What went wrong this season.

[8timechamps]

This has been the most disappointing season since Stoops arrived in Norman. Last night, after the loss to OSU, I starting thinking about why a team, that was expected to do so much, ended up being so disappointing. So, here's my opinion of why things went the way they did this year:

1. Over-hyped
This one is the most obvious. Last year's Sugar Bowl win set the hype machine in motion, and on the surface it made sense. The majority of the defense coming back, almost the entire O-line returning and Knight looked to have turned the corner. We had just beaten the "best" team of the decade, with relative ease, and the conference looked to be a little down going into the season.

Looking back now, we were fooled (whether through the media, or because it's what we wanted to believe) into thinking this team was one of the best in the country and deserved to be in the national title conversation. Everything was pointing in that direction, and it was easy to get caught up in the hype. For a sunshine pumper like myself, there was so many positives and no glaring negatives. The truth was that there was some major glaring issues, but I (and most of us) didn't want to see them. So, we all went into the season with some expectations that, upon review, were way too lofty.

2. The conference was better than expected.
We all knew Texas would be down. There was a time in the Big XII when a down Texas meant a very easy path to a conference title. Those days are gone. Baylor picked right back up where they left off, TCU finally materialized into the team they were supposed to be last year, and Snyder pulled another rabbit out of his hat. Let me be clear, I'm not excusing this year's performance based on the conference being tougher than expected, I'm attributing some of the disappointment to the fact that nobody expected all three of those teams to be good enough to beat us (one or two maybe, but certainly not all three).

The conference ended up screwing itself. Because there were a larger-than-normal amount of very good teams this year, the conference beat up on each other. Had our conference name been "SEC", that would have been excused...but since we don't have that name, it hurt both TCU and Baylor in the long run. Anyway, that's a discussion for a different thread. The point is that the Big XII ended up being better than most of us expected.

3. Aaron Colvin & Gabe Lynn was sorely missed -or- We were ridiculously young in the defensive secondary.
I knew it would be hard to replace Colvin, but I think we underestimated just how much of a loss he would be. Zack Sanchez, when 100%, is a very good defensive back. He's not the greatest to ever wear a Sooner uniform, but he's very good and only being a sophomore points to a continued development. After Zack, we were terribly inexperienced or downright mediocre in the secondary. I expected Quinten Hayes to be a different player this year, and to his credit he did play well at times. However, Hayes never became that leader on the field. At least it looked that way. After Hayes, there was Wilson. Wilson didn't have a terrible year, but this was probably not the best season to make a position change like he did. He had good moments, but there were also times when he looked confused, or in over his head...those things are to be expected when playing a new position, but a late season injury just added to the already building issues in the secondary.

Then there were the new guys. Ahmad Thomas, Hatari Byrd, Jordan Thomas and Steven Parker had a combined zero starts coming into the season...yet they were all leaned upon heavily to produce. And more times than not, they looked like guys with little experience. All of them had there moments, but it just wasn't enough. Of the entire group, Parker seems to be the one guy that showed major development throughout the year. Mike Stoops has heavily recruited DBs this year, and I think we all know why. This group must get better before next year.

4. Scheme
I love what Mike Stoops and Josh Heupel have done for the program in the past. I'm not in love with what they're doing now. I've made it known that I think Heupel get's too much blame for issues on the offense, but when it comes to QB development, that rests squarely on his shoulders. The OU program should never have to be in a situation that requires a redshirt freshman, that isn't ready, to have to come in and play in meaningful games. I realize that Blake Bell's move to TE threw a wrench into the works, but the fact that Thomas isn't ready combined with the fact that the only other option was a true freshman (that isn't ready) shouldn't happen at OU. The only person to blame is Heupel. As for his play calling, I don't have a problem with his body of work over the season. I'm sure there are those of you that disagree, and we can discuss that, but from my perspective the biggest issue Heupel has to face is why we are in the current situation with the QBs.

I have no idea what's going on with Mike Stoops. I've never seen a defensive coordinator (at OU) play so conservative. What makes it worse is that this defense (his defense) is built to be aggressive. Let's be honest, Eric Striker is a beast off the edge and can play the run pretty damn well...but if he's going to be asked to cover, he's not in the situation that sets him up for success. That's true for several players. I won't rehash the same issues we've seen play out over the season on defense, but either Mike needs to bring in help for the 3-4, go back to the 4-3, or hang it up. What we saw this year was as bad as we've seen in a long time.


There's much more that could be expounded on, but those are the four major issues I've given thought to, and they're pretty big ones. I do not believe that OU "doesn't have the talent" to compete nowadays. That's just not true. And there were some instances (many instances) when players did fail to execute. But, when that failure to execute continues throughout the year, and it causes 4 losses (3 to teams we were more than capable of beating), then there is a systematic issue.

If Stoops is the coach we think he is, then he sees everything we see (and probably more). I have no idea if anyone gets fired this year, but I pray that internal changes are made (whatever they may be). I also believe this team was simply not as good as we all thought they were. So, if the youth and inexperience had a lot to do with the season's results, next year should show the improvement that would normally occur.

I'll of course watch the bowl game, and cheer for a Sooner victory, but as far as I'm concerned this season is officially over. And it couldn't have ended soon enough.

[Tear Down This Wall]

(1) Trevor Knight mistaken for a FBS-level quarterback
(2) Offensive coaches unable to determine Perine was their best weapon until the final week of the season
(3) Terrible offensive and defensive line coaches

In my opinion, and I've said it before, Bob Stoops and his coaches are too comfortable. He's constantly given contract extensions and raises. His edge is gone. He's fat with past success in a mediocre league that just got pantsed by the Playoff Committee.

I'd go ahead and tell you, "I told you so" from the many times I've told you that the Big 12 is overrated. All it took was the Playoff Committee to prove it. And, it was no easier than the answer to the following question: who did TCU and Baylor beat? No one.

And, sadly, we now fall into the category of, "Oh, they beat OU. Big deal. OU isn't that tough."

The whole conference is down because, again, DeLoss Dodds and Joe Castiglione did their dead level best to run off the schools with better football tradition in order to take in more of the money and wield the influence.

The conference competitiveness is now just above AAC/C-USA level. It cost Dodds his job. The greasy Castiglione is still around selling his con to whomever will listen.

The con only works if you keep winning. Ask former Texas president Powers, ex-AD Dodds, and former head coach Brown.

We get what we justly deserve for hitching our wagons to Texas' four years ago. It was shameful then, and it's shameful now. The watered down competition we and Texas wanted, we got. And, now, we both field watered down teams.

Texas at least has some hope with a new AD and coach. Although, their new AD seems to be as much of a power preening prick as Dodds.

[Therealsouthsider]

....nepotism and too many pay raises

....I'm all for paying the coaches a kazillion dollars if that's what it takes, let's just make it incentive based


ss

[BoulderSooner79]

Over hyping is not a problem unless it affected what happened on the field, and it's a lame excuse to say it did.

[8timechamps]

Over hyping is not a problem unless it affected what happened on the field, and it's a lame excuse to say it did.

I'm not talking about the team, I'm talking about the fan base. Clearly this season was over-hyped, and we all bought in (to varying degrees). Had we all thought "this team lost too many key pieces last year, and we're breaking in a lot of young guys" going into the season, I don't think it would have been nearly as disappointing to us as it is.

[aero]

We lost some good players from last year but every team loses good players every year and keep on chuggin'. Hard to imagine those players left that big a hole unless the remaining talent just isn't that good, which I'm inclined to believe. But on the other hand, we were close to being undefeated (and maybe should have been) until the Baylor game. Maybe if we went into that game undefeated the outcome would have been different. But again, if the team was better all around we wouldn't have lost those games and that includes coaching. Like Parcell's said, you are what your record says you are. I think the areas that need to improve are at qb, OC, and defensive line. Games are still won and lost at the l.o.s. A good defensive line that can pressure the qb will do so much for a defense. It leads to bad plays by the qb, turnovers (both fumble and int) and it doesn't expose the secondary as much. While I think we have some decent linemen, I don't think we have any dominant linemen. Remember Cody, Dvoracek, Harris, McCoy, and others. Sometimes it seems the game is all played in the secondary. I don't care if you're Lester Hayes, with todays offenses the secondary is going to be exposed to constant pressure from the offense and eventually is going to break and give up big plays. A good d line can help cover for weaker secondaries and make good ones great. One thing, teams are scoring. Lots. And that's not going to change. Giving up 24 or 30 points is not what it used to be.
Our qb's and offensive coordinator are average at best. And those two components are intertwined. The oc should know the personnel and play their strengths and away from their weaknesses. Sometimes it seems like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. If we want a pocket passer then recruit one. Personally the game seems to be trending toward mobile qb's that are accurate out of the pocket. JH was not a running qb. He wasn't a great pro style qb but I think that's what he wanted to be. What he really was, was a great competitor. But I think his desire to be known as a pro style coach affects his judgement on what plays to run versus what the personnel is actually better suited for. While the qb position will constantly change, I'm not sure how or what would make JH change his philosophy.

[freshchris05]

(1) Trevor Knight mistaken for a FBS-level quarterback
(2) Offensive coaches unable to determine Perine was their best weapon until the final week of the season
(3) Terrible offensive and defensive line coaches

In my opinion, and I've said it before, Bob Stoops and his coaches are too comfortable. He's constantly given contract extensions and raises. His edge is gone. He's fat with past success in a mediocre league that just got pantsed by the Playoff Committee.

I'd go ahead and tell you, "I told you so" from the many times I've told you that the Big 12 is overrated. All it took was the Playoff Committee to prove it. And, it was no easier than the answer to the following question: who did TCU and Baylor beat? No one.

And, sadly, we now fall into the category of, "Oh, they beat OU. Big deal. OU isn't that tough."

The whole conference is down because, again, DeLoss Dodds and Joe Castiglione did their dead level best to run off the schools with better football tradition in order to take in more of the money and wield the influence.

The conference competitiveness is now just above AAC/C-USA level. It cost Dodds his job. The greasy Castiglione is still around selling his con to whomever will listen.

The con only works if you keep winning. Ask former Texas president Powers, ex-AD Dodds, and former head coach Brown.

We get what we justly deserve for hitching our wagons to Texas' four years ago. It was shameful then, and it's shameful now. The watered down competition we and Texas wanted, we got. And, now, we both field watered down teams.

Texas at least has some hope with a new AD and coach. Although, their new AD seems to be as much of a power preening prick as Dodds.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ufmGXTLfujE/U9AWMUAl8fI/AAAAAAAAUXY/BqXTuzIjaGM/s1600/he's+right+you+know.jpg

[Pride1Mom]

One word...COMPLACENCY. I was appalled at the number of "fans" holding up tickets outside of the stadium. We were begging for an afternoon game and still people did not show up. The weather was not that bad for a December game. People leaving after the third quarter like the game was not worth watching, and the BIGGEST rub of all is how many OSU fans were in the stands. SHAME ON THE THE REGULAR TICKET HOLDERS FOR NOT SHOWING UP!!! And all year we have had players thinking we had already won the game and not playing to the final end. We saw this in the Texas game when OU was up 31-13 and watch Texas make it a 5 point game. I point this loss towards the COACHES, in realizing that you HAVE to get a first down when there are 4 minutes left in the game and you are up 14 points, because 14 points isn't good enough anymore.

[Tear Down This Wall]

One word...COMPLACENCY. I was appalled at the number of "fans" holding up tickets outside of the stadium. We were begging for an afternoon game and still people did not show up. The weather was not that bad for a December game. People leaving after the third quarter like the game was not worth watching, and the BIGGEST rub of all is how many OSU fans were in the stands. SHAME ON THE THE REGULAR TICKET HOLDERS FOR NOT SHOWING UP!!! And all year we have had players thinking we had already won the game and not playing to the final end. We saw this in the Texas game when OU was up 31-13 and watch Texas make it a 5 point game. I point this loss towards the COACHES, in realizing that you HAVE to get a first down when there are 4 minutes left in the game and you are up 14 points, because 14 points isn't good enough anymore.

Texas dominated us. We were lucky to win that game. We made their awful quarterback look like a Heisman candidate.

Crazy how terribly coached our quarterbacks and Texas' quarterbacks have been this season. Worse yet, I fear that even if we did have a decent QB coach, the talent may not be there.

[Sooner91ATL]

no disagreement on the causes. they are multiple. they do go back a number of years however. this coach started out doing more with less, and now he does less with more.

[kenth68]

But I think his [Heupul] desire to be known as a pro style coach affects his judgement on what plays to run versus what the personnel is actually better suited for. While the qb position will constantly change, I'm not sure how or what would make JH change his philosophy.

That's been my assessment of him. He still plays qb vicariously through his players, and will call plays based on what he thinks would have worked for him as qb. He needs to be calling plays to reality; i.e. why in the hell did we come out passing in OT??

[BoulderSooner79]

That's been my assessment of him. He still plays qb vicariously through his players, and will call plays based on what he thinks would have worked for him as qb. He needs to be calling plays to reality; i.e. why in the hell did we come out passing in OT??

Could it be because we had failed to make even a single 1st down in 3 possessions by running to end the game?

[Tear Down This Wall]

Could it be because we had failed to make even a single 1st down in 3 possessions by running to end the game?

Re-hashed that this morning in the office. We get the ball back with 6:50 left and a 14 point lead, one of three full possessions at the end of the half, and we don't get dick out of handing the ball off the Ford and Ross, mainly Ross.

Pathetic. And, it isn't like this Poke defense is like the thrashing Miami Hurricane crews of the late 80s to mid 90s. Only Tech, Kansas, and Iowa State gave up more points than the Pokes this year, and we couldn't move them ten yards in three different tries to nail the dadgum game down.

[BoulderSooner79]

I had no problem with passing in OT. I pretty much figured the pokes were going to win once they tied it given that Perine was out. Had we just run it, we probably end up with a FG and OSU beats us with a TD on their possession. The only way we win in OT is if our QB makes a play, we force a 2nd OT and our defense actually holds them to a FG and then we manage to score another TD. All pretty much unlikely. Heck, even with Perine in there, they put up a pretty stout goal line defense and it took us 2 PI penalties to finally punch it in after what? 8 plays? No, the way to win was in regulation and with Perine out, our QB was going to have to make at least 1 play with them stacking the box. We didn't try it and it didn't look like he was likely to succeed if we did. Of course, not kicking to Hill *might* have done it, but they did still have a minute against our D in that case :(

[EatLeadCommie]

Here are the problems as I see them...

1- Our coaching staff has failed in developing talent. Nowhere is that more evident than at QB, WR, LB, and DB. We flat out suck in all those positions. We simply have no depth there and having one player who can play the position isn't going to cut it when there are multiple people playing those positions. At QB, we haven't developed anybody since Josh went upstairs. Landry didn't develop any after his sophomore year, Blake never really panned out, and we know what we have now with TK.

2- Our coaching staff lacks situational awareness. The worst example of this was this past Saturday with the re-punt. But we see it time and time again with mystery offensive play calling and with timeout management. It is really just mindboggling at times, and it has only gotten worse, not better. There is no reason to think this will improve. By now, it is ingrained.

3- Bob's habit of not developing backup QBs. The only time we have ever had a serviceable backup is when we have a QB controversy and they are splitting time with the first teamers. That has happened 3 times in 16 years-- White/Hybl, Thompson/Bomar, and Bell/Knight. All 3 of those situations were brought about due to losing a starting QB to graduation. You would expect a certain dropoff in quality from the 1st to 2nd QB, but we tend to have the basejumping off the Sears Tower kind of dropoff. This year, we've managed to find a QB who can't hit the broad side of a barn. There is no excuse for that. It's not like Cody wasn't sought by other programs. Something is wrong with the way these guys are being coached and developed.

This is Bob's problem, and we see it time and again with coaches who stay loyal to staff members. Jim Grobe had a job for life if he wanted it at Wake Forest, but his insistence on keeping an OC who couldn't coach or recruit doomed him. Bob isn't going anywhere unless he resigns (I doubt he'd "resign" like Grobe, who was really shown the door and given a face-saving option), but he has to rid himself of dead weight. He has to reinvent the program from the top down, and if he isn't willing to do that, he needs to move on. Unlike some, I really don't think Mike Stoops is a problem, or at least he isn't as much as Heupel, Kish, BJW, and Norvell. He is an obvious improvement over Venables, but that doesn't mean he's the answer either. I don't see the newest additions of Montgomery and Bedenbough as problems at all. Our offensive and defensive lines are strengths. The fact that they couldn't carry the rest of this team is not their fault. We need to have guys who can make plays at all positions on the field, and not just on the lines.

[EatLeadCommie]

Re-hashed that this morning in the office. We get the ball back with 6:50 left and a 14 point lead, one of three full possessions at the end of the half, and we don't get dick out of handing the ball off the Ford and Ross, mainly Ross.

Pathetic. And, it isn't like this Poke defense is like the thrashing Miami Hurricane crews of the late 80s to mid 90s. Only Tech, Kansas, and Iowa State gave up more points than the Pokes this year, and we couldn't move them ten yards in three different tries to nail the dadgum game down.

The problem wasn't with running Ford and Ross. The problem is that we ran the same damn run-out-the-clock play each time. There have been numerous situations this year where the defense was just begging for a QB bootleg that would get a first down and more, but Josh would always call what the defense and every Sooner fan knew he would call (hint: it wasn't a QB bootleg!).

[8timechamps]

The problem wasn't with running Ford and Ross. The problem is that we ran the same damn run-out-the-clock play each time. There have been numerous situations this year where the defense was just begging for a QB bootleg that would get a first down and more, but Josh would always call what the defense and every Sooner fan knew he would call (hint: it wasn't a QB bootleg!).

I'm not on the "Fire Heupel" badwagon, but I couldn't agree more with your point. There were several occasions Saturday when I thought "a naked bootleg, off of a fake handoff, would put a dagger in OSU's defensive front." Toward the end of the game, they were over-committing so aggressively that a play like that would have had a very high success rate.

So, in that instance, I'm not sure why that didn't dawn on Heupel. If you and I are thinking about it, he should have been too.

[Tear Down This Wall]

The problem wasn't with running Ford and Ross. The problem is that we ran the same damn run-out-the-clock play each time. There have been numerous situations this year where the defense was just begging for a QB bootleg that would get a first down and more, but Josh would always call what the defense and every Sooner fan knew he would call (hint: it wasn't a QB bootleg!).

They did try to bootleg Thomas during one of those final possessions and he got smothered. But, you can't bootleg with eight in the box. With eight in, you have have your OL whipping their assignments and getting you three to four a pop.

Our OL wasn't dominating. We were getting one or two per pop.

[aero]

Here are the problems as I see them...

1- Our coaching staff has failed in developing talent. Nowhere is that more evident than at QB, WR, LB, and DB. We flat out suck in all those positions. We simply have no depth there and having one player who can play the position isn't going to cut it when there are multiple people playing those positions. At QB, we haven't developed anybody since Josh went upstairs. Landry didn't develop any after his sophomore year, Blake never really panned out, and we know what we have now with TK.

2- Our coaching staff lacks situational awareness. The worst example of this was this past Saturday with the re-punt. But we see it time and time again with mystery offensive play calling and with timeout management. It is really just mindboggling at times, and it has only gotten worse, not better. There is no reason to think this will improve. By now, it is ingrained.

3- Bob's habit of not developing backup QBs. The only time we have ever had a serviceable backup is when we have a QB controversy and they are splitting time with the first teamers. That has happened 3 times in 16 years-- White/Hybl, Thompson/Bomar, and Bell/Knight. All 3 of those situations were brought about due to losing a starting QB to graduation. You would expect a certain dropoff in quality from the 1st to 2nd QB, but we tend to have the basejumping off the Sears Tower kind of dropoff. This year, we've managed to find a QB who can't hit the broad side of a barn. There is no excuse for that. It's not like Cody wasn't sought by other programs. Something is wrong with the way these guys are being coached and developed.

This is Bob's problem, and we see it time and again with coaches who stay loyal to staff members. Jim Grobe had a job for life if he wanted it at Wake Forest, but his insistence on keeping an OC who couldn't coach or recruit doomed him. Bob isn't going anywhere unless he resigns (I doubt he'd "resign" like Grobe, who was really shown the door and given a face-saving option), but he has to rid himself of dead weight. He has to reinvent the program from the top down, and if he isn't willing to do that, he needs to move on. Unlike some, I really don't think Mike Stoops is a problem, or at least he isn't as much as Heupel, Kish, BJW, and Norvell. He is an obvious improvement over Venables, but that doesn't mean he's the answer either. I don't see the newest additions of Montgomery and Bedenbough as problems at all. Our offensive and defensive lines are strengths. The fact that they couldn't carry the rest of this team is not their fault. We need to have guys who can make plays at all positions on the field, and not just on the lines.


The problem wasn't with running Ford and Ross. The problem is that we ran the same damn run-out-the-clock play each time. There have been numerous situations this year where the defense was just begging for a QB bootleg that would get a first down and more, but Josh would always call what the defense and every Sooner fan knew he would call (hint: it wasn't a QB bootleg!).

great posts. I absolutely agree.

[Tear Down This Wall]

By the way, this is also where we should be chiming in on the "where is the TE threat" to make the defense honest.

I love Blake Bell, but...in the end, he wasn't a tight end that defensive coordinators were all that worried about. OSU wasn't in the least bit concerned that we might waggle Bell out for 6-12 yard pattern and catching them with too many committed to the run.

[8timechamps]

By the way, this is also where we should be chiming in on the "where is the TE threat" to make the defense honest.

I love Blake Bell, but...in the end, he wasn't a tight end that defensive coordinators were all that worried about. OSU wasn't in the least bit concerned that we might waggle Bell out for 6-12 yard pattern and catching them with too many committed to the run.

Good point.

I think we all love Bell and appreciate all he did as a Sooner, but he was learning on the job. We need a guy that knows the position and has at least played it in high school. The one long pass play to Bell was indicative of what a TE is supposed to be able to do in the passing game, but we just didn't include it much for most of the season.

I thought Taylor McNamara was going to be the guy to get us back to playing with a solid TE, but apparently he was overrated by the services. He could always come out next year and light it up, but he'll have to make some major leaps in the offseason.

Dalton Wood, the kid that we got from McAlester is a very promising prospect, as are current freshmen Mark Andrews and Jeffery Mead. I really the recent emphasis on recruiting TEs means that we'll see them a lot more. We saw a little this year, but not as much as we probably should have.

[EatLeadCommie]

They did try to bootleg Thomas during one of those final possessions and he got smothered. But, you can't bootleg with eight in the box. With eight in, you have have your OL whipping their assignments and getting you three to four a pop.

Our OL wasn't dominating. We were getting one or two per pop.

The cameraman totally screwed the pooch on that play, so I couldn't tell what was going on. It didn't look like a bootleg to me though. It looked like a keeper option. I seem to recall that being on 2nd and long too, not 3rd and manageable.

[Tear Down This Wall]

The cameraman totally screwed the pooch on that play, so I couldn't tell what was going on. It didn't look like a bootleg to me though. It looked like a keeper option. I seem to recall that being on 2nd and long too, not 3rd and manageable.

But, we are still getting at the same point: what to do against the stacked line. Okie State was sending guys in from the edge, so QB run was not going to work outside the tackles, and you don't generally run the QB up the middle expcet with draws.

You do, however, when you have the fullback talent, have the ability to go 3-5 yards a pop against eight fronts. With Ripkowski and a very experienced OL, we should have been able to push Oklahoma State off the ball that late in the game. There was no reason to have Ross and Ford just getting on or two yards per rush. That isn't good.

And, again, with no tight end threat, you aren't throwing the ball.

Crazy.

[SouthFortySooner]

As I watch the games again throughout the offseason, I will see if my original feelings are confirmed. The feeling of having seen Ahmad Thomas walking up to a tackled receiver, from deeper on the field, over and over and over again.

[OkieThunderLion]

In short, I think we got too big defensively thru position charges...

Wilson from nickel/Sam to corner
Striker from WOLB to SOLB
Grissom from DE to WOLB

All guys played liked misfits for their new positions

[birddog]

In short, I think we got too big defensively thru position charges...

Wilson from nickel/Sam to corner
Striker from WOLB to SOLB
Grissom from DE to WOLB

All guys played liked misfits for their new positions

Totally agree. I was shocked by how much we looked like men playing boys early in the season. Then those big guys that stood out went unmentioned almost every game, that includes striker who is actually undersized but quick off the edge. Opposing qbs got rid of the ball so quickly that it didn't matter how big and physical they were.

[hawaii 5-0]

Lots of good points made.

I think we had talent.

The players were poorly coached. Including play calling and defensive alignments.

5-0

[8timechamps]

In short, I think we got too big defensively thru position charges...

Wilson from nickel/Sam to corner
Striker from WOLB to SOLB
Grissom from DE to WOLB

All guys played liked misfits for their new positions

Definitely a lot to change in one off season. Still, I thought the front 7 played pretty good most of the year. It was the secondary that really hurt us, and Wilson's move was right in the middle of that.

[OkieThunderLion]

I thought Grissom and Striker were a large part of the reason the secondary looked so bad.

Obviously Wilson got roasted. And Parker/Thomas had busts. But using Striker as a nickel is insane. He's does ONE thing well - rush the passer.

[OkieThunderLion]

Lots of good points made.

I think we had talent.

The players were poorly coached. Including play calling and defensive alignments.

5-0

A ton of talent!

Not 1st rounders but a lot of guys will play in the league off this team.

[8timechamps]

I thought Grissom and Striker were a large part of the reason the secondary looked so bad.

Obviously Wilson got roasted. And Parker/Thomas had busts. But using Striker as a nickel is insane. He's does ONE thing well - rush the passer.

Good point.

Striker and Grissom didn't do much in pass defense.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

8. What went wrong? Stoops has gone soft, he is more interested in status quo than in winning the big games. He has no fire like in 1999 and 2000. Boren fosters mediocrity, or at least non-championship performance in non-"gentleman" sports in trying to make a Harvard on the plains...

[8timechamps]

8. What went wrong? Stoops has gone soft, he is more interested in status quo than in winning the big games. He has no fire like in 1999 and 2000. Boren fosters mediocrity, or at least non-championship performance in non-"gentleman" sports in trying to make a Harvard on the plains...

Can't speak to Boren, but I don't think Stoops has gone soft. I think it was a combination of things, but the more I look at the current condition of the program, I think a lot of what happened can be traced back to the 2011 recruiting class. That class left a big hole that was filled with a lot of inexperience and guys that probably aren't ready and shouldn't have been forced into action so soon.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

I would agree with what you say if we had seen some better coaching decisions or some innovative play schemes called, i.e. the ninja formation from way back... Other than a defensive philosophy change, I didn't see innovation elsewhere. So with the defensive personnel we had, was Mike's change good or bad? We certainly saw much of the same play calling on the O side. But I would give a little pass as we wanted to protect the one good QB. That didn't seem to work out to well...

[KantoSooner]

There was never the vaguest suggestion that the team knew what it wanted to be. We ran a 3-4 and hardly ever rushed anyone to pressure the passer. We ran a 'zone read'....without any 'read' or decision making delegated to the QB. There was little decisiveness on either side of the ball. Instead, we played to not lose and ended up getting the warmed over results that self-doubting bureaucrats tend to get in any endeavor. There was no leadership.

[OU_Sooners75]

We weren't over-hyped. We were 8 points shy of a playoff birth.

The conference was not tougher than expected. 3 of the 4 losses should have been wins.

What went wrong? Lets have the honest hard truth!

1. We have some of the most inept coaches operating the offense and defense. Josh Heupel, love what he did in 1999 and 2000, but he isn't exactly a great OC. Jay Norvell, this isn't the first time one of his star WRs been injured and the others have not been able to perform well. I praised Mike Stoops when he came back. I wanted him like the rest of you did. But his defenses have gotten soft. His linebacker coach is not very good. Also, why in the hell do you play soft when you have a young inexperienced secondary? The worst thing to do in that situation is to not bring pressure on the QB to disrupt his timing. And you damn sure don't play 10 yards off the ball when they are doing 3-5 yard short routes.

2. Game mismanagement. How many times did we see the coaches call a timeout only because they can't get their sh!t straight?

3. Players losing faith. You could see it against Baylor, and we saw it against OSU. The players, especially the defense has lost faith in their coaches to do right by them during the game.

4. Players out of position or on the field when they shouldn't be. I don't care what you think, Julian Wilson is not a corner back. He is a safety. And he damn sure shouldn't have been on the field vs. OSU. He is just the easiest target. You also have Jordan Phillips playing a Nose when he is not a nose. He is a tackle that is best suited lined up on a guard or even a tackle. Not in the middle. Which brings me to the next excuse....

5. Playing the wrong schemes for our players or no identity on offense. As mentioned with Jordan Phillips, we have players that are out of position simply because of the scheme our coaches want to play. We all applauded Mike Stoops for coming in and putting in a scheme that helped his player. He then placed his players where they naturally fit. Yet now we are exactly opposite. On offense, we have no identity. Can anyone honestly tell us what type of offense we actually operate?

6. Finally, arrogance, complacency, and contentment. The coaches of the Sooner program are so arrogant and think us fans mean nothing to them. They are also complacent and content. They are comfortable with their pay. They are comfortable with taking vacations mid season. They are complacent while hiring friends and family. They are arrogant in not caring about what the fans expect.


I think Bob Stoops is a hell of a man and coach. However, 2014 was his worst season at OU. It was a ****storm...yet so damn close to a much better season.

I think Stoops needs to make some changes. I think he needs to start with hiring a real OC that knows what he wants to do every week and that doesn't have a new offense every week.

I also think he needs some more fresh bodies in replacing Bobby Jack Wright, Jay Norvell, and Tim Kish. And if he needs to put his brother on the hot seat for next season.

[aurorasooner]

We weren't over-hyped. We were 8 points shy of a playoff birth.

The conference was not tougher than expected. 3 of the 4 losses should have been wins.

What went wrong? Lets have the honest hard truth!

1. We have some of the most inept coaches operating the offense and defense. Josh Heupel, love what he did in 1999 and 2000, but he isn't exactly a great OC. Jay Norvell, this isn't the first time one of his star WRs been injured and the others have not been able to perform well. I praised Mike Stoops when he came back. I wanted him like the rest of you did. But his defenses have gotten soft. His linebacker coach is not very good. Also, why in the hell do you play soft when you have a young inexperienced secondary? The worst thing to do in that situation is to not bring pressure on the QB to disrupt his timing. And you damn sure don't play 10 yards off the ball when they are doing 3-5 yard short routes.

2. Game mismanagement. How many times did we see the coaches call a timeout only because they can't get their sh!t straight?

3. Players losing faith. You could see it against Baylor, and we saw it against OSU. The players, especially the defense has lost faith in their coaches to do right by them during the game.

4. Players out of position or on the field when they shouldn't be. I don't care what you think, Julian Wilson is not a corner back. He is a safety. And he damn sure shouldn't have been on the field vs. OSU. He is just the easiest target. You also have Jordan Phillips playing a Nose when he is not a nose. He is a tackle that is best suited lined up on a guard or even a tackle. Not in the middle. Which brings me to the next excuse....

5. Playing the wrong schemes for our players or no identity on offense. As mentioned with Jordan Phillips, we have players that are out of position simply because of the scheme our coaches want to play. We all applauded Mike Stoops for coming in and putting in a scheme that helped his player. He then placed his players where they naturally fit. Yet now we are exactly opposite. On offense, we have no identity. Can anyone honestly tell us what type of offense we actually operate?

6. Finally, arrogance, complacency, and contentment. The coaches of the Sooner program are so arrogant and think us fans mean nothing to them. They are also complacent and content. They are comfortable with their pay. They are comfortable with taking vacations mid season. They are complacent while hiring friends and family. They are arrogant in not caring about what the fans expect.


I think Bob Stoops is a hell of a man and coach. However, 2014 was his worst season at OU. It was a ****storm...yet so damn close to a much better season.

I think Stoops needs to make some changes. I think he needs to start with hiring a real OC that knows what he wants to do every week and that doesn't have a new offense every week.

I also think he needs some more fresh bodies in replacing Bobby Jack Wright, Jay Norvell, and Tim Kish. And if he needs to put his brother on the hot seat for next season.

Meh, put them all on a small base salary plus a hefty commission for Ws (500 grand base for the HC and about 100 grand base for the assistants) , and we'll win plenty of games and look good while doing it.
They'll teach the "" little things in practice, the correct tackling, the DBs actually looking for the ball when it's in the air and how to catch it w/o the brick-hands, how to draw a flag from the refs in critical situations w/o appearing too blatant, how to make the correct decisions themselves while on the field w/o all this meer-kat looking to the sidelines crap, etc.
Our coaches are just living the good life on the gravy train. Either that or we've recruited quite a lot players w/o any "football sense/smarts" to put it politely.
BTW, I thought I read that M. Stoops (when he came back) was to be evaluated by someone other than HCBS, to avoid any nepotism, etc. I guess that fell through, or the evaluator is on the friends and family plan, because no-one in the right mind would extend his contract (read somewhere that it got extended thru 2017) after this unorganized %*&^-show that the defense brought onto the field this year.--- Unless the extension is just for recruiting show, and he's really on a real short leash.
Pretty much the same for Heupel, imo. His offense wasn't bad in final stats, and not nearly as bad as our defense, but, from the eye test, it was a predictable stinker, especially in critical situations, and with quality coaching/game-planning/play design could've been so much better, imo. (don't know whether he's handicapped from the top though). W/O Perine, it might have been as bad as our D.

[8timechamps]

We weren't over-hyped. We were 8 points shy of a playoff birth.

The conference was not tougher than expected. 3 of the 4 losses should have been wins.

What went wrong? Lets have the honest hard truth!

1. We have some of the most inept coaches operating the offense and defense. Josh Heupel, love what he did in 1999 and 2000, but he isn't exactly a great OC. Jay Norvell, this isn't the first time one of his star WRs been injured and the others have not been able to perform well. I praised Mike Stoops when he came back. I wanted him like the rest of you did. But his defenses have gotten soft. His linebacker coach is not very good. Also, why in the hell do you play soft when you have a young inexperienced secondary? The worst thing to do in that situation is to not bring pressure on the QB to disrupt his timing. And you damn sure don't play 10 yards off the ball when they are doing 3-5 yard short routes.

2. Game mismanagement. How many times did we see the coaches call a timeout only because they can't get their sh!t straight?

3. Players losing faith. You could see it against Baylor, and we saw it against OSU. The players, especially the defense has lost faith in their coaches to do right by them during the game.

4. Players out of position or on the field when they shouldn't be. I don't care what you think, Julian Wilson is not a corner back. He is a safety. And he damn sure shouldn't have been on the field vs. OSU. He is just the easiest target. You also have Jordan Phillips playing a Nose when he is not a nose. He is a tackle that is best suited lined up on a guard or even a tackle. Not in the middle. Which brings me to the next excuse....

5. Playing the wrong schemes for our players or no identity on offense. As mentioned with Jordan Phillips, we have players that are out of position simply because of the scheme our coaches want to play. We all applauded Mike Stoops for coming in and putting in a scheme that helped his player. He then placed his players where they naturally fit. Yet now we are exactly opposite. On offense, we have no identity. Can anyone honestly tell us what type of offense we actually operate?

6. Finally, arrogance, complacency, and contentment. The coaches of the Sooner program are so arrogant and think us fans mean nothing to them. They are also complacent and content. They are comfortable with their pay. They are comfortable with taking vacations mid season. They are complacent while hiring friends and family. They are arrogant in not caring about what the fans expect.


I think Bob Stoops is a hell of a man and coach. However, 2014 was his worst season at OU. It was a ****storm...yet so damn close to a much better season.

I think Stoops needs to make some changes. I think he needs to start with hiring a real OC that knows what he wants to do every week and that doesn't have a new offense every week.

I also think he needs some more fresh bodies in replacing Bobby Jack Wright, Jay Norvell, and Tim Kish. And if he needs to put his brother on the hot seat for next season.

We were over-hyped.

We were preseason #4, and just about everyone in the country had us penciled in to the playoff. We finished 8-4 and unranked. That's the definition of over-hyped.

The conference was absolutely tougher. You can keep saying "We were x points away from x", but that doesn't change reality.

I understand you have your own opinion, but you are completely wrong on those two points.

[BoulderSooner79]

The expectations from the fans and CFB media were certainly higher than the result. I just don't count hype or expectations as part of what went wrong unless it actually changed the outcome on the field. It just changed how people reacted to it.

I'm not sure the conference was tougher. TCU was certainly tougher and so was WVU. Baylor about the same. The horns a bit weaker and OSU and TT were much worse. We ended up much worse, but I assume the comment was just about the competition.

As far as being 8 points (or 5, really) from the playoffs, I'm not so sure that's true. Even if we squeak by TCU and KSU, the Baylor beat down at home was such a stain, I don't think we get in over tOSU. We might have elevated Baylor over tOSU by giving them a better win over a more respected co-champ. I don't even count the OSU loss as OUr team w/o TK, Shepard and eventually Perine was a shell of the rest of the season and had little to play for. Had we had one loss going into that game, I'm sure we would have won. I suspect we would have used Bell at QB for the last 3 games instead of CT because of so much more on the line.

[8timechamps]

The expectations from the fans and CFB media were certainly higher than the result. I just don't count hype or expectations as part of what went wrong unless it actually changed the outcome on the field. It just changed how people reacted to it.

I'm not sure the conference was tougher. TCU was certainly tougher and so was WVU. Baylor about the same. The horns a bit weaker and OSU and TT were much worse. We ended up much worse, but I assume the comment was just about the competition.

As far as being 8 points (or 5, really) from the playoffs, I'm not so sure that's true. Even if we squeak by TCU and KSU, the Baylor beat down at home was such a stain, I don't think we get in over tOSU. We might have elevated Baylor over tOSU by giving them a better win over a more respected co-champ. I don't even count the OSU loss as OUr team w/o TK, Shepard and eventually Perine was a shell of the rest of the season and had little to play for. Had we had one loss going into that game, I'm sure we would have won. I suspect we would have used Bell at QB for the last 3 games instead of CT because of so much more on the line.

I think I didn't word things well.

When I say the team was "over hyped", I am talking strictly about the fans view of the team. Had we gotten blown out in the Sugar Bowl, I think expectations would have been low going into the season. Whenever expectations are low, losses aren't taken as hard. So, losing a couple of close games wouldn't have seemed nearly as bad. I agree that the hype did nothing to affect the outcome of games. We have had teams in the past that read their own headlines, and that caused some issues, I do not that this team did that.

TCU was much better than anyone thought going into the season. West Virginia was much better than anyone thought going into the season. We all knew Baylor would be good (although it could be argued that they were better than expected). Kansas State was better than expected. I'll even say that Texas was better than expected (there was a time, after the BYU game, when a lot of folks thought they'd struggle to win two more games). OSU was weak, and Tech, KU and ISU were just bad.

In a normal year, you figure there are a few teams that just aren't good. That's what we saw this year. However, having 4 teams at the top of the league...and any of those four could beat the others, is not historically normal. Throw in Texas not being as down as expected and I think the conference, overall, was tougher than it has been in recent years. Again, that's not an "excuse" meant to take away from what happened. It's more of a statement about what we faced week in and week out. Prior to the season, most folks figured it would come down to Baylor at OU. The truth is there were more teams in the hunt than what most expected.

[EatLeadCommie]

We may have been 8 points away from being a one loss team, but we were also 6 points away from being 7-5.

The coaches get a big fat F this season. There's no polishing this turd.

Other than that, a pretty good post.

[#8soon]

The expectations from the fans and CFB media were certainly higher than the result. I just don't count hype or expectations as part of what went wrong unless it actually changed the outcome on the field. It just changed how people reacted to it.

I'm not sure the conference was tougher. TCU was certainly tougher and so was WVU. Baylor about the same. The horns a bit weaker and OSU and TT were much worse. We ended up much worse, but I assume the comment was just about the competition.

As far as being 8 points (or 5, really) from the playoffs, I'm not so sure that's true. Even if we squeak by TCU and KSU, the Baylor beat down at home was such a stain, I don't think we get in over tOSU. We might have elevated Baylor over tOSU by giving them a better win over a more respected co-champ. I don't even count the OSU loss as OUr team w/o TK, Shepard and eventually Perine was a shell of the rest of the season and had little to play for. Had we had one loss going into that game, I'm sure we would have won. I suspect we would have used Bell at QB for the last 3 games instead of CT because of so much more on the line.

Don't blame CT for that debacle that was the OSU loss! We got up by 2 scores and the coaches decided to let off the gas. Couple that with a terrible secondary and a poor decision to re kick. BTW Thomas handed over the only lead we had in the K-State game!

The majority of discussion about what went wrong should be on the other side of the ball. Defense wins championships and right now we need a lot of improvement in that area. We also need a healthy Shephard.

[cvsooner]

Same problems we had in 2011--no depth at several key positions. Starting 11s were pretty good, even excellent, but injuries in a key spot here and there and the whole thing broke down. Coaching is expected to fix that. Just resembles 2011 all over again to these eyes. Plus once we had a couple of close losses, the enthusiasm seemed to go out of the program, which is something I fear going forward into the playoff days. Once you know you're not going to make it into the playoff, why kill yourself?

[BoulderSooner79]

Don't blame CT for that debacle that was the OSU loss! We got up by 2 scores and the coaches decided to let off the gas. Couple that with a terrible secondary and a poor decision to re kick. BTW Thomas handed over the only lead we had in the K-State game!

The majority of discussion about what went wrong should be on the other side of the ball. Defense wins championships and right now we need a lot of improvement in that area. We also need a healthy Shephard.

I'm not blaming CT for the OSU loss. The team clearly wasn't focused - even the coaches were not focused. As much as I dislike losing to the Pokes, the reality is there was nothing to play for other than Stoops' career record. But you can't be saying that CT was a viable QB because he clearly was not. If we had something on the line, Bell probably is forced to play QB with hopes that KT is well by bowl time. Even if we started with CT for real, he would have been yanked by halftime at TT. It may be okay to just hand off against defenses like TT, KU and OSU, but without a real passing game, we would have been destroyed by a true top 4 team had we made the playoffs. Once OSU tied us did you really think we had a prayer in OT? I know I didn't. Folks may grumble that we tried passing in the OT, but the truth is that if CT doesn't make a play with his arm we are going to lose. So I had no problem with the coaches at least trying. Had we just run the ball w/o Perine, the best we get is FGs and would eventually fall when OSU scores a TD. So either CT comes through with a big play or we have to hope OSU shoots themselves in the foot.

[#8soon]

I'm not blaming CT for the OSU loss. The team clearly wasn't focused - even the coaches were not focused. As much as I dislike losing to the Pokes, the reality is there was nothing to play for other than Stoops' career record. But you can't be saying that CT was a viable QB because he clearly was not. If we had something on the line, Bell probably is forced to play QB with hopes that KT is well by bowl time. Even if we started with CT for real, he would have been yanked by halftime at TT. It may be okay to just hand off against defenses like TT, KU and OSU, but without a real passing game, we would have been destroyed by a true top 4 team had we made the playoffs. Once OSU tied us did you really think we had a prayer in OT? I know I didn't. Folks may grumble that we tried passing in the OT, but the truth is that if CT doesn't make a play with his arm we are going to lose. So I had no problem with the coaches at least trying. Had we just run the ball w/o Perine, the best we get is FGs and would eventually fall when OSU scores a TD. So either CT comes through with a big play or we have to hope OSU shoots themselves in the foot.



Trevor had Sounders,Bester & Shephard last year. This year only Shep. Sam had Broyles. Landry had Stills. Who has CT had? He was asked to come in off the bench and take over the last 3 games of a very disappointing season. He put us in position to win all 3 games. I think you're mistaking "big play" opportunities with "pick 6" opportunities (see TCU, K-State & Baylor).

Here's Samaje on CT's ability in the run game Perine said Monday that on zone read plays, Thomas keeps the ball about “half-a-second” longer than Knight, which made a difference, too.
“I think that half-a-second, it really gets the defense committed to one run, Perine said. “And then when he pulls it out the backside, he can run for days with that. I think that had a lot to do with his success, how long he holds it in the mesh.”

There's a reason why the coaches took a chance on bringing DGB in here even though now he will never play a down for us.

[BoulderSooner79]

Trevor had Sounders,Bester & Shephard last year. This year only Shep. Sam had Broyles. Landry had Stills. Who has CT had? He was asked to come in off the bench and take over the last 3 games of a very disappointing season. He put us in position to win all 3 games. I think you're mistaking "big play" opportunities with "pick 6" opportunities (see TCU, K-State & Baylor).

Here's Samaje on CT's ability in the run game Perine said Monday that on zone read plays, Thomas keeps the ball about “half-a-second” longer than Knight, which made a difference, too.
“I think that half-a-second, it really gets the defense committed to one run, Perine said. “And then when he pulls it out the backside, he can run for days with that. I think that had a lot to do with his success, how long he holds it in the mesh.”

There's a reason why the coaches took a chance on bringing DGB in here even though now he will never play a down for us.

Our problems at WR are well known - CT was indeed in a tough situation. But his mechanics were bad, especially his footwork. His passes were not accurate and the velocity was not great. If you haven't noticed, Perine is a very humble guy that gives credit to everyone but himself. And I'm not talking about the zone read anyway - I explicitly said "with his arm". We ran the ball 9 times in our last 3 series of regulation for exactly zero first downs. Once Perine left the game, OSU was capable of stopping our run, that's why I say that CT had to make a play or we lose. When I say "big play", I really just meant a routine play in a critical situation. On 2nd and 3rd down in OT he had chances. On 2nd down, he under led Bell by a foot or 2 that allowed the defender to break it up. It would have taken a very accurate pass, but if he makes it we may score or we're at least inside the 10. On third down, Smallwood had good separation and he didn't need a pin point pass. But he threw way too far out of bounds. The coaches said that Bell was open on 1st down and CT got happy feet. The camera didn't show it, so I'll just take their word for it. I'm not saying CT isn't capable, it's just clear he was not prepared at this point in his career. And I'm talking about as a passer - something critical to almost every offense outside the military academies.

[8timechamps]

Thomas was NOT ready to take over. He runs the read-option well, but his throwing is a long way from being where it needs to be. I think he will continue to improve, but I wasn't that impressed with his arm in high school. I've been a proponent of Hansen since he committed, but it would have been crazy to have expected him to come in and do any better.

Thomas is a good athlete, but he just wasn't ready to put the team on his shoulders.

[#8soon]

Our problems at WR are well known - CT was indeed in a tough situation. But his mechanics were bad, especially his footwork. His passes were not accurate and the velocity was not great. If you haven't noticed, Perine is a very humble guy that gives credit to everyone but himself. And I'm not talking about the zone read anyway - I explicitly said "with his arm". We ran the ball 9 times in our last 3 series of regulation for exactly zero first downs. Once Perine left the game, OSU was capable of stopping our run, that's why I say that CT had to make a play or we lose. When I say "big play", I really just meant a routine play in a critical situation. On 2nd and 3rd down in OT he had chances. On 2nd down, he under led Bell by a foot or 2 that allowed the defender to break it up. It would have taken a very accurate pass, but if he makes it we may score or we're at least inside the 10. On third down, Smallwood had good separation and he didn't need a pin point pass. But he threw way too far out of bounds. The coaches said that Bell was open on 1st down and CT got happy feet. The camera didn't show it, so I'll just take their word for it. I'm not saying CT isn't capable, it's just clear he was not prepared at this point in his career. And I'm talking about as a passer - something critical to almost every offense outside the military academies.

On 1st down the D end beat Thompson (Thompson had to hold him) As soon as CT dropped back and planted his back foot he got flushed. Bell was open but CT already pulled the ball down. On 2nd down you need to watch the game again. They show the replay behind CT's shoulder. You couldn't have placed that ball better yourself. It was perfect with Blakes arms reaching OUT for it. 3rd down is a pass CT should have completed but didn't matter as Thompson did get called for holding on that one.

I have never heard any of the coaches refer to CT having "happy feet" where's your source for this?

[cvsooner]

Second down was a great throw. Unfortunately the DB made a great play. I hate when that happens.

[BoulderSooner79]

On 1st down the D end beat Thompson (Thompson had to hold him) As soon as CT dropped back and planted his back foot he got flushed. Bell was open but CT already pulled the ball down. On 2nd down you need to watch the game again. They show the replay behind CT's shoulder. You couldn't have placed that ball better yourself. It was perfect with Blakes arms reaching OUT for it. 3rd down is a pass CT should have completed but didn't matter as Thompson did get called for holding on that one.

I have never heard any of the coaches refer to CT having "happy feet" where's your source for this?

I paraphrased happy feet, coaches said Bell was open and CT didn't see him. You can pick at all the details you want, but after watching CT in 3 starts, he showed very few signs he was ready to even be a game manager. It wasn't the best of conditions with the wind and rain, but I've seen back-ups for countless other teams step in in similar situations and show much more. And all 3 of these teams have pretty weak defenses. Maybe it's because the coaches have been busy working their networks for potential jobs after the Baylor loss or maybe CT spent too much time on basebase in the offseason. But for what ever reason, he didn't look well prepared for a guy 2 years into the program.

[cvsooner]

I don't know how CT came in against Kansas State on one drive and looked awesome and has regressed ever since.

[BoulderSooner79]

I don't know how CT came in against Kansas State on one drive and looked awesome and has regressed ever since.

Maybe because his most awesome play on that drive was a simple hand off to Ross that went for 30+ yards on 3rd and 20? He didn't really do that much on that drive other than stay calm. He did salvage a bad snap that would have been disaster and I think he completed 1 pass. I had hopes after that small sample too. But I don't see that CT has created any QB controversy for next year after his 3 game debut. And that's comparing him to TK who is not even mentioned when the talk of all conference QBs comes up.

[cvsooner]

Thomas went two for two on that drive for 17 yards, both to Sterling Shepard. Maybe the problem he's had with passing is the same Knight has had...if Shepard isn't on the field drawing attention, the rest of the guys are just swarmed over.

But you're right, outside of that one drive--which was awesome, particularly the salvaged snap and the subsequent run--he's been pedestrian at best. I'm willing to cut him some slack against Kansas because that really was lousy weather and neither QB on either side could throw worth a dang.

But 10 for 20 and 3 oskies at Tech, and 10 of 17 at home (though admittedly no interceptions), doesn't exactly scream potential Heisman next fall, or even the backup role.

[OU_Sooners75]

We were over-hyped.

We were preseason #4, and just about everyone in the country had us penciled in to the playoff. We finished 8-4 and unranked. That's the definition of over-hyped.

The conference was absolutely tougher. You can keep saying "We were x points away from x", but that doesn't change reality.

I understand you have your own opinion, but you are completely wrong on those two points.


I know this is a long *** delay, but I had to take a break from the boards.

OU was not over-hyped. They didn't meet expectations set upon them by their fans and the media.

If there were no such thing as preseason top 25's, if the first rankings didn't come out until Mid October, OU would not have been #4 at any part.

IMO, if OU had a real OC last year that did not sh!t the bed every time the going got tough, then OU would have been in the playoffs. Our offense lost use 3 of the 5 games.

And frankly, I am glad the season turned out like it did. If it would have turned out with 1 loss and a playoff birth, then we would have to endure another season of Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell as Co-OC.

I am still waiting for Kish and Mike to go!

[Pride1Mom]

One word...DEFENSE

[Eielson]

One word...DEFENSE

And...OFFENSE.

And...SPECIAL TEAMS.

[badger]

Bob Stoops is a good ambassador for the university. He gets rid of bad eggs and had a good group of guys who really stepped up after that stupid SAE racist video.

But I am not naive. We are not paying $6 million for 8-win seasons, even with all the good off-field relations. Big 12 championship with contention for playoff spot or bust this season.

[Harris County Sooner]

And...OFFENSE.

And...SPECIAL TEAMS.

The defense was more of a bust than the others. Concerning TCU and KState, 30 points should be enough to win. And for Baylor, both O and D imploded. OSU was a coaching brain fahrt.

[Eielson]

The defense was more of a bust than the others. Concerning TCU and KState, 30 points should be enough to win. And for Baylor, both O and D imploded. OSU was a coaching brain fahrt.

Special teams cost us KSU and OSU. Offense cost us against TCU. All around collapse against Baylor and Clemson.

And I know several of those games were a contribution of more than one thing, but we have to get better on offense, defense, and special teams. No way around it.

[BoulderSooner79]

Special teams cost us KSU and OSU. Offense cost us against TCU. All around collapse against Baylor and Clemson.

And I know several of those games were a contribution of more than one thing, but we have to get better on offense, defense, and special teams. No way around it.

And the fan meltdown threads s.ucked. With 5 losses, we had ample practice to be more creative than just b.itchin' moanin' and whinin'

[Pride1Mom]

We are starting to sound like Texas fans.......

[badger]

Not coincidental that the Big 12's highest paid coaches and their staffs are OU and Texas and our fans are less than happy with mid tier bowls (and losing them) and lack of competition in the big 12/national title races.

Shouldn't fans expect some ROI?

[soonergirlNeugene]

Definitely the most disappointing year under Stoops. Felt like we had taken a time machine back to 1995. Except this time I was the one who smelledofbourbon

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

If I were to boil down the problems last year to two things they would be

1. Turnovers (Specifically Generated) - 19 Gained vs 24 lost - you can win the MNC with a crappy TO ratio (in 2000 ours was 36/29), but you have to generate a lot of them. The only oddball year where we were good and had this few turnovers was 2004 (22/18). For the most part, that number is in the mid 30's.

2. QB Accuracy on 3rd Down - When you get to the point where its 3rd and 10 and you are hoping for a run, that tells you how bad this stat is.

One of the more interesting things for me during the spring game was watching Knight continue to air mail the ball with a new QB coach. It just reinforced that guys are who they are and coaching just can't change that.

[champions77]

We definitely were "full our ourselves" last year. So one would expect that this year we will have a better attitude after last year's humbling experience. Would have like to see a couple more defensive coaches shown the door. I think most everyone here knows who I am referring to.
Have to have better QB play, which we will get, just not sure how much better. I like the play caller much better. Should get into the 4th QTR this year with time outs remaining, which will be the first since 2010. Receivers WILL be better. Offensive line will not be as good, but can be adequate.
Defensively, will play Striker where he will help the most after the silly nickel back experiment last year. Secondary WILL be better ( I know that is not saying much) Linebackers WILL be better with Frank Shannon returning. Defensive front can be very good with Tapper, Charles Walker, Jordan Wade, Matt Dimon and Matt Romar all with experience returning.
Lots of "toss up" games next year with Tennessee, Texas, KState and OSU. Will be underdogs against TCU and Baylor. Those six games will decide the fate of the 2015 Sooners. Will end up somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3 in the regular season.
Boomer Sooner!!

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

We definitely were "full our ourselves" last year. So one would expect that this year we will have a better attitude after last year's humbling experience. Would have like to see a couple more defensive coaches shown the door. I think most everyone here knows who I am referring to.
Have to have better QB play, which we will get, just not sure how much better. I like the play caller much better. Should get into the 4th QTR this year with time outs remaining, which will be the first since 2010. Receivers WILL be better. Offensive line will not be as good, but can be adequate.
Defensively, will play Striker where he will help the most after the silly nickel back experiment last year. Secondary WILL be better ( I know that is not saying much) Linebackers WILL be better with Frank Shannon returning. Defensive front can be very good with Tapper, Charles Walker, Jordan Wade, Matt Dimon and Matt Romar all with experience returning.
Lots of "toss up" games next year with Tennessee, Texas, KState and OSU. Will be underdogs against TCU and Baylor. Those six games will decide the fate of the 2015 Sooners. Will end up somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3 in the regular season.
Boomer Sooner!!

So we are going to be better at about every position and have a worse record?

[champions77]

So we are going to be better at about every position and have a worse record?

Did we finish better than 9-3 last year?

The schedule is not nearly as "friendly" as we had last year, so yes, we could be better but it not reflected so much in the wins and losses.

[Eielson]

If games like Tennessee and Texas are toss-up games, then so are our games against TCU and Baylor. No way do we end up 7-5. Absolutely no way.

[champions77]

If games like Tennessee and Texas are toss-up games, then so are our games against TCU and Baylor. No way do we end up 7-5. Absolutely no way.

I hope you are right. Most would say that TCU and Baylor are superior to the UT's. The 7-5 scenario would be if we continue to struggle at QB, coupled with some injuries... yes 7-5 could happen. I do not believe TCU and Baylor are toss up games, even though we get TCU here. Bob does seem to coach better when expectations are lowered. I think a 9-3 regular season is more likely than 7-5. There are just a lot of what I consider toss up games, do we realistically think that we will win all four?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

"You are never as good as you look when you win and you are never as bad as you look when you lose". That statement is magnified to the Nth degree among fans who only have 2 views of their team -> "National Champs" and "We Suck".

Contrary to popular belief, last year's team was pretty good. I personally think they were built similarly and on par with the 2004 team. My major question before the season was this - Can Trevor Knight complete a wide open 8 yard slant for a 1st down 6 times a ball game? If he can, we are playoff bound. The first 3 games he did and we looked great. And then, as Shane Falco would say, he got stuck in quicksand. And when he went, the team's confidence went too. The defense especially folded like a cheap tent (much like 2004). Last year, we had plenty of talent on the field, we just didn't have mental toughness or the drive to make a play. That when it is 3rd down, you extend the series on offense or get off the field on defense.

Based on what I saw in the spring, there were kids that should have been on the field last fall (so yes we are better in some spots). IF we can hit a wide frickin open 3rd down slant for a 1st down 5 times a game, we'll win 10 or 11 games.

[champions77]

"You are never as good as you look when you win and you are never as bad as you look when you lose". That statement is magnified to the Nth degree among fans who only have 2 views of their team -> "National Champs" and "We Suck".

Contrary to popular belief, last year's team was pretty good. I personally think they were built similarly and on par with the 2004 team. My major question before the season was this - Can Trevor Knight complete a wide open 8 yard slant for a 1st down 6 times a ball game? If he can, we are playoff bound. The first 3 games he did and we looked great. And then, as Shane Falco would say, he got stuck in quicksand. And when he went, the team's confidence went too. The defense especially folded like a cheap tent (much like 2004). Last year, we had plenty of talent on the field, we just didn't have mental toughness or the drive to make a play. That when it is 3rd down, you extend the series on offense or get off the field on defense.

Based on what I saw in the spring, there were kids that should have been on the field last fall (so yes we are better in some spots). IF we can hit a wide frickin open 3rd down slant for a 1st down 5 times a game, we'll win 10 or 11 games.

I agree with a lot of what you state. I do not feel that we were on par with the 2004 team that went 12-1 and played for a NC. Yes Trevor's play was responsible for a lot of our problems last year. But he doesn't play defense right? I will say that our much better receiving corp we had in 2013 versus 2014 contributed to that too though. What was particularly concerning last year was not only how we did not improve from game to game, but I thought we actually got worse as the season progressed. No way that the team we saw against Tennessee was the same team that got embarrassed by Baylor and lost to the pukes.

I just hope we can establish consistent QB play. If so, we could do some really nice things THIS year.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

I agree with a lot of what you state. I do not feel that we were on par with the 2004 team that went 12-1 and played for a NC. Yes Trevor's play was responsible for a lot of our problems last year. But he doesn't play defense right? I will say that our much better receiving corp we had in 2013 versus 2014 contributed to that too though. What was particularly concerning last year was not only how we did not improve from game to game, but I thought we actually got worse as the season progressed. No way that the team we saw against Tennessee was the same team that got embarrassed by Baylor and lost to the pukes.

I just hope we can establish consistent QB play. If so, we could do some really nice things THIS year.

2004's defense wasn't all that great and was pretty bad in the middle of the season. The difference was Jason White consistently converting 3rd and longs (and 3rd and miracles like the one to Mark Bradley to win the aTm game).

The reason that we fell apart was because everyone KNEW that on 3rd down Trevor was going to air mail a wide open slant. All an opponent felt they had to do was get us in 3rd and long and we were punting. In college football, that is often enough to give an offense confidence. If you've ever watched the Wisconsin Badgers that is them year in and year out - no matter how good they are, if a defense can consistently put them in 3rd and long they fall apart.

[champions77]

2004's defense wasn't all that great and was pretty bad in the middle of the season. The difference was Jason White consistently converting 3rd and longs (and 3rd and miracles like the one to Mark Bradley to win the aTm game).

The reason that we fell apart was because everyone KNEW that on 3rd down Trevor was going to air mail a wide open slant. All an opponent felt they had to do was get us in 3rd and long and we were punting. In college football, that is often enough to give an offense confidence. If you've ever watched the Wisconsin Badgers that is them year in and year out - no matter how good they are, if a defense can consistently put them in 3rd and long they fall apart.

Please do not forget Trevor missed what 3-4 games last year?

[cvsooner]

Knight missed part of one game (Baylor) and all of three. We went 2-2 in that stretch and would/should have gone 3-1 if Stoops hadn't punted twice to Tyreek Hill.

[BoulderSooner79]

Knight missed part of one game (Baylor) and all of three. We went 2-2 in that stretch and would/should have gone 3-1 if Stoops hadn't punted twice to Tyreek Hill.

Yes, but the BU game was already lost when TK got hurt. The other 3 teams were bottom feeders that we could win as long as Perine was healthy and the QB could hand off. We could have been 100% healthy for Clemson and the result would have been similar. We need improvement across the board.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Please do not forget Trevor missed what 3-4 games last year?

Fully aware. Not being able to hit a slant didn't change when he went down.

[BoulderSooner79]

Fully aware. Not being able to hit a slant didn't change when he went down.

But he did stop over throwing them.

[Eielson]

Our season was done the second Shepard went down. Just like when Broyles went down. It's pretty bad when the loss of one WR can do that to you. I think we just massively upgraded our ability to develop WR's, though, so I don't expect that to be as big an issue moving forward.

As bad as our secondary was, and despite all the issues with our QB's and all of our woman troubles (Shannon and Mixon), if we replay that season with a different kicker and a healthy Sterling, I expect we would have headed into our bowl ranked top 10. We would have been 10-2 with our only losses coming from top 5 schools.

[cvsooner]

Our season was done the second Shepard went down. Just like when Broyles went down. It's pretty bad when the loss of one WR can do that to you. I think we just massively upgraded our ability to develop WR's, though, so I don't expect that to be as big an issue moving forward.

As bad as our secondary was, and despite all the issues with our QB's and all of our woman troubles (Shannon and Mixon), if we replay that season with a different kicker and a healthy Sterling, I expect we would have headed into our bowl ranked top 10. We would have been 10-2 with our only losses coming from top 5 schools.

Yep. The shame of it was Shep was hurt so early against Iowa State, a school we didn't even need him for...nor Kansas, for that matter. And poor Michael Hunnicutt--head problems, I guess. If we had gotten DGB eligible, we probably could have withstood the loss of Shepherd plus opened up the offense a bit more. I'm with JKM; we really were better than we appeared, on both offense and defense, but coaching was a mess. Some of it was players, and some of it was playing pretty good teams, and the parts just never all worked together consistently.

[BoulderSooner79]

Yep. The shame of it was Shep was hurt so early against Iowa State, a school we didn't even need him for...nor Kansas, for that matter. And poor Michael Hunnicutt--head problems, I guess. If we had gotten DGB eligible, we probably could have withstood the loss of Shepherd plus opened up the offense a bit more. I'm with JKM; we really were better than we appeared, on both offense and defense, but coaching was a mess. Some of it was players, and some of it was playing pretty good teams, and the parts just never all worked together consistently.

That's all a matter of definition as coaching is as integral to a team as is the talent of the players. By that definition, the team was exactly as good (or bad) as it appeared to be. It certainly was a better team when Shepard was healthy, but all the other problems were there. The slide after Shepard went down (and then TK) was exaggerated because the team threw in the towel at that point. Fans want them to fight to the bitter end, but the fact is that all the preseason goals were gone after the 2nd loss and it showed in the effort. It takes a really inspirational coach to get a team to go 100% in that situation and Stoops isn't that type.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

That's all a matter of definition as coaching is as integral to a team as is the talent of the players. By that definition, the team was exactly as good (or bad) as it appeared to be. It certainly was a better team when Shepard was healthy, but all the other problems were there. The slide after Shepard went down (and then TK) was exaggerated because the team threw in the towel at that point. Fans want them to fight to the bitter end, but the fact is that all the preseason goals were gone after the 2nd loss and it showed in the effort. It takes a really inspirational coach to get a team to go 100% in that situation and Stoops isn't that type.

I don't think they threw in the towel, I just think the guys behind them don't belong at OU. It is one of my biggest issues with Bob Stoops tenure - that he allowed our recruiting to go from getting lots of good college players that can contribute to trying to hit an NFL first rounder on every guy. Historically, OU has always been a team where our top guy may not be as good as the other team's top guy, but our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th guys are a LOT better than their 2nd, 3rd, 4th guys. As it stands now, when our top guy goes down we become a middling team. And for the recruiting guys, I'm not talking about stars here, I'm talking about stop reaching for every guy with character flaws that is uber athletic and get the guys who can play football.

As I said earlier in the year, this was a team of mismatched parts. Taking the Best Player Available doesn't necessarily make you the Best Team Available.

[8timechamps]

I know this is a long *** delay, but I had to take a break from the boards.

OU was not over-hyped. They didn't meet expectations set upon them by their fans and the media.

If there were no such thing as preseason top 25's, if the first rankings didn't come out until Mid October, OU would not have been #4 at any part.

IMO, if OU had a real OC last year that did not sh!t the bed every time the going got tough, then OU would have been in the playoffs. Our offense lost use 3 of the 5 games.

And frankly, I am glad the season turned out like it did. If it would have turned out with 1 loss and a playoff birth, then we would have to endure another season of Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell as Co-OC.

I am still waiting for Kish and Mike to go!

Well, when you're projected to be a top 5 team by nearly every prognosticator, and your fans and the rest of the media expect that kind of team, then you're over-hyped. That's pretty much the definition of over-hyped.

OU was not a top 5 team last year. Never should have been ranked that high. The reason (hype) came from the end of the 2013 season, and the Sugar Bowl win. The media did what they always do, and as fans, we were all too willing to jump on that train.

We did not have the talent/coaching/scheme (whatever you want to point at) to be ranked a top 5 team. Most fans (me included) and members of the media didn't really account for what we were losing after the 2013 season. Nor did many expect Knight to be as inconsistent as he was. It just didn't play out.

I'm glad the shake up happened, and it's obvious that it was needed. I don't think Heupel was nearly as bad as many believe, but he had been given more than enough time to show he was elite...and he wasn't (at least not yet). Norvell was a good recruiter, and a solid coach, but it was also time to clean out the garage.

The more I see what Kish is doing (primarily on the recruiting trail), the less I think he's an issue. Unfortunately, Mike Stoops looked like a deer caught in the headlights last year. If he hasn't taken a step back and realized he was a big part of the issues on defense, and adjust accordingly, it's going to be another long year.

One thing is clear, Bob has tied himself to Mike's wagon. He must think there's enough there (with Mike) to correct course, because if things continue like they did last year, it's going to be really hard for Bob.

[8timechamps]

We definitely were "full our ourselves" last year. So one would expect that this year we will have a better attitude after last year's humbling experience. Would have like to see a couple more defensive coaches shown the door. I think most everyone here knows who I am referring to.
Have to have better QB play, which we will get, just not sure how much better. I like the play caller much better. Should get into the 4th QTR this year with time outs remaining, which will be the first since 2010. Receivers WILL be better. Offensive line will not be as good, but can be adequate.
Defensively, will play Striker where he will help the most after the silly nickel back experiment last year. Secondary WILL be better ( I know that is not saying much) Linebackers WILL be better with Frank Shannon returning. Defensive front can be very good with Tapper, Charles Walker, Jordan Wade, Matt Dimon and Matt Romar all with experience returning.
Lots of "toss up" games next year with Tennessee, Texas, KState and OSU. Will be underdogs against TCU and Baylor. Those six games will decide the fate of the 2015 Sooners. Will end up somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3 in the regular season.
Boomer Sooner!!

I agree completely with what you said except for the last part (the 'toss up' games).

Tennessee will be a tough game. On the road, early in the season. However, there's still too much of a gap between us and them. If we would have had a better showing with the offense in last years game, it wouldn't have even been as close as it was (and it wasn't really close). I'm hopeful that the offense will be much better (read: consistent). I can still agree it's a "toss up", just because it's early and on the road.

Texas is always a toss up.

Kansas State shouldn't be close. We play them so much better in Manhattan, and their offense is a dumpster fire. No QB (and the guy they thought they had tore his ACL in the spring), no Lockett, no outstanding talent. They've always had to fight for every yard, but have managed to do so with above average QB play, a deep threat (Lockett) and solid fundamentals. 2 of those 3 are gone. KSU will struggle to win 6 games next year.

Oklahoma State could be a toss up, but I'm not buying the hype. They're getting the hype coming into this season for the same reason we got it going into last season, a big win at the end of the year. They shouldn't have won in Norman, but they did. Had they lost that game, I doubt anyone is picking them to win the conference. I just don't see how they are going to go from very average to top of the conference. It could happen, but I don't see it.

I think we'll be favored against TCU. Last year's game could have gone either way, and this year's is in Norman. Assuming we don't start the season looking awful (and I don't think we will), I suspect we'll be a favorite by a couple of points. I also think we win that game.

I think we'll finish with 9-3/10-2 (leaning more toward the 10-2). Like you said, there appears to be an upgrade everywhere you look, so I don't see how we end up worse than last year. I'm also banking on Stoops ability to follow up a disappointing season with a good one.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Yes, but the BU game was already lost when TK got hurt. The other 3 teams were bottom feeders that we could win as long as Perine was healthy and the QB could hand off. We could have been 100% healthy for Clemson and the result would have been similar. We need improvement across the board.

Thank you.

People fantasizing that Trevor Knight will ever amount to anything are going to have to someday admit to themselves that the Alabama bowl game was a mirage, more a product of Bama not giving a crap.

Shoddy line recruiting and coaching on both sides of the ball likely shows up this year and next. And, so, we have a new head coach in 2017. Until then, many more sideline shots of the confused/meerkat Bob Stoops that we've become accustomed to seeing.

[Pricetag]

Oklahoma State could be a toss up, but I'm not buying the hype. They're getting the hype coming into this season for the same reason we got it going into last season, a big win at the end of the year. They shouldn't have won in Norman, but they did. Had they lost that game, I doubt anyone is picking them to win the conference. I just don't see how they are going to go from very average to top of the conference. It could happen, but I don't see it.

This. They did the exact same thing we did to close out 2013, only we did it against really good teams. They did it against a bad OU team and Washington. I can't believe that after watching what happened to OU just last year, the media types around here are so ready to pronounce them cured of all the problems they had last year.

That being said, playing them in Stillwater is always tough, no matter how good the two teams are. OU hasn't gone in there and took care of business in 25 years.

[8timechamps]

Thank you.

People fantasizing that Trevor Knight will ever amount to anything are going to have to someday admit to themselves that the Alabama bowl game was a mirage, more a product of Bama not giving a crap.

Shoddy line recruiting and coaching on both sides of the ball likely shows up this year and next. And, so, we have a new head coach in 2017. Until then, many more sideline shots of the confused/meerkat Bob Stoops that we've become accustomed to seeing.

I have no idea where you are coming up with this stuff. The shoddy line recruiting occurred when Kittle was in Norman. Both lines have been significantly upgraded from the recruiting perspective. Everything else you said I agree with.

[cvsooner]

I have no idea where you are coming up with this stuff. The shoddy line recruiting occurred when Kittle was in Norman. Both lines have been significantly upgraded from the recruiting perspective. Everything else you said I agree with.

He's quoting the famous football professor, Dr. Otto Yerass.

[BoulderSooner79]

I don't think they threw in the towel...

Certainly a subjective statement. I didn't mean they were dogging it on gameday as most D1 athletes are going to give high effort during games. I meant they didn't look like a team that had given full effort or focus during preparation. So if you believe that old adage about preparation being 90% of success, then OUr guys didn't looked prepared after the KSU loss. Except the ISU game, I guess. Against the two good teams they faced post KSU, they lost by 34 points.

[Mookie91]

1) Not a decent QB on the roster
2) Julian Wilson was awful
3) Penalties, Penalties, Penalties
4) Awful special teams
5) Coaches didn't reach the players

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

I have no idea where you are coming up with this stuff. The shoddy line recruiting occurred when Kittle was in Norman. Both lines have been significantly upgraded from the recruiting perspective. Everything else you said I agree with.

Shoddy? His hit rate was the same as every other OL coach that has been at OU - 50%. You are going to net 4 starters out of the 7 guys he brought in (tyrus thompson, farniok, kasitati, darlington) - 5 out of 8 if you count Sam Grant. The biggest issue is 6-7 guys in 2 years.

in 2011, we only had 17 schollies to give out. How many OL were we supposed to recruit? Not only that, the OL/DL were the only positions where we got any production of out of that wasted recruiting class -> https://rivals.yahoo.com/oklahoma/football/recruiting/commitments/2011

in 2012, we had 25 to give out, but we had to take 3 Running Backs, 4 TEs (one ended up an OL) and 6 WRs. 15 split between OL and the entire defense?

Recruiting OL isn't like recruiting any other position on the field. If you find me an OL coach who can constantly keep a stockpile of 6 RS JR/SRs on the roster with 9 guys waiting in the wings you will constantly have good OLs no matter how many of those guys get drafted.

Do I think that Kittle should have been at OU? No. Do I think he gets a bad wrap for his time here? Yes. Do I think he should have been fired? Yes. That whole John Michael McGee incident proved that he didn't do as much research as he should have into a recruit. Do I think our OL is any better than if he would have stayed? Nope. Bedenbaugh is taking the shotgun approach to OL recruiting and that inevitably degrades the quality of your skill positions.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Shoddy? His hit rate was the same as every other OL coach that has been at OU - 50%. You are going to net 4 starters out of the 7 guys he brought in (tyrus thompson, farniok, kasitati, darlington) - 5 out of 8 if you count Sam Grant. The biggest issue is 6-7 guys in 2 years.

in 2011, we only had 17 schollies to give out. How many OL were we supposed to recruit? Not only that, the OL/DL were the only positions where we got any production of out of that wasted recruiting class -> https://rivals.yahoo.com/oklahoma/football/recruiting/commitments/2011

in 2012, we had 25 to give out, but we had to take 3 Running Backs, 4 TEs (one ended up an OL) and 6 WRs. 15 split between OL and the entire defense?

Recruiting OL isn't like recruiting any other position on the field. If you find me an OL coach who can constantly keep a stockpile of 6 RS JR/SRs on the roster with 9 guys waiting in the wings you will constantly have good OLs no matter how many of those guys get drafted.

Do I think that Kittle should have been at OU? No. Do I think he gets a bad wrap for his time here? Yes. Do I think he should have been fired? Yes. That whole John Michael McGee incident proved that he didn't do as much research as he should have into a recruit. Do I think our OL is any better than if he would have stayed? Nope. Bedenbaugh is taking the shotgun approach to OL recruiting and that inevitably degrades the quality of your skill positions.

At least you've identified an approach that the lad might have. I was thinking more along the lines of shot in the dark; but, shotgun probably describes is just as accurately.

My prediction is that the new coach in 2016/2017 will be public about needing to greatly upgrade the line talent on both sides of the ball.