OU offense/scoring in bowl games

[jk the sooner fan]

jk2 and i were discussing OU's annual bowl performance - and he mentioned that OU's offense has a history of under achieving in bowl games

so i did a little research


YR AVG BOWL PTS

99....................36...................25 (against Ole Miss) (loss)
00....................37...................13 (National Championship v. FSU - no complaints allowed)
01....................31...................10 (Cotton Bowl v. Arkansas)
02....................39...................34 (Rose Bowl v. WSU - ok so here we put up some points, still lower than our avg against an inferior opponent)
03....................43...................14 (Sugar Bowl v. LSU - ugh, blech) (loss)
04....................35...................19 (Rose Bowl v. USC - some of those 19 points were mercy/pity points) (loss)
05....................27...................17 (Holiday v. Oregon - down season but a nice bowl win anyway)
06................... 30.................. 42 (Fiesta v. Boise St) loss
07................... 42.................. 28 (Fiesta v. West Va) loss
08 ...................51.................. 14 (Sugar v. Florida ) loss
09 ...................31................... 31 (Sun v. Stanford)
10 ...................37....................48(Fiesta v. UConn) finally exceed
11 ...................40.................... 31 (Insight v. Iowa)
12................... 38..................... 13 (cotton v. A&M)


thoughts?

[pphilfran]

For the most part the teams in bowl games don't have average defenses....

[Soonerjeepman]

and we did exceed in the loss to boise.. ;-) but yeah not a good trend..I wonder though if that is normal.

[MI Sooner]

For the most part the teams in bowl games don't have average defenses....

This is especially true of opponents in top bowl games, which are the ones we've played in for the most part. I think to get anything resembling a meaningful analysis, you'd need to look at the quality of the teams that we accumulate our average against and the quality of the team in the bowl game.

[OkieThunderLion]

a) you're playing against much better teams than what you padded your stats with in the regular season
b) defenses tend to have the advantage in bowls, with layoff

[sooner_born_1960]

b) defenses tend to have the advantage in bowls, with layoff
Except OU's.

[jk the sooner fan]

Bama averaged 38 this year and scored 42 in the bowl game

[One4OU]

b) defenses tend to have the advantage in bowls, with layoff
Except OU's.

Would be nice to know the other teams season avg and we could look at the defense as well.

Nice work, thanks for the time.

[ddub0224]

Three words for you: Va Nil La. After Gresham left, we have become extremely predictable. Granted he did make some bone-headed throws & fumbles, but Landry was a pretty accurate passer. The offense did not succeed because of creative planning and scheming. It was because he made throws. The better defenses in the bowl games figured us out quick though. I would be interested to see the stats on % of TDs to FGs in the red zone for regular season vs bowls.

[sooneron]

Bama was a far better team than ND. I wouldn't call 4 pts an anomaly or exception. I still think that layoff coupled with timing /spread offenses can suffer more than conventional offenses. Usually when you see a high scoring bowl game, one or both teams have ****ty defenses (see Baylor v UW or WV v Clemson OSEwe v Pursue).

[sooneron]

Would be nice to know the other teams season avg and we could look at the defense as well.

Nice work, thanks for the time.

Not sure how necessary that is, our's was ranked sixty something and played like it... :D :fatigue:

[OkieThunderLion]

Would be nice to know the other teams season avg and we could look at the defense as well.

Nice work, thanks for the time.
7 out of 14 bowl games OU held opponent under OU's average PPG allowed. So I'd certainly imagine that it's even better when comparing to their opponets scoring average.

[OkieThunderLion]

Bowl Opponents Scoring Avg
99 Miss - 26.9
00 FSU - 42.4
01 Ark - 26.5
02 WSU - 33.2
03 LSU - 33.9
04 USC - 38.2 (scored 55)
05 UO - 37.6
06 Boise - 39.7 (scored 43)
07 WVU - 39.6 (scored 48)
08 UF - 43.6
09 Stan - 35.5
10 UConn - 26.4
11 Iowa - 27.5
12 A&M - 44.5

Only 3 times has OU allowed more than avg. 99 was a push.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

The simplicity of Alabama's offense enables them to run it at a high level week in and week out..You know they are going to run between the tackles, but it doesn't matter..

OU's offense can be stopped by inferior defensive players when a good gameplan is set.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

What has killed us offensively in a lot of our bowl games are turnovers.

Oh and that Wazzou team was better than we were in 2002. The difference was a) Price leaving and b) their QB coughing up a couple of picks on our side of the field.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

The simplicity of Alabama's offense enables them to run it at a high level week in and week out..You know they are going to run between the tackles, but it doesn't matter..

OU's offense can be stopped by inferior defensive players when a good gameplan is set.

I still think it has more to do with officiating than anything. No one could guard Saunders during the season and yet against aTm he couldn't get separation to save his life. I just think that having ACC/Pac 12/Big 10 refs hurts us as bad offensively as other conferences get hurt in bowl games defensively when they land a big 12 crew.

[OkieThunderLion]

Oh and that Wazzou team was better than we were in 2002. The difference was a) Price leaving and b) their QB coughing up a couple of picks on our side of the field.
Watch that one again. From 10 feet away it looked like Wazzu had no chance of blocking OU's front 6.

I think the number was set correctly, OU a touchdown favorite. (Despite Phil Steele incorrectly listing it opposite for years).

[Salt City Sooner]

Bowl Opponents Scoring Avg
99 Miss - 26.9
00 FSU - 42.4
01 Ark - 26.5
02 WSU - 33.2
03 LSU - 33.9
04 USC - 38.2 (scored 55)
05 UO - 37.6
06 Boise - 39.7 (scored 43)
07 WVU - 39.6 (scored 48)
08 UF - 43.6
09 Stan - 35.5
10 UConn - 26.4
11 Iowa - 27.5
12 A&M - 44.5

Only 3 times has OU allowed more than avg. 99 was a push.
Good research. I have long said that between the 2 units, the defense gets a bad rap when it comes to bowl games. Oh, & as to the OP, FWIW, I can think of 4 TD's off the top of my head (Perk's punt return vs. Wazzu, Walker's pick 6 vs. Boise, & 2 pick 6's by Fleming & TJ vs. UConn) that the offense had nothing to do with, which further accentuates the point.

[thecrimsoncrusader]

(against Ole Miss) (loss): First year in new system.

(National Championship v. FSU - no complaints allowed): Heupel was already a cooked goose by season's end due to the elbow injury and OU and FSU had the two fastest defenses in college football.

(Cotton Bowl v. Arkansas): OU's offense was already disabled by season's end with Jason White being out for the season and Hybl playing with a broken shoulder on his throwing side and OU's offensive line depleted.

(Rose Bowl v. WSU - ok so here we put up some points, still lower than our avg against an inferior opponent): OU did what they needed to do.

(Sugar Bowl v. LSU - ugh, blech) (loss): This was a product of Jason White having a broken hand on his throwing arm. Nothing else. Switch roles where Jason White doesn't have the broken hand and Matt Mauck does and OU wins handidly. White had time to throw in this game. It wasn't LSU's defense and LSU only gave up 3 rushing TDs all season long, yet OU had 2 rushing TDs against their defense despite being a spread offense.

(Rose Bowl v. USC - some of those 19 points were mercy/pity points) (loss): No reasons. OU was healthy, but just got roasted in every phase of the game. The turnovers is what made it lop-sided though and what got OU to flat out quit.

(Holiday v. Oregon - down season but a nice bowl win anyway): OU had an atrocious offense that season. Redshirt freshman QB behind an inexperienced and injury plagued offensive line throwing to freshman receivers. A bad combo.

(Fiesta v. Boise St) loss: OU doesn't win the Big 12 title if Malcolm Kelly doesn't play that season. He was Paul Thompson's life preserver and Thompson was lost without Kelly in the Fiesta Bowl.

(Fiesta v. West Va) loss: What would end up being OU's all-time leading scorer in Demarco Murray was out for this game along with OU's best receiver in Malcolm Kelly. That's not including the three defensive starters out in this game. You aren't going to win a big game with 5 starters out 1978 notwithstanding.

(Sugar v. Florida ) loss: OU's all-time leading scorer in Demarco Murray was out for this game. Swap situations where OU has Demarco Murray and Florida is without Percy Harvin. I think we know how that game ends. Ryan Reynolds would have prevented Tebow from getting 100+ yards up the gut.

(Sun v. Stanford): Worthless bowl game. I keep hearing that Stanford didn't have Luck. Yeah, well OU didn't have Bradford.

(Fiesta v. UConn) finally exceed: Worthless bowl game.

(Insight v. Iowa): Worthless bowl game.

(cotton v. A&M): No reasons or excuses, just got flat out classed in the 2nd half.


Football isn't a game of inches, it's a game of injuries.

[Statalyzer]

and we did exceed in the loss to boise

Thanks to a defensive score + overtime.

To really make these stats reflective of the claim you'd need to only count regulation scores by the offense. Then compare how much you scored relative to what that team allowed on average. Then compare that relative total to the bowl game and see if the offense did better or worse.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Thanks to a defensive score + overtime.

To really make these stats reflective of the claim you'd need to only count regulation scores by the offense. Then compare how much you scored relative to what that team allowed on average. Then compare that relative total to the bowl game and see if the offense did better or worse.

I think you need to do better than that. The problem is that the bowl season has tighter qualifications than the regular season. And given the stratospheric nature of most of our opponents in bowls record-wise, it makes it even tougher.