Some Thoughts On OU vs. Tulsa
Posted on: September 20, 2015
Image via myajc.com
OFFENSE
We knew going in there was going to be very little to take away from this game with respect to the OU offense. Mainly due to the fact this Tulsa defense is easily the worst the Sooners have faced thus far, and as we would learn shortly before kickoff because OU would be operating with a patchwork offensive line most of the day.
So I suppose the “big” takeaways would be something to the effect of; Baker Mayfield is the real deal. Sterling Shepard and Samaje Perine are still really good.
I don’t know that I’m ready to declare the wide receiver group ‘fixed’ necessarily, but Saturday was definitely a positive step in the right direction in terms of establishing threats other than Shepard. Lincoln Riley & co. rotated in what felt like every guy not redshirting on the roster and while not all of them got in on the action, it did seem like there was a concerted effort to get most, if not all, of them involved at one point or another.
VERY pleased to see the use of Mark Andrews, who is almost universally considered to be a huge — both literally and figuratively — threat in this offense with the mismatch problems he creates. I thought Dede Westbrook had a solid day, and Durron Neal bounced back after a tough outing last week against Tennessee.
As for the o-line, with the obvious caveat that the lineup/s we saw yesterday isn’t considered to be their top five aside, it looked like they again struggled somewhat in the first half before eventually settling in as the game progressed. But again, this was a pretty terrible Tulsa defense so watching Mayfield once again having to make some spectacular plays just to avoid pressure, while definitely exciting, is also less than encouraging from a big picture standpoint.
And speaking of Mayfield, I’d be remiss if we didn’t spend at least a minute on his record-breaking performance. But what exactly do you want me to say? The guy has been unreal through these first three weeks. How’s that for some #HotSportsTake analysis? I’ll spare you the comparisons to a former Texas A&M quarterback you’re sure to read, if you haven’t already, ad nauseam in the coming days, both because it’s a lazy comp and, more importantly, because it’s just dumb. There have been and will continue to be others trying way too hard to come up with some clever narrative to describe Mayfield. I, however, will leave you with this.
The guy makes plays, at times out of what seem like borderline impossible situations. Making plays is a good thing. You’re welcome.
DEFENSE
Yikes.
I’m expecting K to have something much more insightful than what I have just offered you with respect to Saturday’s OU defensive performance, so you have that to look forward to but for now have to settle for this.
Where was the push up front we saw last week in Knoxville? Where was the disruption and harassment on the QB from the pass rush/linebackers? What the hell was the thinking behind once again having your corners give a 7-10 yard cushion against a passing attack more than happy to take what you’re giving them?
If we have learned literally anything from this Tulsa game and the nightmare that was Baylor last year, it’s that playing 7-10 yards off the ball IS NOT GOING TO WORK!!! I would have hoped this was something someone much more intelligent and experienced coaching at the college level would have also learned by now. Unfortunately if Saturday was any indication, it would appear that is not the case.
At one point in the second half, Tulsa went on a drive eerily similar to that drive Baylor went on in that third quarter a year ago that will forever live in infamy in OU lore.
And I’m going to need someone to help me understand the logic in benching your true freshman corner after you admitted to throwing him into a tough situation being forced asking him to start essentially last minute only to then yank him and almost assuredly putting a significant dent into his confidence going forward.
Was he struggling at times? Yeah. But so was your entire secondary. You put the kid out there for a reason, so unless his ‘issues’ are in jeopardy of potentially costing you the game — and they weren’t — then why not let him play through the ‘issues’ and learn from it?
Believe me after asking the same question on Twitter during the game, I’ve heard ALL of the theories opposite mine. However, I still fail to see the point in throwing him into the fire only to then later dump water all over things to “save him” after the fact. But K is much more qualified to speak on this, and maybe he saw something I didn’t.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Not a ton to discuss here from Saturday. Austin Seibert continues to play nothing like a true freshman handling both punting and kicking duties. OU’s “strategy” with respect to punt returns continues to make no sense whatsoever. And is it just me or does Alex Ross look human, as opposed to other worldly, on kickoff returns this year?
472 Comments
I wonder if Ross is somewhat demotivated after being passed on the depth chart by Daniel Brooks.
I don’t understand why Ross is not getting at least a play or two on offense, maybe on a sweep or wheel route. He’s stll the fastest player on the team.
Actually, according to the coaches, Brooks is the fastest guy on the team. Not even close, they say.
I’ve heard Brooks is quicker, but Ross has highter top speed. Ross doesn’t have great lateral movement, so he needs a crease. but as we have all seen, he can fly. Just wish he’d get a tote or two,
He has very little ball carrier vision. He cant find the holes, and unfortunately thus far, our line hasnt created many. I was hoping the dude could catch, so LR could send him on 15 fly routes during the game. He’ll burn by his man at least half the time, and if he could catch, BOOM. But, unless LR is saving this play, then I’m not sure Ross has the hands for that either. Sucks. Cause he is SUPER SUPER FAST, but you can’t teach Ball Carrier Vision or soft hands.
according to the coaches last season, Ross has excellent hands.
Then let’em rip on the fly route!! lol I hope he is a secret weapon on O.
I would love to see them give Brooks a try returning punts. We have our Fair Catch designated in SS. Brooks may not break many tackles, but with a little seem….Gone!
Which means only that he would be our best running back if no one ever tried to tackle him. He seems to be totally incapable, however, of eluding a tackler.
True, he doesn’t have great lateral movement, but when gets a seam, he can take it to the house. I’d like see him get a shot once or twice a game. But I’m partial to the home grown guys.
I thought he lacked patience last year. He used that speed to run up the back of our O-line. I’m confident he’ll get it going on kick returns though.
I think in part he was a victim of blocking failures on many of his runs last year. I saw what looked to me like extreme improvement in his ability to run inside as the season progressed last year, including his ability to elude tacklers.
Perhaps he ought to be turned into a WR next year.
I think if he could catch, Riley would have already found a spot for him on O.
I wondered the same thing…but he was behind Rodney too before he got hurt. If he had better vision he would be all world. This is not the offensive scheme for him anyways.
True. He might have flourished as a deep set I-back.
I think he would make a better FB in the I-set. He has such speed, but with little vision, he needs those “quick-hitter” FB pops up the middle. He gets a head of steam and a hole, he gone. Just dont expect him to find that hole, and he would have to do that more as the deep back.
He is a known quantity this year and in fairness to him, he has only had a handful of returns this year. Give him time.
Agreed. A big part of those returns is the way the blocking sets up, and if it’s not there, he can’t manufacture it. (not blaming the special teams blockers either, sometimes the defense plays it correctly)
True, but I’m wondering if Boulware splitting his time with RBs is hurting our return game at all. Not saying it is, mind you, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Very true.
Ross, though a fantastic Sooner, just doesnt have ball carrier vision, which is why he has been passed on the depth chart by everyone else. You need that same BCV on kick returns, so most times, he’s not gonna find the hole needed, and he doesn’t run laterally well. If he can outrun them, he’s good, but if not, well, you’ve seen the results…But I have no doubt he’ll break a return at some point this year, but don’t expect him to “make it happen” all on his own. He needs a big running lane.
So…you never, at anytime in the 2nd half, felt like the game was in jeopardy? Mbanasor was getting torched and looked lost at times. Green came in and looked better after taking virtually no reps in weeks. Anyone who thought that Mbanasor should be starting ahead of Jordan Thomas found out Saturday that they were dead wrong. I wonder when people are going to finally learn that our coaches are much smarter and better equipped to make such personnel decisions than are fan board contributors.
Agree with your statement Boomer Dave, but if Green is better than Mbanasor, shouldn’t the coaches have seen that in practice? Isn’t that a major evaluation error by Cooks & Co?
No, that isnt a major evaluatuon error. Green replaced PJ and played better yesterday. Doesn’t mean he’s a better player overall.
PJ looked slow to me. Even giving a cushion, Tulsa WR’s ran right past him consistently. Just imagine how badly he would have gotten beat if he pressed as JE wanted. lol.
I noticed that as well. JT needs to get his act together and not put a true freshman in that position to begin with.
No doubt about Thomas. Not sure if PJ is actually as slow as he looked, or more of a case of not playing relaxed and freeing up his muscles for maximum performance. Being tight can really slow you down.
That’s what thinking and poor technique will get you. But he is young, he has got time to learn. I would like the young safeties to get more ‘fire’ time as the year goes on. As noted Ahmed really struggles in coverage.
Lacked a second gear for sure
I thought we are recruiting big corners like PJ to play press cover and to be physical and that’s not what we saw yesterday.
I didnt think Mbanasor got torched so much, as he needed to get his hands up and his head around. But he was right there with his man most of the time…
But thats just semantics, WR was still catching the ball all over on him, then again, those WR’s were catching them all over the field.
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He got his hands up but never looked for the ball which is why he got the interference call.
Agree totally. I think he learns a lot from it. He’ll be great. Sanchez was more disappointing to me. I don’t claim to be an expert on DB’s but I don’t think he’s the star he’s made out to be.
Green was promptly torched on a 9 route. Gave up almost 5 yards on the turn alone. Mbansor was never beaten by that many steps. Not even on the first go he defended. The only reason Green didn’t have his first play be a TD on him was because the ball was horribly thrown.
So Green gets no first team reps all week and gets thrown into a game cold and TU goes right at him for that reason. PJ struggle that was plain to everyone. Green settled down and limited run after catch which is what you want against this kind of offense.
Green has been at OU a lot longer than PJ. And I’m not asserting who should be the starter. Simply noting that saying Green played well based on the limited number of plays and the limited number of calls is is tough to do. Especially because OU went to a cloud concept to help pj with the deep stuff yet green was beaten in man to man far worse, it just didn’t register with the avg fan because the ball was overthrown. Had that ball been down the sideline the wr would’ve scored and fans would’ve crucified him, pj, mike stoops and everyone else in their path.
“fans would’ve crucified him, pj, mike stoops and everyone else in their path.” ka-zing…:-)
K any view on MS postgame comments?
“Poor alignments, out of position, bad communication…”
Sorry, I don’t even pretend know anything about 9 routes. Just going by what coaches said after the game. They said the coverage got better after personnel changes.
Mike changed the assignments. PJ was flubbing an assignment in the cloud call. I’ll do a write up about it later. As bad as it looked it was all correctable and all very normal for a freshman IMO.
I’ll look forward to it. While you’re at it, can you try to find out what Thomas doe to get suspended? Always heard what an outstanding kid and student he was. Now served suspensions 2 of first 3 games. What’s up with that?
I think that stuff should be kept within the team. No need for us fans to know. Just my opinion
If Bob is willing to be as forthcoming as he was during the presser, “let the team down”, “we’ll see Monday”, it must have been at least a bit serious.
I don’t doubt that soonermusic.
He is just a freshmen. Plenty of time to improve but I thought he was a little faster
The physical tools are there for PJ. For such a young dude his body is ready and he’ll be a force in another year. Let the kid take his lumps and learn. They should’ve left him in there IMO…
I don’t think Green is better than PJ. PJ had a bad game, it happens to true freshmen. Thomas got burnt a lot last year. He will be fine and chalk it down as a learning experience.
That’s fair. But it doesn’t take Vince Lombardi to see that PJ was demoralized. His facial expression was one of extreme frustration. It may have been coaches going to Green to save him from any further embarrassment.
I saw the same thing and at what point to pull a young player to save his confidence? His struggle with his technique all game. But I saw all of our corners including Sanchez struggle with consistent technique. The defense didn’t look focused in the first half but did look better in the second half. You gotta wonder if Kerry Cooks and Mike Stoops are fighting over the scheme to play.
Seriously? We are supposed to worry about hurting a players feelings over winning? That’s absurd.
Jordan comes from the John Blake school of coaching!!
Yep. People forget that overcoming obstacles and dejection often lead to greater triumphs and victories in the future.
I thought they made some adjustments after halftime. 373 yds 3 td 1 fg to 185 yds 2tds (one meaningless td). The one disappointment was laying off WRS too much but then again they were roasting everyone with the slant in first half. And they were running the ball on us.
Yeah, I kind of thought we’d get more pressure and penetration with the defensive front. Last night I watched Ole Miss mess up Alabama with a three-man front. But they have a beast in Nkemdiche.
That dude is a beast.
I thought so also. Why are we not using more rushing stunts to try to catch a gap to the QB?
I guess they are afraid of not maintaining gap responsibilities
TU has a good oline. The center is on the Lombardy watch list and has started a ton of games plus the ball was coming out really fast.
That may be OU’s biggest issue on defense. A lot of good players, but we don’t have a guy like Nkemdiche. Or Gerald McCoy. Or Tommie Harris. Or Roy Williams. We don’t have that difference maker. I thought Striker might be that guy, but I don’t think he is on that level.
I agree. And though I’m probably gonna catch a bit of flak for this, I think Striker has been a bit overrated, because of that Bama game. He’s a great player, I just don’t think he’s as good as all the “hype” he gets. Thats just my opinion though… I know plenty will disagree. I have a feeling Bond could be that type of player in time.
Not flak, but I disagree. I think that other teams are forced to account for him in a specific way. Just because that prevents him from having an Alabama game every time out, doesn’t mean he
s any less of a player
Think you’re right. We’re good but don’t have a beast. A disrupter in the trenches. Jordan Phillips was that way (when he chose to be) last season.
What’s amazing to me is how long it takes our DBs to react to their keys, lack of first step explosion and finding the ball in vertical route scenarios sometimes. Smells of poor eye discipline. All that should be correctable though and I’m sure better games are coming.
We have heard correctable for how long now? And still the same problem over and over. What’s the definition of insanity? MS must surely fit that. I’m sorry, but that problem won’t be corrected til he and BS ride off into the sunset.
So what is your solution
I guarantee you my solution is not a popular one. Play bump and run, blitz more to prevent yhe Qb from having time to make his reads, and yes, get a real defensive coordinator as soon as possible. I know no one wants to hear that, but that’s what I would do. For those who say we would get beat deep I say, what’s different from that and what’s happening now? That was Tulsa, not Baylor, TCU, Tech, OSU, and yes, Texas.
I love the idea of bump and run, more man, more blitzes. Play our pass rushers off the edge every dang play almost, and make them adjust to us. One way to help struggling DB’s is to give a cushion, but another, even better way, is to get so much pressure on the qb, he can’t make the right reads, or get the ball in the right places.
At least that would be a change from what we continue to do over and over and over. Rest assured, there will be teams that shut Tulsa down, then where will all the MS supporters be? Probably will say they have “moved on”. A week ago there was talk about competing for a conference championship. After yesterday that thought can be put to rest.
Hold them horses buddy. Overreaction Sunday? Did you see what SMU…SM freaking U did to TCU offensively? We know Baylor ain’t stopping anybody soon. Perhaps we need to outscore those guys to win just like we did against Bama and OSU also did against Bama. A win is a win is a win.
When you outscore the other team you always win. What I saw from myself yesterday was a real feeling of uncertainty every time TU got within one score of us. Why? because if we don’t match them score for score we can lose the game. A fumble, an interception, anything bad puts us in position to lose a game at home, against a 30 point underdog, and us putting the same scheme out there on defense that has failed time after time. Maybe I’m different than others, but I don’t think we should have to be consistently on the edge of our seat against 30 point under dogs. Wins against teams like Bama and Tennessee are nice but they don’t cancel out games where our DC doesn’t have a clue how to stop teams that run a spread offense. I really hate to say it like this, but our coaches are paid big bucks for that kind of performance. How many on this board would still be employed today if you made the same mistakes over and over and your excuse to your boss was “we can’t do anything about 5he situation.”
Q. How many of you live up to the expectations that you demand of a freaking football team?
A. Zippo
Fair enough. I’d be fired if I said that to my boss, unless my boss was my brother.
There’s no indication ANYWHERE that this has been his “excuse to his boss.” Nowhere. If you think the way Mike Stoops tries to explain the situation to the media, and the fan base is the same as the way he and Bob discuss the issues, then IMHO you are greatly mistaken.
This
Yes, to win against TCU & Baylor we will have to light it up. Just the nature of the game today. No more 3 yds and a cloud of dust.
Playing at the LOS works if you can pressure the QB. But we saw that Baylor (2014) was able to get the ball out so fast it nullified any pressure. When you put Striker on the edge, we may be vulnerable to off tackle runs. This is what the Bills did against Derrick Thomas so long ago unless you believe our LBs can make the plays on the edge.
The solution is not to play bump in run if the WRs are bigger and stronger. They’ll beat you consistently on slants as we saw. Going back to the early days of the Air-Raid with Leach at Taco Tach, MS scheme was to keep everything in front of you and tackle in space while pressuring the QB. It worked most of the time. What is the solution with Baylor’s Air raid? I don’t think any of knows. Nick Saban doesn’t know either. I say be happy to outscore a couple of teams on your schedule and play great d against the rest. This isn’t 1985.
Okay, then has MS forgot how to teach that? If so, what is that saying about our DC?
He is running that same attack. Compare game videos. However, the players execution is not as good. Another poster argues that these type of offenses can’t be stopped.
The Air Raid reminds me of what the Wishbone did in the 70’s. It changed the game and it took teams a long time to figure out how to slow it down. Like the Air Raid you need speed and discipline from the defense.
If it is indeed the same attack, and it’s not working, then who is going to change? Just because we don’t slow it down doesn’t mean someone won’t. I will say this, there will not be a championship won by a team that runs that offense. Some teams will shut them down.
We won in 2000 with that offense.
I think West Virginia showed everyone last year. You have to be more physical in press coverage then what the OU corners are doing. I think you have to pick your poison and mix your coverages. It’s difficult to get pressure when the ball comes out so quickly for sure.
“They’ll beat you consistently on slants as we saw.” Yes. When you combine that with a one step drop and release, the answer isn’t so simple. (or everyone would be doing it:-)
“What’s the definition of insanity?” Reading the online message boards over and over and expecting to see a different result…;-)
Jordan, what is your deal with Shepard returning punts? You keep saying it makes no sense, yet we know Sanchez is not as good and the times Mixon was back there against Akron, he was afraid to catch the ball! Shepard has done fine, not spectacular, but fine. You offer no better solution, other than criticism of Shepard and the coaches. Since you obviously know more than Stoops and Boulware, who has looked better than Shepard and should be our punt returner?
It’s one of the toughest, if not THE toughest plays in football. 1st and foremost the punt returners got to have sure hands….and Stirling’s got that for sure. Having to play the ball kicked that high in the air and wind usually factoring in with 10-11 players flying down the field at you ready to unload a serious hit…..You’ve got to have nerves of steel to stand and make that catch. Could we have better? Maybe….but very few players can.
How about Daniel Brooks? How about anyone who is not going to call a fair catch more than 50% of the time. Sterling is a great WR but from what he has shown, is not a very good PR.
Have you ever seen Brooks field a punt? Me neither! Not sure what sense it makes just throwing out names of guys who are fast or shifty, without knowing if they have the guts to field a punt with with 11 guys bearing down on them. That’s why Shepard is back there, period!
Not Jordan but I still want to see Baxter back there.
The narrative going into this game was better athletes (OU) vs. better schemes (TU). In more instances than one, it seems OU was out-“athleted”.
If not for Boudini Mayfield, I shutter to think what the game could have been.
The TU WR’s are very good. Beside the majority of the time pregame narratives have little to do with what actually happens on the field of play. The simplicity of a pretty game narrative cannot take into account the multiple variables of the actual game. But then again Baker Mayfield did ‘out athlete’ them on several occasions.
True that. And yeah, I’m hoping the TU receivers were just that good. I think they are. Hoping they run the table in their conference.
I think TU wins their conference and ends up with a max of 3 losses.
I don’t know about that. They looked much better against OU than they did the previous two weeks. I think they will be a good team, but I see 3-4 losses total (before bowl game), and I don’t see them winning the conference championship. Hope I’m wrong, I’m just not going to get ahead of myself b/c of a good showing against OU.
Garrett impressed me.
Without two fumbles in their red zone, this game would have been 70-21 easily.
Ah yes, Ol Boudini 😉
Thanks for the work, Jordan. At this point, it’s fairly obvious to see why Baker’s starting. I had my doubts before the season. Apparently, the coaches know what they’re doing.
This.
This is just another example of great dance moves translating to the field. He did the nae nae on that houdini strike to Andrews.
When I watch Baker I see Tony Romo. About the same size, very similar compact throwing motion and both make plays upfield my extending plays with their feet. In fact, Baker did the Tony Romo spin move in the game to evade a blitzing linebacker. He is stronger and more accurate then Manziel.
Romo doens’t run anywhere near like Baker can…
Not talking about speed I’m talking about his feet and awareness in the pocket to escape and extend plays.
Hey man, you’re comparing, then we got to go with the full package!!! lol. j/k
I see Mayfield as a Colt McCoy type QB, rather than a Johnny Manziel. He completes a high percentage and runs well enough to keep defenses off balance. The scramble TD throw to Andrews did remind me of Manziel, however.
Brett Favre type as well.
Yea, I was saying favre yesterday in the way he escapes and can sling it, but still, his wheels are better than Favre. But the play to andrews reminded me totally of Favre!
………….Fran Tarkington type too.
As much as I am trying to think of anyone else, and as much as it pains me, Colt could be the closest comparison I’ve seen so far. Though, hopefully Baker ends up being so good that we just stop trying to compare him to anyone other than himself, “Oh that play, man thats just Baker right there!”
Agree, Baker reminds me a lot of Colt (and that is not a bad thing). Baker has a better arm and is more accurate but Colt was definitely a gamer.
Fair comparison but I think he is more Tony Romo and Mayfield has a much stronger arm then Colt imo. His throwing motion is similar to Romo’s.
I hate the Cowboys given I’m a life long bills fan…. with that being said Romo is always avoiding the bliz and delivering money balls in very similar fashion to what Mayfield is displaying.
Don’t mean to sound mean, but I love seeing Bama lose. It brings me joy. Is that wrong?
I feel the same about USC.
Me too! Ole Miss seems to be the real deal though.
Just watch this again, and you’ll feel bad no more…guaranteed.
https://youtu.be/tKW5N4LWro4
Figured she would of made a return last night….
Yeah, Bama and USC losing always makes my day. Now for a perfect day, if the Golden Domers and tOSU had only gone down.
It was pretty good but ut missing an extra point is approaching wet dream status! Lol.
Oh man, I was laughing soooooo hard when that happened. I was watching the crowd celebrate, and was like… “its okay, let em get their hopes up, only to lose in OT.” Then, the kick was missed and the crowd was silent. What a freaking great OU fan moment!! lmao!
I wanted UT to win. We need UT to win. All but one game. They found a QB. But so did we.
Not at all!!!!!
To me, Ross looks dejected. Taking one to the house and feeling like a contributor could fix that in a hurry though.
He’s not getting on the field. Can you blame him? You are right though.
He’s not getting on the field for a reason. NO ball carrier vision. He has to have a HUGE hole, and our line isnt providing any of those, yet. He may get some chances as the season goes on, and the line play hopefully improves. I just wish he could catch. I would LOVE to send him on 15 fly routes per game. Maybe he is our secret weapon on offense??
why do you keep saying he can’t catch. All the coaches last year commented that he had great hands. They said it about all the backs. Also, if he didn’t have good hands , he most certainly wouldn’t be the kick returner.
I’m saying, it is fairly obvious the coaches dont think he can, or else Riley would have utilized him SOMEWHERE on the offense thus far. I hope he is a secret weapon to be used at some point down the road. You keep referring to “coaches said this last year…” Coaches say a lot of things about players that might not quite be true, they dont like to throw their players under the bus, especially this staff. Which is totally commendable, but one has to be able to “read between the lines.” Its cool you like to defend Ross, but you also like to defend the coaches as “knowing better than all of us posters,” which I agree, they do. BUT, if that is the case, and Ross does not play on offense anywhere, not even for fly routes with that killer speed, then the logical conclusion is, they don’t think he can contribute there, or anywhere else in this offense.
And just FYI, catching a kick off, though difficult in its own right, is much different than running routes and catching passes from QB’s. That’s why there are many a DB who can return kicks, but they don’t play WR.
I’m not yet convinced that Boulware has the best judgement. He’s gonna be the one deciding which backs get rotated in and who is where in the rotation. At least that’s the way it was with Gundy. My position on Ross is based solely upon what I have seen on the field. Common sense says that Brooks must be tearing it up in practice, but I still would like to see Ross get a few carries.
Give him a carry or a swing pass a couple times a game…you have to work a kid with sprinter speed and underrated power in to the games plan he is dangerous and can take it to the house in a blink…
My comp for Mayfield: Doug Flutie.
Maybe it’s not a perfect comp, but those are pretty rare.
Flutie, Flutie, Flutie… Thats a good one, seriously. Flutie could escape, scoot, and sling it, and similar body types.
But can Baker play the drums?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt-trCkkjGA
Not sure about that! But we know he can dance! (dont worry, not posting BM dancing again. lol) Thats badass by flutie though!
What ever happened to Flutie though? Wasnt he an analyst for a while after playing? Is he not doing that anymore? I havent seen him in a while…
Dunno- always liked the guy though.
Flutie gave the last of the 4 straight super bowl buffalo bills hope and a chance to see the playoffs again. loved watching him in bills uniform he was nothing but guts and determination even at 40.
I heard he got a few moves and can bust out the whip.
Mayfield reminds me of… Mayfield.
You’ve got to locate the ball, turn your head and try to get a hand up, at least on the sideline routes. It seemed that Tulsa made most of their throws on vertical sideline throws and our corners and safety’s weren’t even looking for the ball.
youth
Or, as Vinny would say, “Yutes.”
After watching the game a second time here are a few of my thoughts.
Offense:
1) preformed well overall
2) this patchwork online opened up running lanes, but did have issues keeping mayfield safe. The biggest issue I felt was picking up the blitz. It appeared they could handle the 4 man rush but had a hard time with the the line calls, some thing I think darlington helps with. But over all a much better performance
3) running backs cannot fumble in the red zone,(I know it’s obvious) but that momentum helped TU look much better than it should have. Perine’s fumble was a 10-14 point swing and mixon’s fumble was a 17-24 point swing. Just gave TU to much momentum.
4) mayfield, wow, must stay healthy, I did notice he had a tendency to drop his eyes a little more today, he needs to get more protection so he can keep that confidence he showed in the first 2 games.
5) WR had a good game overall. Starting to make plays and blocked well.
6) FINALLY welcome to Oklahoma Mr. Andrews, hope to see a lot more of you
Defence:
1) while it was not good it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.
2) stoops game plan held them in check for most of the 1st half. The exceptions being the two fumbles where the momentum shifted and things just started happening for TU, see the tipped pass that was caught for a first down.
3) Sanchez seemed to be off, a step slower or something, not sure if he was 100%. (Note after writing,heard stoops press conference and he said he was not 100%)
4) Evans being a upperclassmen as well as two upperclassmen wide receivers cannot be overlooked. They made great players all day as well as benifetted from busts and mismatches. Evans was super accurate on a lot of plays.
5) P.J. – not much can be said. He got worked a lot. It all started going bad with his PI call. It was a smart move by a experienced WR. Although he did well in the first half the end of the second half and 3rd quarter he showed his inexperience. Hopefully he learns from it and can grow.
6) glad to see someone (hopefully m.stoops or cooks) pulled P.J.. Last year we just left them in and took the loss. I think it was best for the team to at least try and fix the problem, and best for P.J. To keep him from the continual abuse.
7) while at first watch it appeared that TU could do what they wanted when they wanted, upon second look the D held tough mor than they busted. TU is a good offense and was expected to score. OU did not alow them to have back to back scoring drives (not including the fluke onside kick and hale Mary) and many times they held them for two or more drives between TD. I heard TU had 15 drives and they only scored on 5 pulse the FG. Not fantastic but I’ll take a glimmer of hope.
8) it appeared as though OU was playing the LB soft for the first half to help with the passing, this allowed the TU run game and screen game to get at least 5 yards a pop. It also kept us from providing much pressure in the 1st half. They made an adjustment at half, but then TU introduced P.J to college football. A second adjustment was made to pull P.J. and only drop one lb and roll the safeties over the top. This seemed to hold TU in check better but a busted play by Sanchez and or Parker gave TU there final TD.
9) we only allowed 2 big plays in the run in the 1st quarter and the big TD in the 4th. In the past we allowed many more.
10) Byrd seemed to play much better he was filling holes and crashing hard. Normally I don’t notice his play unless it was a bust. Seemed over all to have a much better game. Hope the lights have come on for him cause we need better Safty play bad.
10) LB were laying off as mentioned above. Striker was not a huge impact but bond is making a name for himself we need to figure out how to keep both on the field at the same time.
11) D line- I wouldn’t say they struggled but 3 on 5-6 makes for a long night. With the lb playing off and using 5-6 CB they were left by them selves. They came up big in short yardage several times but couldn’t get a consistent push on the run game and would get sealed off by the 5-6 Oline allowing TU to have success running the ball. In the first half they also count get a split pass rush they had there moments but untill the second half they were not. A huge factor in rushing the passer.
Over all it’s a win, he have a lot of work to do but it is a step up from last year. And hopefully just another step up to becoming a better all around team and slowing down the spread. The deffencive shortcoming can’t be blamed on the just the coaches or the players but on both. However Most are fixable but it will take time with the young deffencive backfield.
Very nice assessement. The one thing that stuck our most was the inability of the defensive front to penetrate the backfield. Yes, they were facing 5 or 6, but they were Tulsa’s 5 or 6, and they should have been able to physically outmatch them. (Ole MIss decimated Bama with their down three last night). But I think they will improve substantially in the next couple of games.
I hate to say it but I think theres something wrong with Tapper. Hes just not nearly the player that he was 2 years ago. Maybe I’ve fallen for the hype but Id like to see what Austin Roberts brings to the table. Unfortunately Tap doesnt seem to be bringing that much.
I guess Mikey didn’t learn from the Baylor game
I wanted to have a night to sleep before commenting, to allow logic the time to supersede emotion.
Offense:
Baker Mayfield is truly a difference-maker at QB. He is the most fun to watch in a long time. He has that hard to define “it” factor. He’s got it. Shep has that same intangible quality to just snatch the ball from any angle.
Special teams: .
Essentially the same as Jordan…Seibert is awesome. Where is the return game? I love Shep’s hands but he’s not aggressive enough on Punt returns like Jalen Saunders was. Ross is getting stopped on KO returns as easily as he was stopped running the football last season.
Defense:
My greatest fears were realized. Mike Stoops keeps trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and did not learn a damn thing from last year. I dont know how his philosophy morphed into the same one that led to BV’s demotion & leaving for a new job. Let me say this again for the 10,000th time in hopes that someone close to Mike Stoops will read it and perhaps a light will turn on in the man’s head.
You CANNOT sit back and load the field with DBs in zone coverage and expect to stop teams like TCU & Baylor, and possibly TTU, WVU, and oSu. Their philosophies are predicated on taking advantage of short passes that defenses give up in a trade off to avoid big plays. Rushing 3 DLs & Eric Striker is not even close to sufficient to get a pass rush on the QB against 5 OLs & a RB. QB gets plenty of time to wait for a receiver to come open and voila, and it’s an easy formula for moving the chains.
You absolutely must attack the QB and play heavy man coverage. You can’t play zone all day effectively on the college level. You need elite nfl athletes who make lightning fast decisions and reactions at every position to make it work. On the college level, you get a lot of what you saw yesterday, which includes 3 DBs standing around looking at each other with blame as a receiver slips behind them for a TD. The front we saw vs Tennessee should have been repeated yesterday and should be used against the aforementioned teams. Success leaves clues behind. The Striker-Bond bookends combo was a recipe for success…stick with it. WVU showed how to beat Baylor; they came after Petty all game long and manned up the Baylor receivers and beat their ass 41-27.
We gave up 600 yards to TULSA, people. They don’t have the talent the other teams we’ll face. If that isn’t a wake-up call, what is? We cannot run this defensive game plan and beat Baylor or TCU. For those of you who criticized me for complaining about Mike Stoops keeling his job, do you see now why I had my complaints? He didn’t keep his job on merit. He kept his job because he’s the head coach’s brother.
We could be so much better than we are, but we have a major impediment to success sitting in the press box in charge of defensive game plans.
My thoughts on our Defensive strategy is “oh crap!”. 🙂
The pass coverage was decent(actually pretty good with the exceptions of the hail mary and the last Tulsa TD). It is impossible to defend a perfectly thrown ball. Evans(TU) was on target all day. Their receivers were big, talented and experienced. Mbanasor needs to turn and look for the ball. Tulsa’s big receiver just outjumped and outmuscled Sanchez.
That dude looked like a poor man’s Calvin Johnson out there, to me
There were a ton of blown assignments and alignment problems in that game. There were very few balls thrown that were indefensible. But there were a few.
You know how to stop that? Pressure the QB, hit him (legally) repeatedly, make him nervous, disrupt his timing and force him to throw less than perfect passes. That starts up front. You can’t do that with 3 DLs & 1 LB. Every OU fan should know…we saw it all last year.
Against Alabama, the D gave up some big plays when they attacked McCarron. But they pressured McCarron and forced him to make a number of bad throws. They sacked him 7-8 times, forced him to fumble, and took the ball away for the game-clinching score. We didnt see last year and won’t see this year a WR combo as big, fast & physical as Amari Cooper, Kevin Norwood, and Christion Jones, or a RB duo as talented as Derrick Henry or T.J. Yeldon, with as efficient and successful a QB as McCarron.
Pressure defense works.
Agree about pressure. Striker was in coverage a lot yesterday. Need Walker, Wade, Dimon, Q to be able to get a consistent push. But you do realize that TU also killed us on the ground.
I’ll sacrifice 161 rushing yards to avoid 400+ passing yards & passing TDs.
McCarron wasn’t getting rid of the ball as fast as Tulsa and Baylor. Its something I with we’d do on offense.
Me too (run fewer plays to protect the D), but he also had better OLs than Baylor or TU with Anthony Steen, Cyrus Kouandjio (and Arie K too).
I agree keep the heat on at all times suffocate the opposing offense keep your normal packages that includes the 23 and 19 and keep the dogs coming. Make them second guess what their seeing while mixing up blizzes and don’t let the qb get comfortable while playing up in your face man coverage make them earn every yard.
The Steelers under Cower were “Biltzburg” but they got away from it because New England exploited it with short quick passes.
That’s why you have to be multiple and keep them guessing, zone blizzes, twist, stunts, and db blizzes. Make them account for our shadows by situational zone coverages by dropping 7 and bring 4 to keep em guessing. I know it can get you burned but you have to pressure them into mistakes and and keep them guessing much in the way we did to Alabama.
Ask Michigan st. If pressure D works…
I’d ask Buddy Ryan, architect of THE greatest defense of all time with the ’85 Bears, that was without 2 of its stars who held out all season in contract negotiations
I agree and that’s part of my point, I believe the only to slow down wide open offences today is to pressure them into bad decisions while at the same time playing press coverage.
Sorry, I knew what you meant…I didn’t phrase that as well as I could’ve. I have been a fan of Pat Narduzzi and the scheme he brought to MSU which seems to be continuing with Barnett & Tressel.
Even K speaks highly of their system. We should ask Oregon do they play good D 😉
JB, I agree, but McCarron is not near the passer we face in the Big 12 and AL does not spread the field like Baylor and TCU and WVU.
You cite one instance in which Baylor was beaten. They were also beaten 70-68. How many teams are holding Air-Raid offenses under 27 points these days? Please give some stats whereby you would say MS coached a good defensive game.
He had many great games defensively duri g his first stint at OU, but the most glaring game was the 2000 championship game vs Florida State that was held scoreless even though that team was LOADED with NFL talent, especially on offense. That team averaged 542 yds/game and 42.42 points/game, and we shut them out.
Dialed it down because we were getting beat on slants and QB quick releases.
Not wanting to defend Mike, but Tennessee and Tulsa are two entirely different teams. You can’t expect to play them the same. Impossible to get to the QB when he’s releasing the ball within 2 seconds.
I agree completely! I think k talked about this as well…. in this pass happy time let alone league you need to smother the opposing offence! Stay with 3 down linemen and keep bringing Striker and Bond aka “the Predator” downhill in mixed blizzes and situational coverages don’t let them breath or take a snap off. That’s key to slowing these high octane offences down and I get it you get burn from time to time, but that ok as long as your suffocating them into bad decisions and dictating the flow of the game. Make them second guess where the pressure is coming and never allow the opposing qb to get comfortable with his reads. Last but not least Chuck the wide outs at the line of scrimmage knock them off their routs and that alone can blow the play up by effecting the timing.
We really didn’t play that much zone. A little, obviously, but I bet we were in man more often than not.
JB, agree most everything you said. One exception is that Tulsa’s receivers are VERY good. Other than Baylor, not sure we will see two of those on the field at the same time again this year. I agree with the pass rush and man coverage. A few sacks would go a long way in helping our secondary. A team can’t have more than 5 receivers, surely we can figure a way to cover 5 with 7 and win our share. But zone is not the answer, especially our zone. Hit the QB 3-5 times a game and get close to hitting him another 5-6 times a game and I bet he is not nearly as accurate. What confuses me is that we have the players to do that, but don’t.
What JB said, agree 100%.
KJ or anyone else with connections with the players: What did JT do to get suspended? His behavior is baffling to me. I’ve always heard what a great kid and student he is. How can that be squared with serving suspensions 2 of first 3 games. Anyone?
It was a team rule. Wasnt only JT. I think there were a couple of them that got disciplined. Hopefully he stays square away for the next couple of weeks.
My guess is he is missing class. Not making bad grades just not attending like he should. Again, just my guess.
Coaches Poll Released…..Sooners in at #14
http://247sports.com/Bolt/Week-Four-Coaches-Top-25-football-poll-released-39590388
Tech should be in and Auburn should be out. Big 12 owns the SEC.
No way Auburn should be ranked.
Agree. After having almost lost to Jacksonville St and getting mopped up by LSU (that game wasn’t as close as the score even though the score wasn’t that close) there is absolutely no way on God’s green Earth they should be ranked. They wouldn’t even be in my top 50.
This team with exception of the WR’s just doesn’t seem to block very well. OL(run game and pass protection), Special teams(return teams)etc. Mayfield shouldn’t have to scramble as much against a defense like Tulsa. K-State will blitz Mayfield to death. They always seem to bang up our QB’s.
Baker looked great, but as I said before, Bell looked like a world beater against Tulsa, and so did Trevor. It’s not surprising that the same guys that couldn’t play defense very well in their regular position, couldn’t corral Baker whether he was running or scrambling. Not trying to take anything away from his performance in this game, or the final 2/3 rds of the fourth quarter and overtime last game, and he did, after all, set some amazing records, but I’m still gonna be cautious about going overboard in any way based upon a performance against Tulsa.
I don’t know that leaving Mbanasor in longer wouldn’t have put an even bigger dent in his confidence. We read and hear a lot about fixing the safety part of the equation, but for OU to be as paper thin as we are at CB is even more indefensible.
Fan boards crack me up! Many of the same people who were praising Mike and the defense last couple of weeks are the ones now bashing him and saying he can’t coach a lick. None of you know even 1% as much about defense as he does, so just accept the win; let the coaches coach the guys up and take a two week breather from arm chair coaching and see what improvements we make for the WV game.
If we listened to many of the fans and moderators on this site, Cody or Trevor should be our starting QB; Baker should be 3rd team; Kish should be fired for being a horrible coach who can’t recruit; Ahmad Thomas should be benched ( just heard Cooks say he is our best DB through 2 games and the leader of the secondary); Mbanasor is WAY better than JT as CB; the list could go on and on.
The truth is, our coaches are not as stupid as many of you think, nor are we the fans as smart as we think. We are 3-0 and heading in the right direction. Our recruiting is on an upswing and it’s a great time to be a Sooner! It’s not all doom and gloom, guys.
I saw lots of things yesterday, most importantly a W. 🙂
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I would never make the claim that i know more about football than mike stoops, but there are a number of defensive minds who have been there & done that who know how to defend NFL offenses that will tell you that the key to beating them is not to play to their strength (e.g., Buddy Ryan). Also, just because a guy is a coach at OU doesn’t make them infallible or fans wrong.
D Mackey ( ex OU db) indicated the ‘bump & run” was his preference of pass defense : whether OU has the CB talent implement that style is another question….
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Boomer Dave, if you think the secondary is heading in the right direction, then I agree fans know nothing. Fact is this secondary will get our rear kicked vs TCU and Baylor and maybe WVU unless our new offense can score 55 or better to give us a chance. Again, it looks like Mike cannot decide what to do. Or, maybe our secondary guys are just that bad – either talent wise or football smart wise. I personally think we are way off the line because we have no confidence in our safeties to play help. Why we have no pass rush is beyond me because we have multiple people quite capable of putting great pressure on the QB. As for fans being negative, thank goodness we had some alumni that were negative enough last year to go see Boren or we wouldn’t be where we are now with a much improved offense. I will hold final opinion on the defense until the WVU game.
Please name a defense that slows down these offenses. Do you remember what OU’s offense did to TCU last year? WITH ONE FREAKING WIDE RECEIVER IN THEIR HOUSE! But you’re right..you know better than Mike and everyone else. So please show me a dominant defense against these offenses? I want a big name defense not one where the team takes them lightly and gets beat. MSU gave up 600+ passing yards to Baylor in the bowl game.
WVU held Baylor to 318 yards total offense last yr. they played bump and run and rushed 5 or 6 every down
Not disagreeing here, but is it entirely possible that Mike Stoops deliberately showed a 2014 version of our defense against a spread offense? Let’s face it – Cooks spent a ton of time coaching our CBs to play differently and not the 7-8 yard cushions we saw yesterday. Could we have felt we were good enough to best Tulsa with that vanilla defense that may have just made Baylor think we hadn’t changed our ways and are clueless to defend a spread?
I may be grasping at straws but yesterday was so 2014 and seemed to be completely unlike everything we have been teaching up our guys to play like.
Interesting take..
You’re grasping at straws. He isn’t that clever, nor could they afford to waste a game’s worth of reps to practice stopping an offense that’s completely befuddled them 2 years in a row.
Agendas. They’re everywhere!
Mike Stoops – Sandbagger Par Excellence!
Uh-huh.
Now that I think of it, MS may very well be that clever; which would be part of the problem. I don’t think the Gods of Defense,: Kiffin, Bellichick, Lovie Smith, et. al. made (and kept) their bones by swimming in the ‘Clever’ pool.
So last year was a clever scheme to set us up for this year? Damn…how crafty! All we had to do was suffer a few embarrassing losses. Genius!!!
How do you know what the OU coaches are teaching our guys on D?
I think I might have identified one significant issue with the coaching staff: communication and/or agreement. I listened to Bob in the pregame say that the Tulsa offense is not identical to Baylor’s and is “a lot different than you guys think.” Now, here’s a direct quote from Mike Stoops: “They’re identical; we’ve got to find a better way to deal with it.”
We saw it with our own eyes yesterday. About the only difference between the 2 offenses is personnel on the field and Baylor’s will be better than the one who torched us yesterday.
I think Stoops was comparing Tulsa and Baylor to other spread teams.
I agree, I understood him to say there’s a difference between the Baylor version and the Leach Air Raid version.
No, he was comparing Baylor & TU specifically, as the question was posed
This stuff is pathetic. You think two coaches uttering a different thought during a PC on a silly subject is of importance? Your just trying to be as negative as possible so you fit in with all the other boo birds.
It is obvious you didn’t understand what Bob was saying.
amen amen and amen
And you fit in with all the other ostriches.
My ears still work. So do my eyes. I also understood Bob perfectly. My comment was mostly tongue-in-cheek. But since you want go there, unlike you, I refuse to bury my head in the sand and deny a glaring issue in front of me. I’m glad we won, but it should not have been that close. The talent differential between OU & TU is staggering. The differential between TU and Baylor will be even greater. Saying that everything is fine and not making a stink only helps perpetuate the problem.
We can be much better than we are, but nepotism is preventing that. Baker Mayfield is a national championship caliber QB. We have immense talent at RB in Mixon & Perine. We have Shep and some pretty good receivers. Our kicker/punter is terrific. Our return game has been lackluster thus far, but there is hope for improvement.
Our defense is pathetic. It’s not because THEY are pathetic–we saw what they are capable of against Tennessee–it’s because they are being put in positions to fail. If we come out with that game plan against Baylor or TCU we will LOSE, and I’m tired of losing to teams we should own. Aren’t you?
We could’ve made a run for Clancy Pendergast or John Chavis, but stuck with the coach’s brother. If yesterday’s plan and performance is going to be our plan vs Baylor, then here comes another humiliating loss and it doesn’t have to be that way. We all want to have a team that competes for the conference and every now and then for the NC. Our DC is keeping us from that.
If you know you have the answer then by all means fire that resume out there. Be sure to include all madden prowess and how stocked your ncaa football trophy case is from your dynasty but make sure it’s at least at all american level or its just too easy
I thought I heard Spencer Tillman say something like “the CB’s defend better when they are 3-4 yds off of WR’s and break aggressively to the WR when the ball is thrown”. This as opposed to 7 yds off and/or press coverage. I seemed to notice the same thing. It allows you to keep everything in front of you yet you are close enough to be able to break on the ball or tackle the WR for minimal gain. Did anyone else hear that?
Yes and how about Devonte bird?
My favorite hybrid player!
I laughed every time Brando said that
You could tell when Tulsa was about to throw a little short pass or go deep. It almost looked like they ran the same plays over and over, not much difference each time.. Nothing flashy or complicated. When Tulsa would put their 3 wr’s close together it was automatic that they were doing the wr screen and they got some good yardage. That was just one that I saw a lot.
As I recall, Tillman was an outstanding player…at running back. 🙂
I just thought it was an interesting comment. All I’ve heard on message boards is to press, press, press and be damned the outcome because it is something different. This seemed to be a middle ground between press and 7 yds off that had some benefits of aggression with a little bit of caution too.
I heard him say it.
It isn’t as simple as some would have us believe. There are opportunities and threats for each type of coverage, much of which depends on down and distance, as well as if they have safety coverage. I would like to see more disguises, though, showing off coverage then run up for press just before the ball is snapped or show press then back off. Anything to confuse the QB/WR reads. Of course, getting in the QB’s face in a hurry is my favorite tactic.
I totally agree that schemes and disguises of schemes are very important, plus pressure on QB. But when they get passes off so quickly blitzes and stunts are minimally effective. To my eyes, we were simply out matched vs their top two WR’s. We didn’t have guys who could physically stay with them. Ironically, PJ showed that he could physically stay with them but got beat because of technique. I think the ultimate answer is to upgrade our secondary talent. The coaches are working on that and I’m a patient guy. Unlike a lot of other posters on the Interwebs. 🙂 We just need bigger, more physical, faster DB’s than the other team has in their WR’s. Problem solved! 🙂
What some are calling 7 yards off is most often 12 since the CB starts back pedaling before the ball is even snapped.
I recall that Sanchez was off his WR 5-7 yards, but the other side was not as much. PJ and Marcus were tighter. Perhaps this was due to the matchups.
A lot to fix before hillbillies come to town Mayfield WOW Hope he stays cool and not turn into johnny punk ass
The offense isn’t bad but they have gotten better. The oline yesterday wasn’t bad but can and (hopefully) will get better. We just have to realize this unit is having growing pains. I thought Coach B did a really good job putting guys in and mixing it up, shuffling players in different positions. The one constant was manchild Orlando Brown. He played the whole game at LT and you can see him get better and better. I wished they would do that with Samia, let him start and get better. The good thing is we have two weeks to get things worked out and I believe Bedenbaugh will do just that.
Here is my 2 cents on the defense; If I were dc, I would put bring pressure and have the secondary in man coverage, if they get burned then work that out. Most of the time they threw the short to intermediate route and then threw the long ball on occasion. At least try some stuff to mix it up, like you are blitzing and back off. The slant was there all day for them. Do something to disguise what you want to do. If Mike can’t figure it out then Baylor is going to have our lunch again..
One other thing I saw and it was last week against Tenn, is that the middle of the field is wide open and if we start using Andrews it will be there all day. Use Andrews as if he was blocking tight inside and just release him just beyond the lb’s. We saw that yesterday on the first td he had. It will be there as much as we spread the field. We shall see what adjustments we make for WV in two weeks. Glad we have the bye week.
to add to the Mbanasor benching, Sanchez was getting picked on quite a bit as well. I was kinda expecting to hear Mbanasor suffered some type of injury not that he was yanked. I think that Spencer Tillman said it best(mightve been Brando), OU should have the guys who can cover Tulsa receivers and not be afraid of them getting deep.
So it’s back to the lack of talent argument?
Surely you don’t think we are as talented as we could be on defense? We don’t have no talent, or even average talent, but our D unit as a whole isn’t loaded with talent by my eyes. I think recruiting has improved, but that doesn’t help overnight. Still takes a class or two, AND experience. We’ll get there I think.
PJ looks the part but obviously needs experience and JT wouldve been a welcome addition. Anyone ever hear what happened?
Our talent level is rising quickly especially on the dl and secondary, monty set our dline up for years! While Cooks isn’t far behind with a heck of a freshman class and the incoming guys are ranked highly as well. Kish is setting us up with one of the best lb class in recent memory. Coach b just going to keep doing his thing and as long as Gundy and Riley is around there will be no shortage at all at the skill position in my opinion where headed in the right direction.
I wasn’t the one that said it, the announcers were. But if they are afraid of playing press isn’t it because they don’t think the guys can?
Yes.
I said all off season that we didn’t have great secondary and were depending on young untested players. So, it’s not “back” to a lack of talent for me. But the biggest problem to me is not the talent; it’s the coaching.
Sanchez, in my opinion is grossly overrated. Yes, he can intercept a pass. He gets praise because of that. But, he gets beat ALLOT. He is too small to tackle taller recievers, he seems slow and because he wants the pics, he gets beat a lot in double moves. He is undisciplined. Please tell me how I am wrong in my assessment. What don’t I see?
‘t
You aren’t wrong (well, except for the “allot”, should be ” a lot”.) Overrated. Gets a fair number of picks, easily offset by a number of busts. He also does not have elite speed. He was chased down by Amari Cooper even though he had about a 10 yd head start & Cooper had to change directions.
Agree with both of your points on Sanchez. Sometimes it seems like he’s read too many of his press clippings. What bugs me is that so many times after he gets beat he seems angry. His reaction is to try to strip the ball. Gives up an additional 5-10 yards every time. He’s a big play hunter. Personally I would rather have a guy who can cover consistently.
Any complete game video available from yesterday?
On my DVR. 😉
Or simply highlights?
Just my two cents.
Offense: we don’t take advantage of numbers like I thought we would. We seem to run into the teeth of the defense when it appears there is more space on the opposite side. They were blitzing all night up the middle and we didn’t hit anything across the middle. Baker is looking good, but he does miss an open receiver every now and then. My biggest complaint about TK was his fake hand offs, Mayfield is one of the best I’ve seen. Fooled me and the camera several times. WR’s are improving but are not getting open sometimes (scheme? technique?). When they are playing tight on the WR screens are we not pump faking and hitting a fly.
Defense: we don’t middle blitz at all against spread teams. We sit back and let them dictate the game way too much. Don’t know what happened at CB, but talk about letting your team down. Don’t know if this was personal reasons, and if it was my previous statement is withdrawn. Sanchez got ate up all game. Mbasanor (yeah I know I probably screwed that all up) got lit up as well but you could tell he was a true freshman and he was playing tight causing him to lose technique. Ok is it just me or is Thomas really stiff in the hips? Parker is going to be special.
Special teams: why the hell do we not block anybody until we are chasing them? Saw on one punt return them hike the ball and Tapper stand straight up and turn around to watch the play. Ok, he’s tired. Get out of the game and let someone who is going to try. KR’s- something is wrong here, not sure what it is but something doesn’t seem right.
Again, just my thoughts.
when they were doing that I assumed they were watching for fake punts all game
We score 52 Points and without 2 fumbles would have been 66!
Tony Jefferson just returned a pick for a TD!
Did anyone else notice that Sanchez did not look like he was playing healthy. Never looked right to me the whole game. I actually thought Mbanasor had good coverage most of the time, he just failed to ever look for the ball and was strictly playing off of the receivers reactions.
I loved how the announcers kept saying that Tulsa did a successful onside kick. Hey, they just got lucky … sorta like Old Miss did on that pass yesterday. Stupid ball bounces funny.
yep. i haven’t watched the replay yet, but to me, it was a squib rocket that smoked one of our guys. just like we did in the *gasp* bama game. was our *gasp* bama kick an onside kick? no. it was a squib that was the final straw in the onslaught of their demise. did we do what we supposed to do yesterday? probly not. but to act like it was the smartest, headiest play by our opponent while we were the dumbies that fell for it is a tad trollish. why don’t more teams do this? a lot more bad can come from it than good. what happens when you squib a rocket that hits someone and bounces back out of bounds at your 22?
I’ll take the win. Next?
As for the barometers of great defenses, here’s how they did yesterday:
Alabama surrendered 43 points to a non-air raid team.
Southern Cal surrendered 41 points to a non-air raid team.
exactly. name me a couple guys who can stop these offenses consistently and i’ll show you everyfreakingbody else. just get a win and move on to the next one. i said it yesterday, if we outscore everybody by one, we’ll probly be hoisting a trophy
The ‘new normal’? It’s early but Miss. and Baylor ranked 1 – 2 in scoring at over 60 ppg. aTm and Georgia over 44 ppg. And these are sec offenses, not acc or B12-2.
I believe Ole Miss does run an air raid…just sayin.
You could be right. Given that, Bama defense, which is far superior to OU’s (sarcasm here), surrendered 43 points.
They just scored over 70 points in there 1st 2 games…
Bama?
Ole Miss
Even more telling. These offenses are hard to stop. I thought I would see more attacking than what we saw from the defense.
And tcu lost its sixth defensive starter for the season yesterday.
So….your sayin there is a chance….?
LOL!
The frogs go visit the flinging Kingsburies next week, could be interesting.
Yeah. Tech enters the meat grinder with TCU this week and Baylor next week. Will be entertaining.
With 6 defensive starters out for the season I would say the frogs are the one’s at risk of being made into sausage, though tech’s defense isn’t that impressive, either.
I’m not a fan of Coach Dingleberry but his post game presser was audio gold.
Same here. But we should probably all be fans of dingleberry. If not for his stupidity, we might not have Baker Mayfield.
I almost fell off the couch when I heard his unabashed comments about being pleased by them getting their ass kicked by Toledo, Taco & “probably A&M next week.” I’d have removed the probably from that statement, but gold nonetheless.
55-50?
Good afternoon, EasTex.
I still have to watch the second half of the game. We had a circus, uh…, wedding to attend yesterday. Who schedules a wedding on a Saturday, during football season? LOL!
It’s a win and some people need to lighten up.
If this was the National Championship game, who would care how OU won yesterday. It’s comforting to know that we have an offense that can keep pace with opposing offenses, if needed.
Good grief, a wedding on a Saturday in the fall is ridiculous. All the more reason to praise the inventor of the dvr.
I’m not only happy with the win, but with some of the improvement I saw, the effort I saw and the opportunities for even more improvement.
For the groaners and moaners they will never be satisfied.
http://mediacdn.snorgcontent.com/media/catalog/product/a/l/alwaysfull_thumb.png
I’ll take the win, all day. With the amount of points that are being given up by traditionally, stout, defensive teams, you’d think some people would give OU a break.
It’ like golf, EasTex: no one is going to ask you how, they’re going to ask you how many.
The sad part about the wedding is that the bride has known issues: I’ll give it six months to a year before the bliss wears off. Maybe two years before the marriage is irreconcilable.
Well, since I’ve never played an inning of golf, I would ask why. 🙂
It’s all about scoring low, nothing else matters.
Example A: a scratch golfer, par scorer, are most likely to land their tee shot in the fairway and be on the green in regulation: meaning, on a par 4, good golfers on on the green in two shots.
Example B: a scrambler/scratch golfer is also capable of shooting par. However, a scrambler is not likely to land in the fairway or reach the green in regulation. It might take a scrambler 3 shots to reach the green. Chipping it close allows the scrambler to par out.
Both golfer’s scorecards will reflect 3 on a par 3, 4 on a par 4, and 5 on a par 5 hole. Thus the phrase “not how but how many.”
No one should care how OU won 13 games, just that they won 13 games.
I agree that it’s really though these days with all the problems spread offenses present just would like to see a different approach.. keep your base package out there mix up your blizzes and make the opposing offence as uncomfortable as possible bring pressure from every where and chuck the wide outs at the line of scrimmage to throw off timing routs… I’m no expert but it seems we are still trying round hole square peg approach that will kill us against Baylor… I understand trying to match multiple wide outs with multiple dbs but in my opinion you should dictate the flow of the game and except the fact your going to get burned from time to time. But make them earn it and keep the pressure coming. I am happy with the win and we definitely need the bye week.
This is how Michigan State beat Baylor. They finally figured it out in the 4th quarter and gave the world a blue print as to how to slow them down. They will score and make some yards but if you can disrupt their rhythm you can beat their offense.
And TCU vaunted defense game up 508 yds to SMU. Offenses have the upper hand.
Agreed. Arkansas gave up 35 points and almost 500 yards to Texas Tech.
It seems that the days of consistent defensive domination are limited.
I don’t keep up with Ole Miss football, but did Hugh Freeze change his offensive philosophy and I missed it? He’s always used a HUNH spread offensive attack.
I get the gut feeling that this is why Saban wants out of coaching because the offensive game has changed and he can no longer have a dominant D in the traditional sense. I think it frustrates him immensely.
…and SMU scored 37 points on the vaulted TCU defense
Mike said himself “he is clueless.” So we may not be rocket scientists BoomerDave but we can read. The good news may be that all the defense has to be is FIVE POINTS better per game, why? Because it would appear the offense is about 6 points better per game. This means we would have beaten KSU, OSU and TCU last year.
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Some people need to calm down maybe this ad can offer some stress relief to those that need it. 😉
that’s a good idea. those whose panic button is already broken may need medicinal help
Can you get cannabis oil by the gallon?
I’ll take three pallets.
OU #15 in AP.
Sounds right not to high or low setting us perfectly for a red November!
As long as the team continues to improve, so will their rankings from the “alleged experts.”
I hope Aaron Williams for Buffalo is alright. Scary injury.
Not sure why the NFL cares, but here’s the complete AP poll.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000524131/article/ap-top-25-ole-miss-makes-big-move-up-big-ten-teams-12
Some observations concerning defensive struggles yesterday:
1) Tulsa has a couple of very gifted receivers in Keyarris Garret and Keevan Lucas.
2) Found out Friday they would be playing without Jordan Thomas and starting a true freshman in his place without proper prep.
3) Tulsa lines up, snaps the ball and gets rid of it so quickly they make it virtually impossible to affect the quarterback with pressure.
4) We gave them the ball twice in the red zone giving them life they would have never had otherwise. Without those two turnovers the game would have been way out of hand before half time.
Do we have some work to do one defense? No doubt. But I don’t think things are as dire as it may have appeared when you consider the above. And, it was a good pre-test (so to speak) for the challenges to come.
Silver lining? We have a quarterback and an offense that, by that time, will be able to score with the best of them. Hope we won’t need 61 to win. But if we do…
I like the silver lining. Thanx.
Yes. I defend MS for now. Any problem with his postgame: “Poor alignments, out of position, bad communication…”
I’m tired of hearing those same excuses. It’s the scheme, Mike!!!!
Whose scheme would you like him to run? Do you know of a dominant defense that shuts these offenses down consistently? I don’t. Just look at what OU did to TCU in their house last year with ONE wide receiver. Now imagine a competent offense with 4 wide receivers and show me a defense that shuts them down.
I don’t know the answer, but I also don’t make $1M a year like Mike does to figure it out. Einstein said it best….Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Time to earn that money and try something different, because what is being down currently isn’t working!
He forgot one – poor coaching. Same excuses we heard last year. So, that being the case we either have a coach who cannot get them to understand the coverage or we have a coach that cannot relate well to them or it has nothing to do with coaching – we just don’t have smart enough cover guys to get it – which means we haven’t recruited well. Other teams sure don’t seem to be having trouble covering our guys, so is their coaching that much better or are their players that much better? I understand how hard it is to cover guys in this style offense, but many times we don’t even seem to be close to a receiver when he catches it. That concerns me.
Why aren’t the players being taught proper alignments, positioning and communication? If it was one player then Mike could blame the player, but since it is all of them, it is time to blame the coaching.
The third Tulsa WR Atkinson, I think his name is, was pretty good also.
After the 1st slant that Sanchez got beat on. A safety was moved to play the slant helping Sanchez…The qb held it a bit longer allowing the wr to clear the safety help. Sanchez was playing press coverage. Press is not the answer. The run a switch route at the LOS and Byrd and PJ got lost.
Tmac, I agree with 1 (makes me wonder why we weren’t recruiting those guys), 2 is a small point; 3 shouldn’t be true if it is because we have been hearing from the coaches that our defense playing against tempo every day in practice is really helping them out. Saturday several times it looked our guys were just too lazy to get back on the line and get ready (or too gassed or too confused); 4 is very true as far as the score goes, but had little to do with our secondary play. We turn the ball over a couple times like that vs TCU, Baylor or WVU and we will pay for it with a loss.
Look at the replay. The Tulsa QB releases the ball too quickly on most of the passes to get any rush. Granted, on the deep throws there was not as much rush as there should be. But he did not go deep that much. So while you may not like 3 it is true. Tulsa ran 91 plays I think. That is enough to gas any defense. Nonetheless the defense held Tulsa to 10 points for all but a minute and a half of the first half.
Absent the turnover and freak squib it is 38-10 at half and we aren’t having this conversation.
Baylor us November 14. Not Thursday.
You are right about how quickly he released the ball. I just always felt like a team should always play to their strengths and on defense, I think our pass rushers are much more of a strength than our DBs are right now. Not saying bring the house, but 4 and sometimes 5 in most instances to me would be better than what we get with 3. Sure not an expert. We will know more after WVU in a couple of weeks. I am hoping that Tulsa was a much better offensive team than we think. That would make me feel a lot better. In this league, the defense that can get a turnover or two or just a few stops has the best chance as you are not going to shut-down most of the spread attacks. Texas Tech looked good against Arkansas, but Arkansas rarely sees the spread – so is Tech that much better or was it just that Arkansas rarely faces the spread. Maybe a combination of both.
Yes, I agree about the spread. Spread offenses are going to get their pound of flesh, so slowing them down enough to allow your offense to out score them is key to me.
for those that missed it………..heart attack? gunshot? ruptured appendix?
…..http://247sports.com/Bolt/Watch-this-Longhorns-player-play-dead-against-Cal-39568564
Sniper took him out…. or wanted to slow the game down 😉
Lee Malvo
Von Miller
Lol! I missed this live. Did he get by with it?
I believe so……..I was watching and the cal qb saw it and complained to the ref but to no avail that I noticed
Well at least karma got them on the missed PAT.
I read somewhere that the officials forced texsa to use a time out; not sure what would happen if they didn’t have any more time outs (possible penalty?).
The same article said Cal scored on the next play anyway.
Should be a must watch for everyone…..especially the Big 12 office. Just another one of Strong’s values.
That kid obviously got the call from the sideline Texas should be above this type of antics… Your freaking Texas…
Shot obviously came from the Clock Tower.
Strong issued the code red….
Yikes.
Too soon? I mean 1966.
Half century? Texass? Good to go.
Well, he grabbed his side, so I’m thinking appendix. (Unreal that this sh-t is allowed.)
It was the kind of play that caused Senor Karma to push the tying PAT to the right.
The Mexican God of fate? Heh heh
I am just a football fan, particularly of the college game. Last year I believe the Sooners would have folded under the pressure of a talented offense getting as close as Tulsa did, just before the half. The difference is that this years team seems to have some swagger (ala Mayfield), that says they won’t quit. This hasn’t been seen in Norman in a few years. I like it! Is it because of players new attitude or new coaches? Don’t know, don’t care, I’m just enjoying Sooner football again.
That’s a solid analysis. I agree with that. I was actually really nervous at halftime for obvious reasons. The way the half ended but after reflecting, it was mostly because of how we quit last season. You’re right. There is definitely a new attitude and it looks like a group that will fight back when faced with adversity. Very refreshing.
I don’t think bob stoops has ever had a qb quite like Mayfield, this kid is a winner, playmaker and more than anything has “it” yeah we have had qb that’s mobile or has a cannon to make all the throws. But what is exciting about mayfield is the ability to create when there is seemingly nothing there, and that moxy and swag just ozzes calmness to rest of the team.
It occurred to me today that I’m not sure any more that there was- or should have been- a “genuine” quarterback battle up until the last week of pre-season! In my opinion Trevor Knight probably would not have won the game yesterday, and it seems like Mayfield passes as well and is not only just as fast but avoids tackles much better and has much more awareness in the pocket. What is there not to like about the guy!?
Nor do I think he would of pulled out the Tennessee game the more I think about he polly throws a pick 6 to Maybin over the middle. Love what he did in the sugar bowl, and he might have a stronger arm, and more athletic, but he makes the same mistakes over and over again it’s Knight and day difference between him and Mayfield and it’s not even close.
Mayfield has those eyes in the back of his head. A skill needed with our young line. I believe Trevor would have been sacked a ton by now. Given up fumbles and thrown picks with all the pressure. Love Knight. But Baker just has “it.”
Way to many 3 and outs last year that put our d in some bad spots.
Why are we still playing so far off the ball with our db’s you have to at least give a bump at the line to disrupt the timing and to help slow the slant pass I know that outs a lot more pressure on the safeties but what do I know overall our defense is pretty solid.
I think you pegged the problem- the safeties. The safeties seem to be slow in coversge over the top and sometimes don’t know when the cb are staying with their man and when they are going to pass thier man off to the safeties. By playing off thier man, the CBs are giving the safties a little longer to read before committing to a particular deep zone.
Texass will live all day off the quick slant that this style of play offers.
Did we have two #15s on the hands team? (Sanchez and Mead?)
hmm, isn’t that penalty?
Not as long as they’re playing different sides of the ball.
That’s the point. They were both on the field at the same time on the hands team, I believe. 15 yard penalty.
What’s wrong with this picture? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f28a10aa52c1f2b2128dbadea2300e71e7fb95334994cb614bd7063c1385b378.jpg
Mansabor (sp?) looked a little overwhelmed out there at times. For a guy who has been pegged by some as a natural cover guy he sure seemed to be out of sorts- there were more than a few plays when he failed to look back for the ball. I am sure the speed of the Tulsa WRs had something to do with that. I just thought he would have the Saavy to be able to either “feel” the ball was on the way or be able to tells so by reading the WRs body language.
Ross may be somewhat despondent in basically being the fifth strong RB who recently moved up tho fourth with Anderson’s injury.
Flowers has five special teams (kick offs) penalties this year – three games- dude needs to get that ironed out or it doesn’t matter what Ross does with a return.
Shepherd seems to be uncertain about when to field a punt, fair catch it or to let it go.
O-line played well enough for Mayfield to be able to scramble and make plays. With so many chances for playing time I can’t but help think the o-line will just keep getting better.
You can’t look at his failure. You have to look at how he handled his failure.
This kid is a true competitor. He had the “welp,” that-was-that-attitude. He got right back in the saddle.
Agree. He also did not anticipate being the starter and thus did not get starter reps throughout the week.
I commend him for his attitude but I can only judge his play by what i saw. Wasn’t like I said he would never pan out. Looking back to find the ball seems like something a player of his caliber would do without much thought.
See, this is what I mean:
He’s going to be a good one. He needs to have patience like the rest of us to learn all the techniques at this level.
He was our most sought after cb last year, he was our guy from the get go, but he’s still a true freshman.. so be patient and we will be rewarded.
He got his baptism by fire yesterday. Now he knows what he’s up against. He will respond.
He had good position on a lot of passes his way. The TU qb was money on a lot of throws the only thing that I saw alarming is not reading the receivers body language and getting his head turned around and that will be fixed with game reps.
Damien Williams catches a TD pass from Tannehill…
I like what we did on offense. What we did on defense, however, has me confused. It’s like we stepped thru a wormhole into last year’s Baylor game. (BTW, Philadelphia’s offense is bad. Maybe they’ll make some changes for the second half. They need something.)
That worm hole needs to be destroyed immediately I was at that disaster…. it was so bad we couldn’t believe what we was seeing…
I wonder: were we “vanilla” vs Tulsa and not give WVU too much film? Or is this our standard D vs the likes of a Baylor. If the latter, I don’t think we leave Waco with a win if we don’t get pressure on their QB.
The one thing everyone seem to be missing concerning Baker’s fantastic performance yesterday was that he broke the record and he did not have an interception. With the number of passes he threw, you can’t ask for anything more from him. Great job Baker!
Yes, one of his best skills is taking care of the football. Riley has said so too. That goes a long way to helping the team win.
NOT completing td passes over the middle to the middle lb week in, and week out should help deciding the final score as well 😉
Anyone watching this Dallas/Philly game? Sam and the Eagles, are STRUGGLING. Romo out with broken clavicle, Weeden in. Dallas ball, up 13-3 with about 14 min left..
Is THIS what they call football now?
What a game eh? man O’ man
,)
Man, the Eagles receivers drop/tip SO many passes. Pick goes against Sam again, but certainly not his fault, again.
Yeah, watching and keeping busy doing other things so I don’t get depressed. They look absolutely terrible, but the ‘boys don’t look much better even though they’ll win this one. On a happier note, Tony Jefferson got a pick six for the Cardinals!
Yes. It’s awful. Bradford is obviously struggling immensely but is there anybody on the team that can catch? Also the guards are horrific. Murray gets tackled pretty much simultaneously with receiving handoff.
… and their line was so good last year, go figure.
Well, they got rid of Evan Mathis and didn’t really replace him. Makes a big difference.
I’m sure http://www.bleedinggreennation.com is having a meltdown on their game thread. I’m going to head over there and see how bad it is.
Man, they got to get a running game.
Cars will burn in Philly tonight.
Eagles WRs just can’t catch the football. Sam will get the blame, though. He had two bad passes, maybe, but everything else should’ve been caught.
Why don’t you go over to the Philly SBNation site and tell them that? I’m sure they’ll welcome you with open arms! 😉 They finished the season 1-3 last year, and they’re 0-2 now. The sharks are circling Sam and Chip’s life raft, and a few drops of Sam’s blood just accidentally spilled into the water. I’m really REALLY worried about his career now … totally bummed for him.
I’m not worried about his career, though I hate knowing he’s getting trashed, I also know it won’t last. Eagles looked terrible, maybe they’ll stay terrible, but whether he’s at the Eagles or somewhere Sam will get show what a great QB he is. Anyway, there’s a lot of season left to play. Maybe they’ll figure it out.
He could be a great QB coach.
Lot of season left, but Sam didn’t look great today.
geez, 11 yds for murray for the season
Lot of money per yard. 🙂
5 of the yds were guaranteed money
Bet he misses that Dallas OL.
Just throwing it out there: Could the Sooners have purposely schemed the defense like they did yesterday to not give their future opponents extra film to work with, especially with WVU coming up in two weeks. Obviously Thomas being out didn’t help, and it was very curious seeing OU not bringing as much pressure as they could have. I sure hope we see a different defensive scheme when WVU comes to town on Oct. 3. BOOMER!
A different perspective and I hope your right.
My opinion is that our best athletes on the D is the LB’s, which are absent for the most part against the spread. They are out of the formation more either by assignment or by being replaced by another corner. With a 5 man or 6 man front (3 lbs or 2 lbs), the LB’s are more in a fill this hole mode than attack mode. We match up on D much better against a Tennesse than we do against a Tulsa. We should have been able to outmatch their line, and our D line did get some punch, but the ball was coming out quickly and accurately. Our DB’s were deep off the line in cushion and Tulsa’s WR’s were pretty awesome, bad combo for an inexperienced D backfield. Our outside LB’s are more disruptive and active against a more pro style offense than the spread. Being able to lock the WR’s up and pressure on the QB kills the spread. I think we have the personell to accomplish that, but not happening yet. Time and experience wil help (I hope).
No. Learning/teaching experience.
Noted.
I guarantee there are things we will do against Baylor that we purposely did not do against TU. EVERY school does stuff like that.
I have been thinking this same thing since the game yesterday. I don’t think it’s going to be fully shown for WVU since it’s a different type of the spread then Baylor runs.
the defensive secondary scheme was just ridiculous we got out coached on defense as usual. why in the world would we have db’s 7-10 yards off the ball, they killed us with the slants all day and didn’t make an adjustment. the corners couldn’t get underneath or cut it off at all. Sanchez did it once or twice but that was after they ran it all freaking day. We held up sub par against the WR screens. I just don’t get the strategy at all like we play like we’re scared in the secondary with the scheme of 7-10 yards off the ball with our corners. I honestly thought we would see more man and press with the intel throughout the summer. But lets not even talk about the zone play OMGosh. But with that said tulsa had a great WR who just so happen to play at tulsa, those kids where straight balling.
Did you watch the game, or are you only going by what you think happened by what others have said. We made adjustments throughout the game. Tulsa did have some nice players, but in case you didn’t notice, TU had 370+ yards first half less than 200 second half. Adjustments.
Thank you for that. A voice of sanity.
I do not say much on here. However, I do read most everything. I get a bit ticked at some of the statements made by people that apparently did not watch the game, or have even less of a clue than I do. I am not a big X’s and O’s kind of guy, but at least I try to look at the data before jumping into a conversation.
i hate it too. i just fire back after shots are taken. awesome of you to bite your tongue. i just want someone that doesn’t respect someone else to know exactly how that sounds. i have way more respect for our players and coaches than some jackasses on a msg board that have no clue what sport they’re even watching
No one can ever accuse you of being a tongue biter my friend. LOL.
haha. i just can’t stand it when people feel the need to take shots at someone. whether it be a coach, player, cashier, AD, or poster. but this is an extremely me first, soft, fickle world we live in now
That would make a good screen name. “TheVoiceOfSanity”
Yes it would.
It’s mine, you can have it.
Thank you. I might create a second account.
Don’t be bringing sanity in here…..we’ve got no time for that!
Of course I watched the game I wouldn’t speak on anything that I didn’t or don’t have prior knowledge of. With that being said I understand we made minor second half adjustments but the fact of the matter is the first half didn’t go as planned. That was “baby baylor” we can’t have that type of showing in the first half against a baylor type offense. I’m thinking of the bigger picture.
I miss HolaKyle.
He has been back this year. He did the Akron and the Tennessee highlights, but I haven’t seen anything on the Tulsa game yet.
This is not HolaKyle, but it is the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbhQ2_aLquU
I don’t think he did the Tennessee game, but I did see his Akron video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDArO1o6PBQ
Just noticed this one was posted by hambone, not HolaKyle, so sorry.
FYI
He tweeted something about computer issues couldn’t finish tenn but should resume soon
Is anyone else having trouble getting TFB’s website to load on your iPhone?
Yes, it’s not loading for me. I’m on iOS 9. Might be the problem
I have iOS 9, also. Thanks, Kelly.
Won’t load on my Windows mobile.
Works fine on iPad with iOS9. Must be the phone version with a problem.
All day long.
Get a real phone.
Ouch!!
Do you have a band-aid for that?
A band-aid won’t help. Getting an Android would.
Seems to me an iPhone is something that Kingsbury would carry, not an OU fan.
It was not necessary for you to challenge my OU fan-hood. LOL!
You are a great OU fan! You are just a bad judge of phones.
iPhones are soooo 2012.
One word for you, Dustin: Whaley.
😉
Tech tickets? Anyone?
You need tickets or you want to sell tickets?
Need/want. I treated the old lady to a Hogs game last year. I want to treat her to a real game. Thought I would solicit all you guys before trying the interwebz.
Mods, could we please clean up this spam? 🙂
So, have we proven that Dustin is the one who is posting all of that other spam as well?
I’m working to gather that information.
If we’re going to have a trial (and a lynching), can I be on the jury?
1st chair has your name on it.
Obliged ….
You’re pushing it, bro.
Might have mine for sale, but won’t know until closer to game week. Post again (or ask me) maybe after the saxet game.
Cool. I’m pretty picky, though. No endzone sections.
You won’t want mine then.
I do not feel good at all with the defense…
How were you feeling last week after the Tennessee game?
We match up well with power teams. Spread offenses? Not as well. I can live with it as long as our offense scores a lot.
Yepper. I would like to see blitzes up the middle.
I was ecstatic, crazy happy! But In the long run I don’t know if our defense can stop TCU, BAYLOR…I do feel the offense is the real deal. I live in Los Angeles and all my friends are USC fans, and they too think the OU offense and Baker Mayfield are the real deal..
One thing I was optimistic about the last two games is that when the O struggled (Tennessee), the D stepped up and played lights out. When the D struggled (Tulsa), the O stepped up and played lights out. There are other upsides and downsides, but I like the overall effort and sticktoitivesness (made that word up). I do agree that we need to step up significantly for Baylor and TCU, and WV worries me. But for every win we get, this young team will grow and we will progress as the season goes forward on the OL, DL, and defensive secondary. Eternal pumper. My wife told me on Saturday that the thing Bob Stoops gives us that we didn’t have for a while is “hope”. We always expect to win with him.
BTW good article and good assessment Jordan. Thanks!
For some reason I can’t pull up the site on my phone. Am I the only one?
Are you on iOS 9? I believe that’s the problem
No I think I have ios 8
Me, too. Ios8. Finally rebooted a cached page and went ‘home’ to get here. Hope the Brainiacs aren’t having to pay much for a beta version.
Nope, you’re not.
Mike Stoops calls out the defensive effort. Interesting.
“We were just lethargic and just weren’t sharp all day. We didn’t play on edge and that is puzzling to me, because you only get so many games and I can’t understand not playing a tough, physical game like this on edge. Defensively you should always be on edge and playing with passion and I didn’t see that today.”
Well, he feels it wasn’t the scheme then. Some on here do. I’m not sure.
On Bob’s show this evening he claimed the corners were instructed to cover the slant differently but didn’t.
I’ve never heard of a group of players defying the coaches orders. Individual players yes, but a group? No. This sounds like a lie. Not good in my book.
I didn’t take it as defying orders. I think it was the reason PJ was pulled. During film there was a completion, Bob said they were instructed to cover that differently, next slant Bob says he didn’t cover that right. In comes the replacement. I took it as young players just struggling.
Oh, ok. Huge difference. Player lack of recognition. I was ready to throw Mike under the bus. I still like Mike and think he’s a great coach and we could do a lot worse on other hires. I know there is a throng of fans that want him ousted but I think they don’t know what they are asking for and the odds of landing someone of lesser talents are greater than hiring an improvement. Spread offenses are hard to defend. We just kill traditional power offenses. It will take time to figure it out. Everyone else is trying to figure it out too.
I could tell Bob was frustrated, used the term “out of position” a lot and you know he generalizes to not call out any one particular player when he can. Sometimes it’s obvious who he is talking about. If Mike said he wasn’t happy, that’s encouraging.
So I’m hearing out of position and lack of effort as two major problems against Tulsa. But my lying eyes say that their scheme and matchups on outside WR’s beat us (not on final score) defensively. I’m believing my lying eyes. I’ve seen this same song and dance a few years running. In 2013 we beat Baylor on matchups and we succeeded. That is the ONLY way you beat this offense. Better players, not by schemes.
I haven’t heard Mike’s explanation ( really don’t enjoy listening to him anyway) but Bob mentioned that some splits or alignments along with the tempo is what gave them the most trouble with TU. I can buy that for the most part but at the same time, they should have seen that coming. Having to throw in a freshman corner who took no game prep snaps is understandable but not having a plan to pressure a QB to disrupt an offensive plan is something I can’t explain.
Yes, I can see your points and agree. What part of this offense did you not see coming (Bod and Mike)? I am hearing some excuses from Bob and Mike that are not becoming of their level of expertise and experience. My nose is sensing something that just doesn’t smell quite right. And I HATE to say that with these fine coaches. It is a bit of cover for their lack of a solution to a problematic offensive scheme that hardly anyone else has been able to crack too. I guess they can’t say “we have no freakin’ clue how to stop this” as an excuse. What else is left to say other than players didn’t follow our coaching and didn’t play with enough emotion. That’s all that is left I guess.
However, when I think about it they don’t say “we didn’t have the talent to overcome the mismatches on outside WR’s”. So they say it is something else to blame and covering for current defensive players talent deficiencies. This could be the fine line they are walking.
I just don’t get upset anymore as long as I’m seeing some good effort. Hated the teams that would quit when things weren’t going right. The fact is there are offensive plays that cannot be stopped if executed perfectly, and defensive stunts or blitzes that can blow up the best offensive effort. These coaches have a plan on paper that appears perfect and it only takes a player being 3 feet out of place to make them look like goats. Tough business to be in.
Great perspective on college football. The perfect mindset is to desire perfection but still support all the efforts to get there and the realization that it really isn’t achievable. It will always be a work in progress and the satisfaction should be the processes of becoming great, and not the ultimate destination. It is the process to enjoy, not the ultimate outcome.
lol @ Bob Stoops lying. Bob doesn’t have to lie.
I can’t imagine Bob lying. This is just a communication issue on a message board interpreting what was said by whom/when. Nothing more than that.
Really? Why wasn’t this ‘discussed’ with the corners during the game?
who said it wasn’t
Yawn. That’s the Stoops brothers’ MO – not our fault with scheme, the players didn’t execute.
We’ve gone from “No Excuses” to “Nothing But Excuses” in 17 years.
The problem is that we have had the same problems over and over against passing teams, regardless of personnel. The personnel changes, the scheme seemingly doesn’t, yet the problems persist. So is it personnel or scheme? At this point I’m leaning towards scheme.
I think we are at our best on D when we have both striker and Bond “The Predator” on the field at the same time with 3 down linemen it puts a lot of pressure on the opposing oline and allows us to suffocate teams. Plus they are decent in situational coverages to help out in the short passing game.
Bradford was the Eagle’s leading rusher today with 9 yards. DeMarco had 13 carries …. for 2 yards!! And Murray had only 9 years last week. Eagles are certainly a work in progress.
Sammy B did not look good today.
Philly did not look good today. ?
Yes. That too.
We’ve entered into the same discussion we’ve had before: OU should press the WRs more.
OU did. They may not have done it all the time, however, or enough for some people.
Maybe we simply remember the times they didn’t, not the times they did.
Example of pressing their players: https://youtu.be/cbhQ2_aLquU?t=12m36s
The very next play OU didn’t: https://youtu.be/cbhQ2_aLquU?t=12m58s
Twy plays later OU mixed it up: https://youtu.be/cbhQ2_aLquU?t=13m53s
I could go on and on.
Largely, I think the issue is more about defensive philosopy.
Should you press the WRs and accept that your players may get beat on a big play, possibly resulting in a fast TD?
OR
Should you play off the WRs a bit and force the opposing offense to have to go the full length of the field, successfully executing many plays to get there?
Gotta find a way to get better pressure on a consistent basis. Especially when teams force either striker or bond off field then it becomes eerie simular to last year’s inept pass rush… but I have faith in the coaches this is fixable and hopefully we will make the bye week count.
Unfortunately this is a catch 22 against those kind of offenses. Playing press is the only way you will ever get consistent pressure because playing off coverage the ball is gone well before you can get pressure. As mentioned the bad part about that is when you get beat it is for a quick 6 points. Mike was trying to mix up his coverages and they made so plays on defense and tulsa made some plays. This is the main reason Bob wanted to go back to this style of offense cause it pressures your defense all over the field. I think the real problem in this game was in the second quarter we fumbled the ball twice in the red zone and gave up an onside kick on the flip side Sanchez should have had a pick and dropped it and Parker got his hand on a pass and it floated right to a Tulsa reciever. We eliminate the fumbles we probably never face the onside kick. We should have went to half up 45 to 3 or at worst 45 to 10 and the whole second half is different! Oh well at least we won and got a bye week to work on the defense!
Before we say the defense was horrible, let us remember what the score was with like 6 minutes to go before half time. At that point the Sooners had given up 10 points but two fumbles in the red zone by the Sooners led to 21 points for Tulsa. Granted the hail mary pass clearly hit the ground, but still I thought the D played decent (not great, just average) up to that point and for most of the second half. I believe the Sooners forced 7 punts and blocked one FG. It isn’t like the Sooners could not get Tulsa off the field, they just gave up some drives and some points.
https://youtu.be/cbhQ2_aLquU
While we wait for WV.
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We basically just played a worse version of Baylor and got stomped on defense. Thankfully we have some time to figure it out. Mike had the guys ready the first two games, so I have faith. Just worries me that this style of offense might be his kryptonite.
It doesn’t need to be – if he and his brother can bring themselves to admit what is obvious, that their approach playing cushion IS A TOTAL FAILURE. A corner who can run can press. And it’s not against the law to disguise coverages, since the Baylor offense relies on a scrimmage read to choose the play.
I am sorry but I completely disagree about PJ. The kid we have been told is talented but I saw nothing Saturday that made me feel like he deserve to be left on the field, unless we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings or egos then leave him in. Marcus Green while he didn’t stop anyone was in much better position for the time he played. What I find harder to believe is that Dakota Austin, Will Johnson, or Stanvon Taylor were not better options.
I also agree with Mike the defense was not playing with and edge. I hate that but considering they fought so hard the week before I can see that emotionally they may have let down a bit, but after the first half I would have expected them to pay with more passion in 2nd half.
Press vs. playing off. I agree L’carpenter here. They did play press and they got owned by Tulsa’s WRs. If I am Baylor I can’t wait to play our DBs because whether press or playing 7 yards off Tulsa’s WRs had no issue running right past our DBs. Press coverage is only a good option if there is a good pass rush we had none.
I love my Sooners but I don’t see anyway that we beat Baylor or TCU with this defense and I think WV isnona very scary game.
Any chance Mike Stoops was just hustling the rest of the Big XII? Make it look like he still has no clue how to defend this offense, only to unleash an outstanding plan when it matters most. Please…please…dear God let that be the case.
I tried to think that….and then I remembered hoping that the ARVN collapse in the Central Highlands at the close of the Vietnam War was a cunning plan to sucker the NVA into a pocket than WHAMMO to slam the door on them
…..yup…sandbagging…like last year?? Ropeadope
..
I think “Yikes” is THE BEST description of what we “saw” out there on Saturday. Thank goodness Tulsa’s D is exponentially worse.
I think part of the defensive issues with regard to Tulsa/Baylor is that they’re allowed to run questionable, if not downright illegal, WR picks all over the field. Early on the DBs were up on the receivers, but Sanchez kept getting beat because they were scraping WRs on crossing routes. He was forced to either undercut the pick or go over it, but either way it’s impossible to man cover those things. They could have done some passing off on crossing routes, but that usually leads to busted coverages.
Instead they just tried to rely on speed/athleticism of the DBs and play them off, and immediately Tulsa switched up their routes to take advantage.
That said, Tulsa was generating some yards early on when we were pressing, but they weren’t running wide open either. At the very least, the close man coverage was forcing Evans to be spot on with his passes (which he was). I’d rather take my chances that way than just let him fire at will toward unchallenged receivers.
Regardless, I don’t feel so terrible about the defense against teams like Baylor/Tulsa, etc. anymore. All they’re doing is taking advantage of no calls on illegal picks and downfield linemen, and sometimes doing things that are allowed in the rulebook that make it difficult, if not impossible, to cover. The rules in CFB these days are highly offense-friendly, it’s just the world we’re living in.
I just wish we wouldn’t let those things bother us and just do what WE want to do…not what the offense wants us to do.
I guess if we’re being negative this was one of the worst brainiacs posts I’ve seen….couldn’t even give the offense proper credit for one of the highest yardage totals in history…was it a weak defense yeah sure but it wasn’t a top 5 weakest defenses we’ve faced in sooner history…I’m for keeping it real but man lighten up a bit
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