How do you feel now, compared to the pre-2008 season?

[JLEW1818]

this time during 2008, i knew we were going to be a pretty good team. We actually did better than most thought. breaking records and stuff.

Do you feel about the same now as you did in 2008?

i kinda feel better about our defense....?

[BOOMERBRADLEY]

The similarities are there for sure.

The dt's in '08 were a little better than they are now but our LB's are sick!

[Cornfed]

I had no idea we would put up the numbers we did, but I expected to beat the Whorns :D

[JLEW1818]

I had no idea we would put up the numbers we did, but I expected to beat the Whorns :D

yep, i didn't think Sam would throw for 50 TDs, and have two 1000 yard backs

the sky for the 2008 RRS was so blue.

[tfoolry]

Cautiously optimistic. Same way I feel about the Mavs right now.

[JLEW1818]

Cautiously optimistic. Same way I feel about the Mavs right now.

i think the refs will have a bigger say, than what the mavs will have.

[Sooner_Tuf]

I had more confidence in the Offense going into the 2008 season than I do this team. I think this team is very good but there is not as much proven talent on this one.

This team doesn't have a dominant Defensive Lineman either.

It is going to be a very interesting year. Should be a helluva ride. I can't wait for it to start.

[FirstAndGoalOU]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Xdbppb2XHQo/TT8oQzADLGI/AAAAAAAADYM/iIjLU4IXqOo/s1600/fingers-crossed.jpghttp://www.erictyson.com/custom/anxious-man.jpg

[TahoeSOONER]

I feel good about this team. It's going to have some pop on offense and the D should be stout if we get some pressure up front and give some of these young guys a chance at a turnover. Schedule sets up nice but they are going to get tested by a hungry FSU team right off the bat. If a team is going to beat OU they are going to need to score a lot of points. Young RBs need to step up.

[JLEW1818]

i think overall the top 5 teams in 2008 were a lot better than what the top 5 for 2011 will be.

agree?

[yankee]

i think overall the top 5 teams in 2008 were a lot better than what the top 5 for 2011 will be.

agree?

Can only tell at the end of the season.

[BoulderSooner79]

i think overall the top 5 teams in 2008 were a lot better than what the top 5 for 2011 will be.

agree?

I agree it looks that way. I think the top 5 or 6 teams from '08 were better than last year's Auburn team. And most the top teams from last year are losing too many key players to believe there will be a broad-based improvement.

[JLEW1818]

yah 2008 was sick

OU, Florida, Texas, Bama, USC, Utah, Texas Tech, Penn St, Boise St

all teams undefeated or with 1 loss going into bowls. and not just the records, all of those teams were sick.

[BoulderSooner79]

this time during 2008, i knew we were going to be a pretty good team. We actually did better than most thought. breaking records and stuff.

Do you feel about the same now as you did in 2008?

i kinda feel better about our defense....?

I feel we will be good, but very different. I don't see us having the star power from '08, but better distribution of very good players across all positions. This should help us weather a few injuries better and not have "Ryan Reynolds knee injury cascade failure". And as you mentioned, the competitive landscape doesn't look as good as it did in '08. We still need to make strides because we didn't finish last season as truly dominant, but those strides are within normal expectations for returning players.

[TMcGee86]

definitely feel better about the defense.

probably feel slightly less sure about the offense, but honestly can't remember and I think most of that is just because now I know how good they turned out.

I would actually say I feel better overall about this team.

[JLEW1818]

I'm ready for year 2 of Trey Millard

[BillyBall]

I feel really good about this team but the '08 team I thought was going to bring home #8. Still think they would have with a healthy Ryan Reynolds.

[TheLadiesMike]

I feel really good about this team but the '08 team I thought was going to bring home #8. Still think they would have with a healthy Ryan Reynolds.

Defense lost it in Dallas, offense lost it in Florida.

[tator]

yah 2008 was sick

OU, Florida, Texas, Bama, USC, Utah, Texas Tech, Penn St, Boise St

all teams undefeated or with 1 loss going into bowls. and not just the records, all of those teams were sick.
<note to self>
Use "sick" more often
</note to self>

[oudavid1]

I think we will see a drop in offensive production, but a spike and defense and we will have a better secondary. But the offense just want be that of last years production. Still very good though. I sent see a lot of room to lose 2 games either.

[JLEW1818]

I think we will see a drop in offensive production, but a spike and defense and we will have a better secondary. But the offense just want be that of last years production. Still very good though. I sent see a lot of room to lose 2 games either.

After 2007, I didn't think that the 2008 offense could be that much better.... me was wrong... let's hope you are wrong too :D

[oudavid1]

After 2007, I didn't think that the 2008 offense could be that much better.... me was wrong... let's hope you are wrong too :D

I hope I'm wrong :D

[soonercoop1]

Not sure as I don't know whether we will finally have a Top 10 Championship D this season....

[Mad Dog Madsen]

http://www.marceliot.net/images/James_brown-330.jpg

[The Maestro]

You don't need a top 10 D to win the title.

Score 40 a game...you win all the games. We honestly could this year. Hell, we score those two early TD's against Florida and the flood gates might have opened that night. They would have been scrambling.

Sorry for picking that scab.

[Mad Dog Madsen]

Hell, we score those two early TD's against Florida and the flood gates might have opened that night.

Sorry for picking that scab.

That was unnecessary... :(

[gaylordfan1]

Its strange going into the season not overly concerned with UT. Im not too worried about our RB's. If one doesn't step up as a sole work hoarse I have confidence that we will be good with using a steady 3 punch rotation. Hell, maybe even a 4 punch rotation.... Finch, Clay, Miller and Williams. Use them all and see whats working and go with it.

I also think our D will be stout. If the men up front aren't working out we can always pull out the 50 right?

[FirstAndGoalOU]

x4eOmnGEOjk

[SoonerofAlabama]

I didn't know we would be in a title game that year. I thought a good year for sure though.

[OUinFLA]

I ache a lot more than I did back then, but my Doc changed my anti-inflamatory medication, so I suspect Ill be in top form by September.

TFA

[Mad Dog Madsen]

Honestly, if we don't make it to the title game I will be very disappointed...

[JLEW1818]

x4eOmnGEOjk

great work

[Osama Bin Laden]

I feel we will have the most overall talent and overall depth in the country. Anything short of #8 will be slightly disappointing.

[FirstAndGoalOU]

Wish it was mine, but with all due respect to...http://www.youtube.com/user/FallenSoul250

[SoonerNomad]

Do you feel about the same now as you did in 2008?



I feel about three years older. In '08 I could still run 8 minute miles for an entire half marathon. This morning I limped through 4 1/2 miles in just over 40 minutes. I also have more gray hair. My teenage kids are starting to irritate me more and don't even ask me about the price of gas. I thought the '08 prices were way too high.

[mightysooner]

I'm concerned about our running game, or lack thereof. We will miss Murray's production badly.
As far as our defense, I have some measure of optimism, but I'll believe that Venables can put a defense on the field that doesn't get shredded though the air in big games when I see it. He's never produced a defense that could cover anybody, or win the game for us when the offense struggles.

Also, what people aren't talking about is special teams play. Are our special teams going to be worth a damn this year? Who's going to return kicks in Murray's place?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

This team has 2 big weaknesses

1. Soft up the middle
2. Goes into a funk when an opponent scores

The 2008 team shared one of those weaknesses (soft up the middle) and it bit us in the rear in both of our 2 losses. While the D played well enough to win that Florida game they could not get Florida off the field in the 2nd half because they couldn't stop the run tackle to tackle.

If we continue our habit of 3 and out after an opponent score (or worse when we could blow a game wide open), a game will get away from us. At that point, its a crapshoot as to whether we will get into the title game.

[usmc-sooner]

in 2008 I felt that jkm, didn't have much of clue and I still feel that way.

[Sooner_Tuf]

I feel we will have the most overall talent and overall depth in the country. Anything short of #8 will be slightly disappointing.

You're dead to me :D

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

in 2008 I felt that jkm, didn't have much of clue and I still feel that way.

The big question mark in 2008 for me was WR. Iglesias took way too many plays off for me to even feel comfortable there. That combined with his tendency to hotdog in the clutch left me feeling leary of a 2-3 loss season.

Then Manny Johnson goes nuts the first few weeks and Iglesias steps up his game because he's being shown up. He still tried to hot dog in the clutch though and that bit us in the rear in both of our comeback attempts against the horns and the gators. But just the added production from someone we weren't expecting made that team orders of magnitude better than it was.

I don't really feel that way about this team with any unit except linebacker and that is a far cry from the situation we had in 2008.

[Sooner_Tuf]

I'm concerned about our running game, or lack thereof. We will miss Murray's production badly.
As far as our defense, I have some measure of optimism, but I'll believe that Venables can put a defense on the field that doesn't get shredded though the air in big games when I see it. He's never produced a defense that could cover anybody, or win the game for us when the offense struggles.

Also, what people aren't talking about is special teams play. Are our special teams going to be worth a damn this year? Who's going to return kicks in Murray's place?

We'll be fine, Murray didn't scare anyone anyway, right?

I suppose we'll have Finch and Broyles returning kicks with Madu gone. Has Murray even been out there to return a kick since the kickoff of the last Big XII Championship Game against Misdouri in 2008?

[Salt City Sooner]

I'm concerned about our running game, or lack thereof. We will miss Murray's production badly.
As far as our defense, I have some measure of optimism, but [/b]I'll believe that Venables can put a defense on the field that doesn't get shredded though the air in big games when I see it. He's never produced a defense that could cover anybody, or win the game for us when the offense struggles[/b].

Also, what people aren't talking about is special teams play. Are our special teams going to be worth a damn this year? Who's going to return kicks in Murray's place?
I'm going to assume that you were asleep for the entire '09 season because that was a championship caliber D that got hung out to dry, mainly due to the myriad of injuries sustained on offense. Also, Murray only returned 10 KO's last year, (& FWIW, was out-averaged by Madu). He hadn't been a significant factor on that unit since '08.


One thing I'd point out to everyone who brought up the '08 D is that they had a LOT of help in surrendering those totals (see my post on the link below), which brings me to the next subject; special teams coverage. That problem reared it's ugly head again last year, & is definitely one of the things I'll be watching the closest.

http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130942

[SoonerofAlabama]

I'm not as confident as many of the experts are. I know the offensive line is always mentioned, and I think that really is the biggest problem right now.

[agoo758]

Not as high expectations for the team this year as I had in 08, but still going to be very good nontheless.

[Osama Bin Laden]

I'm going to assume that you were asleep for the entire '09 season because that was a championship caliber D that got hung out to dry, mainly due to the myriad of injuries sustained on offense.

Seriously. I've been hiding in a cave for 10 years and I could have told you that. Highlighted for emphasis

[texaspokieokie]

Don't remember my 08 feelings, but surely i thot team would be "sick" !!!

[cvsooner]

This team has 2 big weaknesses

1. Soft up the middle
2. Goes into a funk when an opponent scores

The 2008 team shared one of those weaknesses (soft up the middle) and it bit us in the rear in both of our 2 losses. While the D played well enough to win that Florida game they could not get Florida off the field in the 2nd half because they couldn't stop the run tackle to tackle.

If we continue our habit of 3 and out after an opponent score (or worse when we could blow a game wide open), a game will get away from us. At that point, its a crapshoot as to whether we will get into the title game.

Wisdom and prophecy, all in the same post, back in May.

[soonercoop1]

After the FSU game I was almost convinced we finally had a championship D...I was wrong...

[StoopTroup]

Once I saw the only starting linebacker we had last week was an injured Travis Lewis...I quickly could see where problems were going to need some guys step up and even though I was praying our depth would pick up the slack it didn't seem like the Offense was gonna pull it out but I was still hoping for a win whether it was ugly or not because I know this Team is still better than the Team that won the Sun Bowl.

Injuries can kill a Team and sometimes these things happen in football. I remember people blaming everyone in 2008 just like they have every year it looks like we aren't gonna put a crystal ball in the Switzer Center.

Wisdom and prophecy? LMAO.