Second Half Analysis

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I was surprised we didn't look better than we did in the second half, even with the big lead. Was everyone told to put their motors on "go through the motions, just enough to keep from getting hurt"? I don't see any other thread dealing with this, and have been curious about others' opinions.

[Collier11]

im still worried that we had troubles at times running the ball, this is the crap that gets us in trouble on the road

[OUHOMER]

I think a little of both. our offense is all about timing, when everybody slows down a half a step it really throws it off.

[OUHOMER]

im still worried that we had troubles at times running the ball, this is the crap that gets us in trouble on the road

I think Stoops played every lineman that was suited up. Loadhaolt was gone as well.

[Cam]

The players were bored, as were 99% of the fans still in attendance.. What exactly did you expect with a 50 point lead after an 80+ minute half time?

Take the 2nd half as nothing more than a scrimmage.

[1890MilesToNorman]

They didn't have a single penalty in the 1st half and they posted 5 for 40some yards in the second half. Second and third stringers?

Jekyll and Hide football for sure.

[achiro]

Stoops said something to the extent of "it's tough to run the clock and get first downs when you are trying not to score"

[meoveryouxinfinity]

Stoops wasn't showing anything to anybody. Why were those practices closed and on maximum security? In an interview before the season he was asked if he had any tricks up the sleeve and if he would be playing half assed in the first game. He responded with something like "you might not even see us full-on until texas." Of course, he was suggesting this would be true if we were blowing everyone out of the water and didn't need to go full speed, so to speak.
I guess only time will tell...

[BoulderSooner79]

What would be the perfect outcome of a mis-match like this? I'd say a 50-zip halftime lead, a meaningless second half and no injuries. Anyone seen the injury report ?

[JLEW1818]

Yep even in his first interview of the fall, he said its a good possibility we wont be showing everything.

[StoopTroup]

Here's my impression of last night....

IhE5a0kRz6Y

[Watch Me Stride]

im still worried that we had troubles at times running the ball, this is the crap that gets us in trouble on the road

Demarco - 8.5 yds per carry

Mossis and Chris did horrible

[JLEW1818]

Brown, Chris 14 carriers for 64 yards. 4.5 average. 3 td's .

Not "horrible"

[Sooner_09]

3 TDs is not horrible, but DM was the better back. How about the play when he ran over 2 would be tacklers?

[OUTrumpet]

I think the only purpose of the first team offense out there was to get some more snaps practicing the no-huddle and to work on the timing/communication.

When we wanted to run the ball in the first half we could. You could tell we were just going through the motions in the 2nd half just to keep the score down.

[Collier11]

Demarco - 8.5 yds per carry

Mossis and Chris did horrible

its the whole issue with consistently being beaten at the point of attack, sure they both broke long runs which boosted their ypc but remember back to last yr when we just couldnt run the ball in a few diff games

[okiewaker]

its the whole issue with consistently being beaten at the point of attack, sure they both broke long runs which boosted their ypc but remember back to last yr when we just couldnt run the ball in a few diff games

I agree. Some of the time last year we had trouble running the ball. Hopefully this year will be different. Our OL, according to the talking heads, is amongst the best in the country. We will see.

[BoulderSooner79]

I agree. Some of the time last year we had trouble running the ball. Hopefully this year will be different. Our OL, according to the talking heads, is amongst the best in the country. We will see.

Given that the OL is basically the same as last year, I would expect the same strengths and weakness as last year. The extra experience and practice should result in improvement across the board, but not change the nature of the unit. So I expect dominating pass protection and hopefully improved run blocking. I'll take excellence over balance any day. Besides, with a home run threat like DM in the backfield we don't need a pound-it-down-their-throat running game. Let's control the game with the pass and surprise them with the run. I'd rather see DM maintain a 7-8 yd/carry average than run for 1800. Throw in lots of TDs and a few more receptions too, please :D

[IronHorseSooner]

I believe the second half to have been a non-event. Nobody really wanted to be there for the second half- not our players, not the Mocs, the fans, refs, anybody. I believe Coach Stoops about it being hard to do anything when you are trying to keep the score down.

[MALE918]

yes, consistencey running the ball was an issue in the first half. that is an issue when you're playing a so overmatched team.....but i was concerned with how long it took the receivers to get open. pass blocking was incredible-sam did read through every progression on at least half the pass plays-but should he have to?

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Can't believe anyone was dogging the offense.

First half was crisp and the team looked better than the past few years. The play seemed sharp and people were concentrating. Brown just seemed to glide out there. Sam looked great and the o-line, well it showed up and looked good.

The Second-half, everyone gets a pass. A completely different game and if there wasn't PPV - I bet the game gets called. Hope the Mocs Qb - Jared is okay, didn't know he was injured.

[Breadburner]

We were trying to run out the clock in the second half...Which means run the ball or short pass routes....Stoops did not want to run up the score....They knew we would not throw the ball down field.....So they played the run.....On that note my main concern was injuries after a delay like that......

[Collier11]

Can't believe anyone was dogging the offense.

First half was crisp and the team looked better than the past few years. The play seemed sharp and people were concentrating. Brown just seemed to glide out there. Sam looked great and the o-line, well it showed up and looked good.

The Second-half, everyone gets a pass. A completely different game and if there wasn't PPV - I bet the game gets called. Hope the Mocs Qb - Jared is okay, didn't know he was injured.


For the record, I personally wasnt dogging the offense...it just worried me that at times we couldnt get any push on the line during running plays for no other reason than that really hurt us at times last yr.

I really think this game against Cincy will tell us more about our team than UW on the road or TCU at home. My reasons are this, Cincy has two really really good DB's so we will see how our WR group will truly be without MK, and they have an explosive offense so we will see what our mostly untested LB and DB group will look like

[Scott D]

second half was pretty much run the ball, and only throw when necessary to move the chains to keep the clock moving. hell, you can argue the second half was poorly coached if you want. but, clearly the game was over at halftime.

[JLEW1818]

I agree with you C. Its already Monday too! Saturday aint to far away.

[JLEW1818]

second half was pretty much run the ball, and only throw when necessary to move the chains to keep the clock moving. hell, you can argue the second half was poorly coached if you want. but, clearly the game was over at halftime.


Did anybody see Stoops interview after the game? He said the other team knew we were going to run the ball and kill the clock for mostly the entire second half. Just about any defense is going to be able to stop a running attack when they know you are running the ball just about every time, and its already a blowout.

[Collier11]

My concerns are from the 1st half, not the 2nd...maybe I should have started a 1st half thread :)

[shaun4411]

there are several reasons why the running game wasnt as effective in the second half.

1. murray is the best back and wasnt playing
2. playcalling was predictable.
3. less motivation after being 50+ points up after the 1st hafl

[JLEW1818]

My concerns are from the 1st half, not the 2nd...maybe I should have started a 1st half thread :)

I agree with you, I assumed we would have had more big breaks behind that big o-line. We will learn more Saturday!!

[Cam]

Part of the problem running early was that it looked to me like DeMarco was running scared a little. Can't really blame him after coming back from an injury. Seemed to get more confidence as the game went on.