The Football Brainiacs

The Sooners came out swinging Saturday and, early on, it appeared that the day was going to belong to the O-Line and the running backs.  The Sooners ran the ball right down the Longhorns’ throats on this first drive going to the counter play often.  On 2nd and 3, Powers and Evans pulled around and opened a nice lane for Sermon to get into.

As Trey rounded the bend, the two circled safeties were the only ones who could make the play.  The Sooners got good movement early and often and were gashing the Horns early.

The Horns brought Elliot, #4, on a safety blitz on the edge.  Powers did a good job bellying back to kick him out, while Evans was turning to get up into the hole.

When it comes to running the counter play, it doesn’t get much prettier than this.  The Sooners blocked everybody they had, and Sermon ripped of a run of 20 yards or so.  It looked like Trey was going to get 30 carries Saturday when the game started.

When the run game is clicking, and the offense can use the threat of a run for play action, the big play potential is lethal.  After ripping off those Sermon runs, Mayfield faked to him here.  All the longhorns Backers and Safeties bit.  Badet is streaking at the top by the 50, and his defender is flat footed and not ready to defend the deep ball.

That play before ended up being one of the prettiest deep balls Mayfield had thrown all year to put the Sooners up 7-0.  After a quick stop, the Sooners went right back to the run game, and early on, the Longhorns didn’t have an answer for it, as Sermon was averaging near 6 yards a carry.

The Sooners looked like they wanted to have a two back rotation with Sermon and Anderson.  To begin with, Rodney didn’t have a good feel, but my buddy Jason Friend was saying they needed to go to the counter with Anderson.  They did on this play, and Anderson did a good job sticking with it.  He put his foot in the ground and accelerated really well and showed nice burst through the hole.

He broke a tackle and had to put it into four wheel drive here to get it into the endzone.  The opportunity was there early on to bludgeon the horns, because they couldn’t stop the run game.  Beating them into oblivion was something I was really hoping to see.

The Sooners should have been up 28-0 at this point, but critical penalties & mistakes caused drives to stall and end up in two field goals instead of two TD’s.  A big kickoff returns on one of Seibert’s rare non-touchback kicks, followed up by a bonehead personal foul, had the Horns in business.  You gotta believe that if the Sooners played clean and had a touchback, a 28-0 lead, and fewer mental mistakes, they make a big statement.  But, against a gutsy Longhorn squad, they just let em hang around.  Going from what should have been 28-0 to 20-10 at halftime was a big deal.

The Sooners didn’t have an answer for the Horn screen game or passes out to the flat with Warren.  Guys were giving great effort here, but it’s a perfect call at the perfect time for Ehlinger to find Porter down the stripe.  Nobody read screen on this one.

Once Porter got it, it was all over.  With only 3:18 left in the 1st half, to have this team down 28-0 or at least 20-0 would have been monumental.  Giving them hope with the score here and then the ensuing field goal to go 20-10 gave Texas confidence and allowed them to get back into it.

After another field goal that should have been a touchdown, Oklahoma is up 23-10.  Texas scored touchdowns when they were in striking distance and the Sooners kicked field goals.  That’s the difference between 35-10 here and 23-10.   DJ Ward and Murray had Chris Warren dead to rights, getting great penetration on 2nd and goal.

Warren is a flat out beast who carried a Defensive End and Middle Linebacker into the endzone after getting hit 3 yards deep.  It felt like Texas wanted it more at times Saturday.

We were all yelling at the Refs Saturday, and the top Green arrow shows Chris Warren holding Beal.  Parnell Motley has to fly up and make a hit on Ehlinger here.  He barely gives him a shove to allow him to get into the endzone.  Obo had contain but got driven too far outside to make a difference.

You can see the hold a little better here, and you can also see the free run Motley has at Ehlinger.  I miss guys like Derrick Strait, who would come up and make em think twice about trying to run it in.

Baker had a few Heisman moments Saturday, and this was one of them.  He stepped up into the pocket and delivered a nice strike down the sideline to Andrews to put the Sooners up for good.  It was a big play and a bust by the Longhorn secondary.

The Sooners are beat up right now.  Abdul Adams, Lamb & a few others have gotta get healthy in a hurry.  The Sooners should win the next two games against K-State and Texas Tech.  But they should be 6-0 right now too.  Still, win out and you’re in.  Injuries have taken their toll so far this year and the Sooners need some young guys to step up to fill the voids.  Heck of a nice win by Oklahoma Saturday.