights. I was feeling negative as well. Now I’m a mix of emotions. Disappointed that, after yesterday’s performance, we didn’t play like that earlier in the year. And happy as all hell that we finally are. Looking forward to the Baylor game. Thanx again for all you do.
Sorry bout that John. I’m glad it was a bye week. Trench will be rollin tomorrow and wednesday, so that will be good. Hope we pull it of this weekend!
Hang in there JY. Good to see your posts. Commiseration on the KC loss, they won me over with spectacular play. I was rooting strong. (don’t tell my sister in the bay area though…:-)
Looking forward to that as well. The O-line looked sharp Saturday.
Been pretty down, too, but also recognize the shortcomings are things we saw as necessary in pre-season for this team to be successful. Unfortunately, those things have not come to pass so the disappointment is only that the youth and inexperience we knew existed is still showing: inconsistent QB play, young inexperienced WRs are allowing good teams to load up the box and limit the run game. Drives bog down when OU has 3rd and long. The D ends up on the field too much and is giving up 3rd down plays, especially in the secondary. This was a good and needed win but until the mistakes are eliminated, this is not going to be the season we hoped for. Agree, there is enough talent that OU could be undefeated and if they can correct the mistakes, could win out and BE THAT team. They are so close it hurts to watch. Hoping it all comes together this weekend.
2:30pm start time to TT in two weeks.
nice post hOUligan….pretty well covers it…
Just because one is pragmatic doesn’t mean he’s a Debbie Downer. I’m glad we opened up the offense (been calling for it for several weeks). But let’s remember this was ISU, a team we beat regularly and pretty easily. We could take risks on defense that we didn’t take against TCU and K-State.
Glad to see David Smith get some opportunities. Guess Ford still isn’t ready to go. Sorry for Shep, but Quick and Bell finally got some touches. Amazing, when Heupel has no choice, he can actually spread the ball around.
If you call that being a Debbie Downer, your mistaken. It is being pragmatic and factual.