Now is a good time to talk about what the team needs.

[8timechamps]

Since none of us are on the staff or in the program, we obviously can't make changes, but we can damn sure beat this subject to death. It's the off-season, recruiting for 2013 is almost over, and basketball hasn't really heated up yet. So, now is as good a time as any!

The only thing I ask in this thread is if you are going to make an argument about something being 'wrong' or 'bad', that you back it up with some resemblance of a conversation. In other words, go easy on the Sooner85 "****!" comments (btw, where the hell has 85 been?).

As usual, I'll also try to dismiss most of what gets said (because that's how I roll...I'm crazy like that), but I will admit when I'm wrong (which almost NEVER happens).

Good? Good.

I'll post my thoughts in a bit...still trying to get them from my head to the keyboard. Feel free to jump in, we've got a long time to go before the first kick-off.

[SoonerInFortSmith]

Some better defensive front seven play and the Sooners will be in the championship hunt again.

[tulsaoilerfan]

2 things i would like to see that IMO would make us better.
1. Some semblance of a QB zone read run game; one of the reasons we suck at consistent running is everyone knew that Landry was absolutely no threat to run the ball at any time.
2. Linebackers, linebackers, linebackers.

[Ruf/Nek7]

I would like to see a better defensive scheme when we play teams that spread it out. I would to see a D lineman bring constant pressure too. We really didn't have much of that this last year. Oh and lastly, a HEALTHY OFFSEASON which in turn rolls into a HEALTHY SEASON!

[agoo758]

Offensive side:

1. Encourage QB to scramble out of the pocket and to pick up yards if need me.

2. Abandon that awful Pistol Formation (seriously why run an inneficient version of the singleback?)

3. More snaps under center/ ulitize Millard more with some FB powers. Maybe even some play action from an I or Single Back.


Defense

1. Recruit bigger ( I know that sounds childish, but our D line looked smaller than half of the punters in Division 1)

Not much else I can say on defense, cause there is nothing really that can be changed right now, we just need more talent, particularly at linebacker.

I was actually fairly happy with the way our secondary played this year, but they will need help.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

More swagger.

[goingoneight]

More swagger.

I think they need some former coaches and players to tell them how un-talented they are and how they are soft and can't win games.

[StoopTroup]

A QB.

[OUNASH]

1. A defense that can actually play defense
2. Recruit like Alabama instead of Boise State
3. Light a fire under the current coaching staff
4. No more excuses for lackluster play or coaching

[Turd_Ferguson]

Fire Brian Britt!

[ashley]

Offensive side:

1. Encourage QB to scramble out of the pocket and to pick up yards if need me.

2. Abandon that awful Pistol Formation (seriously why run an inneficient version of the singleback?)

3. More snaps under center/ ulitize Millard more with some FB powers. Maybe even some play action from an I or Single Back.


Defense

1. Recruit bigger ( I know that sounds childish, but our D line looked smaller than half of the punters in Division 1)

Not much else I can say on defense, cause there is nothing really that can be changed right now, we just need more talent, particularly at linebacker.

I was actually fairly happy with the way our secondary played this year, but they will need help.

The pistol is a very good run and pass formation IF you have a QB that is also a run threat. It looks like we will have a quarterback that will be able to do this next year.

[One4OU]

I would like to see better organization from the coaches in regards to decision making and play calling.

All of this read and react first play calling has gone too far. It's seems to be good for some plays but every time leads to much confusion and players not knowing the play.

I would also like to see more attitude and swagger from the coaches. Watching Bob Stoops in years past bred confidence and now it seems like he just shrugs things off and lets move on without concern. This is not meant as a yell and scream at players but to me there doesn't seem to be the actual coaching taking place during the game.

[thecrimsoncrusader]

Have Coach Heupel quit changing the tempo right in the middle of the series. Either go normal tempo or up-tempo, but don't do both in the same series. That has hurt OU's offense more than it has hurt the opposing defense and that has been Coach Heupel's biggest failing as an offensive coordinator. They apparently don't go back and watch tape about how many times they have been negatively impacted by making such a move.

When you got a 3rd and 1 or a 4th and 1, let Blake Bell take the ball underneath center and do a QB sneak. That is something that will have a 100% success rate and the opposing defense couldn't do a dang thing about it. With that said, the Belldozer formation will start having a much higher success rate again next season, since the opposition will no longer having the luxury of being 100% certain that Oklahoma will run the ball in that formation unlike the past two seasons.

[Curly Bill]

More cowbell

[Turd_Ferguson]

More cowbell

Aye...there is no such thing as too much cow bell.

[odontia]

I would like to see two things different from the offense (who knows where we stand with the defense)

1. Use more Millard! Every game should be like the last Texas game.
2. Stop PRAIRIE DOGGING! I know we are changing the play because of what the defense is showing us, but I want us to have the confidence that no matter what the defense is doing we are going to run the ball down their throat. Other than hot reads, Alabama did not change their plays after they left the huddle.

[tator]

I'm just glad we're finally having some discussion around this topic. I was starting to think that noone would bring it up.

[hawaii 5-0]

Offense......

Road Graders
A tight end with hands
A QB that's a threat to run.


Defense.......

Lineman that can collapse the pocket
Linebackers that can shed a block

Did we ever get a dedicated Special Teams coach?

5-0

[stoops the eternal pimp]

1. More points scored for
2. Less points scored against.

[Soonerjeepman]

More cowbell

yeah the only thing that will cure my fever...

[Soonerjeepman]

Millard...Millard...more Millard...

and USE the TE to catch passes.

not a football guy but it seems we run about 5 different plays. With Millard, a good TE, our rbacks and receivers I would think we could really have a butt load of off plays.

[SoonerMachine]

Millard...Millard...more Millard...

and USE the TE to catch passes.

not a football guy but it seems we run about 5 different plays. With Millard, a good TE, our rbacks and receivers I would think we could really have a butt load of off plays.

What would I love to see? In between the 20s, all offensive weapons will be used.
More FB, more TE, and of course, more misdirection.

[badger]

Soooo... the team needs to do what they didn't do last year, right? It seemed that in all of their losses, ND KSU and :rcmad:, they won the small scrimmages, but gave up the big plays too often. This was also the issue in some of the games that shouldn't have been as close (@WVU comes to mind).

Thus, we need to give up the Randy Moss mentality that it is OK to take plays off, because when we take plays off, they are getting big huge gains often resulting in scores.

[goingoneight]

3 more wins.

[Dan Thompson]

Some attitude
Some on the field leadership on both O and D

I can't remember when I saw LJ come to the sideline with a pissed off expression. It was always 'oh well' IMHO.

[swardboy]

A real revolution with a QB who can call his own audibles and get that no-huddle O really moving!

And that....cowbell thingy.

[East Coast Bias]

Both an offensive and defensive line that can play physical with anyone.
Get away from the scat-backs and find some RB's that can run over people(More Millard)
Some reassurances that Blake can pass, or that Stoops will open competition for the job.
If Knight earns the job, give it to him....

[TahoeSOONER]

Defensive ends that can contain and pressure off the edge.

Linebackers that can get off blocks and tackle.

TE that can impact the game blocking and catching the ball.

More physical rushing attack

[cleller]

Mangino for the O-line
A QB that can better manage 3rd and medium.
More aggressive front 7 on D

Still, don't know if this can overcome the wholesale flock to the SEC of the most hungry and tough guys.

[BoomerJ]

apparently some deer antler spray would be nice.

[OkieThunderLion]

Mangino for the O-line

Mangino's mess of an offense, from 2001, still haunts me to this day.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Offense

Good things that need to be replaced (in no particular order):

1. Justin Brown's Blocking on the Perimeter - It is sad how bad our blocking out there has been for the last 4-5 years. Well, let me correct that to it is sad how bad our blocking has been out there when it wasn't a screen to a WR. I HOPE Brown's blue collar bring it every down mentality rubbed off onto the younger kids (as opposed to Stills' I only block when I have too). The player with the body to do this is Metoyer, whether he has the motor remains to be seen. And yes, for those of you wondering, we diagrammed Broyles on many a running play just going through the motions blocking

2. Justin Brown's PR ability - He quietly had one of the best years we've ever had back there. 14+ yards per return in hidden yards is a huge weapon.

3. Tress Way's Punting - Was in the top 2 of his recruiting class as far as performance. We've done fairly well replacing punters over the years so I'm not too worried yet.

4. Landry's Accuracy - The next QB needs to hit 60%+ for us to be in good shape

Bad things that need to be shored up:

1. Consistency of Effort - We still have too many players taking plays off. It has been almost a decade since we had 3 WRs who consistently played hard the entire game. Since Malcolm Kelly started the trend, we've had at least 1 or 2 WRs who only run their routes hard when they know they are a primary. The impact on the rest of the team is bad enough, allowing other teams to use it as a tendency is 10x worse.

2. Coaches Micro-managing - Call it the meerkat, call it whatever you want. The problem is that our coaches don't trust our players enough to run the called play. Secondarily, they don't trust our QBs enough to make the proper audible. That lack of confidence in them reverberates to their play and their effort.

3. Answering Scores - one thing that I absolutely hope Landry takes with him is our inability to either put someone away or answer a score. The 3 and outs in those situations were maddening to watch.

4. Hard Counts - does it bother anyone else that we only hard count to see what the defense is doing so that the coaches can audible in? Maybe I'm an idiot, but snapping the ball and taking a free shot down the field seems like a much much higher return than what we've been doing. The fact that Josh used to get big plays on hard counts at least 2x a game makes me wonder if they aren't getting too consumed with their own importance. If we do go with a running QB next year, I hope we spend a ton of time on this as we should be able to grab at least 2 offsides a game.

5. Hitting guys in stride over the middle - This has always been the #1 indicator of how potent we were going to be offensively. If you can get this done, Sterling should have a monster year.

[sooneron]

1. Some semblance of a QB zone read run game; one of the reasons we suck at consistent running is everyone knew that Landry was absolutely no threat to run the ball at any time.

Landry not being a threat to run hurting us accounted for about 5% of us sucking at it. How much of a threat is AJ McCarron to run the ball? It's not usually a qb that dictates the run by his running ability, it's the OLine's ability to actually scheme and get to the LBs. We can't do that. Even our better OLs of the last 5 years were not guys that hit the 2nd level well. They were protection blockers.
ND put out a game plan on us that worked. They KNEW their front FIVE could control the LOS and the other 6 guys could just keep the play in front of them. Josh got tired of dink dunk for 5-7 yards and tried to impose some sort of will on them and they stoned us.

I would just like to see a philosophy on both sides of the ball that fit the players.