Don't fire BV...

[boomersooner2001]

I am one fan who is not for firing BV. The man is Sooner family, and has a huge part in bringing OUr program back to prominance after the Blake and Schnelly years. I think he's a helluva LB coach, and the whole program would be hurt if he wasn't here coaching that position. I believe that we have 11 of the most talented players on the field at any one time when we are on defense, but I can't help but think because of BV's defensive schemes their talent isn't utilized to it's full potential. I would like to see OUr defensive schemes tweaked to maximize the players full potential.

[Husker Penguin]

Don't fire him, yet. I can't wait for the Huskers to shred your pathetic defense!

[sooner59]

I will definitely give him this.....I have have watched the Kansas State replay twice now on the OU channel and after breaking everything down and watching the defense, Venables is MUCH less to blame than the heart of the players on defense. Nic Harris, who is supposed to be all-world, did not play fundamentally sound. And I know that Austin Box has been coached intensively for the last few weeks at MLB and he was just making rookie mistakes, it happens with new guys. Box will eventually get it. Harris has no excuse. It looked to me like the defense just didn't have their head in the game. I am by no means a Venables advocate, but after watching two recaps of the game, I say it was only maybe 25-35% his fault.

[JLEW1818]

YOUR RIGHT WE SHOULD NOT FIRE HIM BECAUSE HE IS SOONER FAMILY.


SO HE SHOULD STEP DOWN ON HIS OWN. HE WOULD IF HE WAS LOYAL TO THE SOONER FAMILY.

[aurorasooner]

You guys are nutz for wanting to fire BV. I watched that game back on the DVR and slow motioned all of our defensive SUK plays, and not only the new guys but all of our seasoned starters played like rooks. I can't believe our older guys aren't stepping up with some leadership since RR got injured, although I did read that NH is sucking wind because he's having to play on all the KO and Punt teams, which may be one of the problems in that we can't get any of these BU defensive 2nd/3rd teamers to give us some quality KO coverage to give the defensive starters a blow. I don't know how many more defensive starters we've had to play on KO/punt coverage, but that stinks when you can't get some of these Frosh/Soph BU noobs to head-hunt a little on a KO.

[Leroy Lizard]

SO HE SHOULD STEP DOWN ON HIS OWN. HE WOULD IF HE WAS LOYAL TO THE SOONER FAMILY.

Shhhhhhhh.

You assume that BV thinks that he is the main problem. I doubt he does.

[boomersooner2001]

I will definitely give him this.....I have have watched the Kansas State replay twice now on the OU channel and after breaking everything down and watching the defense, Venables is MUCH less to blame than the heart of the players on defense. Nic Harris, who is supposed to be all-world, did not play fundamentally sound. And I know that Austin Box has been coached intensively for the last few weeks at MLB and he was just making rookie mistakes, it happens with new guys. Box will eventually get it. Harris has no excuse. It looked to me like the defense just didn't have their head in the game. I am by no means a Venables advocate, but after watching two recaps of the game, I say it was only maybe 25-35% his fault.

I totally agree with you. I don't think OUr defensive guys have played with that killer instinct the past couple of years, with the exception of the Big 12 Championship last year. That defensive performance reminded me of the good ol' days when Mike and Brent were roaming the sidelines together.

[wishbonesooner]

So who gets them fired up? What needs to happen? I see teams playing every weekend that play hard and play good defense. What the heck needs to happen?

[JLEW1818]

Okay we gave up 550 yards to K state, people act like we are just going to shut down tech and Oklahoma State... I don't see it happening. How many career records have we giving away to other teams this year.

[BoonesFarmSooner]

Do NOT Fire John Blake. He is Family!

oh, wait.... carry on

[1890MilesToNorman]

Oklahoma standards are very very high but calling for firing anyone with the team record of 7-1 is beyond me. And the one loss against the number one team in the country.
:confused:

[boomersooner2001]

So who gets them fired up? What needs to happen? I see teams playing every weekend that play hard and play good defense. What the heck needs to happen?

This is entirely up to the players to get themselves and each other fired up. BV and BS can jump and scream and do all they can in the lockerroom and on the sidelines to fire them up, but ultimately it's the players responsibilty.

[badger]

Ok, so last game's problem was that the entire team was dogging it because it was Kansas State. Something tells me we'll be up for Nebraska.

[madillsoonerfan5353]

Oklahoma standards are very very high but calling for firing anyone with the team record of 7-1 is beyond me. And the one loss against the number one team in the country.
:confused:

It's not just this year, last year the turd left on the field in Boulder, another BCS blow out where the D looked like a high school D!!! ect.

[TUSooner]

Oklahoma standards are very very high but calling for firing anyone with the team record of 7-1 is beyond me. And the one loss against the number one team in the country.
:confused:


On the surface this makes sense. Lots of teams would like to be OU, w/ BV and all. But OUr standards are high, and games where we score 50+ but still bite our nails are hardly comforting.

I will say this: Our O-line has gotten criticized for a sometimes weak running game, but Sam has been well protected thus far. I fear the game where Sam faces big-time pressure, or is a little off, or where there's a glitch in our high-tech passing attack, and some other team with a top-rank offense (TTEch or oSu?) torches us. We simply must play better defense or we'll be 7-3 and the BV excuse makers will have some real 'splainin to do.

[badger]

We simply must play better defense or we'll be 7-3 and the BV excuse makers will have some real 'splainin to do.

Why splain anything? A lot of people have already splained it all even though it hasn't happened yet :D:D:D

Oh, what the heck. Here's the splaination:

We just lost to Nebraska and Texas A&M because of Brent Venables. Brent Venables allowed those teams to score points, gain yards and curse at old ladies. Granted, we actually did not technically lose those games, and the orange flying on the field at the end of the 4th quarter allowed Nebraska to score those last-second points through penalties, and while A&M didn't score any points and we scored 70... dang it :mad: IT'S THE PRINCIPLE! We should have beaten Nebraska by three more points than we did because Neb shouldn't have gotten that field goal! OH! And 70-0 is NOT acceptable when we beat them by 77 only a few seasons ago under the almighty Mike Stoops! Our defense should have held them to seven fewer points so our margin of victory could have been the same! But really, the only reason I'm complaining is because I lost money because we didn't beat the spread. Raaaaaagggge.

;)

[TUSooner]

Why splain anything? A lot of people have already splained it all even though it hasn't happened yet :D:D:D

Oh, what the heck. Here's the splaination:

We just lost to Nebraska and Texas A&M because of Brent Venables. Brent Venables allowed those teams to score points, gain yards and curse at old ladies. Granted, we actually did not technically lose those games, and the orange flying on the field at the end of the 4th quarter allowed Nebraska to score those last-second points through penalties, and while A&M didn't score any points and we scored 70... dang it :mad: IT'S THE PRINCIPLE! We should have beaten Nebraska by three more points than we did because Neb shouldn't have gotten that field goal! OH! And 70-0 is NOT acceptable when we beat them by 77 only a few seasons ago under the almighty Mike Stoops! Our defense should have held them to seven fewer points so our margin of victory could have been the same! But really, the only reason I'm complaining is because I lost money because we didn't beat the spread. Raaaaaagggge.

;)

70-0 wins in the rest of OUr games would stop me from complaining. :)

[boomermagic]

I am one fan who is not for firing BV. The man is Sooner family, and has a huge part in bringing OUr program back to prominance after the Blake and Schnelly years. I think he's a helluva LB coach, and the whole program would be hurt if he wasn't here coaching that position. I believe that we have 11 of the most talented players on the field at any one time when we are on defense, but I can't help but think because of BV's defensive schemes their talent isn't utilized to it's full potential. I would like to see OUr defensive schemes tweaked to maximize the players full potential.

I totally agree.. Venables is a good recruiter and great Lbers coach..

[8timechamps]

Let's face it, there are some fans (whether is be at OU or any other football powerhouse) that will call for the head of someone every year their (our) team doesn't go 13-0.

For me, I think a top 25 defense over the last four years is a solid performance. It's so easy to blame one coach when things don't work perfect. The difference is that we are 7-1 and ranked 4 in the BCS. If we were 4-4 or even close to being average, I'd be much more inclined to join the lynch mob. We're not, and I'm not.

Youth on defense is way to underrated.

[The Maestro]

John Blake was family and he could recruit like a mad man...see Roy Williams.

It's been three straight game, folks. Not one or two plays here and there.

Repeating...most points AGAIN ever allowed to texas as they kept running the same stuff over and over and over and over...

260-plus yards to the same receiver for Kansas as they kept throwing to him over and over and over and over...

500 yards passing allowed to KSU while our LB (Keenan Clayton) keeps covering their fastest receiver.

If and when we turn it around, I will admit to great adjustments. But like jlew said, what have we seen that makes us think we can slow down tech and osu?

[jrboomersooner]

surely you would agree (insert airplane joke) that we are making some slightly above average teams in kansas look like they have a powerhouse offense. the problem that i see is that when we do go to ttech, how bad is it going to be?

another thing is, if the players are out of position and they are supposed to be "all world" like harris--who's to say whether that is the players fault or bad coaching? these players were obviously talented or else they wouldn't have been recruited by other big name schools. the question is are we wasting that talent?

[SoonerWally]

I saw missed tackles from guys you don't expect it from along with bad angles and missed assignments that led to points. It seems like every time a mistake was made on defense, somebody was going to the house. Our defense looks very tentative at times.

[DangTire]

I am one fan who is not for firing BV. The man is Sooner family, and has a huge part in bringing OUr program back to prominance after the Blake and Schnelly years. I think he's a helluva LB coach, and the whole program would be hurt if he wasn't here coaching that position. I believe that we have 11 of the most talented players on the field at any one time when we are on defense, but I can't help but think because of BV's defensive schemes their talent isn't utilized to it's full potential. I would like to see OUr defensive schemes tweaked to maximize the players full potential.

You're assuming he's actually capable of know what that scheme might be. I think that's kind of a stretch given his past performance. He's simply not capable of being a good coordinator.

[boomersooner2001]

You're assuming he's actually capable of know what that scheme might be. I think that's kind of a stretch given his past performance. He's simply not capable of being a good coordinator.

I suppose I left my post incomplete. What I should have ended it with, and what I've posted before is that I would like to see some new ideas introduced to OUr defense. If that means bring a new DC then so be it. BV is a great LB coach, and that's where he should be now, strictly concentrating on the LBs. I'd like to see someone who has the DC background to change things up and find new ways to stop the ginormous offensive numbers we've been giving up.

The most frustrating thing is this.....just like a post earlier said, it's not a miracle play here and there that's beating us, but the damn 4 and 5 yard passes over the middle of the field that eats us up. If it was the hail mary type play, then we all could chalk it up to the other team got lucky. But as we all know, it's the sam sh** week in and week out. I hope BS makes some adjustments, I just don't think you fire BV in the process.

[ARW3]

A well coached defense is defined by its discipline, mastery of fundamentals and lack of mistakes. Yet, somehow, we're supposed to believe that when our defense exhibits the opposite then BV is not at fault. Amazing.

[Dan Thompson]

Comparing the Baylor/NU and Baylor/OU QB performances

NU 32-46 336 3 TDs
OU 23-31-1 372 2 TDs

I'm not sure what it means, may be NU will throw a lot of short passes over the middle.

[Soonermagik]

Our offense has done wonders since Chuck Long left and I too called for his head. He had his supporters, but they seem to be pretty quiet these days.

Oh.. how is he doing at San Diego State? Hmm...

Brent Venables is allowing too many points per game for as much talent that is on the field. Call it bad schemes, say it's because he's terrible at making adjustments, or say it's because he's not a good coach. He's not getting it done, so I hope they fire him.

Heck, Sam Bradford and our offense put up 30 points on Texas, so what else do we want them to do? Our special teams gave up 7, but the rest came from poor defense.

[The Maestro]

A well coached defense is defined by its discipline, mastery of fundamentals and lack of mistakes. Yet, somehow, we're supposed to believe that when our defense exhibits the opposite then BV is not at fault. Amazing.

Damn good noobie post.

[StoopTroup]

I suppose I left my post incomplete. What I should have ended it with, and what I've posted before is that I would like to see some new ideas introduced to OUr defense. If that means bring a new DC then so be it. BV is a great LB coach, and that's where he should be now, strictly concentrating on the LBs. I'd like to see someone who has the DC background to change things up and find new ways to stop the ginormous offensive numbers we've been giving up.

The most frustrating thing is this.....just like a post earlier said, it's not a miracle play here and there that's beating us, but the damn 4 and 5 yard passes over the middle of the field that eats us up. If it was the hail mary type play, then we all could chalk it up to the other team got lucky. But as we all know, it's the sam sh** week in and week out. I hope BS makes some adjustments, I just don't think you fire BV in the process.


Good post.

Anyone that thinks firing the DC while your Team is a #4 BCS Bowl Contender has to have lost their marbles.

I can understand being frustrated and not confident going into these last few games. I just don't understand the sudden rush to fire someone.

Prior to the RRSO there were plenty of longtime posters here with concerns about our Defense. Deservedly so IMO. Cinncinati, Washington and Baylor should have been shutouts. The Chattanooga game was a shoutout except for the bad snap to Knall's in the EZ.

The Kickoff team has caused way more problems for us that the Defense IMO.

Prior to the season starting...many of you here were concerned about Reynolds and whether or not he would be able to be effective and be durable. The answer to that came during the RRSO this year. We still haven't gotten over it either.

I'm not sure we will either. I hope we do but I believe there is a large amount of folks out there who have lost faith that Stoops can pull it off. That has resulted in the Media piling on now.

This is the kind of crap I hate as a fan.

I think you have to look to the positives and hope that your Team's Strengths can overcome the weaknesses that develop from injuries to key players. Coaches can try to plan for the loss of key guys but ultimately it's up the the guys in the depth chart to step up when called on.

We're still looking for our next MLB IMO.

Pressure is now on the other key Defensive Players to help and lead. Sometimes that leads to a complete meltdown.

I hope we don't see that occur...

I'm not going to start bagging on Coaches or Players because I still believe OUr Team is intact and that anyone who plays us this year is going to have to come up with a Defense that can stop our Offense.

Even texas couldn't stop us...and they are sitting in the number one spot just like we were a few weeks ago.

They struggled at Home to outscore aggy.

Aggy seems much improved...aggy seems motivated...aggy still has to play sand aggy on the road before we get sand aggy at Home and then face aggy in stoolwater. That's alot of football still to be played before I'm going to start crying like some "Sky is falling Chicken Little".

I like OUr chances to finish undefeated the rest of the way.

The 1st thing we need to do is dispatch the Huskers.

[OU_Sooners75]

One of the most talented squads OU has ever had is also suffering one of the worst defensive efforts that I have ever seen.

Lets face it folks...We will never see #8 if we continue to allow the crap we are seeing on defense.

1. If you do fire Brent Venables, then what do you do? BV is a decent recruiter and a damn good LB coach.
2. If you do not fire BV, then how will he take it if Stoops hires another DC to even help him out?
3. He may be part of the Sooner Family, but I couldn't care less if he was part of the staff that revived our winning traditions or not. He is not a very good defensive coordinator.
4. There is a reason there are not a bunch of teams looking to hire Brent Venables.

My Suggestion...If we do not fire him...demote him from DC, hire a new guy. Give BV a Bull**** title like assistant head coach....oh wait he already has that title.

While we are at it, Bob Stoops needs to create a new position and make Bobby Jack Wright the man of that position and hire a real DB coach!

I know, better yet, Bob Stoops needs to stop being freakishly loyal to his coaches and realize that if he wishes to gain his nick name back, "Big Game Bob," or even win another National Championship he needs to do something.

[StoopTroup]

One of the most talented squads OU has ever had is also suffering one of the worst defensive efforts that I have ever seen.
I have to agree...



I know, better yet, Bob Stoops needs to stop being freakishly loyal to his coaches and realize that if he wishes to gain his nick name back, "Big Game Bob," or even win another National Championship he needs to do something.

I agree with you there too about the loyal stuff...

I think he was trying to get BV to the next step up.

This one may have hurt us and it looks like he should have made a change before this season.

Easy to armchair QB this thing now though.

Hopefully Bob and Brent can get us through these next two games and turn the Defense around as well as the kickoff squad.

I was glad to see some turnovers last week even though we saw so many yards of offense against us. Big plays at the right time help. To bad we didn't have a couple of extra in Dallas.

[Crucifax Autumn]

Why not just hire away some great coaches from other schools, leave BV alone, and give the new guys a fair amount of power over the positions they coach? BV would be happy as long as the D got better and the other guys could be part of our amazing stepping stone for coaches getting to the next level? Then we do it again...and again...

[OU_Sooners75]

Why not just hire away some great coaches from other schools, leave BV alone, and give the new guys a fair amount of power over the positions they coach? BV would be happy as long as the D got better and the other guys could be part of our amazing stepping stone for coaches getting to the next level? Then we do it again...and again...

So you are suggesting to leave BV at DC and just hire better position coaches? That will not solve a damn thing. It means BV will have better coaches but he will still be in charge of the defense.

To be honest, the only defensive position coach that could be replaced is the DB coach...but BJW is way to valuable to get rid of.

[RedstickSooner]

I know, better yet, Bob Stoops needs to stop being freakishly loyal to his coaches and realize that if he wishes to gain his nick name back, "Big Game Bob," or even win another National Championship he needs to do something.

Yeah, think this is the most crucial part. I'm still amazed SDSU took Long off our hands -- and if they hadn't, I think he'd still be coaching, no matter how he stunk the place up.

I don't think, to Stoops, that a national championship is worth firing someone he has gone out of his way to groom for a head coaching gig of their own. I mean, how many titles does he have to give Vulnerables before he just calls him, "Coach In Charge of Clearly Being Ready to be Hired to Run His Own Team".

Loyalty is a good thing, but with the way Stoops strives to get his guys their own HC positions, it means that mediocre coaches will gradually accumulate and clog up the team. Great coaches get cherry picked, and we get left with the fruit nobody else wants.

And for the record, while I want Vulnerables replaced, I don't know that replacing him mid-season is a good idea. Quite the opposite. I'm just praying this is his last year in Norman (as I can't see him accepting a demotion back to LB coach).