OU passing game -from the '30's to now

[stoopified]

Those of us who have followed OU for at least 30 years or so know what a change this offense is from OUr past or do we?

I recall Switzer and his philosophy on the passing game-THREE THINGS CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU PSS AND TWO OF THEM ARE BAD.Apparently the fact that a dozen things can happen on a triple option and ELEVEN of them are bad is beside the point.In any case the point of this is to show the evolution of the OU passing game from a statistical point of view.


The earliest QB passing stats I can find are for INDIAN Jack Jacobs who played from '39-'41.

Jacobs Career stats:
106-211 50.2% 9 TDs-21 Ints

We all know Barry didn't like to pass,how about Bud?Obviously Bud liked passing even less.I think his attitude must have been : NOTHING GOOD COMES VIA THE AIR.

Below are his top 3 passers

Claude Arnold 83-160 51.9% 18 TDs/11 Ints 1593 yds

Eddie Crowder 61-110 55.5 % 11 TDs/4 Ints 1189 yds

Darryl Royal 74-163 44.1% 12 TDs/17 Ints 1129 yds

Comparitively speaking Barry is starting to look like a passing guru,here are his top 3 passers:

Jamelle Holieway 117-257 45.5% 22TDs/15 Ints 2,430 yds

Danny Bradley 143-311 46.0 % 16 TDs/16 Ints 2,364 yds

JC Watts 96-213 45.1% 9 TDs/19 Ints2,081 yds.

Bob of course brought The Oklahoma Stampede spread offense and here are his top 3 passers:

White 627-990 63.3% 81 TDs/24 Ints 7,922 yds

Bradford 656-824 67.2 % 86 TDs/16 Ints 7,841 yds

Heupel 654-1,025 63.8 % 53 TDs/31 Ints 7,456 yds

By era it appears the OU passing attack went from horse and buggy to space age between Wilkinson and Stoops.There is one era missing statistically speaking from the list and that is Owen.He did have a reputation as a passing pioneer while at OU from 1905-1926.Two of his passers -Spot Geyer('13-'15) and Claude Reeds('11-'14) are listed as All-American by OU and are in the College Football Hall of Fame.During one season Reeds is said to have exceeded a MILE (1760 + yards) in a single season.Sadly there are no statistical records to verify Reeds or Geyer as passers.

As a footnote IF Reeds 1760+ passing yards were accepted for a career (much less a single season) he would have been the OU CAREER passing leader until Bobby Warmack came along (1966-1968).Did Stoops change the culture of OU football? I think so.

[OU Adonis]

The Wishbone was the best offense ever invented. No need to throw it under the bus because you like passing offenses.

[stoopified]

The Wishbone was the best offense ever invented. No need to throw it under the bus because you like passing offenses. The point of this thread was to show the evolution of OU's passing game over the years,not a preference for passing vs. running. Apparently you missed the comparison to Bud's even greater diddain for passing.

I didn't throw the Bone under the bus.I simply pointed out that while Bob's teams throw the balll 5 times more than Barry's teams did,they STILL are less turnover prone.I do agree that the Wishbone is the best RUNNING OFFENSE ever invented but best offense? I don't think so.Way too turnover prone and one-dimensional.Don'r get me wrong I loved the Wishbone BUT its day is past.In todays game you have to be able to run and pass.

[tigepilot]

I agree with Switzer on this one in that it's about personnel. If you can get good players to run the bone it would still be great today. You just can't recruit those 5 star players to do that anymore because they're knowledgeable enough to know that it's the wrong kind of offense to prepare them for the NFL.

I often hear people say it wouldn't work because defenses are so much faster now. Why would the defensive players get faster but the offensive players not?



Regarding personal preference for watching... I like anything but the 'west coast' offense that dominates the NFL. Wishbone, I-bone, veer, spread, 'pro-style', power, whatever... it's all fun as long as the right personnel are in place.

[insuranceman_22]

I liked the Ninja!

[OU Adonis]

The point of this thread was to show the evolution of OU's passing game over the years,not a preference for passing vs. running. Apparently you missed the comparison to Bud's even greater diddain for passing.

I didn't throw the Bone under the bus.I simply pointed out that while Bob's teams throw the balll 5 times more than Barry's teams did,they STILL are less turnover prone.I do agree that the Wishbone is the best RUNNING OFFENSE ever invented but best offense? I don't think so.Way too turnover prone and one-dimensional.Don'r get me wrong I loved the Wishbone BUT its day is past.In todays game you have to be able to run and pass.

The wishbone has won more NC's than the Spread has. And a one dimensional offense can work if you actually execute it right.

Besides the Wishbone isn't truely one dimensional if you look at it this way, you spread the ball around, its just in the backfield where it gets spread around.

Anyways I am out. Don't want to threadjack too much :D

[fadada1]

i'm convinced that if stoops want to, he could revamp the offense in under 1 week, and properly and effectively run the wishbone. would it make sense??? no. but it would be hella cool to do that against idaho state.

[Statalyzer]

THREE THINGS CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU PSS AND TWO OF THEM ARE BAD.

I always thought that was a silly phrase. Apparently it's referring to completions, incompletions, and interceptions. But you could divide running plays into "gain yardage", "lose yardage", and fumbles and make the same statement. Although then you could also add "get sacked" into the passing category.....

[ndpruitt03]

By era it appears the OU passing attack went from horse and buggy to space age between Wilkinson and Stoops.There is one era missing statistically speaking from the list and that is Owen.He did have a reputation as a passing pioneer while at OU from 1905-1926.Two of his passers -Spot Geyer('13-'15) and Claude Reeds('11-'14) are listed as All-American by OU and are in the College Football Hall of Fame.During one season Reeds is said to have exceeded a MILE (1760 + yards) in a single season.Sadly there are no statistical records to verify Reeds or Geyer as passers.

Have to bump this because I recently found an interesting article from the 40s about this. Still doesn't have his stats which I've been looking for forever. Maybe the actual stats just don't exist. And this article which was written by press pioneer Harold Keith. It said that Geyer threw for over 1800 yards a season his 2 years as a starter in 1914 and 1915 and he threw for some yards his sophomore season but I can't find an exact number. The thing that drives me crazy is that it doesn't have his exact numbers other than to say it was 1800+ yards a season. It also went on to say in this article that throwing for 1800+ yards in a season may not be possible because of how good pass defenses had become.

[rawlingsHOH]

I recall Switzer and his philosophy on the passing game-THREE THINGS CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU PSS AND TWO OF THEM ARE BAD.Apparently the fact that a dozen things can happen on a triple option and ELEVEN of them are bad is beside the point.In any case the point of this is to show the evolution of the OU passing game from a statistical point of view.


You're right that statement doesn't make sense, at all. Always hated the expression.

[Jacie]

Coined sometime after the third game of the 1977 season was a new statistic: pitchouts attempted-pitchouts completed . . .

As for Spot Geyer, according to Soonerstats, his name is, no kidding, Forest Geyer.

[ndpruitt03]

His middle name is Parke. Forest Parke Geyer. Anyway here's a link to the article I referred to earlier. It also describes his debut.



Where Geyer would hit 1,800 yards per season and White and Dunlap around 800, Baer's total was 430, McCullough's 647 and Clark's 433. And yet all three were corking throwers .
http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p30-33_1940v12n12.pdf

[Jdog]

Those of us who have followed OU for at least 30 years or so know what a change this offense is from OUr past or do we?

I recall Switzer and his philosophy on the passing game-THREE THINGS CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU PSS AND TWO OF THEM ARE BAD.Apparently the fact that a dozen things can happen on a triple option and ELEVEN of them are bad is beside the point.In any case the point of this is to show the evolution of the OU passing game from a statistical point of view.

Darryl Royal was the first person that I heard use the "3 things" quote. I think though that he had attributed it to Bud.

[boomermagic]

Darryl Royal was the first person that I heard use the "3 things" quote. I think though that he had attributed it to Bud.


I believe Royal WAS the first..

Yes, The bone is THE BEST ever IMO.. OU could pass from the bone It wasn't like they couldn't... Most of the time we didn't need to pass..

[goingoneight]

Maybe it's just too much playbook to combine the two, but boomermagic is right... if your sole focus was the ground game (AKA wishbone), it's not like there's no such thing as play-action. You can score a lot of points through the air... you can control a football game on the ground.