Just got back from Dallas, some notes

[JLEW1818]

First off, I would like to say congratulations to BYU, the Cougars were the better team, on 9/5/09. I would also like to say, yall have some of the classiest fans that I have ever seen. Good luck to you guys the rest of the season. Every fan i talked to said not having Sam was a big part of the reason. Very down to earth fans.


Game Notes, I'll keep it short, since there are probably a million threads on here anyway.


Offensive Line

choke, is the only word to describe it. Every player makes physical mistakes, the oLine made a bunch of mental mistakes. Or maybe the OLine is just not that good? I don't know, to early to tell. But i will be the first person to admit, that I totally 100% underrated last years offensive line, and overrated this years. They looked like a high school team.

WR

guess what? Same damn story, I underrated Manny and Iggy, BIG TIME. Okay, so maybe having Gresham out was a big loss, but other than Broyles, Our current WRs should not be used in the same sentence as Manny and Iggy, not even close. again, my fault, i underrated last years WRs, manny and iggy.


RB's

are Murray and Brown really good runningbacks? or did the last 2 years of offensive lines make them look good???


Defense

A+ all the way around. You gave up 14 points, that should be good enough to beat any team, ANY. Brent, i give you an A+.


Kevin Wilson??? sleeping the last 2 games? ;)


Bob Stoops

why were we not ready, why? Why does it seem like every time a coach has 2 or more weeks to prepare for you, they win? Sure we lost OUr starting quarterback in the first half. but 13 points? 13?? Bob, we are a great team, and have a lot of success, so who am i to say how you should coach? But obviously something of some sort has to change.


maybe it's just because this was the first game. but its not like you can just snap, and all of a sudden things will change. I don't know if this year looks like 2005, or 2006? not sure. hopefully neither.

Injuries could be a big reason why lost, who knows? I still think OU should have won, regardless. BYU aint a bad team, I'm not saying that.

The offensive line and WRs have to play better, obviously. Iggy and Manny started for like 3 years, i underestimated that experience big time.


I'm def not giving up on the season, don't get me wrong, i mean we still have a chance to go 13-1 still, if we want to. But we better take these next 2 weeks against Idaho st, and Tulsa to fix this crap. Because if we play like this in Miami, we will lose by 2+ Td's

At the end of they day, I'm still a Sooner, and I still feel like we can win every game. We just were not ready for this game... hopefully that is the answer (not because the oline sucks)...... i hope the oline is better than what it showed.


BOOMER SOONER

now lets go beat the living **** out of Idaho State

[CK Sooner]

The running backs did decent. I think Murray had above 5 yards per touch.

[OUHOMER]

Sorry, no way the D gets an A+. DB's were out of position too many times.

[LawtonBoy74]

I'm ready for next week just so I can see how we rebound..Is the game BYU/OU game available for live stream??

[LawtonBoy74]

The defense at least gets an A- but I'll give em an A...I mean 14 points is 14 points no matter how you look at it.. You would think if we only give up two touchdowns we win!! Simple as that

[JLEW1818]

The DB's did give up some big plays, but holding a team to 14 points, is an A in my book, always will be

[LawtonBoy74]

Agreed

[CK Sooner]

A- sounds good.

[85sooners]

defense did a great job

[okiewaker]

The OU fans get a D-. I was sitting in section 220 row 15 and for most of the game they sat and didn't make a peep. I was disgusted and yelled for them to make some noise but they continued sit and keep their mouths closed. I have no voice today.

[OUAlumni1990]

Just got back from Dallas also, I agree with most of your points, defense looked really good. If it wasn't for the defense, that game coulda gotten really ugly fast. I too miss Iglesias and M. Johnson like they were my long lost siblings. Gresham being gone really was a factor too, and obviously Bradford being out didn't help. Shat happens.

The BYU fans were not bad, I found the tards selling beer and water to be far more annoying...

[sooner518]

gotta disagree with the RB's, except for Murray's fumbles. Too many of their plays were called back due to holding though and we got put into a bunch of long yardage situations with false starts as well.

I felt like the O-line and QBs were out of sync all night. It always looked like either the O-line would move before Sam/Landry, or vice versa. even on plays when false starts werent called.

the WRs played terribly as well. a couple of dropped balls and I have to assume they really just werent getting open. i feel like Broyles disappeared after he scored his TD

[SoonerE]

We'll be back...we'll adjust. We're Sooners .. That's what we do....

Nice post...

E

[soonervegas]

They are an A defense, till it matters. See Texas and Florida 2008 and BYU 2OO9.

[LawtonBoy74]

Some OU fans dont really get excited at games as other fan bases..My cousin went to a LSU game a couple years ago he said everyone was so loud and drunk throughout the whole game he couldn't belive the atmosphere.. I think some of it has to do with our conservative mindset

[IslandSooner]

I pretty much agree with jlew acroos the board.
BYU fans were great fans for the most part.
*Kevin Wilson* I dont understand why we come out of a timeout in crunch time and immediately start trying to audible with a freshman qb.

[JLEW1818]

we really just need to beat the hell out of Idaho St. gain some confidence


have not had time to look at all the threads, estimated time for Gresham and Sam??? any word yet?

[CK Sooner]

we really just need to beat the hell out of Idaho St. gain some confidence


have not had time to look at all the threads, estimated time for Gresham and Sam??? any word yet?

No word on either. Rumors were flying around that Sam had rotator cuff problem which could be season ending, but those are just rumors.

[JLEW1818]

one last thing, if we had Gresham, i think most of OUr third downs would have been completed...

[CBUS_SOONER]

I thought the D gave up some big plays... A+ is too high IMHO... I will say this... Gerald McCoy was the best player on the field and maybe the best in the nation... His play was inspiring

[TXBOOMER]

The DB's did give up some big plays, but holding a team to 14 points, is an A in my book, always will be

Overall, the D wasn't bad. And I agree we should darn sure score more than 14 every time but they weren't all that either. BYU had a turnover deep and had a field goal called back. The worse thing about the D was the winning drive in the 4th quarter ate up about 8 minutes. Obviously the O-Line and WR's need mega improvement but the D is also gonna need to get better.

P.S. Gerald McCoy gets an A+ He was the best player on the field bar none.

[stoopified]

The running backs did decent. I think Murray had above 5 yards per touch.Brown had 14-59 yards,Murray 10-58,Murray lost a fumble.

[Partial Qualifier]

those of you who are teeth-gnashing about the D giving up "too many big plays" need to take a deep breath and realize we can't keep punting the ball, not scoring points, and expect the D to force 3-and-outs over and over.

Would it be nice to have a D that gives up zero points so we can win games when our offense lays a big fat egg? Yes. Is it realistic? No.

[CK Sooner]

Brown had 14-59 yards,Murray 10-58,Murray lost a fumble.

102 yards is decent.

[Sooner04]

The running backs did decent. I think Murray had above 5 yards per touch.
How many yards did Murray have per fumble?

[JLEW1818]

102 yards is decent.

but how many passing yards did we have? 200 rushing yards would have been nice... :D

[VA Sooner]

McCoy was the beast on the field... was inspiring for the rest of the D but there were a few key missed assignments. I thought overall, the D did well... give them an A.

O-Line... we are in big trouble. Cory Brandon having 6 penalties? Settle down.

[SoonersBIG7]

I would like to see the line something like this next week: Williams, Simmons, Habern,Good, Jones, Eldridge.
giving up only 14 points is excellent, but not a perfect score when your offense only manages 13... I realize that they had to be flat out exhausted, but you can't give up the last touchdown to take the lead. so its hard for me to give them a A+ but an A is acceptable. Special Teams looks good punt return could use some more work... We also need to find a way to utilize all three backs Calhoun looked good for the 1 run he had...Earth, Wind, and Fire anyone?????

[okiewaker]

McCoy was the beast on the field... was inspiring for the rest of the D but there were a few key missed assignments. I thought overall, the D did well... give them an A.

O-Line... we are in big trouble. Cory Brandon having 6 penalties? Settle down.

If there wasn't talent and athleticism on the O-line, I'd say there is trouble, but they do. Penalties are an easy fix. And yes, McCoy was a beast.

[BoomerJ]

102 yards is decent.

But all we needed was one more yard on one particular play....we win.

[Funky G]

Sorry, no way the D gets an A+. DB's were out of position too many times.

14 points with all the time of possession, against an historically prolific scoring team is hard to argue against.

I thought the D did pretty well considering their situations for most of the game. BYU ran a controlled "possession" passing game. Our O went 3 and out all night...

[unbiasedtruth]

the back 7 of OU's defense looked confused at times. I dont know how many times TL looked to the sidelines on 3rd and long and put his hands up in the air as if he was saying with body language "what are we suppose to do?". Surprisingly the BYU would then convert a 3rd and long.

my take what hurt the most was 2 for 11 on 3rd down conversions due to stupid *** penalties on 1st down. The 1st two possessions of the 2nd half are classic examples after the defense stopped BYU forcing punts. Both times on 1st down after a nice plays and substantial plays of 10+ yards the offense was called for an illegal block below the waist and holding. Instead of 2nd and short or a new set of downs it became 1st and 20 and 1st and 25. It was undisciplined play by the Sooner offense that cost the Sooners dearly as LJ never settle in at QB.

and dont get me started on critical drops by OUr wideouts on passes that hit their hands....

or the fact the OU offense could not handle the blitzing done by the BYU defense.....

[bluedogok]

Defense - Played a great game overall but were just worn out by the end of the game due to offensive ineptness. I saw too many BYU series extended by plays in the "Shipley Zone" and a first down out if it even on longer conversions (as unbiased stated). They really tried nothing down the field to test the DB's deep. You would think that since the BYU offense and the Tech offense are very closely related they could figure out how to stop that short zone in the middle stuff, they definitely need to address that before Whorn game. McCoy, Reynolds and Wilson were outstanding, #20 had some big plays.

Offense - The offense looked poor even with Sam in there, too many drops and penalties and the play calling sucked. For awhile there it seemed all they wanted to do was run (with Sam in) with BYU playing a 5-5-1 defense. They really tried NOTHING down the field all night (with Sam or Landry) that I remember, but I haven't watched the game on the DVR yet. I thought Landry played well considering the circumstances and didn't get much help, he performed much better than I was anticipating at the half. For some reason both teams had troubles with delay penalties, I wondered if the officiating crew was setting things quicker than the coaches expected or were calling a 25 sec. clock instead of a 40 sec. clock in some cases.

To me kicking field goals when you are inside the 10 loses you games, when you have the ball inside there and you settle for a FG you gave away 4 points. I think it would be better to turn the ball over on the 1 and let the defense try to create field position for you. There have been too many games where it seems like the lost opportunities have cost a game.

Special teams - Big improvement over last season, so far. Not many kickoffs to tell how much they are improved but they did perform well on the few they had.

[A-M]

Sorry, no way the D gets an A+. DB's were out of position too many times.

I'm with you on this. However, we may be the only 2 on this board who think this.

[Lott's Bandana]

Defense:

A+ is for shutouts.

Any A must be a win.

The defense looked like it wasn't their first game of the year and that is a tremendous accomplishment.

Offside penalties, missed end-zone coverage, some poor tackling take away from what were some tremendous individual performances by Lewis, McCoy, Reynolds, Beal and English along with holding BYU to 14 pts.

Those 8-12 yard curls are a product of our Cover-2 and simply cannot be completely eliminated. It has taken me several years, but I have grown to understand this and keep my cool. When the field gets compressed, out D usually stands tall. (see every thread for the last few years trying to fire BV...it's all there.)

B+

[westbrooke]

I'm with you on this. However, we may be the only 2 on this board who think this.

Franks was the big disappointment to me. I haven't watched any replays, but I remember sitting in the stands thinking "What the hell did you just bite on?" With relatively inexperienced safeties, I just don't see how someone seasoned like Franks was letting his man get behind him so frequently.

That said, holding BYU to 14 should have been good enough to win. Call it whatever letter grade you want, but I think we can agree it should have ended in a W. I won't get a chance to see the Idaho St game next week, but I sincerely hope that when I come back here after the game I'm reading about how much better our secondary played. McCoy and the line: carry on.

[Curly Bill]

The defense was a C.

Couldn't get off the field on 3rd down, gave up over 300 yards passing, and couldn't get the crucial stop at the end of the game.

McCoy was a beast, T Lewis was really good, and I think Clayton was good. Otherwise, meh...

[spatton713]

have to agree with westbrooke dom franks was a dissapointment. and i dont understand how we can shut down the best short passing game in the country in tech and let byu connect all day. I understand with the cover 2 we will allow some completions we cant stop everything but after 3 quarters of it not working they need to change something. Ill give the defense a B+ 14 points I will take everyweek but a loss is a loss and the stats do no look good like TOP and passing yards. Ill give the offense a C-

[JLEW1818]

well if the defense does not get an A


THE OFFENSE GETS A "Z"

[A-M]

Franks was the big disappointment to me. I haven't watched any replays, but I remember sitting in the stands thinking "What the hell did you just bite on?" With relatively inexperienced safeties, I just don't see how someone seasoned like Franks was letting his man get behind him so frequently.

That said, holding BYU to 14 should have been good enough to win. Call it whatever letter grade you want, but I think we can agree it should have ended in a W. I won't get a chance to see the Idaho St game next week, but I sincerely hope that when I come back here after the game I'm reading about how much better our secondary played. McCoy and the line: carry on.

I thought that Franks played like it was his first college game. With our Oline being so new and with Sam out for who knows how long, holding the other team to only 14 points may not win us many games this year.

[silverwheels]

The defense was a C.

Couldn't get off the field on 3rd down, gave up over 300 yards passing, and couldn't get the crucial stop at the end of the game.

McCoy was a beast, T Lewis was really good, and I think Clayton was good. Otherwise, meh...

Yeah, and of course we telegraphed our blitzes way too many times, a Venables trademark...along with having a drive or two per game where he calls the wrong play every time and the opposing OC looks like the best in the game. Definitely not an A+ game from them. Way too inconsistent. But yeah, McCoy is without a doubt the best player on the field for the Sooners now with Sam out. He is soooo good.

BYU played pretty poorly and still won. Have to give them props for hanging in there, taking our punches, and making plays when it counted. That's something a Sooner team hasn't done in a long time. If we're not up by 4 TDs at halftime, we're in trouble. And I don't count the OSU game from last year. If not for their horrible defense and just general Aggieness, we probably would not have won.

[LawtonBoy74]

I wish we did the exact opposite sometimes..instead of telegraphing blitzes we should fake blitz and drop into zones or drop a DL into a zone..."zone blitzing" like we did some against Florida to confuse Tebow