2015 Sooner Football Thread

[stormspencer]

I got permission to start a football thread for the upcoming season. We are all Sooner fans....no matter the sport, so I thought it would be interesting to get everyone's thoughts on the season.

I'm very interested to see the new "Air Raid" offense that Lincoln Riley is unveiling. However, I think it remains important to utilize the one of the best RBs in the country. But Riley is smart and will certainly feed Perine and Mixon. Also, I'm cautiously optimistic that Baker Mayfield can get it out quick to the multiple weapons he has at his disposal. I was relieved when I read that the QB won't be looking to the sideline to get a play call....instead the play will be ran as called in most situations. I think this was part of the issue with Trevor Knight.

On defense, we appear to be deep and talented in the front 6/7. Zach Sanchez is a star in the secondary, but the other positions in the back 4/5 have me concerned after last season. I expect improvement there, but after the nightmares of last season, I'm going to need to see it to actually believe it. I've lost some faith in Mike Stoops, so his move to the booth is ok with me.

Tennessee will be a great test next weekend, the back end of November will be a bear (@Baylor, TCU, and @osu in consecutive weeks). I am hoping for 10-2, but my expectations are 9-3 including an a$$ kicking of texas.:fexas-logo:

Thoughts?......

 

[AdaSooner]

I'm looking forward to this season and Lincoln Riley's "Air Raid" offense. That was not always the case with the all-too-predictable offense Josh Heupel ran.

Mayfield is still a bit of a question mark, but I feel good about the multiple weapons he has around him, starting with one of the best running back duo OU has seen in sometime. Riley is no fool. He will see that Perine and Nixon have the ball in their hands often, whether it's a straight handoff, a pass out of the backfield, or to one of our RBs who was split out or lined up in the slot. All of our backs have good hands.

The position I'm more excited about than I have been in some time is our receiving corp. When Shepherd went down with an injury last year, OU struggled mightily with a dependable receiver who was capable of making plays. I don't see that as a problem this season. Sterling is back and he has some help. I think Dede Westbrook will remind us of Jalen Saunders with his hands and speed. I also think Durron Neal and Michiah Quick could have breakout seasons. And, look out for 6' 5" 245 redshirt freshman TE, Mark Andrews. He turned some heads in the pre-season practices and scrimmages, and if he does the same in regular season games, passing to the tight end in Riley's offense will not just be something the coaches talk about when they're trying to sign a new recruit.

There's more, of course, but I'll stop there and let someone else pick up where I left off.

 

[WTSooner]

Quick might not even play Ada. Dude is buried on the depth chart behind a couple of walk-ons. Suposedly he had a really bad fall camp for a variety of reasons, with not being able to catch the ball being high on the list.

The offense should be improved. Do we have a QB that can let us compete for the Big 12 title or more? I don't know. But the rest of the offense should be just fine if the oline holds up.

I'm hoping the D gets some better results. They really weren't terrible last year if you look at them in terms of points per possession. 25th in the country, I believe. But I'd like to see more turnovers and big plays. The OU D used to be able to win games almost on their own. I'd like to see that ability again. Should be really good if the secondary can hold up.

 

[AdaSooner]

Quick might not even play Ada. Dude is buried on the depth chart behind a couple of walk-ons. Suposedly he had a really bad fall camp for a variety of reasons, with not being able to catch the ball being high on the list.

The offense should be improved. Do we have a QB that can let us compete for the Big 12 title or more? I don't know. But the rest of the offense should be just fine if the oline holds up.

I'm hoping the D gets some better results. They really weren't terrible last year if you look at them in terms of points per possession. 25th in the country, I believe. But I'd like to see more turnovers and big plays. The OU D used to be able to win games almost on their own. I'd like to see that ability again. Should be really good if the secondary can hold up.

WT, my comment about Quick was based on his performance last season. As I stated earlier, receivers who were capable of making key plays when we needed were noticeably absent after Shepherd got hurt. Quick did at least show more promise than all of our receivers except maybe Neal on occasion. I didn't realize he had a poor spring camp.

I didn't bring up the defense, because I honestly don't know what to expect from that side of the ball this season? Just when I thought Mike and his boys finally "got it" last year, they would prove me wrong by giving up big plays to a RB or receiver with none of our defenders in the same time zone.

I read somewhere that Mike would be in the press box this season. I see that as a good thing. But I have no idea if it will make much of a difference? It's good to know that you have more confidence in their ability than I have right now. Like you, I'm eager to see the return of an OU defense that is capable of winning games, even when our offense is not at their best.

 

[WTSooner]

I think the biggest difference for the D will be better players in the secondary, more experience in the secondary, and Kerry Cooks coaching the secondary.

At least, that is my hope.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

biggest question mark for me is oline. If they can hold up this team will do great things. Defense should be much improved. For starters, we should have an offense that can stay on the field longer and sustain drives. But I also think our front seven will be very good and should help the secondary a lot

 

[stormspencer]

Quick might not even play Ada. Dude is buried on the depth chart behind a couple of walk-ons. Suposedly he had a really bad fall camp for a variety of reasons, with not being able to catch the ball being high on the list.

The offense should be improved. Do we have a QB that can let us compete for the Big 12 title or more? I don't know. But the rest of the offense should be just fine if the oline holds up.

I'm hoping the D gets some better results. They really weren't terrible last year if you look at them in terms of points per possession. 25th in the country, I believe. But I'd like to see more turnovers and big plays. The OU D used to be able to win games almost on their own. I'd like to see that ability again. Should be really good if the secondary can hold up.

Unfortunately, for those of us who loved the great defense of the 70s/80s, I think the days of completely shutting down opponents for a full 4 quarters are coming to an end....unless we are playing East Popcorn State. Offenses are just too dynamic these days, thus game theory now dictates that you must score alot and often.....and then slow the other team down on a possession here or there....especially in the high-octane Big 12.

The secondary, with the exception of Sanchez, were near awful the last half of 2014. Part of that wasn't their fault....i.e. we were playing better teams, the front 6/7 wasn't getting to the QB as often, the the defense as a whole wasn't creating TOs. However, when they were exposed, it seemed to my amateur eye that there was a lack of fundamentals (tackling), lack of communication, and an overall lack of alignment/coverage/understanding. Certainly some of that can be attributed to coaches not putting these young players in the best position to succeed. I admit I'm not a big Mike Stoops fan and getting him as far away from the field seems like a short-term positive. I will be interested to see if Cooks has coached these youngsters up to the talent level that we've all heard about.

 

[bocabull]

I think the QB could be special. He was overlooked due to being a little undersized but has beat everybody out at every stop. Could finally have a gamer on our hands. Been a long time. So glad we're ditching that Mickey Mouse look over to the sidelines to call the play. Hated that.

 

[thebigabd]

I think my letter to Bob Stoops from a few months ago (before any decision was made) speaks to how excited I am about the team... I haven't been this excited about an OU football team in a long time. They may not be great this year, but going back to the Air Raid was absolutely the right move.

Here is what I said on this forum:

Bob Stoops,

Please go back to running the Mike Leach Air Raid system.

Would it really be so bad, even with average players, to go out there and average about 500-550 yards per game (like Washington State and Cal do with bad players)?

Would it really be so bad to go recruit some QB who will, on occasion, throw for 600+ yards in a single game like Leach and Dykes QB's do every season?

You won a national championship with this system... go build a good defense and the Leach system will put plenty of points on the board.

Thank you.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

I think the QB could be special. He was overlooked due to being a little undersized but has beat everybody out at every stop. Could finally have a gamer on our hands. Been a long time. So glad we're ditching that Mickey Mouse look over to the sidelines to call the play. Hated that.

i'm not sold on him yet but like his confidence.

He didn't end up beating out davis webb though

 

[stormspencer]

i'm not sold on him yet but like his confidence.

He didn't end up beating out davis webb though

From what I remember, BM got hurt...and once he was healed, Webb was playing well. So Coach Kool decided to stay with Webb. Since Mayfield was a walk-on, he didn't feel obligated to stay and left to walk-on again at OU.

The hilarious part is that at the first OU team get together before spring practice in 2014, Baker Mayfield shows up at the meeting as a walk-on. Coach Stoops had no idea and had never even spoken or communicated with Mayfield before.....yet Mayfield just casually walks in. Talk about falling into your lap....

 

[AdaSooner]

From what I remember, BM got hurt...and once he was healed, Webb was playing well. So Coach Kool decided to stay with Webb. Since Mayfield was a walk-on, he didn't feel obligated to stay and left to walk-on again at OU.

The hilarious part is that at the first OU team get together before spring practice in 2014, Baker Mayfield shows up at the meeting as a walk-on. Coach Stoops had no idea and had never even spoken or communicated with Mayfield before.....yet Mayfield just casually walks in. Talk about falling into your lap....:D

Mayfield showed a lot of confidence in himself by walking into a team meeting and telling Bob Stoops he wanted to earn the QB job at OU as a walk on. I like that about him. He has the reputation of being a bit of a gunslinger who doesn't shy away from taking chances. But I would rather have a quarterback like that than one who was afraid to lay it all on the line in an effort to win close games.

I trust Lincoln Riley with his decision to go with Baker. He knows more about what he can do than anyone else. If our new QB is as good as I believe he could be, this OU team is going to run up the score on most of the teams they'll play this season. The only question I have is can our defense stop teams like Baylor and TCU from putting up bigger numbers on their side of the scoreboard?

 

[sybarite]

I don't get enthralled with individuals. Even Switzer fell in love with DuPree, and Fairbanks fell in love with Owens. But, teams that win do so because of a system in which the OC and DC believe in and can teach effectively, whether it be the split-T, wishbone, or Leach. Leach could take a group of third-unit linebackers and create a team that could score. He has just ever had a base from which to recruit an entire team, nor has he had a DC.

I am encourage about this year initially because of one thing. Stoops seems to be letting his new OC run the show. Riley seems to have carte blanche over the offense. I don't care if it is a wishbone, fire drill, or single wing, the OC has to run his system. I think our biggest problem in recent years is that we were mixing systems and didn't have one that our OC was committed to. I strongly suspect that Stoops was trying to influence his OC to be a bit more like the Hayden Fry philosophy that he grew up with.

I lost all confidence in Mike when watching Fields and Woods running all over OU two years in a row. Neither was that good. Nobody was as good as our defense made them look. I was absolutely stunned to hear that the cornerbacks and safeties never had met together. I would have fired every coach who had anything to do with that lack of coordination. How are your linebackers going to integrate dropping into coverage if they don't coordinate with the backfield? This was too dumb to admit that it occurred, or didn't occur. I'd feel a lot better about the defense if everyone involved had a main priority of playing Statego or some other board game that at least has some strategy involved, even tiddlywinks.

 

[WTSooner]

I think our biggest problem in recent years is that we were mixing systems and didn't have one that our OC was committed to. I strongly suspect that Stoops was trying to influence his OC to be a bit more like the Hayden Fry philosophy that he grew up with.

Yep. It's why I don't get the Josh Heupel hate. No way that was all on him. That was Bob trying to influence what we did, and then us ending up running bits an pieces of a few different offenses, and it just never came together.

 

[bocabull]

Our biggest problem in recent years has been a steady decline in talent.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Yep. It's why I don't get the Josh Heupel hate. No way that was all on him. That was Bob trying to influence what we did, and then us ending up running bits an pieces of a few different offenses, and it just never came together.

huepel was terrible. i put a little blame on stoops but mostly on heupel.

I'm glad this is gone lol. 1 3rd down conversion. no offensive TDs....vs southern utah

http://scores.espn.go.com/college-football/boxscore?gameId=400787110

 

[AdaSooner]

Our biggest problem in recent years has been a steady decline in talent.

While there is a lot of truth to what you say, our 2000 NC team had a number of good athletes who were not highly rated coming out of high school...some who played positions they weren't brought in to play when they signed with OU. Former QBs who were moved to the defensive side and receiver positions; a defensive lineman who was moved to the OL, for example.

I do agree that OU is not recruiting at the same level talent wise as we have in years past. Too many seasons of getting drilled in the post season bowls and NC games might have had something to do with that. But, the fact that our coaches were able to take a team with an ample supply of somewhat misplaced athletes to an undefeated season and a NC, seems to suggest that Leach's offense, contributed to our success as well. In other words, an offense that scores a lot of points, as we all hope we'll see with Lincoln Riley, will give us a better shot at another perfect season.

 

[bocabull]

2000 was the perfect storm. Leaches offense was new enough nobody in the Big XII knew how to defend it and Mangino was the perfect guy to add wrinkles. We hit the jackpot on Torrance Marshall, Quentin Griffin and Heupel. Stoops was able to take some of the athletes Blake recruited for offense and move them to defense.

And most importantly IMO, the BCS formula was screwed up and allowed us to play FSU instead of that buzzsaw Miami team Butch Davis had assembled which ended up being a cast of NFL pro bowlers.

 

[thebigabd]

2000 was the perfect storm. Leaches offense was new enough nobody in the Big XII knew how to defend it and Mangino was the perfect guy to add wrinkles. We hit the jackpot on Torrance Marshall, Quentin Griffin and Heupel. Stoops was able to take some of the athletes Blake recruited for offense and move them to defense.

And most importantly IMO, the BCS formula was screwed up and allowed us to play FSU instead of that buzzsaw Miami team Butch Davis had assembled which ended up being a cast of NFL pro bowlers.

You still can't figure the offense out... it's the most efficient offense in college football. It doesnt even require very good talent to execute it.

Against USC last year a true freshman QB (Luke Falk) threw for 350 yards and 2 touchdowns, and WSU put up 420 total yards.

Against Arizona last year, their QB threw for 490 yards and 4 touchdowns. They racked up 543 yards.

Against Oregon last year, their QB threw for 436 yards and 4 touchdowns. They rackked up 500 yards of offense.

Against Utah last year, they had 500 yards of offense and their QB threw for 417 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Against Cal last year, they put up 812 yards of offense. Their QB threw for 734 yards and 6 touchdowns. 734 yards passing!

Mike Leach does this with a Wazzu team with practically no talent. They have crappy players. They lose all these games despite the yardage and passing numbers. They suck on defense and have other problems as well. But the offense works.

Get "OU" level talent, and the system will work. OU will be in the playoff race if you pair it with a defense. Even lesser OU talent like the 2000 team (which didnt have hardly any pro level players)... The system works.

They need to go out and get some gun-slinger quarterback.

 

[bocabull]

Yards do not equal points. The offense was new back then and you had the element of surprise. Not anymore. Even back then we got shut down when we played real teams out of conference. The Big XII is the worst defensive conference and it's not even close.

Anyway, we have some horses at RB and some talent at the skilled position. There is hope but I'm not expecting much. Expecting a loss at Tennessee unfortunately.