Football question

daqman said:
sawchuck had 6 carries for 28 yds today...he's nothing special.
blaylock has more talent in his little toe.
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Blaylock wasn’t on the team when Sawchuk was behind Barnes on the depth chart.

This was an embarrassing effort in the running game. 3 yards per carry against an FCS team. After a long offseason of homer Gabe and otters talking about how much quality depth the O-line has. And after all the assurances that everyone was healthy and that guys were just held out of practice because they were being extra cautious.

With this line, and with Brent and DeMarco screwing up the running back room beyond belief, it’s hard to be optimistic despite the QB and OC.
 
CMSOONER said:
Three starting linemen were also out.
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Which is funny since Brent and the fanboy media spent a month telling us the team was healthy and people should relax about them being cautious by holding guys out of a few practices. But more to the point, I’m so sick of the injury excuses. If you hold guys out of games who could have played because you’re being cautious, you can’t turn around and use injuries to excuse running for 3 yards per carry against FCS competition.
 
Several guys w
WichitaSooner said:
Which is funny since Brent and the fanboy media spent a month telling us the team was healthy and people should relax about them being cautious by holding guys out of a few practices. But more to the point, I’m so sick of the injury excuses. If you hold guys out of games who could have played because you’re being cautious, you can’t turn around and use injuries to excuse running for 3 yards per carry against FCS competition.
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Several guys were held out on purpose to save them for Michigan game. If we lose next week and OL still looks bad, then you can cry about it. Despite playing 3rd stringers on OL, pass protection was still pretty good. Both sides were pretty vanilla and we still controlled the line of scrimmage. I think it’s premature to panic about winning by 32 against Illinois st. Yes, they’re FCS but they’re better than the other 2 D1 teams we play noncon. Next week will tell the story of who this team and coaching staff is going to be.

Go back and look at ypc with Barnes and without Barnes. Hes a much bigger part of the run game problems than OL.
 
Fasusi is starting LT and he will play vs Michigan. Simmons is likely starting RT and will play vs Michigan. Neither played last night. Sexton reinjured himself last night, unknown how bad or if he’s playing this week. I do think sexton is out for a while and he can’t be counted on because he’s always injured, unfortunately. Hes good when healthy but he just can’t stay healthy.
 
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mict085 said:
Several guys w

Several guys were held out on purpose to save them for Michigan game. If we lose next week and OL still looks bad, then you can cry about it. Despite playing 3rd stringers on OL, pass protection was still pretty good. Both sides were pretty vanilla and we still controlled the line of scrimmage. I think it’s premature to panic about winning by 32 against Illinois st. Yes, they’re FCS but they’re better than the other 2 D1 teams we play noncon. Next week will tell the story of who this team and coaching staff is going to be.

Go back and look at ypc with Barnes and without Barnes. Hes a much bigger part of the run game problems than OL.
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I’m not panicking, I just don’t think we’re very good on the line. And trust me, I’m the president of the anti-Barnes fan club, but the problem is that our head coach and running back coach have spent four years playing him over more talented guys, and not just in throwaway games like yesterday. But X only averaged two ypc yesterday, so it’s not like it was just Barnes.

As for Michigan … we’ll find out whether yesterday was simply a matter of the coaches treating it like a scrimmage very quickly. If anyone other than Ott and Blaylock gets a meaningful carry, then Brent and Murray clearly are just dumb as dirt. And same goes for the line. Like I said, the spin all summer was that we were at least two deep at every spot. As of 10 days ago, Gabe was claiming the depth was so good that he only thought one starting spot was locked down. That’s why I don’t want to hear more excuses about a couple guys not playing yesterday in an attempt to explain a terrible run game performance against an FCS team.
 
WichitaSooner said:
I’m not panicking, I just don’t think we’re very good on the line. And trust me, I’m the president of the anti-Barnes fan club, but the problem is that our head coach and running back coach have spent four years playing him over more talented guys, and not just in throwaway games like yesterday. But X only averaged two ypc yesterday, so it’s not like it was just Barnes.

As for Michigan … we’ll find out whether yesterday was simply a matter of the coaches treating it like a scrimmage very quickly. If anyone other than Ott and Blaylock gets a meaningful carry, then Brent and Murray clearly are just dumb as dirt. And same goes for the line. Like I said, the spin all summer was that we were at least two deep at every spot. As of 10 days ago, Gabe was claiming the depth was so good that he only thought one starting spot was locked down. That’s why I don’t want to hear more excuses about a couple guys not playing yesterday in an attempt to explain a terrible run game performance against an FCS team.
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Ott situation is weird. Why play him at all if you’re not going to really use him. I will say this about Barnes. He has zero vision or wiggle, but I might have to agree he’s one of the best blocking running backs I’ve ever seen. When someone mentioned the coaches said that I was skeptical so I paid hard attention to it yesterday. But if he’s not behind Ott & a healthy Blaylock on Saturday it’ll be disappointing, but not surprising. I’ve been over Murray for years, when he was about to go somewhere else but OU gave him a raise to stay I was pissed.
 
I don’t know how anyone can be worried about Mateer. I thought he was good. I also didn’t think the line was too bad. Barnes missed holes & Mateer routinely had tons of time.

Defense can be remarkable with Dolby & Eli Bowen back.
 
Also color me shocked with Kanak. Fumble was bad, but he eased my mind quite a bit about what I thought would be a putrid TE group.

Now it’s game 1 against a weaker opponent. So all my observations could be terribly wrong.
 
BCSooners said:
I don’t know how anyone can be worried about Mateer. I thought he was good. I also didn’t think the line was too bad. Barnes missed holes & Mateer routinely had tons of time.

Defense can be remarkable with Dolby & Eli Bowen back.
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I think the line may be good/adequate pass blocking, but run blocking just doesn’t seem to be their forte. You should be able to manhandle that level of competition.

Any idea when those guys will be back?
 
WichitaSooner said:
I think the line may be good/adequate pass blocking, but run blocking just doesn’t seem to be their forte. You should be able to manhandle that level of competition.

Any idea when those guys will be back?
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I agree, I guess my optimism is they are WAY ahead of last year on the line.

Nope. As you’ve said OU’s ability to give an accurate injury update is infuriating.
 
BCSooners said:
I agree, I guess my optimism is they are WAY ahead of last year on the line.

Nope. As you’ve said OU’s ability to give an accurate injury update is infuriating.
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I just saw a brief clip of the new pod and looks like even Gabe is frustrated with the running game. He seems to imply that some of the linemen aren’t playing through things they should play through, and also didn’t seem pleased with who they played/didn’t play at RB. What annoys me about him is that he will say this stuff in postgame pods but somehow remains blindly optimistic each summer about the line and backs.

I just saw a vague tweet indicating that maybe Blaylock’s injury is significant. Hope that’s wrong or we will get more Barnes.
 
The OL looked better than last year and Mateer/WRs way better than last year but agree 100%, Demarco is a massive ****ing dip****. Not sure how to defend him at this point lol.
 
It sounds like blaylock is out for a while, which really sucks because he’s the best RB we have. I don’t know what’s worse, him being injured and unable to play or him being healthy and DM not playing him.

I think this game was a glorified scrimmage from OU coaches perspective, right or wrong. Although, playing Ott and X in the 4th quarter was strange with no upside. We will find out a lot about this team next week. If we can’t beat this Michigan team at home with their true freshman QB, then I think that is the end of BV tenure. Year 4 with this roster, it’s put up or shut up.
 
it looked like blaylock took a helmet to the arm. could be anything from a bruise to a broken bone would be my guess.
 
mict085 said:
It sounds like blaylock is out for a while, which really sucks because he’s the best RB we have. I don’t know what’s worse, him being injured and unable to play or him being healthy and DM not playing him.

I think this game was a glorified scrimmage from OU coaches perspective, right or wrong. Although, playing Ott and X in the 4th quarter was strange with no upside. We will find out a lot about this team next week. If we can’t beat this Michigan team at home with their true freshman QB, then I think that is the end of BV tenure. Year 4 with this roster, it’s put up or shut up.
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Unreal. That all but assures more painful Barnes reps. If Ott doesn’t start and get 75 percent of the carries (assuming Blaylock is out), it’s laughable.
 
I liked how physical Blaylock played, showing he wasn’t afraid to run at defenders…but it looks like that approach has cost him a shoulder injury. If Ott and X are healthy, we should be fine. It would be nice to also get Tatum back. I really only want Barnes to get touches in very short yardage situations…and even then, I’d rather it be X.

Mateer looked great outside a couple of plays. Kanak was a surprise at TE..and might be a matchup issue for some teams. Lewis looks like a nice possession type receiver. Great hands, but isn’t a blazer. I’ll wait to judge the OL until they get some guys back.
 
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