Square Peg Meet Round Hole
Posted on: October 12, 2014
Image via NewsOK
I’m going to try really hard to avoid this becoming just another rant about Josh Heupel. For a couple reasons: (1) There’s not a whole lot new one can really say at this point, (2) the popular stance among those who excuse/defend performances like we saw yesterday by saying “it doesn’t matter who the OU o.c. is, the fans always want them fired” is pretty fair (and I’m as guilty as anyone in taking part, so I’ll freely admit that), and (3) it’s such low hanging fruit whatever satisfaction there was in the past has been replaced by guilt by picking on such an easy target.
Let me quickly start by addressing what I heard from the coaching staff during the postgame on Saturday.
“…we got the win and that’s all that matters.”
That saying has always driven me crazy. It’s true in the sense that immediately following the game, no matter how poorly you may or may not have played, winning is the only thing that ultimately matters. BUT, using it as an excuse, as Stoops and a number of other OU coaches did during Saturday’s postgame, for a subpar performance (putting it kindly) in a victory insults everyone’s intelligence.
Do you think the coaches are coming in today only for Bob to be waiting there telling them to go back home because, “we don’t need to work on anything today or review any film, fellas…we got the ‘W’ yesterday and that’s all that matters.”
Do you think the players will come in on Monday only to hear their positions coaches tell them, “nothing to go over from last week, guys…we got the win, on to the next one.”
Of course not. Both of those scenarios are patently ridiculous. “Shut up and be happy because who the hell are you to be questioning what we do and how we go about their business.” That’s what I heard yesterday, or in any other postgame in which we get the same canned responses from Bob.
And this is just one example, among many with this staff, of the type of arrogance that — at least for this OU fan — has grown very, very tiresome.
Which kind of helps bring me to my main point.
I’m not fortunate enough to be paid the six/seven figure salary that would allow me the access to be able to tell you whether it’s arrogance, stubbornness, some combination of both, or something else entirely that has led to what we’re witnessing on the field.
I haven’t been nearly as quick as some to do so, but at this point I think you have to consider the Sugar Bowl to be a bit of a fluke. Which is a harsh reality to come to terms with, but based on what we’ve seen so far in 2014 I’m just not sure how you come to any other conclusion.
I cannot and am not speaking for anyone else and these are just my opinions. I’m not saying I am any more right or wrong than anyone else. But nearly three plus years into things with Heupel as a play-caller, these are the conclusions I’ve come to.
* He appears to be what I’m calling a ‘system coordinator’ and that system is a spread scheme. He does not appear to have the ability to adapt his system to his personnel and we’re witnessing that in the offense’s current struggles.
* I’m thoroughly confused as to why they would make sure a significant change in the style of quarterbacks they recruited (and continue to recruit) if they were simply going to force them to be something they aren’t (to me, that’s arrogance, but again I’m not allowed behind the curtain).
* What I believe they want is an accurate, strong-armed pocket style passer (like a Bradford or Landry) who also has the ability to make plays outside the pocket when things break down. They’re never going to make their dual-threat ability a significant part of the offense, but they want to have that luxury of a guy who’s an above-average athlete (maybe even elite, but they don’t want to be too greedy) who can also make all the throws.
Here’s the problem with that, however. Those guys don’t exactly grow on trees. They’re very, very difficult to find and there’s never a guarantee you’ll be able to find one, let alone get them to commit, in any given recruiting class.
And even if you are fortunate enough to find that guy, you’re going to have to develop him once he gets on campus. Which used to be something I had a ton of confidence in Heupel to do, but give what we’re witnessing in Trevor Knight this season my confidence is wavering.
* So what we get is what we’re seeing, some modified version of a spread offense with parts ill suited to perform in such a scheme. They’re stuck in this sort of middle ground where they refuse to adapt and/or commit to an offense designed around the strengths of Knight, instead repeatedly asking him to do things he’s clearly struggling with and yet OU fans are the idiots for having the gall to question what they’re doing — or rather not doing as it were — offensively.
All of which leads me to the crux of my point here.
What is this team’s offensive identity? Hell, has any OU team with Heupel as the play-caller had a clear identity?
It’s not even so much about second guessing the guy at this point as much as I just literally can’t figure out what he’s even trying to accomplish.
Why do they start games so poorly and have become so reliant on halftime adjustments to try and salvage a poorly played, at times, first half? Wouldn’t it just be easier to, you know, actually be prepared at the start of the game? Now, to his credit Heupel did finally mix things up in the second half on Saturday going back to some aspects (bubble screen, swing pass, etc.) of the OU offense what worked in the past (what a novel concept) that have been scarcely used in 2014. But, again, why did it take such dire circumstances (in my opinion) before you’re willing to do these things?
With an experienced and senior-laden massive offensive line, the identity of this offense, in my own humble opinion, should be that of a power running team. Why else have, at times, two fullbacks on the field yet never line them up in front of your RBs as a lead blocker?
What the hell is the point of running the zone-read if your quarterback either can’t figure out how/when to make the proper read and keep the ball or you’re coached him not to do so? Teams clearly don’t respect the “threat” of Knight keeping it and for good reason. SO QUIT RUNNING THE DAMN ZONE-READ. It hasn’t worked and it isn’t going to.
Why can we see this and yet they, apparently, cannot? To me that’s arrogance bordering on stupidity, but again I’m not allowed behind the curtain.
So this isn’t one of those instances the local media so enjoy lecturing us fans about where we’re just blindly criticizing the OU coaches with no suggestion/s as to how to solve the perceived problem.
I have a suggestion, one I feel is a good and rather sensible alternative. A power running team that commits to the strength of their quarterback and those around him. Obviously that would involve taking the leash off Knight and letting him be the playmaker we think he can be. You can play off your power run game and do any number of different things, but this offense needs a clear identity that it has been lacking for years.
Do I expect any of this to happen? Nope.
But at least I’m offering an alternative. And I find it pretty hard to believe it could be any worse than what we’re currently seeing.
144 Comments
spot on….TK will never be as an effective passer in the pocket as he is in the zone read pacage. Those type throws are more suited to his abilities than what theyve asked him to do recently. Unless we unleas the entire package like we did against Alabama last year…we will struggle to beat good teams
We may struggle to beat bad teams. Sanchez’s pick and Ross’s KO return were the margin of victory in yesterday’s game with a greatly improved UT D.
They must have zero confidence in Cody Thomas then. He was a darn good passer in HS and he has the ability to run. This, and wanting to keep Hansen’s redshirt (why if he isn’t going to be allowed to run), have to be the reason’s to keep the leash on TK. I just don’t get it. Go balls to the wall and see what happens. Can’t keep worrying about injuries. KSU and OSU will be dogfights and I can’t see how OU beats Baylor at this point.
A few comments:
1.) When you’re angry with an employee, you address it in private, not during a televised interview. His comments weren’t arrogant, they were respectful. The head coach should never lay into an assistant coach on tv, no matter how much he deserves it. I think you’re going too far on this one.
2.) I completely agree about the zone read. I don’t necessarily think he’s calling inherently bad games, but he’s calling games that expect more out of our players than they are delivering (which makes them bad). Which is odd, b/c they’ve proven they CAN deliver those games. In fact, the Sugar Bowl with which we all were so happy with, was exactly that kind of game: he called plays which required our players to make plays, which they did. This year though, the players aren’t, which isn’t ALL his fault (though he does still share a large amount of blame).
3.) Ultimately, I want JH back as the QB coach regardless of his play calling ability. Landry stopped developing when he changed positions, and TK’s technique is still wanting, and I truly think it’s b/c JH is too busy coordinating to give them the individual time they need. Otherwise, JH needs to play call like he did in the 3rd/early 4th yesterday. Those were brilliant series that utilized our players’ strengths to run up and down the field.
I agree. I suspect Bob was less polite today than he was yesterday.
Absolutely. I went back and read the actual comments, and you can tell he’s not happy. But Bob is too classy to air his dirty laundry in public, so I’m sure JH has a headache from the earful he’s gotten.
Perfectly said
Drew,
Very good reply, I agree with your points but would add a 4th point.
4.) It’s not just problems with the offense. The defense has lost it’s aggressiveness from the first 3 games and is playing timid and unsound technique. The TCU game exposed some serious weakness in this defense and a very poor Texas offense saw those flaws and exploited them yesterday. If Texas were just an average to descent offense, even with all their penalties yesterday, the outcome would likely have been quite different.
Point 1. Exactly Drew. Head Coaching rule # 1 when dealing with ass coaches: Never throw them under the bus to players or media and or parents. when they are doing something stupid that will be dealt with between the header and said ass coach. If it doesn’t get better remove him ( reassign) and hire someone else.
When CBob came in he brought Leach on as Leach’s spread was the most difficult to defend. The next iteration is pistol/ZR and CBob’s teams have struggled against running QBs who can throw. CBob likes the idea but has not fully bought in. 1. Those guys are hard to find 2. running QBs are exposed more to injury. Think they would be more comfortable with a ‘more mobile’ passing QB who could scramble when needed ala Jason White. It would fit their knowledge, experience and comfort level.
We either need a new QB coach or Heupel needs to be downgraded to QB coach and let Norvell call plays. Let’s see what he can do. Heupel can coach QB’s but I don’t think he is getting his full attention on that aspect.
Heupel can coach QB’s? I’m not seeing it. Least ways not with Trevor.
That’s what I’m saying, he can’t do that and be the OC.
I think TK has the skills but JH isn’t giving him the QB coaching he needs to refine his skills nor is he developing game plans that will fit TKs skill set
I just don’t buy this. There isn’t anything keeping JH from working directly with the QB’s and TK in practice, that should stunt his development. Maybe TK just can’t get better. If you read his HS scouting report, many of the same things he is doing wrong now, he was doing wrong then. So it’s not like he has developed bad habits. Maybe, no matter who the QB coach or how much effort TK puts into getting better, he just isn’t going to get better. That happens.
Now that is a comment I can agree with.
You could very well be right. But how do you know that there isn’t anything keeping JH from working directly with the QBs? I think a vast number of fans saw the drop off Landry Jones had when JH moved to OC and up into the box. And while TK might not be able to get better he has shown flashes of greatness. Besides I think people forget he’s still relatively inexperienced as a starter. I think he could get better.
So does every position suffer if their position coach is also the OC? Norvell is co-OC, is that why the WR play hasn’t been great? Did Oline play suffer when Kevin Wilson was the OC? Did QB play suffer when Leach was the OC? What about at other schools? QB coaches are the ones that seem to be the OC’s more often then not.
This is very well possible but it is very early in the year to conclude this. We will see how this year plays out and if TK can make strides.
Oh, it will get worse. Bill Snyder will make sure of that if the coaches – Huepel in particular — haven’t tailored the offense to Knight’s strengths.
Like he did last year? Meh. KSU can definitely beat us, but some of you are way more afraid of them then you should be.
I am scared anytime that I see our coaches not getting the most out of our skillful players and also knowing the opposing coach can write a book on the subject.
It happens every year. Or nearly every year. Folks panicked last year, and we ended the season on a roll. Probably happened the year before too. And the year before. This team isn’t going to suddenly start losing every week. And we’re going to get better on offense. Guaranteed. Anybody that doesn’t think so is fooling themselves. If we can regroup and get by KSU next week, I think Baylor is the only game we’d potentially lose the rest of the season.
I agree with you on the way it looks for the rest of the season, but those are big if’s. Also, in all my years, I am trying to remember when OU’s offense ever looked worse than in that first half. Maybe in the Gomer Jones era? I remember Switzer having a few bad games, but it was always because of fumbles, never because the offense just stopped working all together. Frankly that first half was just totally bizarre. I hope it was a fluke.
2001 was pretty ugly on offense a lot of the time. Also, texas might have the best defense in the big 12. The world famous TCU defense just gave up 61 points to the same team texas shut down in the first half. Baylor scored 28 on them, because even great defenses get tired when their offense wont stay on the field.
Thank you JE! You’re spot on, and it is refreshing to see that you’re not drinking the kool-aid. We’re in for yet another stressful season with our offense. Other teams have figured out how to stop Heupel … The word is out. It is very painful to watch talent being squandered … These kids deserve better.
Man, you have some gripe with JH. Last I checked even Mike Stoops has let Boykin, Swoopes have their way with us, dono when you will start calling him out.
I agree with you cs this whole coaching staff has been bad maybe when baylor beat’s us by 21 then stoop’s will finally be forced to make change or be forced out as coach jordan was 100 precent this coaching is bad
Force Stoops out? You can’t be serious.
He’s been trolling this whole time. Just ignore him.
Drew when bob stoop’s win’s his next national championship come talk to me because it’s not going to happen you can say all you want to that i am trolling but been a sooner fan since the mid 70’s this coach is no where as good as barry switer if you can’t see that then you don’t understand what this program is all about sorry you sooner fan’s who have been sooner fan’s since 2000 don’t know what we have been about as a program for the last 120 year’s
Sonnercindy pay know attention to drew he is living in the past been a sooner fan since the mid’s70 and bob stoop.s is just not as good a coach as barry switzer or bud wilkerson that is what sooner football is all about winning national championship’s not losing them like bob stoop’s is know for the only coach to lose three national championship’s in a row but i do love the sooner’s soonercindy
You’re right in that it’s definitely not just Heupel. Mike deserves a lot of criticism as well and if one of the other guys doesn’t address that in the next couple days, I’ll be happy to. Just trying not to hog everything for myself, if that makes sense.
I really think your criticism is not very balanced. If you really think our coaching/play calling and offense is a stink-fest, you need to criticize Stoops/Norvell/Gundy too. You really think JH just flings it out there? I don’t for a second think that he will install a game plan w/o the consent of Norvell/Stoops and Gundy. For god sake’s what do you think they do during the week if they think this offensive gameplan is terrible, wouldn’t Stoops step in and scratch it?
Anyways, criticism is important, even when we are winning and doing things good. Else, we will never improve. But, I just think you should take into consideration the fact that our combined starts in the offensive skill position (w/o Shep) is somewhere around 6-8. So, if after 10-15 games, we still are struggling like we are now, then I would really be on board your premise.
I don’t disagree but as the guy calling the plays in the actual game, ultimately the lion’s share of the blame falls at his feet, IMO.
Mike Stoops hasn’t been on his A game the last 3 games, but I don’t think he did a terrible job. It’s tough when your defense is also your offense.
Fortunate. That’s what I call yesterday’s win. Texsa lost it, we didn’t necessarily win it. Our offense is a joke, the Sugar Bowl was an aberration, and our defense has some major flaws. Long way to go to number 8 boys, not gonna happen this year.
An Excerpt from the postgame interview with Heupel yesterday:
Oklahoma Offensive Coordinator Josh Heupel
On problems in the first half:
“I mean when you go 1-for-11 on third downs you are not going to have a very efficient offense during the day. We were going third-and-long early. We were not running it very efficiently on first and second downs. We were more efficient during the second half, but obviously want to be more efficient all the time. We did not play the way we are capable of or want to.”
Gotta call this one: When the other team knows you are going to run it up the middle on first and second down, along with everyone else in the stands, it’s not going to be very effective. All I can do is shake my head at this point, and I have been a Heupel supporter for the past couple of years. Hard to be one anymore.
Some of you JH haters talk out of both sides of your mouth.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t complain that we should be running the ball, and trying to be a power running team, then make comments like “When the other team knows you are going to run it up the middle on first
and second down, along with everyone else in the stands, it’s not going
to be very effective.”
You can’t get mad that we try to establish a power game when we run inside and it fails, then also blast JH for using outside runs b/c “that isn’t our strength”.
You can’t bitch and moan about JH trying to call pass plays, then complain when he goes run heavy and it doesn’t work.
There are many more examples. It doesn’t matter what JH calls, if it works it’s a good call, and it if doesn’t, it’s a bad call. Run. Pass. Up the middle. Outside. Short. Long. I’ve heard the JH haters complain about all of it. At least come together and get a central story that you all stick to. Because right now, ya’ll are all over the place.
The criticism has been pretty consistent among most OU fans. Allow TK to run a true zone read or don’t run it at all. Everyone’s arguments can basically be broken down to that simple sentence.
I’ve seen folks insisting on Perine starting the game, running Perine up the middle early and often, swing/toss plays to Ross, roll outs for Trevor, naked bootlegs, and on and on, in addition to everyone of the comments SoonerfanTU refers to.
man, all of those plays you listed sound good, lol.
My main gripe with the running, is not necessarily the amount, but the formation, with either back in there.. I do like Perine better, but both could be much more successful running in a downhill running formation (I think we could open up more passing lanes out of those formations too.) So again, my biggest issue is not the players/coaches, so much as the formations (or lack of) we are using. I have no faith in the Pistol formation as a running (or passing) formation, if we aren’t using the option game. Would help generate more momentum and rhythm, if we mix it up a bit I think.
I’m right there with ya.
I think it’s perfectly reasonable for fans to want and expect more from the offense than they’ve seen the past two weeks. Sure, I understand both teams had great defenses, but I also heard Texas’ offense was horrendous and we made Swoopes look like Mariota and Petty combined. I don’t think any fan has requested that TK throw the ball more, and, again, most fans just want JH to utilize the strengths of his players better (i.e. TK running more either by actually using the ZR or naked bootlegs, Ross in space, Perine up the middle, etc.) No one, that I’ve seen, has faulted JH for any of the above calls. If those plays dont work, then its poor execution.
Agree that it’s perfectly reasonable, and I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t agree about wanting and expecting more than we’ve seen the past two weeks. (including the team and coaches)
Yes, if those plays don’t work, and they didn’t, then it’s poor execution. Exactly. Those calls are not miracle calls that will fix the offense. Whether we pass, or run Perine or run Ross, inside or out, with poor execution the calls won’t work.
What if Heupel thinks we’ll have trouble executing a certain play against a given team? Stoops referred to this after the tcu game when someone asked about rolling the qb out. If you go back and look at the tcu game when Trevor rolled out, you can see that he was right to be concerned. If he knows that certain plays aren’t gonna go well, he’s correct not to call them, imho, even if the fans think they would be “perfect” or “obvious.”
I’m not interested in TK running the ball more. If Mayfield were eligible, or if one of our back-ups was proven, I’d be all for it. If Knight goes down, the offense (even with it’s inconsistencies) would be in a complete tailspin.
If you don’t think our offense is currently in a complete tailspin then please let me know which game you’re watching because I’d rather watch that OU team.
We’re nowhere near a tailspin. We had a bad half (granted, it was a really bad half), but outside of that half we’ve been very productive on offense. The truth is the offensive problems start and stop with 3rd downs. If that weren’t so bad, I don’t think folks would be nearly as vocal (and we also would have beaten TCU).
We’re 5-1 using the zone-read, so I don’t completely understand the frustration.
This isn’t the Blake era, we aren’t going to scrap an offense we’ve been working on for two years and adopt a completely new scheme mid-season, that would make no sense.
I’m not knocking your thinking, or your opinion. I respect everyone’s point of view. I just think there’s a hangover from the TCU loss, and the first half of the RRS didn’t help get that bad taste out of our mouths.
As always in football (especially Sooner football): Things aren’t always as good nor bad as they seem.
No I talk out of one side. I don’t like Josh Heupel as a play caller!
This, this and some more of this!!!!
No sh!t Soonerfan TU. Last week it was “why are we throwing it so much on first and second down, we gashed WV with the run”. This week ” why are we running it up the middle on first and second down”. “Let’s throw more on first and second down”.
Not sure where I said anything about a power running game, but a true power run game (Most times) would have TK under center with a full back and tail back behind him, like the I or some variation. And possibly the diamond formation. What we see TK in is mostly the pistol for the zone read, but the defense doesn’t need to key on TK at all since he always gives it to the RB, who is 3-5 yards behind the LOS when they get it. Please explain to me where this offensive set that OU has currently been using is anything close to a power run game. TFB please help me understand this.
A little history. The 29 yards gained in the first half was the lowest amount in the history of The University of Oklahoma. Lower than any Gibbs, Blake or Schnellly team. To me, this offense has some serious issues. The kind of issues that isn’t some quick fix, or some chalkboard talk or some film room. This offense looks completely lost for the most part (other than a couple of series). Yesterday the coach’s put some blame on the rhythm, i.e. kick off return, and Sanchez’s pick 6. But that was total b/s and I am pretty sure no one was believing it. Every time the offense steps onto the field they have a chance to start a rhythm.
As for the defense, I cut them plenty of slack. Simply put, you cannot leave them out on the field. Will the opponents score? Yes, it happens to everyone just check all the box scores across football. But you cannot, continuously go 1,2,3, punt…take a 45 seconds or a 1 1/2 minutes off the clock and expect high things from your defense, they need to stay fresh. Yeah, Texas got a lot of yards because they were out on the field the whole time. Texas had 38:00 and OU had 22 minutes and 17 of those minutes had to come from the second half. I just think the offense is killing the defense. You would think that human nature would kick in that as the defense comes off the feild and sits down for a rest only to be told to put thier helmets back on, the defense is just thinking offense help us out.
Truly a pathetic offensive ‘display’ in the 1st half. Did not realize it was that bad, though. You expect player ‘buy in’ as the coaches are so fond of saying. But 1st, the coaches have to believe in what they are doing then recruit and coach the right players that will work in that system. Still not sold that the coaches believe in the ZR and are prepared to fully implement it. It feels and looks like the staff is caught between 2 worlds and those worlds do not mesh. Fix the offense and the defense will be better.
It seems that the players think this too, and it shows in their play. They look like they are thinking, “I hope this works.” rather than, “We’re gonna kick your butt”.
No slack for the defense when they open the game by allowing a vastly inferior offense use 6 min 44 sec on the opening drive. Yes, the offense made it harder for them, but when they make a spare like Swoopes look like the second coming of Vince Young and can’t hold them in 3rd and long….then no, no slack given.
Starting with the Tennessee game, this defense is totally not living up to the pre-season hype and they continue to get worse instead of better. Mike needs to right the ship on that side of the ball.
Mike is a very good defensive coach, but he’s had bad days. His system is not infallible, and plenty of opposing coaches have figured him out before. It’s too bad, I keep hoping with all the talent we have he will get OU back to the days of the dominant defenses. Nothing makes me more proud to be a Sooner fan than good beat downs from the OU defense over the course of a season.
That’s an absolutely staggering statistic. Just goes to show you that playing the game and coaching the game are two totally separate things.
5 SEC teams ranked in the top 15. 5 Big 12 teams ranked in the top 15. It’s a miracle!!! We’ve got a chance boys.
We meaning The Big 12 teams or we meaning OU? Because if its the later, I don’t see any chance short of some kind of major overhaul or some miraculous lightbulb suddenly comes on. Heck, I am seriously worried about KSU at home. I can promise you that Snyder is going to have his boys ready to play. If we pull another Texas style game, we’ll get our butts beat.
I admit I had a Jim Carey flashback to Dumb & Dumber when I said we’ve got a chance…”so you’re telling me I’ve got a chance?” Ha! I’m with ya. At this point, home or away, I’m worried about every game. With this team, no win is guaranteed.
After yesterday, I am worried about every game on our schedule.
I remember being worried about every game during the NC year. Some wins weren’t pretty either. Some required our D scoring as well. I worry before every game because I am not arrogant about my team. Any team can be beaten on any given day. But we did win.
I agree and have posted on the TK problem, meaning asking a player with specific talents to go against those talents and be something he is not. But come on, Jordon. I have been an OU fan for right at 50 years and I have never seen this particular coach talk x’s and o’s during a press conference. Never seen him get into any kind of detail, and never really seen him do anything after a game but speak in cliche’s. I am curious what you expect…..that the leopard will change his spots?
I too have big time issues with what happened on the field yesterday and am looking forward to reading some serious analysis past “its a big game where you can throw out records and we played and coached poor”. But I certainly don’t expect to get it from any of the OU coaching staff. Before commenting further about the game or the team situation, I will hold off until I read the breakdown on Brainiacs.
Some of these points have legitimacy but when your article falls into what basically amounts to a rant it is much harder to take seriously.
– Stoops will not and should not throw his coordinators or coaches under the bus, not in public, not in front of the team, not on tv, and especially not after a win I’m sure he was trying to enjoy somewhat.
– Every coordinator could be called what you refer to as a “system coordinator.” Even in the NFL, teams have an offense and stick with it. I’d prefer for him to stick to the system he knows and likes rather than running the triple option just so he can break out of being a “system coordinator.”
– Referring to the offense simply as a “spread scheme” and painting that as a negative is ignorant. There are very few offenses in college at this point that wouldn’t be referred to as a spread offense. Auburn and Oregon are heavy on the run but also “spread” offenses. We’ve seen this offense be effective this year but it comes down to the plays he calls, not the spread philosophy.
-The only thing lacking is receivers in the personnel. Doubling Sterling could effectively end the passing game. There is no #2 that is consistent or a threat. There have been balls in the past few games that should’ve been caught and weren’t, making Knight look worse that he has (which still isn’t good).
– I agree on the zone-read plays. It’s slow developing and he never keeps it to show any variation or open up the interior run. I kept waiting yesterday for him to miraculously keep it and break for 10-12 yards. Never happened, scrap that play.
The first few games of the season I thought were called well. We ran without this nonsense zone-read and did so effectively. This opens the pass for Knight and he looked better in those games. I agree we need to be more run heavy since that is where our strength lies. Hopefully we see that adjustment.
But you either use your QB in the zone read as he should be used, or you don’t run it. You can’t run an option and never run it as an option. Agree on dropped passes making Knight’s passing look worse though.
I agree, it needs to be scrapped if he will never tuck it and run. He doesn’t seem to read it at all so it is effectively the slowest hand-off possible. Either let the RB get a run at it and hit the hole full speed or Knight has to start reading it. I think the play needs to go as it is.
Wouldn’t you love to have that situation on the opposing side? Imagine Baylor not letting Petty pass the ball down field, has to stick with the short stuff never stretching the D. We’d be calling Briles crazy, totally certifiable.
I’m sure other teams love it knowing Perine won’t be hitting his hole at full speed and they can crash the middle when they see Knight do that. He always seems turn to his left to do it and I don’t remember them even running play action off of it either so it is pretty clear what is coming.
Kyle, I think the play action pass you’re looking for happened in the TCU game. If my memory is correct, it was the first play of Perine’s first series in the game. Everyone in the stadium was expecting Perine to get the ball, and it ended up being a play action to Shepard.
With that said, I don’t think we use the play action nearly enough. So, I agree (in general) with what you’re saying.
Yes!!! This!!! ^^^^^
More play action, more cowbell!!!
I don’t believe that the odds are overwhelming for success if they keep recruiting white quarterbacks. If you want the drop back style with an option to run if things get sticky, you need a Black quarterback. Just look around at the number of teams that employ this strategy. IF you cant figure this out you should not be grading offenses!!!
I feel Heupul is very arrogant. What I don’t understand is why stoops is laying the wood on him in private. Not in press conf. Or public but Josh needs to kicked in the butt. I am ready for them to give Gundy or Norvell a shot at calling plays.
The second thing I think Heupul does is over think everything. It is amazing to me how often when 5-6 are in box we throw and when 8 are in box we run. That is after running the pay clock all the way down to change a call too. Example last year at Baylor there weakness was run defense and we came out and threw nearly the whole game. We never tested run defense. It’s like he does opposite of what is obvious because it’s too obvious.
Now some of this on Trevor too. He has missed open receivers on bad throws. He has missed several reads. If you believe that he has option to keep ball on zone read then he has no clue and should be benched this week.
All in all I loved Kevin Wilson never asked for him to leave or Chuck Long. But regardless of who Heupul is married to he needs to be demoted or cut loose or put on notice real quick
If you’re willing to throw your guy under the bus in public then just go ahead and fire him. Once you destroy/tarnish a guy’s credibility in public then you’ve essentially crippled his ability to lead/manage his people.
good points Kyle. QB airs out a ball over a wr’s hands, wr drops a ball, Olineman busts assignment or gets whipped. Armchair QB’s response: ” the OC can’t call a play too save his life.
Very well said!! Clear and incisive thoughts.
Jordan, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear you stole EVERY one of those thoughts from my brain. What are WE doing? I’ll bet Stoops isn’t happy with this output of ineptness game after game, but to challenge OU fans intelligence (Yes Bob, OU fans KNOW FOOTBALL) is what pisses me off more than anything. He better start PUBLICLY saying he needs more out of these sacred coordinators, or I’ll help the campaign to start the banter on web sites that HE needs a REALTOR!!! Yeah, I’m happy ANYTIME we win, especially if the word Texas is in the sentence, but come on folks, put some truth serum down your gullet, and ask yourself, can we expect better than the game plans and play calling we’re getting from these coaches? Well, let me answer that one for Chris, (sorry about using a Mack phrase) HELL YES WE CAN.
I agree with everything you said, except for the zone read comment. We ran the zone read 26 times against La Tech. So, it has been a big part of our running game since the start of the season. I do absolutely agree that TK should keep the ball more (even if it’s two or three more times a game). It looked like Texas got to a point that they didn’t think he was going to keep it (and he didn’t). That would have taken some pressure off of Perine.
I’m surprised to hear it was that often vs. La Tech. I remember them running the ball well but did not realize it was so often off the zone read. Perhaps it wasn’t noticeable in a negative way since they ran the ball well during that game. Against higher level teams they need to show that it isn’t a one-way play to make it effective. I’m not confident that Knight is capable of making the read at this point though.
I can’t call the Sugar Bowl a fluke until I see us run the same offense as we ran in the SB. I agree with just about everything said. I don.t mind this or any coaching staff being arrogant, what I can’t understand is stubbornness. The very definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We seem to do ok with halftime changes just don’t understand why we can’t make changes faster / earlier in games. I haven’t lost hope and I expect them to get it figured out.
I must admit, I HAVE wondered if we are getting ready to switch schemes offensively and it just is not ready yet. At least it makes the most sense, although I can’t imagine running out of the I would be that complicated a change. Probably just trying to find away to justify though, LOL
The Daily Oklahoman gave Heupel a “B” for his game and implied that the first half was not his fault since he only got to call 14 plays. Ridiculous.
The did give some info on the read-option play though. It appeared to them that OU ran it 16 times, Knight handed off all 16 and they apparently ran a play action and completed a six yard pass off of it. They got 53 yards off the 16 runs with 35 of those yards coming off five runs in the fourth when Texas was clearly tired.
Awful, just awful. If this play isn’t improved it needs to be scrapped.
Unfortunately Heupel could call 30 plays and the results would be the same!
I’m curious if the combination of a QB (Gundy), a WR (Norvell), a QB (Heupel) as the core of the offensive staff creates this odd place where OU is a little stuck between what the HC wants them to be (a run base offense) and what they are, as individuals, at the core (a pass first core). That may be especially magnified by the fact that the OC and the co-OC are QB and WR respectively.
I think you are right Super K. The human dynamics and experiences between the offensive coaches seems to explain pass first mentality.
I won’t get too caught up in all the points here. But when the coaches keep running Alex Ross between the tackles, I don’t even know what to say anymore. We can all see it’s not working. All of us. That’s not to rip on Ross, it’s just not the kid’s strength. Yet the coaches keep doing it like they can’t see what is patently obvious to everyone else. What does one say to that? Doesn’t that seem just a little dense and/or tone deaf?
Having said that, let me also say I love having Ross out there. His speed and size make him sooooo dangerous when he is utilized correctly – i.e. situations where he can really put his speed to good use. If I were an NFL coach, I’d try to draft the kid if for no other reason than to return kicks/punts. Conversely, If I were the coach of one of our future opponents, I would never under any circumstances kickoff where the ball could actually be returned – I would make damn sure it was sent through the back of the end zone every time. Kid has just been incredible in that capacity.
I tend to think what is “patently obvious” to the fan base, includes a lot of things that just aren’t correct. Not saying you’re wrong, and I agree he doesn’t seem to have the vision of the other backs. Just saying it may not be that simple. If you actually look at the runs that he made positive yardage on vs. tcu, ( 5 and 1) they were both up the middle. On the swing play he made nothing. He’s only getting about 4 carries a game now, which pretty much makes it a 1 back offense as far as running the ball goes. I am of the opinion that if our “NFL size” O-line finally puts it all together, Ross will show us something.
I would like to see a wrinkle with Ross lined up as the slot. He has shown he can catch the ball. You can either have him run short routes, or a read with the sweep. We could also do the triple option thing we did with Saunders, if they will let Knight run it. Imagine seeing a zone read with Perine/Ford, and if it is a keeper, Knight bounces to the outside with Ross as a pitch man. Now, in my opinion, that is scary for DCs to think about.
I cannot recall OU running any type of counter play in the last five seasons or so. Certsinly some misdirection stuff- like the Saunders pitch out against OSU. I think Ross in the triangle with some misdirection could make a defense pay dearly for a step in the wrong direction. I could be wrong but would beleive it only if I saw it tried.
If they want Knight to be Landry or Sam, then he won’t be that starter next year Mayfield will be. If they want him to be Manziel or Mariota, he will be.
Heupel isn’t a zone read concept guy. He’s an air raid coordinator. I wish he’d spend 5 minutes watching Oregon or Arizona’s zone concepts. Our WR’s are always inside the numbers, we don’t stretch the field horizontally anymore with swings to our FL or RBs, we have only tried to stretch it vertically with Shep. We complain about no other receivers stepping up, yet we don’t involve any of them in the jet sweeps or quick hitters. They want to line up with one safety 15 yards deep? One step hitch them with the outside receivers to death. Force their CB’s to make a tackle in a one on one i.e. Alabama last year with Cooper. We have so many athletes, yet all I see is deep ball to Shep, zone read to RB, bailout pass to Bell. Hit Ross on a designed swing at least once a game. When he gets his momentum going, he’s really tough to stop. Use Quick please or we’re burning a red shirt for NOTHING.
I think Jalen Saundersmade Knight/Bell/Landry’s job easier. Especially Knight at the Sugar Bowl. I don’t think Knight is measurably off his baseline, I think he had a magic man in Saunders & a reliable Sheperd in the SB. Bester was a big physical weapon who got open, as has Bell but Knight doesn’t find him… It is what it is. JH is better on the sidelines for his qb’s than he is in the booth…
Yep!
“Arrogance bordering on stupidity” According to you the coaches are “arrogant” and “stubborn.” You find their behavior “tiresome” and you “despise” they way they play the game.
One of the many great things about this site has been the absence of just this kind of venomous rhetoric and hostility. I’m sorry to see the site go down this path.
“We got the win…” He never used that as an excuse. He said it felt good to win, and went on to say “..and didn’t play very well and you know you have things to correct.”
If you don’t feel they’ve made halftime adjustments, you blast them for being inflexible, if they make great half time adjustments, you blast them for “being reliant” on half time adjustments.
You accuse them of saying “Shut up and be happy…” in essence. I didn’t hear any of that.
Based on everything I’ve heard the coaches say and do, I don’t agree with your analysis of “what they want.”
I think the coaching staff can reasonably disagree (and obviously does) with your perspective and evaluations of the players and schemes without being either arrogant or stupid or any of the other names you choose to call them.
Soonermusic- Bob Stoops has been stubborn and arrogant since the day he came to OU. In the beginning it was refreshing and needed. The last number of years it has become tiresome to say the least because the difference is in the product produced the last 5 years compared to the first 5 years. It’s not the same, I can only hope getting this team back home will help with confidence and get them back on track. I still think this team can run the out the rest of the season but some things HAVE to change and the main one is Heupel’s play calling! Getting Ford back is also HUGE to this teams success!
What one person call s confidence another calls arrogance. Switzer had a triple dose of both. I think every program that experiences success in big ways, especially early, has a let down be it real or perceived. The same statement s being leveled at stoops could be said of Saban right now, and certainly Les Miles. Stubborn can mean a lot of things, one of which can be what we are doing is good and the players just need time to pick it up. I think these offensive changes have more inertia than is known and takes time to get the whole thing moving in a new direction. With that said, I would like to see a little more miss direction plays. Flowers has all but disappeared from the offense. I am with you on the home game idea- this team needs to,gets some mojo back.
Most have no problem with Stoops. Almost everyone has a problem with his Offensive Coordinator or should I say play caller!
Insisting that a team deserves to be proud and respected for its heritage as a program is neither being stubborn nor arrogant. Neither is disagreeing with the media’s assessment of the team on occasion.
You need to write some articles for this site. I have always appreciated the way you say things and the insight you bring. I may not always agree with you but do give consideration to your opinion.
You have your opinion on things and I have mine. I respect your right to do so, even if I disagree with yours as much as you appear to disagree with mine.
Name calling aside, It’s unfathomable to me you could think something different as to “what they want.” Which middling OU offense (outside of the Sugar Bowl) have you been watching? You disagree that they’re trying to force Knight to be a pocket passer, something he clearly isn’t?
I’m more than open to having my opinion changed, but you don’t offer anything in the way of doing so. All you’ve done is say you disagree with my take on things, which is perfectly fine, but that’s easy to do when you don’t offer anything else.
As for whatever path you see this site going down, I’d simply caution you to pump the brakes. Expressing the frustration in a single post I seem to share with a lot of other OU fans that aren’t you isn’t some monumental shift in the direction of this site or our approach to things. It’s one person’s opinion, mine, and if others don’t agree w/ it, that’s cool. Because we can all talk about things here like civilized fans are expected to do.
Jordan, you add a lot of value to this site, and I appreciate your comments and your perspective. And you are definitely the content king as far as providing an abundance of interesting material. If it were just the one post, I wouldn’t have said anything. The quote about “despising” what the coaches were doing was from an earlier post in which you were getting mad as well. I have no issue with the football content, the frustration, or the criticism. I just have found the absence of the typically hostile internet tone, and insults to be a breath of fresh air on this site, and wanted to express that opinion. It’s your site, I’m just a guest. You handle it as you see fit.
On to the football content, and fathoming the unfathomable:
You say Knight is “clearly not a pocket passer,” as if that’s a given. From what I see and hear, the coaches do not agree with your assessment. Once you decide that something is clear, then your negative reaction follows logically. But I don’t think it’s clear. That’s where we disagree. I’ve seen him make plenty of throws from the pocket that I thought looked just great. Even in this last game, if just KJ holds onto the two passes that hit him in the hands, Trevor’s at 70% completion for the game. That’s a decent result for a pocket passer.
There’s a tendency to see a throw go awry and instantly blame the qb, but I subscribe to the notion that how well a qb performs is hugely dependent upon those around him, the protection, the route running, the catching. He’s not perfect, he’s made some lame throws, missed some open reads, he needs to play better, he has things he needs to improve on, but I see a guy who’s not that far off. Is he a runner as well? Yes. But they are not mutually exclusive and from what I’ve seen, his skills passing from the pocket demonstrate that having him do that is not necessarily putting a square peg in a round hole.
Appreciate the feedback
I don’t buy the idea that true QB-DT guys don’t just grow on trees. The development of HS QB is light years ahead of where it was just ten years ago. There are more and more legit QB-DT coming out of HS every year. Just look at college football highlight shows every week. OU is one of the best programs in all of college football. There isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t be getting guys like Manziel, Drescott, Mariota, RG3, etc. Those guys are out there and there’s no reason why we aren’t able to get one.
I guess I don’t know what people want Stoops to say. Stoops has never, since his arrival in Norman, thrown an individual player or coach under the bus. You’d think after 15 years, people would not expect that to change.
Everyone watched the same offensive performance the past two weeks, so Jordan is right about how Stoops will probably handle the staff (and players) this week. However, there’s no reason to criticize the guy for not speaking to the media about how he handles his business.
I’m also not on board the “Fire Heupel” bandwagon that is growing. My reasoning for this is simple:
How can I complain about, or want a coach fired for something I am uninformed about?
None of us know what plays were called. None of us know if every one of those plays were executed perfectly. It’s very easy to be an armchair offensive coordinator, that doesn’t take any talent or ability.
I have no problem with being critical of a coach, especially when the team is losing. However, I’m not so quick to be critical after one loss (and one poor performance). Especially when I know the players aren’t executing. Knight was what, 12-20 passing on the day? At least 3 of those incomplete passes were catch-able. 15-20 isn’t a bad completion rate. My point is that play calling only works when it’s executed. And it’s really hard to know if the offense struggled because of bad play calling, or poor execution.
If those three passes had been caught, or even just a couple, the offensive struggles could have been considerably lessened. There were other issues as well, but sometimes the difference between “good” and “struggling” isn’t as great as it might at first appear.
Isn’t execution a coaching thing? If the players aren’t executing properly, who should be blamed? I’m not buying that the talent OU has on the roster isn’t able to execute when coached properly. Poor technique leads to poor execution, and technique is a coaching thing.
Maybe at the high school level, but not at the D1 collegiate level.
Even the best players have break downs at times…take the Texas game as an example…Geno Grissom completely blew an assignment/his responsibility and that led to a long run that one of the Texas backs bounced to the outside. We all know the Geno is one of our best defenders, and that particular breakdown wasn’t because he’s new to OLB (it’s something he would have done at DE). Sometimes it just happens.
Same thing goes for offense. The big difference is when it’s the QB that’s not executing, it’s very noticeable. I like TK, and I think he can get the job done, but when a Run/Pass option is called, and he makes the wrong read, that’s not on the coach (unless he’s shown a consistent propensity toward that same mistake, and I don’t think he has).
The bottom line is that in the TCU game there was enough blame to spread around to the coaches and players. It was the perfect storm of crap…and we still had several chances to win. In the RRS things were a little better and we did enough to win. Not perfect at all, but better.
The season is a marathon, not a sprint. Teams develop over the course of an entire season (remember last year, how things changed when we played KSU). We’re not where we should be on offense, so I think all parties need to be better. But, I’m not ready to call for a coaches head after 6 games….especially when we’re 5-1.
Jordan-
I appreciate the passion that moved you to stick your neck out there and call it the way you see it. I’m sure you thought long and hard about exactly what to say and how to say it. I’m also sure that you hesitated a bit before hitting the Post button and I appreciate that as well.
What I read and what I feel is at the core of your concern(s) is that although the staff might recognize what we have in the cupboard (what our talents are, what each of our skills position guys bring to the table individually), this isn’t apparent in the game-planning; what we’re seeing on the field from the opening kick-off. The “adjustments” we’ve witnessed should have been implemented as a part of the initial game-planning, not as a de facto halftime adjustment.
In my out-of-my-element opinion, a good coach/coordinator recognizes the unique skills that each of his players possess and game-plans around those skills and where they can be utilized, exploiting the opponents weaknesses, tweaking it every week BEFORE the games. He shouldn’t expect players to, at all costs, adapt to a system that doesn’t match their skills. Maybe this is the “arrogance” Jordan was referring to- to me though, it’s more of a stubbornness. I hope it is only stubbornness because that can be overcome. If it’s more than that, if it’s a deficiency in the X’s and O’s IQ, then personnel changes should certainly be considered.
Bottom line to me is that an institution like OU should not have anyone on staff that is that one-dimensional- there’s no room for anyone that can’t take a kid under their wing, and develop the strengths of the kids they recruit. If they’re not going to play to a players strengths, why even evaluate the recruits?- just sign a bunch of athletes and plug them into the “system” year in, year out.
Like Einstein said: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
I think one way to put the whole situation is to say we don’t really have an offensive philosophy and complete package of plays that compliment each other. We have a hodge-podge of plays that sometimes are randomly called based upon defensive fronts and alignments. But we don’t dictate those defensive alignments from an offensive standpoint. Here’s a simple question – can you name one team that copies our offensive philosophy? We haven’t had a scheme copied since we had Mike Leech. We are behind the curve on new and dynamic schemes that others want to emulate. I feel that to get us to the next level (dominant on national stage) we need that next level, cutting edge offensive coordinator. We simply don’t have that on our team. Stoops upgraded our defensive coordinators. I think the time is right to do the same on the other side of the ball.
Two weeks ago I thought we would be National Champions. That seems like a long time ago.
Perhaps we are just not very good and the coaches know that. Our RB’s are okay but not game breakers, our WR’s consist of one guy, TE is kind of non-existent, OL seems pretty soft most of the game. QB has a leash on him that they are reluctant to take off and certainly has accuraracy issues.
If I was Snyder, I would think OU would be pretty easy to game plan. Load the box and stop Perine, put your best cover on Shepherd and a safety over the top. Dare Trevor to beat you with his feet or his arm.
I think Ford and Perine are game breakers. I think the game planning/ability to utilize the strength of the skill players isn’t that great.
I agree with some of what you said, but since WVU every team has used the same gameplan you described against us and we’ve darn near won them all anyway.
I think we have a lot of work to do, but I think we’re better than we’ve looked recently, against really good teams. As it turns out, TCU may be a top 5 quality team and like it or not UT has the best D in the Big XII and one of the best in the country.
I don’t like “Skippy” Neuheisel much, but agree with what he said about us last week…”OU can be a great team, but their weak link is QB”.
It seems to me that you are right on a couple of points. Back several years ago I cautioned my fellow OU fans about their zeal to get Josh in the OCs position. I never thought he had the experience and that his experiences were to limited. I still think that. Having said that I think we are harping on the wrong problem. We are quick to lay the blame on the coaches and QB when I really think the current issue lies in two position spots. First, Knight isn’t a good throwing QB and I don’t think he ever will be. Second, this team is lacking playmakers at the WR slots, with the notable exception of Sterling Shepard.
I have long thought that following the loss of OCs Leach and Mangino, OU lost their offensive identity. I was highly critical of the offense Long ran as I felt it was a conglomeration of separate identities held together by so-called position groups. I agree with you that this team has no offensive identity. But, I think it is because we lost all those playmakers from last years WR corp. Saunders, Shepard, Bester and the others gave us a fairly solid corp of WRs who could make plays. We just don’t have that and because of that and the fact that Knight can’t hit the broad side of the barn we don’t have a reliable passing game.
The other issue is that Bob doesn’t want to risk injury with his QB as he has no backup capable of winning a single game. So, I think the coaches just found themselves in a really bad spot.
While I say that, I do think Bob has a big decision to make. Either he commits to a zone read type offense or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t want to run his QB then he better figure out that he is in the wrong offense and recruiting the wrong kind of QBs.
One thing that I am sick of is trying to control every facet of the running of the offense. If it were me, I would stick to the hurry-up, call a damn play and then either run it or allow Trevor to change the play at the LOS. But, stop this crap of calling a play getting to the LOS and then looking at the sidelines etc.
If you think back from the start of the season we have had zero consistency on offense from game to game. The first game we ran the ball and threw the ball to the RB. The second game we threw the ball to the WRs. We ran plays and formations in the first two games that we haven’t seen since. Why in the world would you spend time doing that if you weren’t going to ever use it again?
I say simplify this offense. Run the zone read or do something else, but just let these kids play ball.
So the first part of your post it seems you think Kinght/WR is the problem, but in the end you seem to point the fing at lack of offensive identity. I think Trevor is a capable QB, but he is not being used properly. That is Heupels fault 100%, the offense lacking identity is Heupels fault. Running into a loaded box is Heupels fault. Making our QB stare at the side line instead of reading the defense is Heupels fault. No easy pass plays (swings,screens,short slants, TE sitting in the zone holes) is Heupels fault. There is no way you can convince me that Swoopes is a better QB thank knight, it’s just that Texas played to their strengths and we don’t.
Sometimes teams are only as good as the team they are playing. This team will get over that hump and be better in the long run. BOOMER!
Hmm. Common trend here. Every OC the Sooners have had since the Natty has been the most demonized coach by the Sooner fans always. Heck Coach Wilson’s offense set NCAA records and the fans wanted to run him out of town. The mention of Chuck Long gets you ripped by most Sooner fans. JH the same. And this coming from a staff who have won 160 games in 16 years plus a Natty, wins in all the BCS Champ. Games, upteen gazillion Big 12 titles, etc. etc…. Reading the fans perspective just from this site prior to the season I had a feeling the fans expectations of what the Sooner team was like might be disappointed.
Heck most posters were predicting the Sooners to beat TCU by three touchdowns or more even as Vegas had them as a 4 pt. favorite.
I think people are getting real, real antsy for a truly dominant team again.
Thats why I say the offensive playcaller, though seemingly glamorous, is the worst job in Football. Fans dismiss you when you’re good (because, “oh, duh, anyone could call that play!”), and they DESPISE you when you’re bad. Sucks. Cuz its probably the “coolest” job too. I wonder what the term expectancy is for an offensive playcaller these days..? 2-4 years?
Basic problem – TK9 does not want to run the football. I do not know why. Someone needs to ask him.
Any media reading this? Please ask the question.
Not sure which thread to put this under, but is it just me or has anyone seen a tweet from any of the recruits that attended the game???
A double reverse to the boundary.
Rotating Ross in to run between the tackles when he’s had difficulty doing that.
Zone read, and give the ball 95% of the time.
29 yards of offense in the first half.
Texas clearly trying to stop the run between the tackles yet still run right at their game plan.
There are some things that coaches are responsible for. I think many can see that Trevor is having some difficulties in the pass game. A lineman getting beat is one thing. Continuing to run right into the teeth of a defense is another. Perine vs Edmond was not a good match up, even as good and powerful as Perine is.
I think our offensive identity is quite clear. Run with whatever RB we have. Pass to Shepherd. Continuing to blame the players by saying “They played poor, mentally” and “They didn’t execute” should be interpreted as “We coaches didn’t prepare them to play well enough, mentally and in execution.”
I dont know the solution, but its safe to say this offense struggles to find a rhythm and needs an identity.
“Bad decisions made with good intentions, are still bad decisions.”
-Jim Collins (How The Mighty Fall)
We need an offensive identity. Let’s take the Dallas Cowboys for example. Who would have predicted what they are doing right now? They have committed to the ground-and-pound and taken the pressure of of Romo. Romo only has to put on his cape 3-4 times a game rather than a dozen times like years past. The offensive identity has led to the Cowboys being a physical-dominate the line of scrimmage team and it is paying off. What is OU’s offensive identiity?? We have no idea what kind of team we are offensively and we are predictable and have become soft all of a sudden. If our offense would “click” and get back to big boy football….our defense would be dominate again. Just my 2 cents.
We are making Trevor put on the cape WAYYY too often….and that exposes him. We need to play to his strengths.
I just this was funny… Every time I go to Espn’s NCAAF page, avast says it has blocked a virus. But it doesnt do it on other espn pages.. lol Does avast know something about Espn’s college football coverage? ha!
Comments from a fan:
1. Loved beating Texas, even if it was ugly.
2. Hey I saw TE catch a couple passes, need to use this at least 5 times a game.
3. Texas is better than I thought. And they still SUCK.
4. ZR needs to be QB option not called by coach. Or not be used.
5. LB’s need to cover players, not just drop into zones.
6. Defense needs to press more. More aggressive
7. OL needs to get mean.
8. Special teams played great.
9. How about a few wheel routes from Ross.
10. Get someone else to return punts.
11. BOOMER SOONER
12. Beat KSU
Pretty much said it all right there.
7. couldn’t agree more, wouldn’t even might a couple of penalties, if for the right reason at times. lets get mean and nasty on the o-line.
I’ve been looking for the wheel route to Ross since the swing pass in game 1. He is too fast for almost all DBs let alone an average safety or wish-upon-wish a LBr.
The problems I see on defense can be fixed by the players themselves by being in proper position and understanding what your teammates are supposed to do. Basically just do your job and do it well.
Offensive problems can be blamed on players and coaches. If a pass hits your hands and you drop it, that’s on you. If you get open and the QB throws a ball away, that’s on him. Defenses are going to load the box against this offense until we show that we have more than one receiver and a QB that can find him. I have no idea what the problem is with the stack of 4 star receivers we have on the sideline keeping drink glasses full. SOMEONE STEP UP PLEASE. We can run against a stacked box but not from the pistol set with a single running back. Put some beef in the backfield so there is a hat on a hat and cram it down their throat then play action off that set and make them pay for loading up. Give Knight the option to pull and run, give him more quick throws to the backs or WR screens. He’s shown he is comfortable with those and they spread defenses. These things are up to the coaches to fix.
This seemed like a rant kind of thread so now you have mine.
Folks have been saying it and I agree. If teams key on the fb, why not slide him and run a counter some. Why not put 2 rb’s on the field at the same time and run that fake dive and pitch. Different things to use a D’s overaggressiveness against them(like teams used to do on us all the time). On d, I think its doing your job and having trust and faith that everybody else is doing theirs as well. You can’t worry about someone else getting burned. Let the coaches replace him instead of trying to help and then you’ve got 2 guys outta position
We have 0 conference championships with Heupel as OC. He had an outstanding game vs Alabama (where he played to the strengths of the team), several against inferior competition that don’t matter, a couple of decent game against solid competition, and several WTF are you thinking games. Heupel is a great Sooner. I want the best for him. He is just in over his head as an OC for a team with constant championship aspirations.
I’m definitely not ever watching a game live again. We always lose when I do. Luckily, I had to watch the game on youtube, so we won. After picking on Heupel before watching the full game (because who needs to see something before they criticize it) I’m going to be a little more lienent (spelin?) now. We’re not giving enough credit to the UT defense. Since their debacle against BYU, they’ve gotten much better every week, especially in the first half. They held Baylor to fewer yards than they held us to. Yeah, the same Baylor that put 61 on TCU. I’m not saying it’s ever acceptable to get only 29 yards in a half but UT’s dominance in the first half wasn’t as much about JH as it was about UT playing some damn tough defense and their offense keeping OU’s offense off the field. OU’s play calling throughout the game didn’t change a lot. Texas just fell apart in the third which they’ve done all year. The same plays that were getting stuffed early started working in the third. UT has a great starting D but they don’t have enough depth, or a good enough supporting cast on offense, to go a full game. So, as much as I’d like to bash Heupel as much as I did last week (and he still deserves some criticism), I really can’t this week because I really believe we just faced a much better defense than we have all year. As soon as Charlie Strong can iron out his problems on offense, he’s going to have UT humming again in a few years and we’ll see some real epic RRS.
Has anybody else noticed that when we run the hurry up offense, that’s primarily when we move the ball extremely well. That’s something that I think should be easy to see and fix, but who am I? I’m just a fan.
We do seem comfortable running up tempo. Maybe its because when we run up tempo, they dont usually have time to keep changing the play and make TK run around the LOS telling his teammates the play 5 seconds before the snap too lol.
You’re right and I think that’s actually rather disturbing. When they go fast, neither Heupel or Knight can overthink things. But why does the hurry up have to be the only scenario in which that’s the case?
Hurry up is a double edge sword. Like most of you, I have issues with this offense. But I don’t have an issue with the amount or timing of hurry-up offense.
We often forget that the hurry-up begins after 2 or 3 good plays at normal speed. So we usually have good momentum in the offensive series before we even begin hurry-up. Hurry-up keeps tired defenders on the field and limits defensive play calling. Beginning an offensive series by running some clock is important to our defense. If we ran hurry up on every snap with our spuddering offense, our defense would be completely gassed from 3 and outs.
Outstanding write up Jordan. Thanks for putting out there what the majority of Sooner fans are thinking. With any luck, the louder the voices get, action will be taken by the coaching staff. Hopefully a couple of reporters will bring their sack to the Stoops press conference today and ask those tough questions.
Great article, I agree with A LOT and disagree with some. BUT simply stated I think issues with Josh Heupel need to be addressed, in private, and I think that he needs to understand, he has to play his players to their strengths.
Also did anyone notice on our one successful drive, up tempo seemed to get Knight going, that and rolling him out of the pocket over and over.
Thank you Jordan
We are frustrated because our expectations were high, very high.
Perhaps we aren’t as talented as we thought. At this point, I don’t see why our coaches were as enthusiastic as they expressed in August. We are half way through the season and according to Bob, we don’t run routes correctly, our spacing is wrong and we aren’t accurate with some throws.
Here’s what I am starting to believe.
1) Trevor can get a hot hand, but by and large he isn’t a passer. He’s enthusiastic and eager, but a fish out of water running our system.
2) The success running the ball against WVU opened everyone’s eyes so we now see 8 or 9 in the box to stop the run. KSU will load the box.
3) We knew TK was the key to our offensive success. He isn’t doing it and we are all frustrated that the coaches seem to be waiting for him to come around instead of changing the system or replacing him. The criticism will grow week to week so long as they keep trying to make this work and it fails.
4) The front 7 are very good. Watch the game a second time and you see some excellent play. Sanchez is bouncing back. Wilson is inconsistent at times, but can play the position. Our weakness remains at safety.
5) Like Jordan says, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Everyone needs to respect those who disagree with their view. I imagine everyone is right to some degree. I agree that Bob shouldn’t bash his assistants in public. I also agree that he can’t possibly be happy that half way through the season, we aren’t coached well enough to play better.
As for JH, I don’t see how anyone can defend his job performance. Want to be a coach, take responsibility for the performance of your players. 29 yards (I think that must be gross, not net because it didn’t look that good) demands accountability. We knew UT had a very good front 7. But we ran right into it with a sort of delayed hand off. Made no sense to me.
If TK isn’t a passer, what is the purpose of having him out there. Anybody can hand of out of the pistol. Maybe he can make certain throws, why not call those plays.
Is our offense about the players or about JH. By this I mean JH calls the plays, changes the call (or mane makes a call) after we’re lined up. This 1) forces TK to worry about the signal and communicating it to the linemen instead of concentrating on the defense and the game. And 2) it slows us down. I think this is the biggest problem with our system. It means JH and Bob don’t trust TK to call audibles. It seems consistent with not trusting him to run the read option. The game isn’t that complicated that TK can’t run the offense.
If you are paid $750,000 a year to be the OC and you make all the decisions, you deserve all the criticism. He’s a big boy now, not a player. I’ll close with one more thing. I can’t remember a single OU player who won a National Championship who isn’t beloved by the Sooner Nation- until JH became OC. This is a world where the demand is what have you done for me lately. They have to deal with that reality, like it or not.
The offense has become offensive to the fans and the defense.
The o must stay on the field longer.
The D hasn’t been blameless, but the o is pathetic.
Yes, I said pathetic and I’m not overreacting.
Compared to OU championship offense, it’s pathetic.