The Team's We Lost To

[King Barry's Back]

Folks, I've been as frustrated by this 5-loss season as anybody on this board. But let's look at the end of the regular season polls:


BYU -- AP -15, Coaches - 14, BCS - 14
Miami -- AP - 14, Coaches - 15, BCS - 15
TX -- AP - 2, Coaches - 2, BCS - 2
Neb -- AP - 20, Coaches - 19, BCS - 22
Tech --AP - 28, Coaches - 29

And we beat OSU pretty soundly: AP - 21, Coaches - 18, BCS - 18

I think, even with our offensive offense and special teams, we were a legitimate Top 20 - 25 team, but scheduling those teams, on the road, with our injuries, was just a little too much.

For all that, if Bob had found a place kicker before game 9, we'd likely be 10 -2 OR BETTER, with a Cotton Bowl bid, or better....

I don't know how to sum this up. Was this a season where we over-achieved to be so near the elite, but a very tough schedule tripped us up? Or did we massively underachieve? Would this have been a fine year if we'd had an 8-game home stand ala OkSt?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Beat the Cardinals.

[Collier11]

Too bad that half the people on this board dont care about what really happened, I fully think that even with all the injuries we still shoulda won 1 or 2 of those close games we lost and had a decent season, having said that it is tough for an O-line to shuffle so many diff guys in and out with a Fresh QB who still played pretty damn well despite it, then you add on the mental strain of all the injuries...if we can finish out 8-5 everything will be ok

[boomersooner28]

WEIRD season. Thats all I got.

[rawlingsHOH]

And we were a flag, a tip, a whistle, a drop, a tackle away from winning 4 of those 5 games.

No luck this year.

[soonermix]

since i believe we should have won 3 outta the 4 close games we massively underachieved.
yes i am fully aware of the injuries and i still believe we should have won at least 3 of the 4 close games.

[BoulderSooner79]

I'd say we achieved about as expected if one looks objectively at the schedule and the circumstances. We had an experienced defense that looked like they could keep us in any and give the offense a chance to win. That happened in every loss except TT. The offense was rebuilding from the get go and that process was hampered by all the injuries. We would have over-achieved if we had pulled out most of those close ones and underachieved if we had lost to the weaker teams on the schedule. The closest we came to that was KSU. Obviously, if we had a reliable kicker we would have won a couple more. As frustrating as it was to see the O=line play the way they did most the year, I understood the difficulty of not being able to field the same guys for any number of games. My biggest disappointment was the slow development of the receivers and I still don't understand it. Broyles proved that there were enough good throws out there to make plays and outside of Caleb when he was healthy, the other guys didn't do it.

[soonermix]

I'd say we achieved about as expected if one looks objectively at the schedule and the circumstances.

is that before or after all the injuries?

[rawlingsHOH]

My biggest disappointment was the slow development of the receivers and I still don't understand it. Broyles proved that there were enough good throws out there to make plays and outside of Caleb when he was healthy, the other guys didn't do it.

I'm very excited about Miller's future. He showed me a lot. Jaz Reynolds as well. The position will be a strength next year, IMO, with those two and Broyles.

Tennell was a big let down. He's basically a 6-4, 195 lb TE. As the only thing he's proven consistent at is blocking on the edge. Kinney way too many drops. Caleb up and down, too many drops. Madu, non-factor.

[BoulderSooner79]

is that before or after all the injuries?

That includes everything - who we had to play/teams we played/where we played. I'm talking about in retrospect knowing all circumstances. Obviously, pre-season expectations were sky high with Sam and Gresh coming back, but they both missed the entire season (I'll go out on a limb and say we didn't need Sam for Baylor). Sam's return actually hurt us because he took so many snaps in fall camp and in game prep for BYU and UT. That is of course true for any player that earns a starting position and then gets hurt. But going from Heisman level QB to freshman who hasn't taken a snap cannot be overstated.

[beer4me]

Folks, I've been as frustrated by this 5-loss season as anybody on this board. But let's look at the end of the regular season polls:


BYU -- AP -15, Coaches - 14, BCS - 14
Miami -- AP - 14, Coaches - 15, BCS - 15
TX -- AP - 2, Coaches - 2, BCS - 2
Neb -- AP - 20, Coaches - 19, BCS - 22
Tech --AP - 28, Coaches - 29

And we beat OSU pretty soundly: AP - 21, Coaches - 18, BCS - 18

I think, even with our offensive offense and special teams, we were a legitimate Top 20 - 25 team, but scheduling those teams, on the road, with our injuries, was just a little too much.

For all that, if Bob had found a place kicker before game 9, we'd likely be 10 -2 OR BETTER, with a Cotton Bowl bid, or better....

I don't know how to sum this up. Was this a season where we over-achieved to be so near the elite, but a very tough schedule tripped us up? Or did we massively underachieve? Would this have been a fine year if we'd had an 8-game home stand ala OkSt?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Beat the Cardinal.

fixed

[Sooner in Tampa]

There is NOTHING that will help me get over that loss to the bugeaters...NOTHING!!!

[TUSooner]

n/m :rolleyes:

[Blues1]

IF we had Top Notch Kicker....
With just 4 field goals we would be at least 11 and 2 ~ One vs BYU and One Vs Miami - and 2 to beat texas - (Only Loss's would have been Nebraska and Tech) ~ jmho...!
No Big 12 Championship, But probably a Gator Bowl - Cotton Bowl - or at least a Hoilday Bowl - Can't let this Happen again -- or can we...?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

John Blake teams could have won a few more too if the "ifs" would have worked out

[Blues1]

John Blake teams could have won a few more too if the "ifs" would have worked out

I know....but Why not O'Hara Earlier in the Season....
(Never mind I know the reasons)

[BoulderSooner79]

I'm very excited about Miller's future. He showed me a lot. Jaz Reynolds as well. The position will be a strength next year, IMO, with those two and Broyles.

Tennell was a big let down. He's basically a 6-4, 195 lb TE. As the only thing he's proven consistent at is blocking on the edge. Kinney way too many drops. Caleb up and down, too many drops. Madu, non-factor.

Yes, I was pleased with Miller and Reynolds too, but still falls under the "slow development" label as it came late in the year. The receivers did improve - even Tennell went from dropping everything to only dropping 1/2. For me, even if we had won a couple of the close ones, I wouldn't judge the season much differently. We could have moved up to a better minor bowl. If we had won the conference by beating the horns and only losing to TT, then I would say we over-achieved. If we had lost to any of those 7 we beat, I say we underachieved.

[ndpruitt03]

We are still better than every team listed. Should not have lost to any of those pathetic teams.

[BoulderSooner79]

We are still better than every team listed. Should not have lost to any of those pathetic teams.

That's just not true - our offense was not good enough to support that statement.

[ndpruitt03]

That's just not true - our offense was not good enough to support that statement.

Depends on the week our offense was playing. Maybe we're not better than Texas. But I think Texas is overrated.

[BoulderSooner79]

Depends on the week our offense was playing. Maybe we're not better than Texas. But I think Texas is overrated.

Our offense never executed when challenged and the offense is part of the overall team. We put up all our numbers against defenses that were so weak, they couldn't challenge us. The only possible exception was against OSU which has a decent defense. But we still only scored 20 on offense and that was with our defense keeping OSU off the field and giving us good field position.

[Collier11]

Our Oline has to get a lot tougher, the fact that we couldnt score from the 1 against whatever sh*tty team we played in wk 2 says a lot

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Its a 7-5 football team...the record reflects who they are right now...

[Collier11]

Exactly, we are a 7-5 team, we might have been a 10-2 or 9-3 team with Bradford but with the injuries we had, we werent much better than 7-5. WE all thought we were and we were pretty close, just not quite.

[BoulderSooner79]

Its a 7-5 football team...the record reflects who they are right now...

^This.

[Collier11]

FWIW to all the BV haters, we finished #2 in the league in scoring D ahead of Muschamp even after facing a much tougher schedule and we finished #2 in yds per game behidn texas.

In conf we were ahead of UT in scoring and total D

[Sooner04]

I know....but Why not O'Hara Earlier in the Season....
(Never mind I know the reasons)
It's not like O'Hara's been God's gift to placekickers. He missed what could've been a crucial kick early on against O-State.

Everywhere I turn this season teams are trotting out kickers who boom 48-yard howitzers right down the middle of the uprights with 15 yards to spare. Anything from beyond 30 is an adventure for us. Why?

Have the Lashars breeded yet?

[Collier11]

Yea I didnt think our kicking was as bad earlier in the yr until I started watching Nebraskas kicker and Bamas kicker and on and on, in college a 45 yarder should be 75-80% at least

[tulsaoilerfan]

Speaking of kicking, what are the odds any kicker on our roster would have made that field goal at the end of the Big 12 title game Saturday night? I"m guessing 0% :)

[tulsaoilerfan]

It's not like O'Hara's been God's gift to placekickers. He missed what could've been a crucial kick early on against O-State.

Everywhere I turn this season teams are trotting out kickers who boom 48-yard howitzers right down the middle of the uprights with 15 yards to spare. Anything from beyond 30 is an adventure for us. Why?

Have the Lashars breeded yet?

We can only hope so

[BoulderSooner79]

Okay, lets say we had Sam and Gresh all year, how do you think the season would have gone? I'll say we still would have won the 7 games we did win because none were that close and even a flukey play or 2 would not have changed them. So of the 5 losses, here is my list of the one we likely win in decreasing order:

1) Nebraska - our D stuffed them and they won on Landry's 5 picks. If Sam plays all he has to do is be more careful with the ball and get us a little closer on the FG tries. NU would not have scored by themselves all night.

2) BYU - just 1 more play about anytime in the 2nd half and we win. BYU does have a diverse offense, so they could battle back.

3) Miami - We did move the ball at times against them even with Landry. With Broyles being hurt on his first catch, still having Gresh would have been huge. Like BYU, Miami had players on offense and their OC called a great game that night - but we still only came up 1 short.

4) Texas - The D played lights out and if the O could have just possessed the ball more it would have helped a lot. That last picked by Landry seemed inevitable with him out there and not one Sam throws. But Texas is very good and would have played a different strategy with Sam out there and a different situation. Would have still been a real struggle. Gresh would have been huge in this game.

5) TT. To win this one it would have had to be a different game start to finish. TT is not a team you can dominate with your D and your offense must be sharp to match them.

So I say the best case is we go 11-1 and win the division and it all hinges on the UT game. But we would have to face NU a second time to get the conference - not an easy task. Worst case we lose UT and TT and maybe Miami and get a better bowl. Sam gets to rack up some numbers and go out as the hero he deserves to be. Odds of getting in the title game? Almost NIL

[Collier11]

With Sam and Gresh we would have won atleast 9, possibly 10.

BYU, Sam wouldnt have gotten a delay at the 1, wouldnt have missed the wide open receivers all day that Landry missed

Neb, I have to think Sam wouldnt have thrown that pick that set up Neb's only TD and could have led atleast 1 td drive

Tex, we got the ball with a chance to win and Landry threw into dbl coverage, even if everything else is the same and we are down 16-13 there I think Sam atleast gets us in FG range

Miami, who knows but I still think we play better on Off

[bluedogok]

Beat the Cardinals.
It's the Cardinal, the color and not the bird. That is why they have a pine tree as a mascot, so as not to offend anyone.

[RADsooner]

had we played the 5 we lost at home........how many would we have won?