Whet
11/11/2010, 06:22 PM
I didn't see this posted, so here it is:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/oklahoma.htm
INSIDE SLANT
Maybe it's all about expectations.
Maybe if Oklahoma had never been the original No. 1 in the BCS standings, the feeling around the program these days would be something else entirely. And yet, that may be a bridge too far, because where is there room for a rosy scenario when a team has lost two of its last three games, can't seem to correct continued fourth-quarter ineptness and continues to find ways to rack up yards and first downs without racking up points?
Still, it all comes down to perspective.
Bob Stoops was his normal not-very-cooperative self Tuesday. Whatever the issues facing the Sooners that create such patterns -- poor road play, poor fourth-quarter play, an inability to make big plays, etc. -- the coach prefers to deal with them in a vacuum, talking about execution and alignment rather than mentality.
"I believe it's execution in the end," he said. "I could say a lot of things that don't matter. They're just excuses and reasons."
Well, nobody likes excuses, but everybody likes reasons. They simply want to know why the same things continue to plague Oklahoma. And, really, Stoops saying he "could say a lot of things" makes one think he has some reasons he simply won't share.
Whatever, the coach is offering nothing to disturb everybody's feeling that something's off with this team, that struggles are ongoing, that there are problems they just can't seem to solve.
Enter offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.
Even in the face of two recent losses, an embarrassing three goal-line stands by Texas A&M last Saturday, continued fourth-quarter struggles, blah, blah, blah, Wilson actually sees things positively.
What he took from the A&M loss was Oklahoma's third-quarter rally. It's not a stretch to say he views the experience as a building block.
"I saw a different outlook from a young team that, in a different time, might have closed up shop," he said, adding, "This team is completely different from last year."
That team crumbled mentally in the face of staggering injury problems before closing strong after losing five of its first 11 games. But Wilson sees this team as far more mentally tough and getting tougher all the time.
"I think we've made some growth," he said.
So it's all about expectations.
Or perception.
Are the Sooners building or falling?
Hard to know.
Saturday, Texas Tech visits Owen Field.
Nobody expects the Sooners to lose, yet coming road games at Baylor and Oklahoma State will determine the fate of Oklahoma's season.
Expectations will determine how the results are regarded.
NOTES, QUOTES
--It's part of the hubbub that comes after a loss, but running backs coach Cale Gundy is under fire in the Sooner Nation. Tuesday, Bob Stoops said offensive personnel issues belong to the position coach, the coordinator and the head coach. About 20 minutes later, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson explained it's really the position coach's call. Wilson and Stoops may have vetoes, but the way Oklahoma operates, position coaches have near total autonomy to make personnel calls over the course of the game. Against Texas A&M, that meant 39 touches for senior running back DeMarco Murray and five for freshman lightning bug Roy Finch. Wilson, as softly as he could say it, indicated that kind of discrepancy is being addressed.
--Oklahoma has won 35 straight games at home, but winning 36 may mean winning the game by the end of the third quarter. Because, even at home, the Sooners haven't been very good in the fourth quarter, getting outscored by Utah State, Air Force and Florida State earlier this season. The discrepancy has been worse on the road. Combined, the Sooners have been outscored 81-32 in the fourth quarter. In the first three quarters, the Sooners have outscored opponents 273-112.
--For three years running, the Sooners have had placekicking problems. Every year, the guy who began the season with the job has lost it. Last season and this one, the guy who the job fell to has given it back. But Oklahoma's special teams problems don't end there. The Sooners have no special teams touchdowns (not to mention no defensive touchdowns) this season. Mossis Madu has a 77-yard kickoff return and Ryan Broyles has a 31-yard punt return. That's as close as Oklahoma has come.
SERIES HISTORY: Oklahoma leads Texas Tech 12-5 (last meeting, 2009, 41-13 Texas Tech).
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: It's the same old story. The Sooners are very capable but hardly consistent. Quarterback Landry Jones is easily the best example, but not the only example. But they're at home Saturday, so everything should be fine. In two previous conference home games, Oklahoma has picked up more than 1,300 yards of offense and scored 95 points. In three conference games away from home -- Texas (Dallas), Missouri and Texas A&M -- the Sooners gained 1,124 yards and scored 75 points. Even in one more game, the aggregate numbers are significantly lower. Good thing Oklahoma's at home Saturday.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: Same story, different side of the ball. In those two conference home games, the defense allowed 10 points and 446 yards. In the three away from home, the defense allowed 80 points and 1,251 yards. Again, good thing the Sooners are at home this week. One thing the defense has done, even on the road, is get takeaways (six away from home in the conference). Jamell Fleming is coming off a two-interception day at Texas A&M.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's very frustrating. You practice all week long. It's not like we're going out there not to win. We want to win, we want to do good. Everybody wants do good, but then when you go on the road and don't win, it's really frustrating. Watching film, we left so many points out there. We left so many mistakes; it's really unsettling to see." -- OL Eric Mensik, still digesting Oklahoma's problems on the road.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK'S GAME: Texas Tech at Oklahoma, Nov. 13 -- The Sooners (7-2, 3-2 Big 12) are coming off a loss at Texas A&M. The Red Raiders (5-4, 3-4) are coming off a huge victory over Missouri.
KEYS TO THE GAME: Red-zone conversions for the offense, which was stuffed at the goal line three times against Texas A&M two weeks after giving away similar opportunities in Oklahoma's first loss at Missouri. For the defense, it's the simple stuff, alignment and execution. Small-detail breakdowns led to two late Texas A&M touchdowns last week that kept the Sooners' second-half rally at bay.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
QB Landry Jones -- Jones missed a wide open Kenny Stills for a certain touchdown early against Texas A&M. Hit a pass like that against Texas Tech and not only will it jump-start Jones, but it also will encourage the coaches to run or pass at the goal line, as opposed to the A&M game where they refused to let Jones pass and had every run stuffed.
RB Roy Finch -- Finch will likely get more chances against Texas Tech than he did against Texas A&M. The fans want to see it and so do the coaches after overworking DeMarco Murray last week.
ROSTER REPORT:
--The Sooners get DE/LB Ronnell Lewis back for the Texas Tech game, and the kick cover team might be where he's been missed the most the last three games, a time in which Oklahoma has allowed two kickoff returns for touchdowns.
--It's unclear who will take placekicks Saturday, Jimmy Stevens, Patrick O'Hara or both. Against Texas A&M it was both, with O'Hara making a field goal from 45 yards and missing one from 36, while Stevens kicked and made both of Oklahoma's extra points.
--True freshman DT Daniel Noble is "doubtful" for the Texas Tech game, according to coach Bob Stoops. Noble suffered an ankle injury against Iowa State.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/oklahoma.htm
INSIDE SLANT
Maybe it's all about expectations.
Maybe if Oklahoma had never been the original No. 1 in the BCS standings, the feeling around the program these days would be something else entirely. And yet, that may be a bridge too far, because where is there room for a rosy scenario when a team has lost two of its last three games, can't seem to correct continued fourth-quarter ineptness and continues to find ways to rack up yards and first downs without racking up points?
Still, it all comes down to perspective.
Bob Stoops was his normal not-very-cooperative self Tuesday. Whatever the issues facing the Sooners that create such patterns -- poor road play, poor fourth-quarter play, an inability to make big plays, etc. -- the coach prefers to deal with them in a vacuum, talking about execution and alignment rather than mentality.
"I believe it's execution in the end," he said. "I could say a lot of things that don't matter. They're just excuses and reasons."
Well, nobody likes excuses, but everybody likes reasons. They simply want to know why the same things continue to plague Oklahoma. And, really, Stoops saying he "could say a lot of things" makes one think he has some reasons he simply won't share.
Whatever, the coach is offering nothing to disturb everybody's feeling that something's off with this team, that struggles are ongoing, that there are problems they just can't seem to solve.
Enter offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.
Even in the face of two recent losses, an embarrassing three goal-line stands by Texas A&M last Saturday, continued fourth-quarter struggles, blah, blah, blah, Wilson actually sees things positively.
What he took from the A&M loss was Oklahoma's third-quarter rally. It's not a stretch to say he views the experience as a building block.
"I saw a different outlook from a young team that, in a different time, might have closed up shop," he said, adding, "This team is completely different from last year."
That team crumbled mentally in the face of staggering injury problems before closing strong after losing five of its first 11 games. But Wilson sees this team as far more mentally tough and getting tougher all the time.
"I think we've made some growth," he said.
So it's all about expectations.
Or perception.
Are the Sooners building or falling?
Hard to know.
Saturday, Texas Tech visits Owen Field.
Nobody expects the Sooners to lose, yet coming road games at Baylor and Oklahoma State will determine the fate of Oklahoma's season.
Expectations will determine how the results are regarded.
NOTES, QUOTES
--It's part of the hubbub that comes after a loss, but running backs coach Cale Gundy is under fire in the Sooner Nation. Tuesday, Bob Stoops said offensive personnel issues belong to the position coach, the coordinator and the head coach. About 20 minutes later, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson explained it's really the position coach's call. Wilson and Stoops may have vetoes, but the way Oklahoma operates, position coaches have near total autonomy to make personnel calls over the course of the game. Against Texas A&M, that meant 39 touches for senior running back DeMarco Murray and five for freshman lightning bug Roy Finch. Wilson, as softly as he could say it, indicated that kind of discrepancy is being addressed.
--Oklahoma has won 35 straight games at home, but winning 36 may mean winning the game by the end of the third quarter. Because, even at home, the Sooners haven't been very good in the fourth quarter, getting outscored by Utah State, Air Force and Florida State earlier this season. The discrepancy has been worse on the road. Combined, the Sooners have been outscored 81-32 in the fourth quarter. In the first three quarters, the Sooners have outscored opponents 273-112.
--For three years running, the Sooners have had placekicking problems. Every year, the guy who began the season with the job has lost it. Last season and this one, the guy who the job fell to has given it back. But Oklahoma's special teams problems don't end there. The Sooners have no special teams touchdowns (not to mention no defensive touchdowns) this season. Mossis Madu has a 77-yard kickoff return and Ryan Broyles has a 31-yard punt return. That's as close as Oklahoma has come.
SERIES HISTORY: Oklahoma leads Texas Tech 12-5 (last meeting, 2009, 41-13 Texas Tech).
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: It's the same old story. The Sooners are very capable but hardly consistent. Quarterback Landry Jones is easily the best example, but not the only example. But they're at home Saturday, so everything should be fine. In two previous conference home games, Oklahoma has picked up more than 1,300 yards of offense and scored 95 points. In three conference games away from home -- Texas (Dallas), Missouri and Texas A&M -- the Sooners gained 1,124 yards and scored 75 points. Even in one more game, the aggregate numbers are significantly lower. Good thing Oklahoma's at home Saturday.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: Same story, different side of the ball. In those two conference home games, the defense allowed 10 points and 446 yards. In the three away from home, the defense allowed 80 points and 1,251 yards. Again, good thing the Sooners are at home this week. One thing the defense has done, even on the road, is get takeaways (six away from home in the conference). Jamell Fleming is coming off a two-interception day at Texas A&M.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's very frustrating. You practice all week long. It's not like we're going out there not to win. We want to win, we want to do good. Everybody wants do good, but then when you go on the road and don't win, it's really frustrating. Watching film, we left so many points out there. We left so many mistakes; it's really unsettling to see." -- OL Eric Mensik, still digesting Oklahoma's problems on the road.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK'S GAME: Texas Tech at Oklahoma, Nov. 13 -- The Sooners (7-2, 3-2 Big 12) are coming off a loss at Texas A&M. The Red Raiders (5-4, 3-4) are coming off a huge victory over Missouri.
KEYS TO THE GAME: Red-zone conversions for the offense, which was stuffed at the goal line three times against Texas A&M two weeks after giving away similar opportunities in Oklahoma's first loss at Missouri. For the defense, it's the simple stuff, alignment and execution. Small-detail breakdowns led to two late Texas A&M touchdowns last week that kept the Sooners' second-half rally at bay.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
QB Landry Jones -- Jones missed a wide open Kenny Stills for a certain touchdown early against Texas A&M. Hit a pass like that against Texas Tech and not only will it jump-start Jones, but it also will encourage the coaches to run or pass at the goal line, as opposed to the A&M game where they refused to let Jones pass and had every run stuffed.
RB Roy Finch -- Finch will likely get more chances against Texas Tech than he did against Texas A&M. The fans want to see it and so do the coaches after overworking DeMarco Murray last week.
ROSTER REPORT:
--The Sooners get DE/LB Ronnell Lewis back for the Texas Tech game, and the kick cover team might be where he's been missed the most the last three games, a time in which Oklahoma has allowed two kickoff returns for touchdowns.
--It's unclear who will take placekicks Saturday, Jimmy Stevens, Patrick O'Hara or both. Against Texas A&M it was both, with O'Hara making a field goal from 45 yards and missing one from 36, while Stevens kicked and made both of Oklahoma's extra points.
--True freshman DT Daniel Noble is "doubtful" for the Texas Tech game, according to coach Bob Stoops. Noble suffered an ankle injury against Iowa State.