A running game question.

[GottaHavePride]

OK, it rapidly became clear that TCU was going to stuff the middle of the field to stop our running game.

Why the **** were 90% of our running plays straight up the middle?

I mean, how dos that thought process work?


Step 1: Let's try running Murray up the middle.

Did it work? YES NO

Step 2: Let's try running Brown up the middle.

Did it work? YES NO

Step 3: Hell, let's try running Madu up the middle.

Did it work YES NO

Well, ****. I guess we're just flat out of options. Better throw the ball more.







Why don't we try RUNNING TO THE ****ING OUTSIDE, DAMMIT?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Judging from the **** poor blocking from the edges, I guess they didnt think they could get anything going that way....of course they didnt try it much if any

[oumartin]

need some misdirection like the good ole days. One thing I miss about Long was the shovel pass and the misdirection that was used again when Peterson ran all over Texas as a freshman.

[SCOUT]

OK, it rapidly became clear that TCU was going to stuff the middle of the field to stop our running game.

Why the **** were 90% of our running plays straight up the middle?

I mean, how dos that thought process work?


Step 1: Let's try running Murray up the middle.

Did it work? YES NO

Step 2: Let's try running Brown up the middle.

Did it work? YES NO

Step 3: Hell, let's try running Madu up the middle.

Did it work YES NO

Well, ****. I guess we're just flat out of options. Better throw the ball more.







Why don't we try RUNNING TO THE ****ING OUTSIDE, DAMMIT?

Yeah, with the outcome of the game already settled, it is almost like we didn't do anything creative. I know outside running isn't too far fetched but we kept it extra vanilla just in case

[GottaHavePride]

Jeebus, ANYthing would be better than reverting to the patented "run Quentin Griffin into the backside of an o-lineman" offense.

And I LIKE Q, don't misunderstand. We just had an alarming tendency to do that with him. Then we'd turn around and break him loose for a couple of hundred yards the next week.

[oumartin]

maybe they wanted to send a message to the O-line about still getting better?

[royalfan5]

With a big lead you might as well get your O-Line reps trying drive a decent d-line back every play. Could pay off later.

[SoonerJack]

need some misdirection like the good ole days. One thing I miss about Long was the shovel pass and the misdirection that was used again when Peterson ran all over Texas as a freshman.

what he said.

[GottaHavePride]

With a big lead you might as well get your O-Line reps trying drive a decent d-line back every play. Could pay off later.

I can almost sorta buy that thinking, but I'd be thinking "let's keep the ball moving so our defense doesn't get worn out."

[Boomer.....]

I don't want to say it but maybe we are saving it for more competitive opponents.

[Rogue]

RoyalFan5 makes a good point.

Here's another - scoreboard. ;)

Srsly, I know many of you are frustrated about some aspects of the game tonight. I'm not. I'm enjoying the bright spots I saw.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

I think my frustration comes from seeing a lot of this in the bowl game and also in a few games last season.OL getting beat by smaller DL..Obviously its not a big deal tonight but it could be later

[o0Dan0o]

It seemed to me, listening to the game since the astros were on instead, that Stoops just wanted to get the game over with, and running helps keep Bradford from getting hit.
Dan

[SouthFortySooner]

With it crowded in the middle the dbacks have to focus for some time on every handoff there. The playaction works because of that. mebbe

[GottaHavePride]

RoyalFan5 makes a good point.

Here's another - scoreboard. ;)

Srsly, I know many of you are frustrated about some aspects of the game tonight. I'm not. I'm enjoying the bright spots I saw.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy with most aspects of our game.

Kickoff coverage was sketchy early, but improved after that.
Sam is un-fricken-believable
Defense was great.

My issues from the game:
Dropped passes
Horrendous running game
Special teams still a bit shaky

[Boomer.....]

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy with most aspects of our game.

Kickoff coverage was sketchy early, but improved after that.
Sam is un-fricken-believable
Defense was great.

My issues from the game:
Dropped passes
Horrendous running game
Special teams still a bit shaky

Even with these problems, no other team looks half as complete as us.

[aurorasooner]

I think we could've thrown the drag route over the middle after a play action fake all night on TCU. It will not only get us yards but it will make their LBs play a little more honest against the run . Also we need an actual pro-type screen pass that we practice regularly and Sam can execute effectively. This appeared to be the same stuff-the-run D that Colorado and Iowa State used to stuff our run last year and there's just no way with our current running play design and formations we can be successful running the football against it, imo.
After watching the 'Bammer D backs & D-Line tonight, if we play them and bring our same bland running game to the table w/o changing things up, imo it would be a repeat of the LSU/USC, Boise State & WVU bowl games. Dang, the Bammer D-backs looked well coached and always around the ball. Really, really glad that we got the TOs tonight and the score at the end of the 1st Qtr wasn't something like 7-3 or 14-10. BTW, congrats to our D for 2 no-brick-hands/no- tipped-ball picks tonight, as well as our DL for an excellent effort rushing the QB.

[OklaPony]

Don't forget a little credit for the TCU D-Line, those boys were ready to play hard all night long. Don't know how they looked on TV but in person I thought they were pretty impressive.

[tulsaoilerfan]

Don't forget a little credit for the TCU D-Line, those boys were ready to play hard all night long. Don't know how they looked on TV but in person I thought they were pretty impressive.

Not to mention they were either run blitzing or putting 8 in the box pretty much the whole game; got to give them credit they weren't going to let us beat them by running the ball and they sure stuck to it :D

[Curly Bill]

They were selling out to stop the run. We should have thrown the ball 100 times or so tonight.

[Piware]

I was pleasantly surprised at how the no huddle freaked the Frogs out in the first quarter. The special teams are still cause for concern - we have the talent but they just don't quite pass muster yet.

[OK2LA]

They were selling out to stop the run. We should have thrown the ball 100 times or so tonight.

I was thinking the same thing, but at the same time, we started dropping a few passes, not getting to the first down marker, and going 3 and out. The more you do that with a team like theirs - that had a mobile qb, solid running game - you REALLY run the risk of bringing them back into the game - without trying to keep them honest by running the ball (& clock)

[BoulderSooner79]

They were selling out to stop the run. We should have thrown the ball 100 times or so tonight.

Ding ding ding! We have a winna! It looked like we were determined to pound the ball and shorten the game. But TCU had a good scheme to stop it and you don't keep much poundin' done nor shorten the game when its 3-and-out. If they sell out to stop the run at the expense of the long play, I say hit them with the long play until we get at least half a hundred.

The good news is that this game will improve the team. It could have been a disaster to see this sort of defensive plan for the first time against a team that has a better offense than TCU. And we will see this scheme again at times once other coaches get a hold of the game video.

[Half a Hundred]

They were likely also trying out different blocking schemes to see what would work against a good run defense that is completely selling out against the run. They know that the pass will work, and that the game is pretty much out of hand. It's essentially practice for future games, when hopefully we'll be the team with the big #1 bullseye on our backs

[Curly Bill]

I'm all for establishing the run, trying to run the ball to control the clock, etc...but not at the expense of continually running into a brick wall.

[aurorasooner]

They were selling out to stop the run. We should have thrown the ball 100 times or so tonight. I agree to a point, in that unless you just throw quick outs or any quick pass you open Sam up to getting injured from a blind side blitz that hits him knee high, Either our offense is not that good, which is not my opinion, or TCU does have a really good defense, which is my opinion. I just watched the GameDay final highlights and it looked like an OU pitch & catch track meet against TCU, which really wasn't the case the whole game, but looks good for our ranking. I think we're going to have a bunch of sore offensive players tomorrow. Especially Halze. He got the livin' cheet knocked out of him on the sideline. No matter how you slice it though, 36 rushing attempts for 25 yards "ain't" too swift.

[mdklatt]

Special teams still a bit shaky

And Antarctica is kind of chilly.

[mdklatt]

Colt McCoy had 50 more rushing yards than we did. :O

[VA Sooner]

Great game to build upon.

We played the number 1 run defense in the country and because we can air the ball and run, we have a way to get around teams with good defense trying to cover one dimension.

The no-huddle offense is working very well... Bradford definitely has the smarts to make it work and led to all of those early penalties.

Good workout for the young secondary... good to see Brian Jackson get that interception. Beal and English weren't into the backfield as much as I thought they would be but Taylor, McCoy and Bennett definitely made up for it.

The running plays on the corners were not going to work tonight... TCU has two exceptional defensive ends that would have kept the bookends in place.

Overall... good game. Definitely gives us something to review in the film room and work on improvement. The biggest flaw... the stinking kick coverage... what is up with the all of the missed tackles in open field and free yardage?????

[CK Sooner]

Colt McCoy had 50 more rushing yards than we did. :O

Shhhh

;)

[Scott D]

Colt McCoy had 50 more rushing yards than we did. :O

*I* could rush for 80+ yards against what Arkansas has to field as a defense. With my two bad knees and bad back and extra weight.

[Soonerus]

Colt McCoy had 50 more rushing yards than we did. :O

Colt was playing against Deliverance tho'....

[aurorasooner]

Does Texass have the talent on the defensive side of the ball to stuff our run game like TCU did and keep our passing game in check? The wildcard in the RRR (outside of any key injuries to either team, or any freak opening game TOs), is Muschamp designing and implementing a scheme to not only stuff our run game but confuse Bradford, and KW not able or unwilling to adapt quickly. The Whorns haven't really played anybody. . Florida Atlantic is 1-3 and UTEP is 1-3 and in ESPN's bottom 10, Arkansas is horrible and should be in ESPN's bottom 10 except for a loser OOC and may lose the rest of their games. While I would like to have both OU/Texas undefeated in the RRR, I think we find out if the Texas D is for real next week in Boulder.
Looking at the probable top 5 next week, LSU is off, Alabama plays an undefeated Kentucky but Kentucky is like Texas and hasn't played anyone and the game is at 'Bama. Missouri plays a night game at Nebraska and probably will beat Nebraska by at least 3 TDs although a fired up Nebraska could score 28 points on them, so I wouldn't expect the top 5 to change. Unless we go down to Waco and just completely screw the pooch looks like a #1 OU vs a #5 Texas.

[Blue]

Do you think we'll get an OU-Texas bottom line on Espn? Me neither.

You know the scroll that goes along the bottom of the screen like when USC-OSU had their own scroll?

[aurorasooner]

Interesting Sam Bradford comment in the Norman Transcript. It appears that our fans aren't the only ones a little concerned about TCU stuffing our run game.
“We know that we obviously need to work on the running the ball better,” Bradford said. “If we come out and run it like that in conference we are going to get beat.”
http://www.normantranscript.com/sports/local_story_272005657.html?keyword=topstory also
“Regardless of how someone is play, you still should be able to move the football and create some seams,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “It’s o-line, it’s tight ends, it’s back, it’s everybody.”

Everybody but Bradford.

He was battered and even bloodied, thanks to some cleats that scraped his right leg. He was sacked four times and hit at least 10 more. But he stood up to all of it. From The FW Star-Telegram
"They have a tremendous defense," offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. "We scored 35 points against a good team. TCU publicly said you could not run on them, so there is no need in square pegging it, but we do need to run the ball better."http://www.star-telegram.com/college_sports/story/938473.html

[Blue]

Good to see Bradford realizing they're not world beaters.

Our O-line should have done better. TCU won't be #1 in rush defense when the season ends.

[stoopified]

One the oldest coaching axioms I have heard is take what D gives you and they were giving us pass.Add a few drawplays and screens to slow the rush and MAYBE the middle loosens.I don't like the second half prevent style offense Bob favors but wewon so I can live with it.

[oumartin]

TCU won't be #1 in rush defense when the season ends

Not so fast my friend. They play in a pass happy conference and are probably the class of their conference and fixin' to start Conference play. Don't be suprised to see them run the table.

[Johnny Utah]

A few weeks ago the question "has Murray lost some of his speed?" was raised. Irregardless of his 40 time, he is playing with less speed ... seemingly looking for something while tacklers close in on him rather than hitting a hole fast and hard. The o-line should shoulder a lot of the responsibility of keeping the defense from penetrating, however the best backs will be able to consistently make something out of nothing by either cutting back or bouncing out.

[ruf/nekdad]

And Antarctica is kind of chilly.
:D

[birddog]

Good to see Bradford realizing they're not world beaters.

Our O-line should have done better. TCU won't be #1 in rush defense when the season ends.

in that pass happy conference, it's very possible. but that wouldn't necessarily make them the best rushing defense in the country.

[badger]

NP Here.

I sat in a good position to see running lanes develop, and there was never anything there for our RBs. They were stuffing 8-9-10 guys in the box, and dared us to throw. We did. For 411 and 4 TDs. Wilson ran the ball because we were up by 30-frickin'-2 and didn't want to get Sam killed. Are you all nuts?

We killed the clock, got out of the game, and won by 25. When TCU scored their TD and the D looked a little off, Wilson threw the ball and went down to their side of the field to make them work for it and give the D a rest. Shock and awe, they were ready to go and killed TCU's QB. Game over.