DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!

[TahoeSOONER]

I know this may be stating the obvious but this defense needs to set the tone early and show it's idenity with a statement game agains't BYU. I want to see some lights outs, hold a quality BYU team under 10 points type game. The talk is nearly over and I see allot of potential with this group so it's time we see it on the field. We need to get back to the dominant defenses of the past to take pressure off this record breaking offense.

Kick it off already!

[Desert Sapper]

I want to see a shutout at least twice this season. If one of them comes in this game, awesome. Let's smack the blue paint off 'em and send 'em back to Utah bloody.

[JLEW1818]

Skip just said OUr defense will be 5 times better this year, and we beat Florida in a rematch

[w0lfe]

Skip just said OUr defense will be 5 times better this year, and we beat Florida in a rematch
That scares me

[JLEW1818]

hehe, i love skip!

[LawtonBoy74]

Defense will be ok, my concern now is Gresh being out.. I'm just worried about the flow of the offense without him

[w0lfe]

Defense will be ok, my concern now is Gresh being out.. I'm just worried about the flow of the offense without him
Maybe we will now go to more of a ground and pound game and this will give us the chance to see how our O-line does run blocking

[LawtonBoy74]

Maybe, but is that a good thing?? It takes away from Sam IMO

[w0lfe]

Maybe, but is that a good thing?? It takes away from Sam IMO

I think it could give Murray some more reps and gain some confidence back, i already know what Sam can do. And our offensive line

[LawtonBoy74]

In the end I think we will be okay with Hanna.. Sometimes you gotta look at situations like this as blessings because it will give us a great opportunity to give some younger guys quality experience, especially against a quality opponent

[Okie35]

Defense will be ok, my concern now is Gresh being out.. I'm just worried about the flow of the offense without him

It'll be alright I'm sure Hanna practices w/ the first team and he lines up against the nations best d-line.

[madillsoonerfan5353]

Defense will be ok, my concern now is Gresh being out.. I'm just worried about the flow of the offense without him And The SWAGGER that he has!!!!

[LawtonBoy74]

And The SWAGGER that he has!!!!

Thats very true!! He does have a swagger that the other TEs dont have

[Desert Sapper]

Everybody is talking about Hanna, and I think he showed some promise in the preseason, but the 2-deep lists Ratterree as the backup. I haven't seen anything about Trent Ratterree. No highlights, no nothing. If James Hanna is the for real backup, does somebody have something that says so?

[cougartroll2009]

I know this may be stating the obvious but this defense needs to set the tone early and show it's idenity with a statement game agains't BYU. I want to see some lights outs, hold a quality BYU team under 10 points type game. The talk is nearly over and I see allot of potential with this group so it's time we see it on the field. We need to get back to the dominant defenses of the past to take pressure off this record breaking offense.

I'm sure that Stoops and Co. are well aware of this, but the defensive key against Max Hall will be relentless pressure. He did not handle heavy pressure well last year (TCU, Utah, UofA) and turned the ball over a lot under it. I'm sure that BYU knows this, too, and hopefully has worked on what to do when it comes. Especially with their very young and inexperienced OL.

Having Austin Collie (BYU's career leader in receiving, NCAA leader last year, 1st year starter for the Colts this year) was actually a bit of a problem last year, because Hall seemed to only key in on him. He telegraphed his passes really badly against TCU and Utah, especially when keying in on Collie. Against Utah, he threw five INT's because he was trying to force it to Collie even under double coverage. And with the 5 INT's, Collie still had 150 yards receiving, and a near kickoff return for a touchdown.

The great BYU quarterbacks spread it out to lots of receivers and threw a lot to backs coming out of the backfield. While Jacobsen is potentially even better than Collie, if Hall spreads it around well and Unga has a good game on the ground, I think that we can handle the defensive pressure.

Stopping Bradford & Co. is a different story. We have some good (but untested) juco transfers, but they're pretty banged up. We weren't really able to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks last year, and if Bradford has all day to throw, it's over.

Everyone will know a lot more about their teams tomorrow night around 9:00 or so . . .

My hope is that

[StoopTroup]

I'm pretty sure I already know enough about BYU.

[Since71ASooner4Life]

Maybe we will now go to more of a ground and pound game and this will give us the chance to see how our O-line does run blocking

I think you are right on the money. Regardless of the Gresham injury, it seems ,to me that with two stud running backs returning and run blocking being easier for a somewhat inexperienced OL, that early in the season we would emphasize the run more anyway.

[CK Sooner]

Everybody is talking about Hanna, and I think he showed some promise in the preseason, but the 2-deep lists Ratterree as the backup. I haven't seen anything about Trent Ratterree. No highlights, no nothing. If James Hanna is the for real backup, does somebody have something that says so?

We will play both.

[Crucifax Autumn]

We're gonna see 10 sacks and at least 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions on their QB.