The Football Brainiacs

I didn’t get a chance to see the game live yesterday but was able to watch it for the first time this morning. Below are my initial thoughts.

– OU’s defensive hasn’t really be a true asset in quite some time. So, I’m not sure what else needs to be said here. Sometimes it’s effort, sometimes it’s guys out of position, sometimes it’s the calls, sometimes it’s a penalty…it’s just always something. The defense is what it is. It’s an ok defense with pretty good talent. If OU wants to win a NC, they need a national championship caliber defense. They fluctuate between pretty good and very bad. That won’t do it.

– The team in general had some question marks coming into the year. OU had a lot of experience coming back on the OL, the QB position and the secondary. The OL has been good. The QB has been good. The secondary has been up and down. But positions like WR, RB and LB were question marks.

– To the point above…how about Rodney Anderson? Showing some of the power Sermon has and some of the burst of Abdul. If OU can keep finding a way to win all while having more and more guys get experience on the field and become assets, they’ll peak at the right time…starting next week.

– Marquise Brown! Same thing. A guy who looks like he’s figuring it out. Speed in the open field and starting to make difficult catches. Savvy movement in the open field.

– Mykel Jones had some nice catches! Another offensive weapon could be developing there. It’s worth mentioning that Baker Mayfield targeted Marquise Brown and Mykel Jones on the last drive. OU needed a score and Baker went to those guys. That tells me that he’s feeling more comfortable with those guys. If Baker starts to really have this many weapons we’ll finally see what this offense is capable of.

– When OU gets a rhythm going with those short and intermediate passes and mixes in the run, they’re hard to stop. I think attacking deep needs to, more frequently, come off of that type of rhythm. It feels like they try to go deep without setting it up too often and it stalls the offense.

– Red zone needs to be a lot of QB run with Baker Mayfield. I don’t know the stats but OU seems like a team that, in the past few games, get’s in the red zone and settles for three. Mayfield’s legs are a tool that, combined with his ability to pass off the play action, make it nearly impossible to stop. Use it more.

– DBs have to start get hands on guys in the red zone. I get that they don’t want to get picked but there are ways to deal with that and be physical at the line. That little out route on Steven Parker in the second half was just too easy for the WR and too difficult for any DB. It’s pitch and catch.

– When Lampkin wins his battles, and he usually does when he wants to, good things…very good things…happen. OU has some linemen. Occasionally, let them get up field and create disruption on first down. Lampkin is an example of a player who, if he wants to, will be real force for OU’s defensive line by the end of this year and into next year. And he makes you understand why OU wants guys like Bobby Brown. Those true 6’4 300 + lb defensive linemen that can move fairly well are just too big to do much against.

– As I mentioned, I watched the game late. But I read some of the comments online before I watched it and based on those comments and the score, it sounded like it was a horrible game. It wasn’t horrible in my opinion. OU is close to being able to blow these teams out and they’re close to losing one of these games. Like the defense, something keeps going wrong. They’ll look amazing between the 20s and then get a holding call in the red zone. They’ll set up a play perfectly and someone will drop a pass. A linebacker will have a guy in the backfield and let him go. They’ll have a third and long, get very little pressure and the QB will chunk a ball up and complete a pass. It’s little things right now that when combined makes it a big thing. Heck, even Kyler Murray, an elite runner, comes in and literally falls down. They are going to have to make a decision about who they want to be going into Texas Tech because they’re about to face some teams that can hurt them.