'The Game Plan'...What was it?

[cherokeebrewer]

I ask this question because what I saw was confusion on both sides of the ball...

This was a crushing defeat

[fadada1]

if the game plan was to suck and look disorganized, i say we succeeded perfectly.

other than that, i got nuthin'.

[sendbaht]

I guess to help save MB job...that's the only way I see it..

[BoulderSooner79]

The offense game plan looked the same as in other games to me. Try to run the ball and augment with the short passing game. The problem is that the UT game plan took those away and dared us to throw farther down the field and we were unable to do that. TCU did the same thing, but they lacked the offense to win the game with it. Others will try the same thing, but won't have as much success because they won't have the talent in some area. But we must somehow find a way to overcome this problem, or we'll drop more games.

The defensive plan looked the same too. Try to protect a thin D-line with stunts and a few blitzes and different looks. And it actually worked well enough to win the game if the offense had been more effective. 14 points came off of a pick 6 and punt return. The regular defense gave up 23 points (22 with the blocked XP) which should have been good enough for a tightly contested game had the offense been effective. So not dominate, but decent considering the horns were holding the cards in the trenches.

[Widescreen]

The score would've been worse but McCoy misfired on a couple of easy throws that likely would've resulted in TD's.

[cleller]

I think most of us knew that UT was going to line up and stop the run, and dare us to throw.

They did just that, and we had no answer for it. Could it be that we have no QB capable of throwing an accurate pass, so we just threw in the towel? Seems too simplistic.

As the Oklahoman pointed out today, lots of other schools had been wildly successful using QB runs vs Texas, yet we never tried that, despite the fact that our poor-throwing QBs have shown they can run the ball with success.

Looked like a collection of (mostly) coaches and (some) players that thought they should win - then shut down when the other team elected to compete.

[BoulderSooner79]

The score would've been worse but McCoy misfired on a couple of easy throws that likely would've resulted in TD's.

But he made the 2 big throws for scores and several other important 3rd down conversions. That was the real difference from a high level point of view - their QB could make some throws and ours couldn't. It didn't take a duel threat QB or a Heisman level performance to be effective.

[SOONER44EVER]

Look at every game texas has played. All the other teams seemed to have a game plan for them. Us not so much. We looked like texas looks every week.

[BoulderSooner79]

Look at every game texas has played. All the other teams seemed to have a game plan for them. Us not so much. We looked like texas looks every week.

They definitely played better in this game than they have all year. But I think the other teams looked better on offense against UT because they *are* better on offense. The only team our offense has really dominated was a very weak Tulsa team. We didn't even look great against ULM. Much of our success against ND is because they totally conceded the 7 yard flat pass and we were constantly in 2 and 3. I don't know why they did that, but I don't see another team on the schedule repeating that mistake.

[OU_Sooners75]

Was throw the ball about 50 times all short routes. Run one middle screen, one middle seam route out of backfield, two deep balls over 15 yards downfield. And some diamond that worked but to later abandon it.

It's about how every game josh plans for goes. Even in wins.

[nighttrain12]

The score would've been worse but McCoy misfired on a couple of easy throws that likely would've resulted in TD's.

Or we would have won but BellDozer misfired on a couple of easy throws that likely would've resulted in TD's.

[SoonerMarkVA]

I think most of us knew that UT was going to line up and stop the run, and dare us to throw.

They did just that, and we had no answer for it.

Have to disagree with that. The answer was Ford, Millard, and Rip, which they were unable to stop. Unfortunately, we decided to stop it for them by quickly abandoning it once it demonstrated its success.

[SoonerorLater]

If you look at the box score you can see our running game was pretty effective. One of the things I don't like about college football box scores is that the sacks come off the rushing total instead of the passing totals like the NFL. But when you isolate what our RB's did we averaged a little over 6 yds per carry. Maybe we should just accept this fact and game plan accordingly that we aren't a passing team.

[Johnny Utah]

Maybe we should just accept this fact and game plan accordingly that we aren't a passing team.

wishful thinking

[BoulderSooner79]

Just accepting we are not a passing team and concentrating on running will not win the conference. Maybe controlling the game with more with running will help get receivers more open to where our QBs can hit them. But if we can't throw effectively, we cannot win the big ones. Our QBs must step it up. Note: effectively does not mean 50x a game. UT was effective yesterday as an example.

[Johnny Utah]

Captain Obvious here. OU went into this game knowing that rushing QB's had success against texas. Additionally, OU went into this game with 2 of its best defensive players out. However, the "game plan" did not take either of these factors into consideration by running the QB or playing a ball control offense. So again the question is, "The Game Plan ... what was it?"???

[stoopified]

As the Oklahoman pointed out today, lots of other schools had been wildly successful using QB runs vs Texas, yet we never tried that, despite the fact that our poor-throwing QBs have shown they can run the ball with success.

I was screaming all game long for Qb run game and option which ate UT up all year and we did not even try.

[SanDiegoSoonerGal]

As far as I could tell, the offensive game plan was to run it up the middle over and over and over and over. I guess the coaches thought surely by the 64th time we'd get some yardage. Or the 65th, or the 66th, and on and on.

This drove me crazy in the Kevin Wilson years too. It doesn't seem that difficult to me. If something isn't working, try something else.

[SoonerorLater]

Captain Obvious here. OU went into this game knowing that rushing QB's had success against texas. Additionally, OU went into this game with 2 of its best defensive players out. However, the "game plan" did not take either of these factors into consideration by running the QB or playing a ball control offense. So again the question is, "The Game Plan ... what was it?"???

The game plan is to search the playbook for plays that BB can execute. When you have a QB like Bell with a relatively narrow skill set this is what you are going to get. That's why I think just accepting we are a run first team, we are run second team and throw off play action third team. Sprinkle in a few screens and stretch the field a few times a game to see what shakes out is our best bet. We are in a pretty good spot to play power run football. We should take advantage if we continue to stick with Bell as QB.

I wouldn't mind seeing a limited version of platoon football like Bud did with his 50's teams. TK would be a nice change up and present game planning problems. I think the main point is we need to get a little creative with our philosophy. Not sure if Stoops would be able to bring himself to do anything like that though.

[Johnny Utah]

The game plan is to search the playbook for plays that BB can execute. When you have a QB like Bell with a relatively narrow skill set this is what you are going to get. That's why I think just accepting we are a run first team, we are run second team and throw off play action third team. Sprinkle in a few screens and stretch the field a few times a game to see what shakes out is our best bet. We are in a pretty good spot to play power run football. We should take advantage if we continue to stick with Bell as QB.

I wouldn't mind seeing a limited version of platoon football like Bud did with his 50's teams. TK would be a nice change up and present game planning problems. I think the main point is we need to get a little creative with our philosophy. Not sure if Stoops would be able to bring himself to do anything like that though.

I wholeheartedly agree but don't you unfortunately see this as just wishful thinking?

[Johnny Utah]

As far as I could tell, the offensive game plan was to run it up the middle over and over and over and over. I guess the coaches thought surely by the 64th time we'd get some yardage. Or the 65th, or the 66th, and on and on.

This drove me crazy in the Kevin Wilson years too. It doesn't seem that difficult to me. If something isn't working, try something else.

Your ability to keep a sense of humor is appreciated. texas ran the ball 60 times and unfortunately we all know what the result of that was. However, OU was only able to get to 33 run attempts before time expired.

[SanDiegoSoonerGal]

Your ability to keep a sense of humor is appreciated. texas ran the ball 60 times and unfortunately we all know what the result of that was. However, OU was only able to get to 33 run attempts before time expired.

Yeah, I was exaggerating. But I'd be really curious to know how many of those 33 attempts were us running it up the middle for zero or little gain. It sure seemed like a lot to me at the time. Mr. Gal and I were even joking about it: "You know what I think we should do? Run it up the middle."

[Piware]

We seemed to have a lot of trouble getting offensive plays in. Noticed this against TCU too. What's up with that?

[Curly Bill]

What was ugly was that on some of the outside runs we did try it was our fast as hell halfback blocking for our not near as fast fullback.

[Johnny Utah]

What was ugly was that on some of the outside runs we did try it was our fast as hell halfback blocking for our not near as fast fullback.

Go figure however doesn't it fit with the rest of the "game plan"?

[OUmillenium]

I was screaming all game long for Qb run game and option which ate UT up all year and we did not even try.

Same here. So was most of section 36 (those who understand basic football). It's like the coaching staff did not watch any film on the whorns. I haven't felt this confident going into a RRS game in a long time. It's as if our gameplan was "Let's make sure we won't do the 1 thing UTerus can't defend."

[Curly Bill]

Go figure however doesn't it fit with the rest of the "game plan"?

Indeed

[cvsooner]

We had a few good drives: the first possession, for example, with some new wrinkles, like Sterling Shepard's reverse on first down.

Ou 1-10 at Ou25 Shepard, S. rush reverse for 24 yards to the OU49, 1ST DOWN OU (Phillips, Adria).
Ou 1-10 at Ou49 Clay, Brennan rush over left tackle for 3 yards to the UT48 (Brown, Malcom;Whaley, Chris).
Ou 2-7 at Ut48 Bell, Blake RS pass incomplete to Clay, Brennan, QB hurry by Reed, Cedric.
Ou 3-7 at Ut48 Bell, Blake LS pass complete to Clay, Brennan for 12 yards to the UT36, 1ST DOWN OU (Thomas, Duke).

Good pass play on a dump off.

Ou 1-10 at Ut36 Millard, Trey rush over right end for 8 yards to the UT28 (Phillips, Adria).
Ou 2-2 at Ut28 Ford, Keith rush up middle for 5 yards to the UT23, 1ST DOWN OU (Thompson, Mykke;Whaley, Chris).
Ou 1-10 at Ut23 Millard, Trey rush over right end for loss of 1 yard to the UT24 (Santos, Dalton;Reed, Cedric).
Ou 2-11 at Ut24 Bell, Blake LS pass complete to Bester, L. for 7 yards to the UT17 (Phillips, Adria;Diggs, Quandre).
Ou 3-4 at Ut17 Bell, Blake WH pass incomplete to Clay, Brennan.
This was the dropped TD pass. What puzzled me here was trying to score from the 17, instead of getting the first down. Admittedly it was a good throw and Clay usually catches the ball. I keep thinking about that play and wondering what the result would have been if we'd have scored here and taken a lead; I mean, we did kick the field goal but it only tied the score.

Next drive we're close to a first down when Bell throws the interception. From what I could see our offensive line was not playing well as a unit. Never really gave Bell the time he needed on certain downs. When he did get time, receivers weren't open or Bell wasn't confident enough in his throwing ability...especially after the first interception. Next two drives are three and outs; one of those was three straight passes.

The next drive, third and short and Bell completes a pass to Saunders for the first down...except we had a penalty, offensive holding. Next down: a sack.

Next possession came after Finch's great kickoff return, and that was something new, a total power set, which resulted in a TD. I thought we were still in it at this point.

We're down 20-10, then Texas gets the field goal so we're down two TDs at halftime. Not insurmountable, but difficult. Clearly Texas is playing the lanes to keep Bell from running. They wanted him to throw instead of running. Robinson said in his press conference that they noticed Bell likes to run straight ahead and not try to get to the edge, so they didn't worry about that too much. They just wanted to keep him from running forward. It worked really well, and makes Heupel's decision not to at least try something with Knight all the more maddening, because Knight could clearly turn the corner.

[OUmillenium]

So how many option pitches did we use to exploit that?

0

[cvsooner]

First drive of the second half showed some adjustments until it bogged down:

Ou 1-10 at Ou25 OKLAHOMA drive start at 15:00.
Ou 1-10 at Ou25 Bell, Blake SH pass complete to Saunders, Jalen for 2 yards to the OU27 (Diggs, Quandre).
Ou 2-8 at Ou27 Ford, Keith rush over left tackle for 14 yards to the OU41, 1ST DOWN OU (Phillips, Adria).
Ou 1-10 at Ou41 Ford, Keith rush up middle for 3 yards to the OU44 (Edmond, Steve;Jinkens, Peter).
Ou 2-7 at Ou44 Bell, Blake middle pass complete to Millard, Trey for 29 yards to the UT27, 1ST DOWN OU (Santos, Dalton).

Maybe Bell's best pass of the day, in fact. Hit him in the middle of the field.

Ou 1-10 at Ut27 Ford, Keith rush over right end for 2 yards to the UT25 (Edmond, Steve;Jinkens, Peter).
Ou 2-8 at Ut25 Williams, Dam. rush up middle for 1 yard to the UT24 (Edmond, Steve;Reed, Cedric).
Ou 3-7 at Ut24 Bell, Blake rush up middle for 4 yards to the UT20 (Edmond, Steve).

Bell wanted to throw but pulled it down and headed up the middle. Texas' defensive speed really kept Bell in the pocket and in his lanes, where they funnelled him right to where they could take him down. We got a field goal out of this drive. So it's 23-13, back to ten points. Two TDs will win it.

Next drive was terrible, with terrible result: Bell runs for two, Williams catches a pass and gets dropped in the backfield for loss of a yard, Bell makes bad throw to Shepherd, we get delay of game, and the punt gets returned for six. Ouch. Terrible hold on Austin Woods, plus one block in the back. Of course, none of this gets called. We do block the extra point try, so it's 29-13. Two TDs with two two-point conversions, or two TDs and a field goal, and we can tie and send into overtime or win it outright.

Next drive is promising:
Ou 1-10 at Ou25 Williams, Dam. rush over left end for 17 yards to the OU42, 1ST DOWN OU (Thomas, Duke;Reed, Cedric).
Ou 1-10 at Ou42 Millard, Trey rush over left guard for 6 yards to the OU48 (Reed, Cedric;Davis, Shiro).
Ou 2-4 at Ou48 Williams, Dam. rush up middle for 2 yards to the 50 yardline (Santos, Dalton;Edmond, Steve).
Ou 3-2 at Ou50 Ford, Keith rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the UT47, 1ST DOWN OU (Whaley, Chris).

Great run by Ford.

Ou 1-10 at Ut47 Bell, Blake middle pass incomplete (Edmond, Steve).
Ou 2-10 at Ut47 Bell, Blake rush over right guard for 2 yards to the UT45 (Brown, Malcom).

But third and long, and then Bell gets flushed from the pocket and throws way over the head of a wide open Jalen Saunders.

Ou 3-8 at Ut45 Bell, Blake pass intercepted by Thomas, Duke at the UT30,

So that killed that drive.

Next two possessions are more of the same: incomplete passes and drive killing penalties: intentional grounding and personal foul (hands to the face). Jed Barnett is doing a pretty good job punting, though, helping with field position.

Fourth quarter, Grissom intercepts the pass and runs it in, cutting margin to 36-20 (McCoy made a couple of absolutely awesome throws; didn't think he had it in him, but there it was...game of his life, up to this point. As well as he played, you can cut him some slack here.)

Defense gets a pretty good stop. Last hope for us is here, and it's actually a pretty good drive:

Ou 1-10 at Ou15 Bell, Blake screen pass complete to Bester, L. for 47 yards to the UT38, 1ST DOWN OU, out-of-bounds (Thomas, Duke).

Where has this play been the whole game?
Ou 1-10 at Ut38 Bell, Blake OUT pass complete to Saunders, Jalen for 9 yards to the UT29 (Thompson, Mykke;Thomas, Duke).
Ou 2-1 at Ut29 Clay, Brennan rush over right end for 18 yards to the UT11, 1ST DOWN OU, out-of-bounds (Turner, Josh).

Clay kind of mysteriously disappeared for a long stretch. I'm puzzling over that one. Doghouse for dropping the TD pass?

Ou 1-10 at Ut11 Millard, Trey rush over left end for 2 yards to the UT9 (Jeffcoat, Jacks;Thompson, Mykke).
Ou 2-8 at Ut09 Bell, Blake RS pass incomplete to Reynolds, Jaz.
Ou 3-8 at Ut09 Bell, Blake slant pass incomplete to Reynolds, Jaz.

This would have been close to a first down. Good throw, but would have been a tough catch. Reynolds got clobbered.

Ou 4-8 at Ut09 PENALTY OU delay of game (Bell, Blake) 5 yards to the UT14.

This is where Stoops was shaking his head.

Ou 4-13 at Ut14 Bell, Blake sacked for loss of 12 yards to the UT26 (Jeffcoat, Jacks).

And that was that.

[cvsooner]

All I can figure is Heupel saw the Texas D and didn't understand what to do with it for most of the game, realizing Bell wasn't going to run up the middle and couldn't cut to the outside. It's essentially just a toss sweep when Bell runs it 'cause he isn't really an option.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that Bell may have been nursing some type of injury. The play calling was totally befuddling in a lot of cases; they put him into a position where he just had to make the throw. Heupel said at the press conference there were several explosive plays downfield. We couldn't do anything with it.

[cvsooner]

I actually had hope early with the Shephard reverse that we might see some real creativity, but nope. Outside of that, and the unveiled power package for the one drive, we didn't have anything new. I think Stoops and Co. thought if they played good, solid ball, blocked well, protected the ball and owned time of possession they'd be okay. It could have worked, but we didn't block well, run or pass...and/or Texas played defense much better than they have all season; we didn't really have anything for the perimeter except the little bubble screens and the like, which they've seen on film a gazillion times, and we turned it over twice, once for a score. To be fair, turnovers were equal--two apiece and we each got a score from one--and our special teams played okay.

Game was lost by our inability to sustain drives, and our inability to stop the deep passes on two plays. M. Stoops' aggressive nature got the best of him...blitzes were getting picked up, front three or four weren't getting pressure and those two TD throws were textbook. Coverage actually wasn't that bad, but you could not have thrown those better.

[hvhurricane]

Same here. So was most of section 36 (those who understand basic football). It's like the coaching staff did not watch any film on the whorns. I haven't felt this confident going into a RRS game in a long time. It's as if our gameplan was "Let's make sure we won't do the 1 thing UTerus can't defend."

We don't use the QB run game because BB is not a good running QB. He can scramble for four yards against a defense with speed. And he can run for 2 yards up the middle with three guys opening the whole for him. Otherwise, he is damn slow. I could never understand why everyone thought he was a dual threat QB just because the Belldozer package worked for a year. He is not going to be able to run the zone read.

[Curly Bill]

We don't use the QB run game because BB is not a good running QB. He can scramble for four yards against a defense with speed. And he can run for 2 yards up the middle with three guys opening the whole for him. Otherwise, he is damn slow. I could never understand why everyone thought he was a dual threat QB just because the Belldozer package worked for a year. He is not going to be able to run the zone read.

You do know the QB can run, you can even plan for it, without it being zone read. And he's not damn slow, Landry Jones was damn slow.

[hvhurricane]

BB is not that much faster than LJ in a game environment. In a 40 yard dash, yes, but not nec in a game environment.

[Curly Bill]

BB is not that much faster than LJ in a game environment. In a 40 yard dash, yes, but not nec in a game environment.

Wow!

[Therealsouthsider]

I ask this question because what I saw was confusion on both sides of the ball...

This was a crushing defeat

....I call it Little Big Horn II

ss

[OU_Sooners75]

Actually the game plan offensively was to blindfold Heupel and have him draw a play from the hat.

[OUmillenium]

Now that seems to make since. When will this raging disappointment go away? hmmm