While I was at physical therapy today...

[prrriiide]

I met a gentleman that played ILB/DE at Meatchicken in the mid-80's, started for a couple of years. During Jim Harbaugh's time at QB. I'm not going to name him on a public forum, but I looked him up and he's legit about his playing time.

We of course were talking football, and I of course mentioned how bad our D looked against Taco Tech and Baylor. He didn't even blink an eye before he said that Stoops is too loyal to Venables. Said he watched the Baylor game and he couldn't believe how bad OU's defensive gameplan was. He was stunned that we didn't blitz RGIII. He seemed to think if we would have brought a lot of disguised heat, and made sure to keep backside containment that Baylor wouldn't have had a chance. He also asked (rhetorically) if we even have a secondary coach at all. Ouch.

He wasn't mean or catty about it at all, not even close. Just objective and matter-of-fact.

He also mentioned something I hadn't thought about, but it's really obvious. The players don't play well when they know going in that the gameplan is flawed. I'm thinking that the players knew the gameplans against TTU and BU stunk, and it showed in their performance on the field. IOW, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you want your players to buy in completely, you need to make sure you aren't selling a tropical oasis in North Dakota.

Kinda feel bad for the guy. He's about the same age as me, and has an artificial knee, a reconstructed ACL, a reconstructed shoulder and a hitchy back. His ankles are a patchwork of surgery scars. It's amazing what these guys give up and and the pain they tolerate later in life to provide us our entertainment as young men. But he's as nice and as up-beat as they come. He was even pep-talking me as I did my rehab. Classy guy.

[pphilfran]

Here is the deal...BV isn't sitting in a room making up the defensive game plan all by his lonesome...

You can bet your last nickle that the entire defensive staff sit down and put together a game plan....the scheme on the field will be a joint effort...

[FaninAma]

I think they (OU's coaches) overthink certain situations. In the Baylor game it seemed they were overly concerned with RGIII's scrambling and short passing game and did very little in the way of preparing for the deep passing game. Baylor's offensive coordinator recognized this in Baylor's first series.

What I suspect happened is Venables and his staff watched game film of the Baylor-OSU game and tried the same thing OSU did in their win over the Bears. The Baylor coaches, however, were one or 2 steps ahead of Brent and the boyz and prepared for that defense.

[NormanPride]

We did abandon the blitz in the Baylor game, and I don't know why. Tech was on the players, though. They didn't want it enough. Not that they didn't want it. I'm sure they fought hard. But they didn't want the MNC that night, and so they lost.

[prrriiide]

Here is the deal...BV isn't sitting in a room making up the defensive game plan all by his lonesome...

You can bet your last nickle that the entire defensive staff sit down and put together a game plan....the scheme on the field will be a joint effort...

Maybe I should have made a separate paragraph after mentioning Venables. The thoughts about Venables were in the context of OU's D having a history of giving up a game or two a season to teams with offenses that aren't as good as offenses that were stuffed earlier in the season.

In terms of the game planning, that part of the conversation came after the statesmen about Stoops' loyalty to Venables. In that context, he thought that "some people" on the defensive staff weren't cutting it.

[pphilfran]

The gameplan took a hit when Lewis went out

[SoonerDood]

We did abandon the blitz in the Baylor game, and I don't know why. Tech was on the players, though. They didn't want it enough. Not that they didn't want it. I'm sure they fought hard. But they didn't want the MNC that night, and so they lost.

could it have been Ronnell getting hurt in the 2nd quarter, which is pretty much when they started carving up the D?

[oumartin]

according to jkm BV is a genius and that guy that played legit d1 football is a moron

[picasso]

Wow a Michigan guy? I'm not surprised. I got an earful from a big Michigan meathead in my weight gym years ago. Dude went on an unprovoked rant about how Michigan and Big 10 football was REAL football.
I ignored him. Dork.

[prrriiide]

Wow a Michigan guy? I'm not surprised. I got an earful from a big Michigan meathead in my weight gym years ago. Dude went on an unprovoked rant about how Michigan and Big 10 football was REAL football.
I ignored him. Dork.

Wasn't like that at all. He was very complimentary, said he likes to see OU win. Especially against texass.

[NormanPride]

could it have been Ronnell getting hurt in the 2nd quarter, which is pretty much when they started carving up the D?

I refuse to believe that our defense was based around one guy. If it was, then Venables needs to go.

[cvsooner]

according to jkm BV is a genius and that guy that played legit d1 football is a moronSigh. JKM can defend himself, but this is completely uncalled for. JKM has repeatedly pointed out that he has problems with certain parts of Venables' schemes, and faults him mostly for so-so recruiting and shortcomings in developing talent. He's also pointed out, repeatedly, with visual evidence, what has worked and what hasn't, and shown WHY it hasn't worked. C'mon, Martin. If your existence depends so much on being crowned national champion every year, you're going to be disappointed no matter who you're rooting for.

[OUTrumpet]

Here is the deal...BV isn't sitting in a room making up the defensive game plan all by his lonesome...

You can bet your last nickle that the entire defensive staff sit down and put together a game plan....the scheme on the field will be a joint effort...

Quoted for truth.

Entire defensive staff would plan together and are communicating throughout the week as well as during the game, making adjustments and such. This isn't EA NCAA football 20xx. One person doesn't have full control.

[picasso]

Wasn't like that at all. He was very complimentary, said he likes to see OU win. Especially against texass.
I hear ya but I'm willing to bet on the flip side there's a ton of former D-1 players out there who think we've a pretty damn good thing going in Norman.
I'm as frustrated as anyone.

[oudavid1]

Im sure my opinion dosnt matter to most, but as the member of a college staff, I can assure you that our linebackers (Brent's position) are playing very well and we are recruiting very talented ones. Safeties....not so much. That is on one guy and one guy only. I think this will not be a problem in the next 2 years, but Brent is more valuable than Martinez and I think you would have to consider Willie going before Brent.

[VA Sooner]

I'm hoping the coaches are reading this thread and putting together a good defensive game plan for tomorrow. Would be nice to have a few wrinkles on offense and defense like we did 2 years ago when we rolled out the 50 defense. Did we also start up the diamond formation then or was that a different game/year? My memory is failing me in my old age.

[Sooner in Tampa]

Im sure my opinion dosnt matter to most...
Truer words have never been spoken...

[prrriiide]

Im sure my opinion dosnt matter to most, but as the member of a college staff, I can assure you that our linebackers (Brent's position) are playing very well and we are recruiting very talented ones. Safeties....not so much. That is on one guy and one guy only. I think this will not be a problem in the next 2 years, but Brent is more valuable than Martinez and I think you would have to consider Willie going before Brent.

The problem is that the issues at hand far pre-date Willie the Wimp's arrival to decimate our secondary. In fact, they pre-date BJW's move to the secondary. When issues are transcending position coach changes, you have to look at the next level up - coordinator.

And if you think t-lew is playing at a high level right now, you might want to re-think your career path. What's happening to our talented LB recruits reminds me of the days around 2002-2003 when we were referring to Mack's talent-neutralizer program.

[Breadburner]

We better hire this ex meat chicken guy immediately.....!!!!

[prrriiide]

We better hire this ex meat chicken guy immediately.....!!!!

If he can keep our safeties from biting on play-action like a carp on a hunk of cheese, I'm all for it.

[oudavid1]

The problem is that the issues at hand far pre-date Willie the Wimp's arrival to decimate our secondary. In fact, they pre-date BJW's move to the secondary. When issues are transcending position coach changes, you have to look at the next level up - coordinator.

And if you think t-lew is playing at a high level right now, you might want to re-think your career path. What's happening to our talented LB recruits reminds me of the days around 2002-2003 when we were referring to Mack's talent-neutralizer program.

You make a good point, i thought this was a Willie issue, i dont remember back far enough usually cause I am young. Thanks for the info!

[AlboSooner]

Im sure my opinion dosnt matter to most...
Truer words have never been spoken...
Amen

[TXBOOMER]

Bob Stoops has final approval of the game plan. Right?????????????????????????????

[StoopTroup]

I lived next door to a guy that played LB for Poke State back in the Mid-80's and my little Brother would go over and put his kid in the dryer and watch his kid laugh his *** off until the Mom caught them. I don't think it was his Mom's genes that gave him the idea that riding in the dryer was fun as hell.

True story.

[ashley]

Please don't get the idea that ex-players know anything. I hire a bunch to coach for me and the only knew what their position did and couldn't draw a play.

[bluedogok]

We did abandon the blitz in the Baylor game, and I don't know why. Tech was on the players, though. They didn't want it enough. Not that they didn't want it. I'm sure they fought hard. But they didn't want the MNC that night, and so they lost.
Not sure about your Tech interpretation, they left a 15-20 yard hole behind the defensive line/linebackers and DB's all night long, that is precisely where 90% of Tech plays are run. The odd thing was they used to manhandle Tech even when Tech had better players than they do now (2008 anyone) and always had traffic in that zone to disrupt timing. I think the coaches may have outsmarted themselves on that night thinking Tech was going to do something different than they have the past 11 seasons. I watch a lot of Tech games, they don't waver much from that scheme no matter what Tuberville has said.

[OUmillenium]

In-game adjustments would be nice on the defensive side.

Training instinctive athletes to backpedal and stand in a zone does not equate to a "ball-hawking" aggressive defense.

Overcoaching v undercoaching...which is happening and by whom?

[SicEmBaylor]

I think they (OU's coaches) overthink certain situations. In the Baylor game it seemed they were overly concerned with RGIII's scrambling and short passing game and did very little in the way of preparing for the deep passing game. Baylor's offensive coordinator recognized this in Baylor's first series.

This is puzzling since if you look at game film from virtually any of our games this year, it becomes obvious very quickly that we live off the deep ball. RGIII can throw it anywhere at any time of course, but our bread and butter has been deep balls on drives that are 1-3 plays and take less than 2 mins.

[Sooner_Tuf]

I'm pretty sure OU wanted to contain RGIII and not watch a guy with Olympic speed runaway from the blitz. Just my guess.

[SicEmBaylor]

I'm pretty sure OU wanted to contain RGIII and not watch a guy with Olympic speed runaway from the blitz. Just my guess.
Except he hasn't really been doing too much of that this year (at least by his own standards). RGIII has stayed in the pocket as much as possible though he is pretty adept at scrambling away from a blitz. Nonetheless, it has been obvious this season that Griffin has been kept on a leash. I don't know if the staff is scared he's going to get injured on those scrambles or what, but Griffin has certainly been a pocket passer this year.