2011 vs 2008 thoughts

[JLEW1818]

Janurary of 2008 how did you feel about the future 2008 team? I felt good. But honestly... idk if I felt this good?....

I was upset with the losses of Reggie Smith and Curtis Lofton....

Any good comparisons? Or similar preseason thoughts?

[oudavid1]

I'll miss the Leadership of Murray, Beal, and Nelson.

But i still good about it.

[JLEW1818]

i think we return 3 team captains?

Jones, Broyles, Lewis?

Or was Broyles not one? i don't remember

[stoops the eternal pimp]

I think the offensive is more explosive next year, the defense hopefully starts faster..

Im not concerned about anybody OU loses

[Dwight]

Here's the way I look at it…

2010- good team, easy schedule
2011- better team, easier schedule

[stoops the eternal pimp]

The problem is the slow start OU has gotten off to in many of the bob stoops years..


They can't do that next year.

[OUthunder]

The problem is the slow start OU has gotten off to in many of the bob stoops years..


They can't do that next year.

FSU will be no cake-walk. Probably be a top 5 showdown when OU-FSU meet next year.

[sperry]

The '08 team looked a lot better going into the season. That being said, the '08 team would have cruised to a national title in most seasons, unfortunately we ran into a ridiculous Florida team.

The '11 Sooners won't be as good as the '08 Sooners, but no other team will be even close to as good as '08 Florida, or even '08 Texas.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Yeah..on the road...2nd game....

[JLEW1818]

yep and the proved they could win without Ponder in the bowl game.

Fisher and M. Stoops is a great combo

[JLEW1818]

The '08 team looked a lot better going into the season. That being said, the '08 team would have cruised to a national title in most seasons, unfortunately we ran into a ridiculous Florida team.

The '11 Sooners won't be as good as the '08 Sooners, but no other team will be even close to as good as '08 Florida, or even '08 Texas.

agree.

2008 was so fun and so much talent across the nation.

2000 of course was fun when we beat the 3 big dogs in a row

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Great year for offensive play in 2008...


7 of the big12 quarterbacks in 2008 made an nfl roster, even if for a brief time.

[Breadburner]

Replacing Murrays production will be difficult.....

[JLEW1818]

Nolen loves Murray .....

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Murray had a good year...I think the backfield overall will be pretty darn good next year though...Im ready for some explosiveness out of the backfield

[OUthunder]

Murray had a good year...I think the backfield overall will be pretty darn good next year though...Im ready for some explosiveness out of the backfield

I agree, just not real sure how good they'll be catching the ball outta the backfield. As a team, we need to do better on screen passes.

[yermom]

the game in Stoolwater is probably going to be more important than the one in Tallahassee

[stoops the eternal pimp]

If OSU can match what they did this year...going to be a lot tougher for them

[Collier11]

Osu will have 2-3 losses next year and may be better than last year

[sooner59]

I feel if we can get past Florida State in week 2, on the road, probably at night...then we will probably play for a national title.

The other question (which needs its own thread probably) is:

If OU makes it to the MNC next year, who do we play?

[yermom]

still, we can maybe recover from losing to FSU if it happens. OSU would pretty much doom us

[sooner59]

still, we can maybe recover from losing to FSU if it happens. OSU would pretty much doom us

Yeah, but I wasn't too worried about osu. :cool:

More just that there might be 2 unbeatens and we would be "just the best 1 loss team". I know Blackmon and Weeden are back, but don't they lose Hunter and a chunk of their o-line and d-line?

[yermom]

i'm always nervous going there.

even though i've never seen us lose there :D

[sooner59]

Check that, the only other starter they lose on offense is a WR, but on defense they lose 6 starters, and 5 of those are d-line and linebackers.

[yermom]

were those guys any good anyway? :D

[sooner59]

were those guys any good anyway? :D

Is that like saying OU bball will be great next year because we return the whole team? :D

[soonervegas]

If we do make it pencil in the Cajuns as the opponent

[yermom]

:mad:

[Octavian]

Hopefully our D and ST will be much better than in '08. That '08 team really wasn't a balanced team all the way around. The offensive was incredible, but the D wasn't really a strength until the very end of the year (and it times they looked bad....) and the ST were regular-to-awful throughout.


Didn't matter since we were hanging 60 points on everyone.....but still....


So we could be a much more complete team in '11. This D looks like a championship caliber unit -- much better than the '08 D. The '11 offense doesn't need to be as good as Sam's O -- and they probably won't be. But hopefully we're a more complete team on all sides of the ball than in '08.


And the ST will surely be better....won't they? They really need to be if we're gonna go wire-to-wire at #1.


The schedule is workable....get by FSU and I think we'll make a real run at it. It will be tough...but we'll be confident going into that game. After all the places this group has played over the last two years -- they'll be ready for a big-time road game. We have a ton of veteran leaders now.

[BoulderSooner79]

The '08 team was very inexperienced in the back 7 of the defense. It took most the year for that unit to gel, but it was very good in the title game (and into '09). The offense also went no-huddle in '08 putting even more pressure on the D as the opponent got more possessions and more plays. But it worked because the offense scored twice as many points per possession than the other guy, so more possession just meant a bigger lead.

We won't have any large unit to rebuild like the back 7 of the D next year, but we do lose key guys (Beal, Murray). But we also don't have the star power of '08. I'm sure some guys will emerge - I just don't see us filling the first round of the NFL draft like we did last April.

My comparison: too many questions on D going into '08 to feel we would be a title contender, but I was positive we would score points. I was also nervous about going no-huddle because I feel we were solid in '07 and would just get better so why mess with it. I'm glad they messed with it. Going into '11 I feel we should contend. The biggest question may be how well the transition to Josh/Jay goes. Other issues are how to compensate for losing DM since we are not going to get the same type of guy, so we need a new strategy. We need some guys to emerge on both lines, but we should have the talent coming in. I'm confident in those areas because all the good teams need to replace more players than we do.

[Always_Sooner]

The only concern I have it Defensive Tackles and replacing Beal. Then, solidifying the offensive line, and getting consistency in the backfield.

[sooner59]

Yeah, the d-line is something to watch.

[Collier11]

Our front 7 should be really really good...think about it

[Rocko]

I agree, just not real sure how good they'll be catching the ball outta the backfield. As a team, we need to do better on screen passes.

Finch made a sick catch in the B12 champ game. I don't remember if he dropped it much.

[agoo758]

If we do make it pencil in the Cajuns as the opponent

Woot hometown team!:D :pop:

[SunnySooner]

If we make it to the MNC, of course we'll play LSU. That's a special rule for OU since the NCAA hates us so much, we must play for MNCs in the other teams home state/stadium. Bastards.

And don't worry 'bout the Criminoles, I'll be there in my lucky...clothing. Wore the wrong one to Miami in '09, won't happen again!!!! ;)