Open Post | Tuesday, October 5th

Quick Postgame Thoughts | Kansas State
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 2, 2021

The Sooners avoided the unthinkable, which was a third consecutive loss to Kansas State,  as they beat the Wildcats in Manhattan this afternoon.

***After a 3 possession first half which netted OU 13 points, they came out in the second half and looked much more like the OU offense you have all become accustomed to.

***Spencer Rattler played very well, even though he was credited with an interception. I, personally, had no issues with that pass as it basically served as a punt on 3rd and long. The Sooners scored on all their possessions aside from the interception.

***The defense had problems throughout the day which is likely going to be the cloud over the fan base this week as they just could not get off the field on 3rd and 4th downs.

***Kansas State was 7-14 on third down and 5-5 on 4th down. Grinch is gonna be hot. Christmas may be canceled and it’s not even Halloween yet.

***Sooners defense having issues in coverage, tackling, and playing assignment sound football. That should not be the case at this point of the season in the third year of this defensive scheme. It just shouldn’t. Continuing to display the poor coverage screams about the lack of development, we are 5 games into the season and we are seeing little improvement in that area in particular.

***The offense this week gave the team every opportunity to put this one away, but the defense just could not get the job done.

***The offensive line, while better, still bugs me due to the penalties. The false starts on TRob on the end are frustrating because I feel like he is trying to compensate for his physical shortcoming (length in large part) with the early jumps. Wanya and Harrison looked about the same today…was hoping we saw them as a pair and TRob challenge someone inside. TRob drew Riley’s ire late in the game with a silly personal foul penalty.

***Kennedy Brooks had a nice day as did Eric Gray when he had the opportunity and it was nice to see the TE/HB room get some attention as they caught 8 balls among them.

***The defensive line had a couple moments, but they were largely neutralized by the experienced Kansas State OL which exposed the back end to longer coverages. They did not look like a difference-maker today and when that happens, you need your backend to step up…which really did not happen today.

***The secondary not only didn’t cover very well, or tackle all that well for that matter, but they also dropped several interception possibilities.

***Giving up the late kickoff return was just the icing on the cake…more poor tackling some lack of effort…just an ugly play.

Looking forward to getting into this film offensively for the good…and defensively for the not so good.

The Sooners will head into the Red River Shootout riding a 13 game winning streak…yet still somehow feeling like a team we have no idea what we will be seeing.


2021 Red River Shootout | First Glance at the Numbers
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 3, 2021

6 – Days until the 2021 Red River SHOOTOUT (refuse to call it whatever is politically correct today, it’s the shootout, always has been always will be)

Here is a look at some of the numbers heading into the game…

Total Offense:

Texas #22 – 5 games – 344 plays run – 2350 – yards gained – 6.83 – yards per play – 28 touchdowns scored – 470.0 yards per game.

Oklahoma #43 – 5 games – 344 plays run – 2167 yards gained – 6.30 – yards per play – 22 touchdowns scored – 433.4 yards per game.

Passing Offense:

Oklahoma #30 – 5 games – 176 passes – 131 completions – 4 interceptions thrown – 1392 passing yards – 7.91 yards per attempt – 10.63 yards per completion – 10 touchdown passes – 278.4 passing yards per game.

Texas #90 – 5 games – 115 passes – 78 completions – 3 interceptions thrown – 1021 passing yards – 8.88 yards per attempt – 13.09 yards per completion – 11 touchdown passes – 204.2 passing yards per game.

Rushing Offense:

Texas #5 – 5 games – 229 rushing attempts – 1329 rushing yards – 5.80 yards per carry – 17 rushing touchdowns – 265.8 rushing yards per game.

Oklahoma #75 – 5 games – 168 rushing attempts – 775 rushing yards – 4.61 yards per carry – 12 rushing touchdowns – 155.0 rushing yards per game.

Sacks allowed:

Both teams have allowed 9 sacks.

Total Defense:

Oklahoma #42 – 5 games – 335 plays against – 1604 yards against – 4.79 – yards per play – 11 touchdowns allowed – 320.8 yards given up per game.

Texas #82 – 5 games – 327 plays against – 1984 yards against – 6.07 yards per play – 14 touchdowns allowed – 396.8 yards given up per game.

Passing Defense:

Texas #69 – 5 games – 107 completions allowed – 145 passes attempted – 1122 passing yards allowed – 5 passing touchdowns allowed – 7.74 yards per attempt – 10.49 yards per completions – 224.4 passing yards allowed per game.

Oklahoma #84 – 5 games – 119 completions allowed – 181 passes attempted – 1207 passing yards allowed – 7 passing touchdowns allowed – 6.67 yards per attempt – 10.14 yards per completion – 241.4 passing yards allowed per game.

Rushing Defense:

Oklahoma #7 – 5 games – 154 rushing attempts against – 397 rushing yards allowed – 2.58 yards per carry allowed – 4 rushing touchdowns allowed – 79.4 rushing yards allowed per game.

Texas #94 – 5 games – 182 rushing attempts against – 862 rushing yards allowed – 4.74 yards per carry allowed – 9 rushing touchdowns allowed – 172.4 rushing yards allowed per game.

Sacks forced:

Oklahoma – 5 games – 15.0 sacks recorded – 83 yards in sacks – 3.00 sacks per game

Texas – 5 games – 10.0 sacks recorded – 61 yards in sacks – 2.00 sacks per game

Biggest takeaway…SHOULD come down to strength (UT rushing offense) on strength (OU rush defense)…which means it will come down to something else, obviously!


Position Group Progress Report | Game 5 : Kansas State
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 4, 2021

Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners win against Kansas State. Coming into the game, OU was a 10 point favorite over the Wildcats and they wound up winning 37-31.

This is the fifth progress report of the season and I will include the previous game’s ratings for each unit.

Let’s see how things shook out against Kansas State.

QB: High 4* (last week 3*)

Spencer Rattler was the best player on the field for either team on Saturday.

Period.

His stat line read: 22 of 25 for 243 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He saw the field very well and distributed the ball effectively to multiple receivers and even got the TE/HB room engaged.

His interception came with 1:30 left in the 3rd quarter on a 3rd and 17 which was snapped from the Kansas State 43. I don’t hate the decision, I hated the execution. He had Mike Woods with a step on the defender and he appeared to try to put the biscuit in a window for a back-shoulder catch for Woods instead of leading him. The ball was underthrown and picked off. Would have rather seen him lead Woods into the endzone and see what happens there…but then, it wouldn’t have been an effective ‘arm punt’ if it was picked off.

As I said, I don’t hate the decision as it served as an effective ‘punt’ but he did have Willis wide open underneath which may have resulted in OU having a shot at a longish field goal attempt.

Other than that, I haven’t seen many poor decisions after one rewatch and that is impressive growth. He made some tremendous throws on the run and made several very smart calls in regard to running himself. Very well-played game, would have given him a 5* without that interception.


RB: Low 4* (Last week 1*)

This unit was not good against West Virginia the week prior and they came out looking like a much more focused group.

Could have had a lot to do with the play of the offensive line, but they ran hard, displayed good vision and patience for the most part and Gray was effective in the pass game once again.

Brooks led the way with 15 carries for 91 yards (6.1 ypc average) and a score and Gray added 4 carries for 22 yards (5.5 ypc) and added 2 receptions for another 17 yards.

Jeremiah Hall had 2 carries for 9 yards and a TD and added 3 receptions for 20 yards and another score. Nice day for him!

Best thing I saw from this group on the day though? They looked much more engaged in the blocking and pass pro. Good day for them.


WR/TE: Low 4* (Last week High 3*)

No major drops.

Multiple guys blocked very well (Haselwood getting a 3 for 1 at one point).

Mims had a chunk play (much needed 40 yarder).

Willis really had a nice day and could have had more as I noticed him wide open on several occasions. Still had 4 catches for 31 yards. Stogner had an 11 yard reception, but that was a bit shaky. Not sure what is going on there to be honest, just does not look like we expected he would at this point still.

Woods, Stoops, Williams, and Haselwood all played well and had receptions.

Their blocking and sure hands helped the offense take some real strides this week.


OL: 3 star* (Last week Nebula*)

You saw growth and progress from this unit in rebounding from a terrible showing against West Virginia.

Prior to the WVU game, this unit had been the most consistent unit and they were getting better each week.

Then, WVU happened so there was no place to go but up for this group.

Was it perfect? No, not even close. Was it very good? I wouldn’t go that far. Was it ‘good’? Yes, it was ‘good enough’.

The game planning and amount of zone blocking they did in the run game helped them play free for sure. They still had some issues with communication though and that is a concern.

After my first rewatch…I disagree with a lot of the sentiment that Wanya is better than Harrison. I don’t see it that way at all. Harrison had a damn good game overall. He was not perfect, but he displayed good athleticism and actually looked engaged (which has been my biggest knock on him).

I know Gabe Ikard tweeted out that Tyrese Robinson is the best OL playing right now. Gabe knows far more than I do, but I do know TRob cost OU yards and points last week and I really didn’t see anything ‘special’ about his play. Do I think he is the biggest problem? No, but I also don’t think his playing level allows for repeated penalties and putting OU behind the chains.

The interior was a bit better, Raym still had some struggles (as you would expect) and Hayes showed some life after looking terrible against WVU.

The good thing heading into Texas for this group? Texas does not present a massive pass rush or a lot of speed from the DL. They like to bring pressure off the edges and the OU OL generally does its best work against bigger but slower DLs…which is how I would characterize the Texas DL right now.

Good outing to get the unit pointed in the right direction, now they need to build on it.


DL: High 3* (Last week Low 4*)

This group still misses Jalen Redmond. You cannot deny it.

Isaiah Thomas played some inspired ball and had a nice showing and Bonitto was effective while not putting up gaudy stats.

Reggie Grimes flashed and Isaiah Coe really had an impact until he left with an injury.

Perrion Winfrey was incredibly quiet and recorded no stats. He did get a couple of pressures but his presence was minimal.

They have had a solid year to this point, but in this game, they were pretty pedestrian and the rest of the defense felt it.


LB: Low 2* (Last week 4*)

I thought they were the best defensive unit on the field against West Virginia the prior week and not so much this week.

Asamoah had 6 tackles, but he missed a few as well and was just bad in coverage once again.

DaShaun White actually played a decent game, in my opinion, but he also struggled in coverage (just a bit less than the others) and David Ugwoegbu is just a puzzle at this point as typically he is not strong in coverage, but at least he had been tackling well. Not so much against Kansas State. He was bad in both facets.

I thought Shane Whitter tackled well, which was nice to see, but again…coverage was lacking.

This group needs to turn it around quickly as Texas will look to exploit them with short passes to their backs and WRs and a heavy. heavy dose of Bijan Robinson running the rock which will test their tackling capabilities. Right now…I see that as a huge advantage for Texas. Better hope they prove me wrong.


DB: 1* (Last week High 3*)

Justin Broiles was your bright spot. Yes, he had one really terrible angle, and a couple of other times he just physically could not do what was required…but he still probably had the best day of any DB. Ouch.

Billy Bowman continues to make strides and is getting more comfortable, so he was another guy who may have been considered ‘the best of the bunch’.

Aside from that…really not a lot of ‘good’ was displayed against Kansas State.

DJ Graham did a decent job in coverage, but he had a couple really bad whiffs in tackling.

Jaden Davis was not good in any aspect really.

Key Lawrence is learning and getting better, but he dropped a gimme interception, and when you’re learning and still making mistakes, you need to capitalize on those opportunities.

Pat Fields got used up in the pass game, but he did lead the team in tackles, so there’s that.

Just a really disjointed effort from the secondary which lost Harrington to the portal midweek. I bring up Harrington only to point out that these guys you see on the field…they are the guys you will be riding with.


Special Teams: High 2* (Last week High 4*)

Brkic was nails once again going 3/3 on his field goals.

Turk DNP coaches playcalling decision

The KR and PR teams were fine. Caught the ball and didn’t have any turnovers.

The coverage teams gave up a ‘multiple missed penalty’ kick return…so I can’t really bang them too hard for that, but they did show a little lack of effort on that return as well.

Could have given them a 3.


Quick Hitter | The Latest on Gabe Dindy
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 4, 2021

As you all know, Sooners ’22 defensive line priority Gabe Dindy is planning on announcing his commitment on October 12th.

Previously, K noted that he believed Dindy was trending to the Sooners. He wrote that HERE.

‘***Having said all that, I’m going to keep my trending pick towards OU. Maybe 60/40, Sooners. Just hard to see OU losing a legacy.’

K touched bases with a couple sources around the Dindy recruitment and he wanted me to pass along an updated note:

After talking to a few more people, Super K would bump the odds up in favor of OU from 60/40 into the 75/25+ range.

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