Football question

[Eielson]

I do appreciate your optimism, Eielson, I really do...and certainly hope you're right. What I saw from watching Mateer was Trevor Knight. I think we need an upgrade, but if you turn out to be right, I'll be owning what I said next year at this time. He needs to make decisions faster, but he also needs more help - especially from his offensive line. I have to believe there will be some noticeable changes in the offseason, most notably on offense.

I don't see Mateer as a star, but I also think our perspective of what is needed at the QB position is jaded by truly pathetic coaching and roster management at most positions outside of a few offensive positions after Bob left. If we had the offense with Baker, Ceedee, Andrews, and Hollywood -- we could win every CFP game by >20 points with Wichita calling plays.

I've said it repeatedly on here that Mateer is a 70-80 QBR player when healthy, which is all we need. Until last night, our only losses came with QBRs below 50, and both of those came soon after hand surgery. If this Alabama game happened after the Michigan game, we'd all be talking about him as a Heisman. He was a 73.4 QBR last night, which is a formula that very HEAVILY accounts for that pick-6, so if the WR picks up the check that was called and at least bats the ball down, his QBRs is in the 80s. If X doesn't drop that beautiful throw on third down before the dropped punt, he's probably pushing 90, which is truly elite stuff. Nobody shreds this Alabama defense like that.

This Mateer looked much more like what we saw against Michigan, which is good enough as is, and I just don't see how our supporting cast gets worse. Arbuckle loves to use multiple TEs and I think one or two portal additions there will go a long way. The quality RBs we had were not healthy for much of the season, and we will have the Ott money to spend on somebody else. Burks was okay, but given the money we spent, we'll be able to easily replace him. Sategna is about the only painful departure I could see forthcoming, and he's not even remotely close to a 1st or 2nd round talent.

Defensively, I only see it getting better, with many of our best players not even being draft eligible yet. I'd say RMT departure would hurt, but we didn't even have him for most of our key wins, and have guys like Okoye waiting in the wings that will be just fine. Wein and Kip are the two to watch, but I suspect Wein is back, and LB simply isn't a position I worry about with BV around.

 

[daqman]

This is true. We are greedy. But we have moved the goalposts for sure. Its hard not to, bc of HOW we lose the games. Still I would not give BV any more leash than he currently has. And I would bet on another BV 6-7 special than I would another 10 win season next year. Who knows, maybe we change things up and try to upgrade mateer and EVERY position on the team, but I doubt it. We are too loyal and not cutthroat enough

i doubt we have the nil budget to upgrade every position on the team.....and i really don't think that's necessary.
o-line will be better/more experienced next season. i think xr and blaylock are solid rb's
tight end needs lots of attention. wr too.
not worried about the defense at all.

but i don't think lack of talent was the reason for last night's debacle.
that first quarter was a thing of beauty on both sides of the ball.
was not pleased to see the defense give up that 75yd drive in the second quarter.
and then the wheels came completely off after that xr dropped pass. and then things snowballed from there.
it mostly became a mental game after that and the players/coaches just couldn't get things back on track.

mateer has a couple horrendous throws every game....and his sidearm bs is just not p4 level at all.
would love to see a new qb next season but it sounds like he might be on a 2 yr contract and i doubt arbuckle would have the spine to make a change even if he could.

 

[hoopsaustin]

i doubt we have the nil budget to upgrade every position on the team.....and i really don't think that's necessary.
o-line will be better/more experienced next season. i think xr and blaylock are solid rb's
tight end needs lots of attention. wr too.
not worried about the defense at all.

but i don't think lack of talent was the reason for last night's debacle.
that first quarter was a thing of beauty on both sides of the ball.
was not pleased to see the defense give up that 75yd drive in the second quarter.
and then the wheels came completely off after that xr dropped pass. and then things snowballed from there.
i mostly became a mental game after that and the players/coaches just couldn't get things back on track.

mateer has a couple horrendous throws every game....and his sidearm bs is just not p4 level at all.
would love to see a new qb next season but it sounds like he might be on a 2 yr contract and i doubt arbuckle would have the spine to make a change even if he could.

No the mentality needs to be upgrade everywhere every year. We dont have to, but that should be the mindset.

 

[outest]

OU Special Team is going to cost OU. Last week allow punt return for a touch down. The punter and punting unit sucks.

HMMM. This came true

 

[outest]

A 19 yard punt. That's high school not SEC. The coverage unit looked slow.

This happened when we played against SC. We were able to overcome this to win at SC but the pattern was there.

 

[WichitaSooner]

This is true. We are greedy. But we have moved the goalposts for sure. Its hard not to, bc of HOW we lose the games. Still I would not give BV any more leash than he currently has. And I would bet on another BV 6-7 special than I would another 10 win season next year. Who knows, maybe we change things up and try to upgrade mateer and EVERY position on the team, but I doubt it. We are too loyal and not cutthroat enough

The other thing about expectations is that the schedule didn’t end up being nearly as tough as expected. Auburn, S Car, and LSU were far worse than expected. That’s beyond dispute. Yes, we still deserve credit for winning games, but if I hear people like Gabe continue saying we won 10 games against the toughest schedule in the country, I’m going to puke. It was expected to be that, but wasn’t in reality.

I’m like you and could see a slide back just as easily as progress next year if we don’t revamp the offense. There isn’t a single position I feel good about. And people who think the line will automatically improve just haven’t been paying attention. Hell, we are more likely to see returning players get hurt than make a big jump.

There are already a lot of good quarterbacks in the portal and it will suck seeing us sit on the sidelines. Nagy better back up his big talking by actually landing some true difference makers this time.

 

[daqman]

we've been plagued thru the years by the heisman jinx....
was this the first ever groza jinx in history?

 

[WichitaSooner]

Give us more group of five teams in this playoff. Looking forward to an afternoon and evening of noncompetitive football.

 

[allday92]

Mateer with a PFF grade of 66.3 last night - average. He had a productive game by QBR, but in a world where the QB gets to determine production with a bunch of read option plays, it's tough to tell how well he actually played. A 7 yard gain may look good on paper, but QBR doesn't take into account if there was a wide open WR 30 yards down the field. His good games are just average.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Please God fix this system and get rid of the charity bids.

 

[Boom Soon]

His good games are just average.

But his floor is low

 

[mict085]

I don’t think mateer has what it takes to play QB at OU in the SEC. Hes average and if you ranked the playoff teams QBs, outside of the 2 G5s that dont belong, he’d be ranked dead last. His mechanics are bad and he turns the ball over way too much.

The offense is bad by any measure and everyone that is paying attention knows it. That is unacceptable. OL isn’t good enough. WR-TE-QB isn’t good enough. We can’t run the ball worth a damn and that is the most importantly thing that needs to be fixed. If we’re going to keep mateer, an average QB with obvious limitations, then we have to improve everywhere else. You can’t have an average QB, below average at every other offensive position, and expect to have a good offense.

 

[WichitaSooner]

If you locked 10 people in a room and asked them to come up with the dumbest possible format for the playoff, I don’t think they could come up with anything dumber than giving an auto bid to the G5. This is just brutal. Whether they go to 16 or stay at 12, they have to end this nonsense. They should have to earn their berth the same way every other team does.

 

[mict085]

I stole this idea from another board but I agree. If they insist on G5 teams in the playoffs, they should have a play in game and have them play each other.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I stole this idea from another board but I agree. If they insist on G5 teams in the playoffs, they should have a play in game and have them play each other.

I still don’t get why some think the G5 would have a viable lawsuit if they don’t get an auto bid. If they are treated the same way as other teams, how do they have a case? No conference is guaranteed a bid. Power conference teams have to earn their way in.

The lawsuit thing seems to be the justification I see most often but I just don’t see it. Maybe if Oregon wins this game by 50, it’ll be the wakeup call we need. I mean, I think our offense might even be able to score against James Madison lol.

 

[WaymanFan]

I still don’t get why some think the G5 would have a viable lawsuit if they don’t get an auto bid. If they are treated the same way as other teams, how do they have a case? No conference is guaranteed a bid. Power conference teams have to earn their way in.

The lawsuit thing seems to be the justification I see most often but I just don’t see it. Maybe if Oregon wins this game by 50, it’ll be the wakeup call we need. I mean, I think our offense might even be able to score against James Madison lol.

I guess you can create a separate division so they can have their own playoff...but as long as they are grouped with the power conferences, they at least deserve a mathematical chance at winning a national championship. There about 350-360 D1 basketball schools and every one has a mathematical chance to cut down the net. Every single one. Make that work with FBS and I'm all for it.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I guess you can create a separate division so they can have their own playoff...but as long as they are grouped with the power conferences, they at least deserve a mathematical chance at winning a national championship. There about 350-360 D1 basketball schools and every one has a mathematical chance to cut down the net. Every single one. Make that work with FBS and I'm all for it.

They do have a chance. More years than not, an undefeated G5 team will be in the top 12. When you play a much easier schedule, you have a better chance of going undefeated. Expecting them to finish in the top 12 is a fair expectation if they want to take up playoff spots. The SEC isn’t guaranteed a spot. The G5 shouldn’t be guaranteed one.

 

[Eielson]

I'm fine with the G5 bids. It's pretty close to a bye week, but so are 3 vs 14 seed matchups. There are too many teams in the playoffs as is.

 

[daqman]

next season going to be an adventure....and not in a good way
defense is losing halton/williams/daniels/rsj/mckinzie
potentially losing lewis/heineke/rmt
there was a strange tweet from guillory as well.

 

[WichitaSooner]

next season going to be an adventure....and not in a good way
defense is losing halton/williams/daniels/rsj/mckinzie
potentially losing lewis/heineke/rmt
there was a strange tweet from guillory as well.

What was the tweet?

We’ve heard a lot about how great the culture is from the people who love Brent. The next few weeks will be the true test of that. We actually have a lot of players (all on defense, obviously) who would be highly coveted in the portal. RMT is gone, and sounds like Heineke isn’t optimistic about his waiver. But if we don’t get hit too hard by the portal, we should be fine on defense. I do wonder whether Nagy will earn his money this offseason by bringing in some actual dudes to fix the offense. If they repeat the Ott debacle or just rely on internal improvement rather than bringing in better talent, it’s going to be another season with one of the worst power conference offenses in the country.