The Football Brainiacs

Image via The Associated Press (Sue Ogrocki)

Well, there is no defending that performance.

I’m just going to offer up a few thoughts that, per usual, will focus primarily on the defense. Why? Because that’s the side of the ball I cover for this site but also because in my estimation it is the most critical side of the ball. OU’s brand, historically, is and should be built on defense.

– Obviously the things I hoped to see OU do…they didn’t. The most obvious of which is something we’ve talked about for a while now, namely the secondary alignment. OU has certain principles in their alignment that they teach and repeat in game and practice. But these secondary alignments don’t suit the Big 12 and they don’t suit the type of corners OU has. Jordan Thomas is a press corner. Julian Wilson is a press corner. PJ Mbanasor’s text to me in the middle of the game, “I am a press corner”.

I cannot emphasize to y’all enough just how difficult it is to play corner in OU’s alignment. You are asking a very long human being to let a very fast WR stem and then he’s got to step in front of him and get hands on him, break on the quick game (hitch or slant), and be mindful of the double move as you attempt to close the space quickly. You have to do all that in space without feeling your receiver and without being able to use your length to disrupt the receiver. I’ve watched Julian play press and it’s more than obvious that, that’s where he is comfortable and it’s absolutely no surprise.

In the post game presser Mike Stoops finally conceded that tightening their coverage was something they will need to look at. I honestly, am baffled by the fact that they’d be recruiting the corners they are recruiting. Most of them are press corners.

– But related to that point above, this seems to be the problem with OU’s defense…they’re often behind the change instead of out front. For example, we’ve seen OU use a traditional “contain” plan against running QBs only to die a slow death. This brings me to another issue. Traditionally you run your pressure packages gradually. You begin by bringing as few as possible in order to test how few you can bring to get pressure. So OU begins the game bringing three and it seems to be working. But for those of you who follow our twitter feed, I mentioned that, while Petty was missing throws early, if you let him get comfortable he’ll find his rhythm. The tradition is wrong. You have to begin the game with incessant pressure and prevent the QB from getting comfortable. Most Big 12 QBs are rhythm QBs. They aren’t NFL QBs. The traditional manner of approaching the beginning of the game may work in other leagues or at another time but it doesn’t work in this league.

You want to pressure early and squeeze the receivers early so that you force the QB to make long throws to find space early. You then disguise take pressure off the QB in the second half because by then he’s hearing footsteps. That’s when you’re coverage calls pay dividends. They don’t pay off early.

– I hate to say this but I think it’s pretty obvious some changes need to be made on the staff. I’ve got a very clear idea of where I’d make those changes but I’ll hold off on saying anything about that until I’ve had a chance to discuss with the other guys and see if we even want to get into that. I will say that no matter what happens, Bob Stoops is going to have to get some help for Mike Stoops.

Feel free to shoot any comments or questions below and I’ll try to respond.