Well, football sucks. Bring on BBall season!

[stormspencer]

It's painfully apparent that this year's team doesn't have the talent across the board to compete on an elite level. I still think this team can develop and have a decent season (9-10 wins), but as I mentioned above, there are some glaring holes that need to improve immediately or at least need to be masked by a better scheme/adjustments. We are staring a 1-4 start in the face...thus, this would be an opportune time for some leadership and play-makers to step up.

Finally, there was a 2-3 year window several years back where there was a lull/decline in recruiting and I believe we are bearing the fruits of that lull this season. We have a potential great class (Top 5-ish) coming together in 2017....but most of those players aren't likely to contribute until 2018.

 

[Stikboy]

Is it true that Stoops is going to file a complaint with the NCAA against Ohio State for bullying?

 

[Larry72]

Is it true that Stoops is going to file a complaint with the NCAA against Ohio State for bullying?

Maybe we should lock arms and have a bullying parade.

 

[hoopsaustin]

For my part, I was responding to the second poster, who explicitly pronounced the season over (the OP sort of implied as much--in any case, his post could be read that way).

The season IS over. Won't stop me from watching every game. I stayed the whole game. But it has been an unmitigated disaster.

 

[skyvue]

It's over if the only season you can enjoy is one in which we win a national title. Otherwise, it's far from over.

 

[Sooner04]

The season IS over. Won't stop me from watching every game. I stayed the whole game. But it has been an unmitigated disaster.

The Life of Chris Gaines......THAT was an unmitigated disaster.

This football season? Too early to tell. We played two teams that were better than us, and we lost them both. Could the year go off the rails? Sure.

It could also be 1980. We'll see.


Above all else....... I K W T.

 

[sperry]

The Life of Chris Gaines......THAT was an unmitigated disaster.

This football season? Too early to tell. We played two teams that were better than us, and we lost them both. Could the year go off the rails? Sure.

It could also be 1980. We'll see.


Above all else....... I K W T.

When you're returning a bunch of starters from a playoff team and you get absolutely thrashed in two of your first three games, that's an unmitigated disaster. We had championship aspirations, and those have been destroyed a quarter of the way through the season.

 

[Larry72]

I think that the team will rebound, but it is a downer to lose both of these big games convincingly. Eric Striker, Zack S, and Sterling must have had a big impact on the attitudes and effort last year.

We do not have but one pass rusher, therefore we better blitz smartly. Oh-well I will watch
patiently

 

[sperry]

I think that the team will rebound, but it is a downer to lose both of these big games convincingly. Eric Striker, Zack S, and Sterling must have had a big impact on the attitudes and effort last year.

We do not have but one pass rusher, therefore we better blitz smartly. Oh-well I will watch
patiently

The team is going to win some games, but mainly because the conference is just atrocious.


We'll never know because it's not how it played out, but it's beginning to look a lot like playing the 3 backup quarterbacks in our big games last year led to more wins than we maybe should have had.

 

[inoref]

I'm afraid Bob has left the building...

 

[skyvue]

it's beginning to look a lot like playing the 3 backup quarterbacks in our big games last year led to more wins than we maybe should have had.

This year's struggles don't negate anything last year's team did. We have some players missing from this year's squad who were key to our success last year.

Me, I never really bought that we were a title contender this year. I hoped we were, but there were so many questions to be answered (and obviously we don't like the answers we've received so far). Sterling Shepard left some huge shoes to fill, and there were several big losses on defense.

 

[j2d2]

Softball, anyone? Those kids are winners.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

We do not have but one pass rusher, therefore we better blitz smartly. Oh-well I will watch
patiently

dline is the least of our worries

I'm leaning towards this being coaching and leadership.

We have talent and we look the part. But our secondary is atrocious

 

[BCSooners]

dline is the least of our worries

I'm leaning towards this being coaching and leadership.

We have talent and we look the part. But our secondary is atrocious

Linebackers are just as bad.

 

[WaymanFan]

dline is the least of our worries

Well, it's definitely one of them. We don't generate a pass rush, get pushed back on running plays, and simply don't force any turnovers. There is no one on the entire defense who keeps opposing offensive coordinators up at night. That's really unfortunate. Even when we were bad in the 1990s, we had "impact" defensive players (not recruited by Switzer) like Cedric Jones, Kelly Gregg, Darnell Walker, Travian Smith and Aubrey Beavers. Any one of those guys would easily be the best defensive player at their position on this year's team.

 

[CoachTalk]

dline is the least of our worries

I'm leaning towards this being coaching and leadership.

We have talent and we look the part. But our secondary is atrocious

Ohio State clearly had better athletes. Players make coaches look great.

 

[stormspencer]

Well, it's definitely one of them. We don't generate a pass rush, get pushed back on running plays, and simply don't force any turnovers. There is no one on the entire defense who keeps opposing offensive coordinators up at night. That's really unfortunate. Even when we were bad in the 1990s, we had "impact" defensive players (not recruited by Switzer) like Cedric Jones, Kelly Gregg, Darnell Walker, Travian Smith and Aubrey Beavers. Any one of those guys would easily be the best defensive player at their position on this year's team.

The pass rush issue and overall line play has more to do with scheme (3-4). Mike went "all in" with the 3-4 or 3-3-5 philosophy and it hurts us against teams that have strong lines and can run the ball effectively. I think the players we have on the D-line (Walker, Dimon, Wade, Gallimore, etc.) are actually a strength, but their effectiveness is limited by a poor scheme/alignment.

Regarding the back 7/8, I only have faith in J. Thomas, Parker, and Ahmad Thomas. Jordan Evans is too slow and not athletic enough for this scheme....but he would make a solid MLB in a 4-3 scheme. I do like Tay Evans and Beal as athletes and they seem to fit the current scheme well, but I haven't seen enough of them yet to really know for sure. Obo is another great athlete, but I have yet to see any consistent "football smarts" on display from him....he misses too many assignments. Will Johnson could be a good player, but he is way too small to play a hybrid outside LB....again he doesn't fit this scheme well against power teams. And the final CB spot is....well....a disaster. I don't blame the players so much as I blame the coaches for not properly evaluating and coming up with a better solution/player that could fill Sanchez' spot. The 3 guys that we've rotated in there are certainly trying their best, but I see aspects of their technique that indicate that either they don't understand the position or they aren't being coached or managed effectively.

 

[stormspencer]

Ohio State clearly had better athletes. Players make coaches look great.

I agree....we weren't going to beat tOSU no matter what schemes we ran Saturday.....unless they made alot of mistakes/turnovers.

 

[Sooner04]

It was very humbling early on to notice that even when we bottled up a play and covered it well the Buckeyes would still come away with a couple of yards. The trip to Columbus.....woof.

We are designed and built to win the Big 12 Conference. The problem is the Big 12 Conference is a gimmick league, offensively. We're not terrible. I think you could say we're one of the top 10 or 15 teams in America, but we tend to place a lot of square pegs in round holes. Our offense stems from stretching the field laterally, but our best players (Perine, Mixon, Andrews) stretch it vertically.

I'm sure they'll figure something out. Who is going to win the conference? With the league this shoddy, does that even matter?

 

[Max Power]

It was very humbling early on to notice that even when we bottled up a play and covered it well the Buckeyes would still come away with a couple of yards. The trip to Columbus.....woof.

We are designed and built to win the Big 12 Conference. The problem is the Big 12 Conference is a gimmick league, offensively. We're not terrible. I think you could say we're one of the top 10 or 15 teams in America, but we tend to place a lot of square pegs in round holes. Our offense stems from stretching the field laterally, but our best players (Perine, Mixon, Andrews) stretch it vertically.

I'm sure they'll figure something out. Who is going to win the conference? With the league this shoddy, does that even matter?

I honsetly think we still win the conference (it's not very good), but that gets us a Sugar Bowl against the #2 SEC Team.