Open Post | Tuesday, September 28th
Posted on: September 28, 2021
Visit Update | Marvin Jones Jr
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 26, 2021
K is on the road but he wanted me to pass along what he has heard early on from his sources in regard to ’22 EDGE Marvin Jones who was on official visit to Norman this weekend.
***Source tells K that following the visit, OU feels like they have a very good chance.
***Was told that Marvin’s mother appears to be key and she was very happy with the visit. Source to K ‘if she makes the decision, it would be OU.’
***Jones still has several visits to take so this one has a ways to go right now, but OU did a good job and over the coming days and weeks we will get more from both sides.
Injury Update | DTY
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 27, 2021
Just spoke to James who let me know that right now, sources tell him that the Sooners are cautiously optimistic for DTY to return to the field this weekend against Kansas State following a lower body injury he sustained against West Virginia.
This is obviously welcomed news as OU will already be without Woodi Washington in the secondary.
Quick Visitor Note
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 25, 2021
As we first noted earlier this week, the Sooners we expecting to host a ’22 defensive recruit who was committed elsewhere for an official visit this weekend.
Texas A&M defensive back commit Bobby Taylor was the recruit we were speaking of and we are told he did not make it in for the visit.
I know there are some of you who will not be saddened by that news on a personal level, but it is an interesting sign that OU has been continuing to work on him.
Quick Postgame Thoughts | West Virginia
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 25, 2021
Let me start off by saying…
***Hats off to the defensive effort. I question the staff not coming up with ANY answer for the 8 yard slants that WVU could hit anytime they wanted, but the defense kept OU in this game and they pretty much shut down the WVU run game.
***Linebackers were much improved and the front was disruptive for the most part. Coverage, when they weren’t in zone was actually pretty decent as well.
***DTY was playing a heckuva game before going out with injury but Fields had a rough night. Shout out to Broiles who played pretty well when OU needed him.
***Offense was referenced in the GIF above., but there were a couple bright spots in Mike Woods, Eric Gray (in the pass game) and Mario Williams.
***OL went backwards after steadily improving over the first 3 games and they will have a rough film session. Just could not handle the defensive line straight up and when WVU sent any type of blitz, they were terrible.
***Spencer Rattler…isn’t Kyler Murray or Baker Mayfield and that is part of the problem. He actually did not play terribly. He played as he has for most of the season…average. He was not helped by his OL at all tonight and more importantly from the play calling. But he still had a decent statistical night.
***I will say the thing that concerned me most about Rattler tonight was him missing on those back-to-back deep throws which were open and OU desperately needs to start hitting. I am not saying he was good, but I am saying he was not terrible…he was what he has been this season…which is a problem for OU fans when they are used to much more.
***Gonna close this with no sugar coating…
Right now…OU is not an elite team. Prepare yourself for multiple losses at this point, because if they continue to play at this level…they are coming. You are going to hear a lot of ‘It’s tough to win football games’ and ‘we are close to getting things on track’…I’m not buying that, and I do not expect you to.
If the best OU can do right now is eek out a win, in a game they never led until the final second, against an unranked WVU team, who lost to Maryland this season, in front of a packed house on a Saturday night, thanks in large part to a bad snap by the opposition…everyone needs to lower their expectations for the rest of the season.
Maybe we will all be surprised going forward, but right now, as I write this, I can’t see OU making the conference championship let alone the Colleg Football Playoffs.
I will gladly be happy to be proven wrong.
Overall Thoughts | Rattler, Williams and the OL
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 25, 2021
As the energy of the in game environment has faded, and my head has stopped shaking in disbelief, I find myself wanting to share a few more thoughts, specifically on Spencer Rattler, Caleb Williams, and the offensive line.
First off, if you didn’t feel a little grimey after hearing your fans boo your starting QB and chant for every football teams favorite player (the backup QB) during a nationally televised game, which your team won, we probably wouldn’t be friends in real life. That was unfortunate and in bad taste, to say the least. These guys aren’t ‘kids’ in many cases, but they are human and that whole situation was just yuck. Felt bad for him and I am glad he was able to lead the team down the field for the victory.
Now…while I do not agree with how the message was sent…that does not mean I do not see validity in the calls for Caleb Williams.
Someone asked me in the game thread if I were in Riley’s position, would I have benched him. I replied I would have, for the last series of the 2nd quarter. I would have planned on starting Spencer when the team came back on the field for the start of the 3rd. It was a perfect opportunity, in my mind, to get a new look for the offense, see if you could catch a spark to get some points before the half, and clear Spencers head a bit. However, the chants and boos really made that pretty much impossible for Riley at that point as it would have appeared he was caving to the masses and it would have sent a really awkward message to both his team and the fans.
Whether or not Rattler got benched in this game is irrelevant now. OU won the game, but the issues are clear and going forward, it is my opinion, that Riley needs to design, develop, and implement some packages for Caleb Williams for a number of reasons.
The first reason I feel now is the time to get those packages ready is because let’s face it…what OU is doing offensively right now is not working up to their own standards. If Riley had already used Williams in certain packages earlier in the season, it would have been no shock to anyone if he sent him out there to try to spark the offense. It would have been normal.
The second reason I believe he needs to put in some packages for Williams is also pretty simple: The kid is a true freshman with very little experience and should something happen to Rattler injury wise (and with the way the OL played tonight that isn’t far fetched) you would have a completely green quarterback running the program. It would not be a bad thing for Williams to gain some experience in a meaningful game even if his packages are 90% run based.
The time is now for Caleb to get on the field at points throughout the games. I am with you on that.
On Rattler…man you can see flashes that it is in there. The opening drive of the game and the closing drive of the game, which came under immense pressure, showed he can get the job done. The middle of the game…you saw him fade off into that haze he seems to play under more often than not so far this year where he makes questionable decisions and kind of gets lost out there. He is not performing at his best, there is no excuse for that on a personal level. I also believe he has not been helped much by his playcaller and each of the units on the team at times. There is not a lot of trust there and that has to be addressed. I actually think packages for Williams, which are used sparingly but timely, could actually be a benefit to him.
Real head-scratcher, but I have to admit, as I said above, I felt bad for the young man tonight. Not because of his play, but because of the environment. It was just really unfortunate.
As for the offensive line…yeah, they were a problem tonight. But I will not concede that they have been bad the entire year. On the contrary, I still maintain that coming into the game (very important to read ‘coming into the game) they were the most consistent unit over the first three games and they were the one unit that showed improvement from game to game. Tonight, the best offensive unit was the wide receiver room, but I am not as quick to write off the offensive line as some are, and yall have every reason to be upset with them based on the way they played tonight, but the calls for Bedenbaughs job are ridiculous in my opinion.
Bedenbaugh has put more guys in the league than any other coach on the staff (aside from maybe Cale, but I would have to go back a ways to confirm that). That is the measuring stick, and the only one that can be used when it comes to comparing resumes for coaches. If you think OU should weigh if they can do better at OL coach, I agree. OU should be doing that consistently with every position coach. Every one of them, every year. That is why assistant coaches’ contracts are generally not long-term.
I believe the next game would be a telling point for where that unit (and every other unit for that matter) is headed. OU has played 3 real games, I do not count Western Carolina as a real game and they have faced different types of defenses in each game. The OL was average in the run game but very good in pass pro against Tulane, they were good in both aspects against Nebraska, and they were poor in both aspects against West Virginia.
Since all our complaining or thoughts really don’t matter in the big picture, I am going to give them one more week before I lean toward calling the unit a failure or a success. They were bad tonight. They were good against what appears to be a decent Nebraska defense (based on how they played OU last week and Michigan State this week).Yes units can grow throughout an entire season, but I feel like once they get 3 real games under their belt, you will see a more complete picture of what they are in the fourth game based on a jump they make or do not make.
Just some thoughts that were taking up space in my head.
We will get to the numbers and film this week. Y’all have a goodnight!
