The Football Brainiacs

Image via Tulsa World

Look, it was Kansas. I’m not sure it makes a ton of sense to devote a bunch of words and/or time to what we watched on Saturday. But I did want to jot down a few quick thoughts and recap my trip to Lawrence for the game.

I haven’t yet had the chance to go back and watch the television broadcast yet (planning to do so Sunday afternoon), but I feel fairly confident on memory we can work through this thing.

OFFENSE

* I was a little surprised OU didn’t find more success on the ground, but in retrospect it makes sense that KU would come in selling out to stop the run if for no other reason than 427. As a matter of simple pride they weren’t going to let Samaje Perine beat them again, so in that respect I understand Lincoln Riley taking what the defense was giving. And Baker Mayfield took plenty of it with another fantastic game…

* …however his propensity to extend plays has proved to not necessarily always be a good thing. That said, I think you just have to kind of take the good with the bad when it comes to that aspect of his game. I don’t know how you could coach that out of him or, frankly, if you’d even really want to. You just have to hope the good outnumbers the bad, and for the most part that has proved to be the case thus far.

I’m just saying I could absolutely live with the occasional throw away.

* I know I’m one of umpteen people to remark as such, but very cool moment with Trevor Knight throwing that TD late to his twin brother, Connor.

* Was VERY happy to see Mark Andrews be involved with the passing game more than the occasional red zone target. Can only hope it wasn’t just a one game occurrence and we see more of it over these next four weeks.

* I would have lost a good deal of money if you’d ask me to bet on Alex Ross finishing as OU’s leading rusher in this game. Ball security continues to be an issue, though, and he’s not alone but we’ll get to that below.

DEFENSE

* Probably need to watch the TV version to get a better sense of things on this side of the ball, but overall I came away feeling the defense played pretty solid. Granted it was against a clearly out-matched Kansas offense, but there were definitely still some positives.

* The obvious takeaway I’m sure was Charles Tapper and his three sacks. Tapper has never lacked for ability, but these type of performances have come so few and far between during his OU career it’s hard not to factor that in even after games like the one he had Saturday. Nothing would make me happier than if Tapper started abusing offensive tackles on the reg over these next four games, but am I going to hold me breath that it happens? Probably not.

* Thought Frank Shannon played well and continued to look more comfortable being in there for a second straight week. On the flip side, I really didn’t understand what Mike Stoops did with Eric Striker in this one. Clearly didn’t wind up being an issue in the final outcome, but having Striker spend what felt like the better part of the game asked to cover as opposed to terrorizing the QB will never make any sense to me.

* Other than the missed gamble on what would turn into Kansas’ only score in the game, I also though Dakota Austin turned in a pretty decent game. Seemed like KU was picking on him quite a bit, but felt like he held up well. I’m assuming he is being coached to give the big cushions he’s allowing — which I will forever hate — but to his credit when he does come up to eventually make the tackle he hasn’t missed many.

SPECIAL TEAMS

* KU’s quarterback had that one quick-kick punt, which was one more than OU had the entire game.

* Thought it was a fairly obvious but very smart decision on Bob Stoops’ part to let Austin Seibert kick that 46-yard field goal after having missed a chip shot earlier in the game. OU could have easily gone for it on fourth down, but instead chose to give Seibert a chance to rebuild some confidence. And, fortunately, he came through.

I don’t know if Stoops addressed Nick Hodgson coming on later in the game to handle to kicking duties. If he did I’ve yet to see it or missed it at the time. I’m assuming it was just like getting in the backups as they did so many other positions in this one, but I could be wrong.

* The fact they can’t find or refuse to put someone back on punt returns other than Sterling Shepard continues to baffle me. So much so that they basically concede what could be a valuable part of the game that could potentially produce any number of big plays will never make any sense to me. At this point I’m of the opinion the only reason OU even bothers to put anyone out for punt returns is to simply prevent the opposing team from never having to punt.

OTHER

* The Uniforms: I really, really wanted to like them, but I just didn’t. It’s not like I hated them, but they just didn’t look as good as I’d hoped.

I would prefer the red (or “crimson”) on the shoulders go away and honestly it looked like the jersey and the pants were different shades of white (or “cream”). As I said earlier in the week, I would have like that all white helmet (no stripe) with OU’s typical road whites. I think that combo would have looked pretty clean.

* Some quick back story on my trip to Lawrence for the game. I have a buddy who is a KU season ticket holder AND actually goes to all the games. So every other year when the Sooners make the trek up north, my friend is kind enough to let me tag along.

Lawrence is only about 20 minutes from my house, so my buddy and I headed over around 11:30 or so. I mentioned it a couple times during the week, but this was KU’s homecoming weekend. Considering the season the Jayhawks are in the midst of and some of the crowd shots I’d seen on TV in previous weeks, even with it being homecoming I felt safe assuming we weren’t really in any trouble of having to fight big crowds of people.

So we roll into Lawrence a little before noon and decide to stop for a bite and an adult beverage or two. My buddy has his own win distributor business, so naturally he knows a bunch of people in the restaurant business. He knew the owners at this spot on Mass St. called Merchants Pub & Plate, so we decided to stop in there. Really great food, local ingredients, quality beer selection, and it’s in this really cool old bank building. The restrooms are actually in the old vault. Cool spot, if you’re ever in Lawrence I’d encourage you check it out.

So anyway because my friend knew the owners, they hooked us up with some food shortly after we sat down. And randomly enough OU media personality Chad McKee was just a couple barstools over.

We ate, drank, and watched some of the early games before heading over to the stadium. If you’ve never been to a game at KU, the stadium is kind of off campus and more or less in a residential area. So there isn’t a ton of parking unless you’re willing to cough up some cash to park in someone’s front yard. But of course my buddy knows the owner of a liquor store a short walk from the stadium, so we pull in and they make space in their already full — of almost entirely OU fans as the owner would later tell us — parking lot.

After discussing just how ugly this game is going to get with the owner of said liquor store, who was also in a giant pink bunny rabbit costume by the way, and the unfortunate towing of some poor OU fan’s BMW (presumably, car had OK tags) that had parked in the lot without permission, my buddy and I head inside to grab a beverage — gotta stay hydrated — for the short walk to the stadium.

As you might imagine, the tailgating scene we witnessed was pretty sparse to say the least. In fact, the majority of people we chatted with were only there for the tailgate.

I should say both on the walk to and once inside the stadium, there were a bunch of OU fans there on Saturday. As we were waiting to go inside, we saw the team heading into the locker room before kickoff when I had to explain to my friend who the guy in the black cowboy hat (good ol’ Jim Ross) was being all chummy with the OU coaching staff. We hollered at J.R. who understandably ignored us, at which point we figured it was time to head to our seats.

My buddy’s tickets are in a pretty good spot. On the aisle (which, IMO, is a HUGE selling point), right around the 45-yard line or so, at just the right height level, and close to a bathroom. Early on I actually thought the crowd was pretty good all things considered. As I said, there were a bunch of OU fans there and that may or may not have showed up well on TV but it was pretty clear from inside the stadium.

It’s hard to say the crowd ever really got into things, but to a man every KU fan I encountered was incredibly friendly. They seem to have just accepted the reality of things and so long as you’re not rubbing it in are content to show up and support their team. I will say I lost count as to how many conversations you overheard about the World Series game later that night.

The game is the game, my buddy and I duck out at halftime — one of the few MAJOR advantages the Big 12 has over the SEC, who does not allow fans to leave at the half and re-enter — to sneak in a couple more beverages before heading back for the second half. And upon re-entering the stadium, I’m not entirely surprised to see a lot of people didn’t have the same idea. You could pretty much sit wherever you’d like so we moved to where, in a perfect world, my friend would like his season tickets to be at some point.

As the game becomes even less of a game, the mind starts to wander. I’m sure I have said this a number of times, but personally I don’t really love attending games in person. It’s just as easy (and MUCH more convenient) to hang out in the basement with a giant HD televise and be just as content with things. But when OU is as close as Lawrence is from me, I feel like a bad fan if I can’t manage to suck it up for one Saturday and show some support. But being there in person, you do have the perspective for some things you just can’t get when watching from home.

For instance, at one point late in the fourth quarter I saw Eric Striker playing catch with one lucky OU fan sitting in the first couple rows. Not a big deal or anything of course, but kind of a cool little moment I wouldn’t have seen from my couch. Likewise when the Knight brothers hooked up for that TD, I’d expect they showed some of the celebration on the broadcast but as it continued on the sideline afterwards you could really see just how much the team loved it for Connor Knight. Again, a small detail but one you really only see by being there.

We stayed until the game clock hit 0:00 because that’s just what I do and my friend was kind enough to indulge me the luxury of doing so despite the scoreboard being as tilted as it was not in his favor.

And with that I’m sure I have rambled on long enough. If you made it this far and haven’t been put to sleep from boredom, appreciate you reading!