My take on the loss...

[44BluesExplosion]

I've been around Oklahoma football for a long time. I've sat on the sidelines behind 5 different coaches and have watched us take home some amazing wins and some heart stopping losses. In my opinion, Bob Stoops is the best coach I've ever been around... And Kevin Wilson is one of the better offensive coordinators at putting together a play schedule.

All that said, everyone has a bad day. And I think that's what happened on Saturday. I don't think we lost the game because of poor defensive play or because Bradford went down. I think we lost the game because our staff just... well, had a bad day.

Our defense started the game playing really well. We were putting great pressure on the QB and our d-line was blowing off the ball. However, they couldn't sustain that kind of effort endlessly. The defensive touch down, followed by a quick turnover of our own, followed by Bradford's last series, followed by a number of quick series ended by inefficient passing by a cold QB killed our defensive intensity and energy.

The spread is awfully hard to defend with a tired defense... and we just couldn't do it.

In my opinion, this is only the second game (first being the LSU loss in the NC game) that was the result of mis-coaching. Everything considered, that ain't half bad. Our staff will learn, grow, and get even better.

We will beat OSU handily... Watch.

[85sooners]

:pop:

[85Sooner]

I've been around Oklahoma football for a long time. I've sat on the sidelines behind 5 different coaches and have watched us take home some amazing wins and some heart stopping losses. In my opinion, Bob Stoops is the best coach I've ever been around... And Kevin Wilson is one of the better offensive coordinators at putting together a play schedule.

All that said, everyone has a bad day. And I think that's what happened on Saturday. I don't think we lost the game because of poor defensive play or because Bradford went down. I think we lost the game because our staff just... well, had a bad day.

Our defense started the game playing really well. We were putting great pressure on the QB and our d-line was blowing off the ball. However, they couldn't sustain that kind of effort endlessly. The defensive touch down, followed by a quick turnover of our own, followed by Bradford's last series, followed by a number of quick series ended by inefficient passing by a cold QB killed our defensive intensity and energy.

The spread is awfully hard to defend with a tired defense... and we just couldn't do it.

In my opinion, this is only the second game (first being the LSU loss in the NC game) that was the result of mis-coaching. Everything considered, that ain't half bad. Our staff will learn, grow, and get even better.

We will beat OSU handily... Watch.
From your mouth to Gods ears

[soonersn20xx]

I think most the criticism that has been levied at the staff has been deserved. Losing to tech is unacceptable, I would like to see some accoutability and some heads roll. I am not naming names but Bob needs to shake some things up and get us out of this funk of losing to inferior teams.

[Scoregasm]

I couldn't agree more. We have a really good staff and some really good players that, for the most part, make some great plays. It's just sometimes, things don't go your way. I'm digging the 10+ win seasons, being in the hunt for Conference Championships annually and National Championships every 3 years or so. It could be worse and not so long ago it was.

[soonersn20xx]

If you are satisfied with big XII championships and almost greatness........then I'm sure you are contented.

[Stoop Dawg]

If you expect a NC appearance every single year ..... then I'm sure you live in constant disappointment.


Bottom line, this team just isn't ready yet. I don't blame the coaches or the players. IMO the expectations were simply too high after the first 3 or 4 games. This was never a NC team. Next year? Maybe. This year? Nope.

[TXBOOMER]

I'll still take the King at this point (3 NC's in an 11 year period is tough). Bob is right there with him though.

[JohnnyMack]

I blame it on the fact that we didn't score as many points as they did.

[The Maestro]

We will beat OSU handily... Watch.

While I believe we can win, I don't have a reason in the world we can beat a team, especially with the offensive talent that OSU has, "handily". They have as much balance on offense as ANYONE in the country. They have a mobile quarterback who can take off running when the rest of the play breaks down. Those both expose defensive weaknesses for us. And correct me if I am wrong...if Texas loses to Texas A&M does an OSU win over us mean they win the South?

I am scared as hell of this game...and a one point win sounds gorgeous to me right about now. "Handily" seems impossible. This team only has two impressive wins on the year...Texas and Missouri. Everything else is kind of ho hum and flat, early season stepchildren not included.

[JaminT]

Nothing in the Tech game screams outcoached any more than Boise last year, TCU the year before, and Colorado this year.

UCLA was less talent, and for that matter, Les Miles out coached bob with inferior talent two games.

Lets face it, Bob gambled to obtain his legend, and has gone conservative to preserve it.

I still think Bob is the best coach we could have hoped for, and have faith he'll continue to turn in respectable 1 and 2 loss seasons from here on out.

[MextheBulldog]

We lost because SammyB got hurt. You speak about coach mis-management - what, specifically did the coaches do wrong? Three chances at the end zone in the last 6 minutes was more than enough to win it.

This game mirrored osu-texasss. Underdog takes a big lead at half, including 21 points going into the fourth quarter. Yet texass with a vet colt mccoy is able to get it done against a bad defense. Same for us, if Bradford is in, the d respects the pass, we can run on them, and the offensive balance is there.

We still had a chance to win this thing despite the awful first half. But we did not. To blame the coaches with no specifics is silly.

[Jacie]

What bothers me about this loss is that after everything that happened at the end Oklahoma still could have tied the score and taken the game into OT. That means then that had either of two plays gone the other way . . .

The plays in question were the botched (fake) punt, the other review of the call on the incomplete pass in the endzone that didn't go OUr way.

It seemed everyone in the stadium anticipated a fake punt at that point in the game which means the logic of the situation dictates you either line and go for it or actually punt the ball.

The call in the endzone could have gone either way and review would not overturn it. Since the call went against OU then this play qualifies as another jobbing at the hands of the officials in Lubbock. It was pointed out during the telecast that both officials ran up and looked at each other before either signalled that the pass was incomplete. That is being jobbed, people.

I won't question the two plays of kicking field goals instead of going for a first down or touchdown, just that this one was winnable inspite of poor coaching decisions and inopportune injuries, and that is what bothers me about this loss.

[The Maestro]

Nothing in the Tech game screams outcoached any more than Boise last year, TCU the year before, and Colorado this year.

UCLA was less talent, and for that matter, Les Miles out coached bob with inferior talent two games.

Lets face it, Bob gambled to obtain his legend, and has gone conservative to preserve it.

I still think Bob is the best coach we could have hoped for, and have faith he'll continue to turn in respectable 1 and 2 loss seasons from here on out.

Helluva post. Funny that we talked about it last week, but I do think we need more swagger, moxie, resolve, focus, drive, etc.!!!

[Stoop Dawg]

I still think Bob is the best coach we could have hoped for, and have faith he'll continue to turn in respectable 1 and 2 loss seasons from here on out.

Respectable? A 1 or 2 loss season is respectable? I'm guessing that an undefeated season would be "good". And to be "great" we'd have to win every game by 30?

[Texas Golfer]

We lost because SammyB got hurt. You speak about coach mis-management - what, specifically did the coaches do wrong? Three chances at the end zone in the last 6 minutes was more than enough to win it.

This game mirrored osu-texasss. Underdog takes a big lead at half, including 21 points going into the fourth quarter. Yet texass with a vet colt mccoy is able to get it done against a bad defense. Same for us, if Bradford is in, the d respects the pass, we can run on them, and the offensive balance is there.

We still had a chance to win this thing despite the awful first half. But we did not. To blame the coaches with no specifics is silly.

While we were definitely hurt by Sam's absence, we didn't lose the game because of it. In my opinion, the coaches do deserve some of the blame for the loss. I think, with three of the best RBs in the conference against the next to last worst rushing defense, we should have given Joey time to get settled in before having him pass early and often. Tech has one of the best passing defenses in the conference. We should have pounded their weak rushing defense with fresh RBs and kept Tech's offense on the bench.

[soonersn20xx]

On the running plays we had, we were getting stoned at the line most the night..........maybe our O-line isn't that great after all.

[canes4ever]

[QUOTE=44BluesExplosion]I've been around Oklahoma football for a long time.

Five coaches? Stoops is not better than Wilkinson,no sir. Despite the difference in eras,Wilkinson overall was much better. No losses in 3 plus years? 47 straight? Get serial.

[canes4ever]

[QUOTE=Stoop Dawg]If you expect a NC appearance every single year ..... then I'm sure you live in constant disappointment.

That does not make any sense. Constant disappointment means OU has never won a NC. I do remember a era when Sooner fans did indeed expect to play in the NC game.

[NYC Poke]

And correct me if I am wrong...if Texas loses to Texas A&M does an OSU win over us mean they win the South?

That's incorrect. I don't remember the convoluted tie-breaker rules, but are already mathematically eliminated from taking the South title. So you can rest easy there.

[ted_dawson]

Did you guys watch the same game I did? We lost because Tech's O-line held us on EVERY 3rd down, most 2nd downs, and some 1st downs in the first half. We would have sacked the qback at least twice and maybe as many as four times in the first half alone. Take that many scoring drives away from Jon Bible and now what's the score?

See for yourself. The replays will be on several times during the week.

[r5TPsooner]

Did you guys watch the same game I did? We lost because Tech's O-line held us on EVERY 3rd down, most 2nd downs, and some 1st downs in the first half. We would have sacked the qback at least twice and maybe as many as four times in the first half alone. Take that many scoring drives away from Jon Bible and now what's the score?

See for yourself. The replays will be on several times during the week.

I'M NOT ONE TO BLAME REFS OR COACHES AFTER A WIN OR A LOSS. But Jesus H. there were some flagrant holding going on right in front of the referees face on many occasions. I hate to agree with you but I do.

They should just get rid of that penalty all together if the ref is only going to call it when "he feels like it."

[Stoop Dawg]

That does not make any sense. Constant disappointment means OU has never won a NC. I do remember a era when Sooner fans did indeed expect to play in the NC game.

My bad. I figured NOT making it to the NC game 90% of the time was close enough to "constant".

I stand corrected. :rolleyes:

[bluedogok]

That's incorrect. I don't remember the convoluted tie-breaker rules, but are already mathematically eliminated from taking the South title. So you can rest easy there.
This has been the topic of much discussion down here, so much so that UT thinks if they both lose that UT is a lock to go to the CCG.

Here are some articles from the Austin paper about the tiebreak procedure.


Statesman.com - Big 12 football tiebreakers (http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/11/19/1119textiebreaker.html)
Monday, November 19, 2007

Losses by Texas and Oklahoma this weekend would plunge the Big 12 South into a three-way tie, with the Longhorns, Sooners and Oklahoma State Cowboys all having 5-3 conference records.

The Sooners can end all the suspense by defeating the Cowboys on Saturday, but if they don't, the Longhorns stand to claim the South Division's spot in the Dec. 1 championship game in San Antonio against the winner of Saturday's Missouri-Kansas game.

Here's how the conference tiebreaker procedure works:

The following procedure will determine the representative from each division in the event of a tie:

(a) If two teams are tied, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative. (If Texas and Oklahoma are tied at 6-2, the Sooners would win this tiebreaker, given their victory over Texas.)

(b) If three or more teams are tied, steps 1 through 7 will be followed until a determination is made. If only two teams remain tied after any step, the winner of the game between the two tied teams shall be the representative.

1. The records of the three teams will be compared against each other. (If Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are tied with 5-3 records, this tiebreaker would not decide things. The teams would all be 1-1 against each other.)

2. The records of the three teams will be compared within their division. (Again, no decision here. All three would be 3-2 in the division.)

3. The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish — 4, 5 and 6. (Now it gets confusing, because at this point Texas Tech and Texas A&M would be tied for fourth in the South with 4-4 records. Big 12 officials say that they won't implement a tiebreaker at this point to decide who's fourth (if they did, Tech would be considered fourth, and Oklahoma ultimately would be eliminated from the championship game mix). Instead, that fourth-place tie would mean that this criteria wouldn't settle anything.

4. The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents. (Again, this doesn't settle anything.)

5. The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series Poll following the completion of Big 12 regular-season (intra-) conference play shall be the representative. (This, then, should settle it, but it's up to the human voters and the BCS computers, which will produce new standings when all the dust has settled next Sunday.)

6. The team with the best overall winning percentage shall be the representative.

7. The representative will be chosen by draw

and here is some commentary by Kirk Bohls.....


Statesman.com - Bohl Games: Now that’s a tie-breaker (http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/bohls/index.html)
By Kirk Bohls | Sunday, November 18, 2007, 04:44 PM

Visiting with an Oklahoma columnist before Sunday’s Cowboys game, I talked to him about the upcoming college games and he said the Texas game with Texas A&M wouldn’t even figure into the Big 12 South Division championship.

He said Texas would edge out Oklahoma for the spot against the Kansas-Missouri winner if the Sooners lost to Oklahoma State, no matter how the Longhorn-Aggie game turned out.

Apparently, that’s wrong.

Curious, I emailed the league office, and Bob Burda explained it to me this way. If OU and Texas both lose, they are tied with OSU with 5-3 Big 12 records. According to b.3 of the league’s tie-breaking procedures (on page 24 of the Big 12 manual), they would be pitted against the next highest-placed team in the division in order of finish. Well, Texas Tech and A&M would be tied with identical 4-4 records and 3-2 marks in the division. Texas, OU and OSU would all be 1-1 against those two teams.

You then go to the last-place team, which is Baylor. All three teams beat the Bears.

Because the three teams did not have common opponents from the North Division, the South representative in the title game would be the highest-ranked South team according to the BCS standings. In case you’re wondering if none of the three teams tied for first would even be ranked in those standings, rest assured. Even though only the top 25 BCS teams are usually published, any team that gets votes in any of the human polls or is ranked by the computers will be included in the BCS standings.

If that fails to produce an outright representative, I assume the league would ask Austin-based referees Randy Christal or Jon Bible to break the tie. (That’s a joke, Coach Leach.)