The Football Brainiacs

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Welp, that certainly didn’t go as planned.

Although coming off a struggle like that, albeit one in which you still managed to escape win, I do think it’s important take a step back and look at the whole big picture of things.

I mean coming into this season did you really believe this OU team would be in the position they’re currently in? Set up exactly where you’d want them to be with an outright Big 12 title and CFB playoff spot both there for the taking.

Yeah, we all hoped that would be the case, sure. But truly believed it?

And yet here they are.

OFFENSE

* This certainly isn’t original on my part, but if there was ever a case to be made for Baker Mayfield’s Heisman campaign it was OU’s second half offensive performance. But even well prior to that Lincoln Riley’s game plan left me — and I’ll assume many of you as well — really scratching my head.

You’re ripping off at least 5+ yards per between Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, yet you continue to insist on throwing the ball. And not only that, but WTF was the deal with all those designed QB runs? Especially after Mayfield had already been dinged up, you’re still calling those?!?

It’s easy to sit here after the fact and second guess things, but even as they were happening very little of what OU did offensively lats night made sense to me.

* Three first half turnovers forced and you’re only up 23-7 at the half I thought was a real testament to the job Gary Patterson and his staff did with a decimated defense game planning against Mayfield and this OU offense.

I thought Mayfield looked thoroughly confused on a number of this drop backs, something we really haven’t seen from him all year.

In Captain Obvious news, Patterson remains one hell of a defensive coach.

* Almost impossible to overstate how impressive that 72-yard Perine on a bum ankle touchdown run was. Not only did it wind up being the difference in the game, but it came at a time when the OU offense had become completely stagnant. Which, sadly, pretty much describes the entire second half.

* Look, I’m with everyone else in describing Trevor Knight as an all-world person. But his play in the second half Saturday night was downright painful to watch. He looked like a bad high school quarterback and, frankly, was incredibly fortunate to only have the one interception.

Again it’s low-hanging fruit, but the idea there was ever a decision to be made between he and Mayfield as QB1 seems borderline laughable after last night.

I do not like to pile on the young man, but that was some next level awful and if, god forbid, Mayfield can’t go for Bedlam, OU would sure look to be in deep, deep trouble.

* In Knight’s defense, however, I also didn’t feel like Riley did him many favors. Trying to throw those quick slants and/or seam routes just simply isn’t something Knight excels at, never has.

If you’re going to throw with Knight, you have to give him those quick screens and swing passes to the RB out of the backfield. Utilize his athleticism getting him out on the edge with some run-pass option. What you don’t want to do is run the zone read, something he’s shown a propensity to struggle with for a couple years now.

* Remember a couple weeks ago when I said in one of these that I didn’t even want to contemplate just how screwed OU is at WR next year without Sterling Shepard?

Well, he had eight receptions in this game. No other OU player recorded more than one. ONE.

* Hard not to feel like this game was a bit of a step backwards for OU’s offensive line, at least in the pass game. It’s pretty hard to find fault in a 333-yard rushing day, but prior to his head injury Mayfield was routinely running for his life back there. And it didn’t really get all that much better for Knight, although that was also in large part to TCU realizing they had no reason to respect his ability to throw the ball.

DEFENSE

* Much like Riley’s game plan, a lot of what Mike Stoops did also confused me.

I didn’t really follow the logic in rushing just three, sometimes four guys for what felt like the better part of the game. Especially against the pair of really inexperienced backups TCU was forced to roll out there. I mean you’re coming off the perfect example of what pressuring a young, inexperienced QB can do for you and yet you go away from that which worked?

Honestly, it was almost as though they put in a game plan with the idea that Boykin would play and then just decided not to adjust anything after it was clear he wouldn’t.

Or maybe it’s just me, I don’t know.

* Look, who am I to question Gary Patterson? But that decision to go for two is borderline indefensible as far as I’m concerned.

Yeah, I’ve read all the #HotTakes on why he should have done it. And I’ve read Patterson’s own logic behind why he felt he had to go for it.

I just simply don’t care.

With all due respect, if you’re one of those who said at the time or shortly there after it was the right call, I’d have to question your intelligence.

I watched that second half OU offense just like all of you. And if you think they were suddenly going to prove capable of moving the ball in overtime after being incapable of doing so for virtually the entire second half, then I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you.

* I planned to open here with a note on Charles Tapper, but I thought K pretty much summed things up perfectly last night during the game.

Taps eyes on the draft

— TFB Sooners (@TFB_Sooners) November 22, 2015

It was easy to kind of discredit a lot of what he’d done in previous weeks because it came against the likes of Kansas and Iowa State, but these last two weeks have shown Tapper’s stellar play has been no fluke.

* It’s easy to look at the three interceptions OU’s secondary recorded in this game and assume they played quite well, and I think for the most part they did. But at the same time I didn’t think they looked anywhere near as good as they did just last week, and that was against much more of a threat in Baylor than the one they faced Saturday night minus Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson.

I’ve said countless times I am happy to live with the risks of playing aggressive rather than the passive, soft coverage we’ve seen so many times, but my word does any pair of CBs in the country bite more on double moves than the combo of Zack Sanchez & Jordan Thomas?

* Simply put, Charles Walker is a difference maker. I’ve got absolutely nothing against Matt Dimon, think he’s a really solid player. But he just doesn’t make the kind of impact plays Walker does, and I can’t help but feel their respective number of snaps should reflect that.

SPECIAL TEAMS

* Credit Austin Seibert for the three field goals he did make as OU definitely does not win without them, but otherwise definitely not the strongest of nights for the true freshman. He had the one 39-yard miss and I thought really kind of struggled punting the ball most of the night. Not sure how much wind was an issue Saturday night, but Seibert ended up finishing with an average of just 38 yards per punt.

* Alex Ross continues to remain an absolute mystery on kickoff returns. At times it almost looks as though he couldn’t possibly be more disinterested in even being out there.

* ‘Punt safe’ is the devil.