Stanford D

[westcoast_sooner]

I've been thinking quite a bit about how to beat Stanford in the Sun Bowl. One thing that doesn't necessarily show up in the box score is when a team blows a lead. The article here (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recap?gid=200911210063) has a very interesting sentence "This marked the third time this season that the Cardinal lost a game in which they led by at least 14 points."

The article here is about the Cal/Stanford game, a game that Stanford was heavily favored in, and could have put away another overrated Cal team and made it to the Rose Bowl. Instead, they got a lead and blew it. Not only that, they did that 4 times this season. While the wins over Cal and USC were impressive, what balances them out is the fact that they've blown leads all season.

The point here is that it sometimes seems that the Sooners have difficulty when they get behind, but Stanford has a history this season of just blowing leads. If OU gets behind, they just need to keep playing hard, making plays and win.

And I also think this is one game where an up-tempo offense has a chance to wear down the Cardinal D.

Overall, would rather not be playing from behind and would like to lead from the opening kick :).

[BoulderSooner79]

Stanford has given up leads because their defense is not very good, but especially, is not very deep. Once they get tired, things really open up. They win by continuing to possess the ball with the running game. If they turn it over or have a couple of bad series in a row on O, they are in trouble. Conversely, if we have consecutive bad series and they get that grinding running game going, the clock will evaporate and we'll have few chances to score. I don't see a low scoring, defensive struggle and that's fine by me. Last year's Sun bowl was the most boring 3-0 game ever played.

[Leroy Lizard]

Odd that you blow leads with the big, bruising RB in your backfield.

[AmmoJr]

Stanford's D is average, but their secondary is just AWFUL

Watching the Notre Dame game, there DBs were just abused by the Irish. Broyles should easily have a 100 yard day, hopefully Miller continues to show his promise. Expect alot of (I can't believe im saying this at this time of the year) Demarco in the slot. :D :D

If Landry can't exploit Stanford's secondary, he will be in trouble come Spring. But I have faith in the kid from New Mexico!

[westcoast_sooner]

I think the gameplan has to be to get Landry off to a good start. Open up with some high percentage throws - get the ball to DeMarco, D Miller and Broyles and let them make some plays. If Caleb is healthy, get him the ball some, too.

Stanford will try to shorten the game by getting Gerhart the ball. Against Cal he had 130 yards. Luck was only 10 of 30 (WHAT??!!). Would be interesting to see what Cal's defense did.

But if they have depth issues on the defensive side of the ball, let's wear them down.

[misplacedsooner]

last i remember running between the tackles on us aint too easy. im not saying we are gonna just shut gerhart down all the way...the kid is a good one and will get plenty of carries to try to prove it. but when push comes to shove i think we can hold him below 100 yards for the game and that my friends will spell doom for the cardinal. we will move the ball against their d and in fact i think it will be us that control the clock and force them out of their game.

[SoonerLB]

And I also think this is one game where an up-tempo offense has a chance to wear down the Cardinal D.


Surely you're not suggesting we abandon the mighty Meerkat offense and call plays in a timely manner! ;)

[JLEW1818]

their pass D ranks 105 out of 120 teams

[sooneron]

So you're saying there's a chance...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cQb2tKyozEQ/SZYb_wfCxqI/AAAAAAAAA3k/cH6BsdLZkFQ/s400/a_chance.jpeg

[BoulderSooner79]

I watched the Stanford/Cal game and Cal came out throwing. The Stanford D couldn't cover anyone that night and it took a while for the Stanford running game to get going. But even with the game going Cal's way, Stanford should have pulled it out. They had the ball at the Cal 12 with about 90 seconds left needing a TD to win. Gerhart was really gashing them by then, including as a receiver. The OC decided to get cute and just use Gerhart as a fake and threw first to the endzone and the WR was well covered and thrown away. And then next tried to throw to the TE over the middle and Luck threw it right to the MLB sitting in zone coverage - game over. They actually needed to bleed some clock before scoring the way Cal was moving the ball and they called plays like the time was running out. As you can tell, I was pulling for Stanford and was questioning the OC's IQ out loud :)

[oupride]

I watched the Notre Dame/Stanford game and it was pretty much the same thing. ND shredded the Stanford secondary like it was swiss cheese. Although it was hard for me to discern exactly how talented the irish offense was, Mushberger kept gushing and telling us how he could not think of a better WR duo in college football than what was on the field for ND. So, I just dismissed any chance of OU winning the Sun Bowl. (just kidding)

[Dan Thompson]

I now wish I had watched the Arizona vs Stanford game.