goingoneight
9/7/2010, 02:25 AM
It's time to talk about a game that probably two weeks ago looked like a virtual cinch.
Reasons why preseason publications are focktarded pretty clear already. OU, Florida, Texas and on the opposite end of the spectrum tOSU, FSU, and even OSU have no real measurement after week one... but at least now 50% of the perrenial "sunshine pumpers" have been silenced. As far as everyone who's 1-0 and held miraculously onto their spot in the top 25 (including us), we'll see soon if these teams have any fight or improvement in them.
Florida State cruised to 1-0 the same way Stoops did in his first game at OU. Anyone remember Indiana State? Some teams make you look like world-beaters. See: North Texas 2007, UT-Chatanooga 2008. Other teams, you just never know until you get a few more games into it all (TCU 2005, UAB2006, BYU 2009). The team Oklahoma seemingly puked down their legs against last weekend could end up being a surprise 10-win or so team, just another "nice" team or could end up being the patsy they were supposed to be.
Bottom line: September 11, 2010 is rapidly approaching. The game is inevitable. We know Landry Jones is capable of better. We know that in Oklahoma's current 31-game home winning streak that a few closer-than-it-shoulda been wins have happened. See: Baylor 2005, aTm 2005, UAB 2006, Mizzou 2007, 2009 KSU and now 2010 USU.
What does 31 in-a-row mean for 9/11/10? Other than a bunch of previous OU teams took pride in their home field, really nothing. FSU is bringing in a good team that looked "seamless" as ESPN's "experts" have pointed out. There's a lot to be said for a team that goes out and plays a good game, no matter how good or bad the opposition is. Example: OU throttled UNT, and continued to look good the rest of the season. It seems every year we have a "name" program on the OOC schedule. This year's "name" team won't be as bad as Washington was in 2006 and 2008, they won't be as bad as bad as Miami was in 2007. They have a dangerous QB in Ponder, and a veteran OL. We're talking about FSU's offense first because it's pretty obvious FSU's offense versus OU's defense was going to be the ballgame all along. Ponder will remind people much of Sam Bradford if he remains upright all evening as Borel did.
Ponder may or may not have an all-everything set of targets, but he hits them with great accuracy and is a smart player, taking what comes easy underneath as well as the big plays when he catches you sleeping in coverage. With OU's secondary nearly unconscious last weekend, this is bothersome. What is even more bothersome is the middle of the field missing healthy Adrian Taylor and Gerald McCoy's presence as much as they are. Ponder won't beat us by extending plays vertically like Borel did, but if Casey Walker, Stacy McGee and Adrian Taylor can't get anymore push in the middle, Ponder will extend plays by stepping up into a clean pocket.
Assessment: Ponder will challenge OU if the level of play isn't greatly "cleaned up" as Stoops, Venables and Travis Lewis have all stated needs to be done. Foolish penalties will be the difference-maker if we can't rid ourselves of them. Example: it's third and long, you sack the QB... you commit an unnecessary roughness penalty and the dangerous offense retains possession to haunt you some more. Sound familiar, Tom Wort? Sack the QB, pop up, head for the sideline and let the special teams take the field, you put the game in the offense's hands.
The other end of the game (that all of a sudden looks a bit more scary than it did in the off-season): OU offense versus FSU defense:
It's awfully hard to guage what improvements Mickey Andrews' players have made since handing over the reigns to the younger Stoops brother, Mark. We know the influence the other Stoops brothers have made, but it's still hard to tell when you're playing Samford. Samford was NOT able to say that they had the 12th-ranked offense a year ago ala USU. You just can't compare apples to oranges anyway. USU and Samford were supposed to be patsies, and we made ours look good, regardless of how good they truly are.
Assessment: Landry Jones held onto the ball too long trying to force downfield throws. This IMO is one of two things. He's feeling the heat to show how much he's improved (sophomore slump) or the young protection isn't quite where it needs to be yet. Both can be corrected. We've all seen Jones have one bad game followed up by a great one before. It's a cointoss as to whether he'll be the normal LJ or the guy who was thinking WAY too much last weekend. It all starts with him. Murray should be good, and his top backup will be back to lighten the load of 35 carries a week ago.
Receivers showed exactly what Stoops complained about a few weeks ago. And while I'm not tooting my own horn, many fans like myself were concerned about the fact that Cameron Kenney and a true freshman started ahead of Miller and Reynolds. For whatever reason that is, it's hurting us. Kenney had some nice moments, but he wasn't consistently open in the way previous complementary receivers have been (Bradley, Iglesias, Johnson). The whole unit is still causing uncertainty offensively. Miller looked just fine when he was in there, so he needs to get out of Stoops's doghouse, however it is he got in there, and the rest of the guys need to live up to their billing. Again, maybe USU might end up being decent defensively, but bet your bottom dollar no matter how good or bad FSU's defense ends up being, they have better athletes across the board.
My opinion: I haven't been this unsure of an OU victory since Stoops arrived. If we clean up OUr game penalty-wise, we should be competitive against FSU, and we have to execute better to be OUr usual dominant selves this coming Saturday. We're one bad break or one key injury away form some serious problems if we don't step it up outside of Broyles and Murray. We're also just a few, nagging little problems away from being a really good team.
No score predictions, no fire coach talk from me... just sayin' we still look like an 8-5 team until I'm shown otherwise. FSU may end up being so as well, but what they do outside of 9/11/10 doesn't matter. We need this W for some 2010 momentum. Utah State can best be described from a fan's perspective as "falling into a pile of shat and coming out smelling like roses."
Reasons why preseason publications are focktarded pretty clear already. OU, Florida, Texas and on the opposite end of the spectrum tOSU, FSU, and even OSU have no real measurement after week one... but at least now 50% of the perrenial "sunshine pumpers" have been silenced. As far as everyone who's 1-0 and held miraculously onto their spot in the top 25 (including us), we'll see soon if these teams have any fight or improvement in them.
Florida State cruised to 1-0 the same way Stoops did in his first game at OU. Anyone remember Indiana State? Some teams make you look like world-beaters. See: North Texas 2007, UT-Chatanooga 2008. Other teams, you just never know until you get a few more games into it all (TCU 2005, UAB2006, BYU 2009). The team Oklahoma seemingly puked down their legs against last weekend could end up being a surprise 10-win or so team, just another "nice" team or could end up being the patsy they were supposed to be.
Bottom line: September 11, 2010 is rapidly approaching. The game is inevitable. We know Landry Jones is capable of better. We know that in Oklahoma's current 31-game home winning streak that a few closer-than-it-shoulda been wins have happened. See: Baylor 2005, aTm 2005, UAB 2006, Mizzou 2007, 2009 KSU and now 2010 USU.
What does 31 in-a-row mean for 9/11/10? Other than a bunch of previous OU teams took pride in their home field, really nothing. FSU is bringing in a good team that looked "seamless" as ESPN's "experts" have pointed out. There's a lot to be said for a team that goes out and plays a good game, no matter how good or bad the opposition is. Example: OU throttled UNT, and continued to look good the rest of the season. It seems every year we have a "name" program on the OOC schedule. This year's "name" team won't be as bad as Washington was in 2006 and 2008, they won't be as bad as bad as Miami was in 2007. They have a dangerous QB in Ponder, and a veteran OL. We're talking about FSU's offense first because it's pretty obvious FSU's offense versus OU's defense was going to be the ballgame all along. Ponder will remind people much of Sam Bradford if he remains upright all evening as Borel did.
Ponder may or may not have an all-everything set of targets, but he hits them with great accuracy and is a smart player, taking what comes easy underneath as well as the big plays when he catches you sleeping in coverage. With OU's secondary nearly unconscious last weekend, this is bothersome. What is even more bothersome is the middle of the field missing healthy Adrian Taylor and Gerald McCoy's presence as much as they are. Ponder won't beat us by extending plays vertically like Borel did, but if Casey Walker, Stacy McGee and Adrian Taylor can't get anymore push in the middle, Ponder will extend plays by stepping up into a clean pocket.
Assessment: Ponder will challenge OU if the level of play isn't greatly "cleaned up" as Stoops, Venables and Travis Lewis have all stated needs to be done. Foolish penalties will be the difference-maker if we can't rid ourselves of them. Example: it's third and long, you sack the QB... you commit an unnecessary roughness penalty and the dangerous offense retains possession to haunt you some more. Sound familiar, Tom Wort? Sack the QB, pop up, head for the sideline and let the special teams take the field, you put the game in the offense's hands.
The other end of the game (that all of a sudden looks a bit more scary than it did in the off-season): OU offense versus FSU defense:
It's awfully hard to guage what improvements Mickey Andrews' players have made since handing over the reigns to the younger Stoops brother, Mark. We know the influence the other Stoops brothers have made, but it's still hard to tell when you're playing Samford. Samford was NOT able to say that they had the 12th-ranked offense a year ago ala USU. You just can't compare apples to oranges anyway. USU and Samford were supposed to be patsies, and we made ours look good, regardless of how good they truly are.
Assessment: Landry Jones held onto the ball too long trying to force downfield throws. This IMO is one of two things. He's feeling the heat to show how much he's improved (sophomore slump) or the young protection isn't quite where it needs to be yet. Both can be corrected. We've all seen Jones have one bad game followed up by a great one before. It's a cointoss as to whether he'll be the normal LJ or the guy who was thinking WAY too much last weekend. It all starts with him. Murray should be good, and his top backup will be back to lighten the load of 35 carries a week ago.
Receivers showed exactly what Stoops complained about a few weeks ago. And while I'm not tooting my own horn, many fans like myself were concerned about the fact that Cameron Kenney and a true freshman started ahead of Miller and Reynolds. For whatever reason that is, it's hurting us. Kenney had some nice moments, but he wasn't consistently open in the way previous complementary receivers have been (Bradley, Iglesias, Johnson). The whole unit is still causing uncertainty offensively. Miller looked just fine when he was in there, so he needs to get out of Stoops's doghouse, however it is he got in there, and the rest of the guys need to live up to their billing. Again, maybe USU might end up being decent defensively, but bet your bottom dollar no matter how good or bad FSU's defense ends up being, they have better athletes across the board.
My opinion: I haven't been this unsure of an OU victory since Stoops arrived. If we clean up OUr game penalty-wise, we should be competitive against FSU, and we have to execute better to be OUr usual dominant selves this coming Saturday. We're one bad break or one key injury away form some serious problems if we don't step it up outside of Broyles and Murray. We're also just a few, nagging little problems away from being a really good team.
No score predictions, no fire coach talk from me... just sayin' we still look like an 8-5 team until I'm shown otherwise. FSU may end up being so as well, but what they do outside of 9/11/10 doesn't matter. We need this W for some 2010 momentum. Utah State can best be described from a fan's perspective as "falling into a pile of shat and coming out smelling like roses."