....enjoyed reading most of the online articles this morning

[Therealsouthsider]

....but one quick note to 'reporters' and so-called editors....enough of the "Joe Mixon sat out last year for punching a woman in the face at a Norman restaurant" references while reporting on a football game

....it's been covered

....it was over a year ago....nothing new

....the free-world has read something about this by now

....quit padding your articles because you can't think of words

....you aren't practicing 'responsible journalism' when you repeat the same information month after month after month, after month, after month, etc

....Guerin Emig....you forgot to mention the names of the young woman's Doctors and her blood type while chronicalling her injuries in your article covering last nights FOOTBALL GAME between the Sooners and Zips....you lazy dickhead

....the University has no interest in having Joe Mixon interviewed by second-tier journalist so quit stamping your feet through your articles

.....other than that....good opening game, lots of positives....can't wait to see the season play out!


ss

[cherokeebrewer]

We've done much worse is opening games. A little ragged and some growing pains with the new offense in the 1st half, but got better as the game went along which is what you want for sure. Realizing it was Akron but still a good opener.

The media and opposing fans are not going to let go of the Joe Mixon thing regardless of his punishment...It's what they do for kicks and attention...

[Therealsouthsider]

....I was pleased to not read about a plethora of receivers running free in our secondary despite the level of competition, the new o-line will take time to gel but are very athletic....should see a jump in performance in the next two games

ss

[BoulderSooner79]

....I was pleased to not read about a plethora of receivers running free in our secondary despite the level of competition, the new o-line will take time to gel but are very athletic....should see a jump in performance in the next two games

ss

^This. Akron didn't have the weapons to really test our secondary. UT is not a great passing team either, but we will not be able to control their run game like yesterday, so it will open up the secondary a bit more. If we don't have out and out busts in the secondary, UT will not be able to beat us in the air, IMO.

The o-line is a rebuilding job this season as expected. The real question is whether it is just inexperience or also a matter of talent. The former will rapidly improve week to week and we'll know by the horn game about the latter. If we had this year's o-line last season, we would have been as bad as the horns on offense. There is no way we would have compensated weak run blocking with 450 yards of passing - especially after Shep went down. I was very pleasantly surprised with Mayfield and I expect him to get even better. If we can get out of the gate a little quicker with the passing game, I'd expect to be able to run more effectively too as the D is forced to back off.

[Therealsouthsider]

....I'm surprised we don't try to move a d-lineman over to o-line, it's not like we haven't done it before

ss

[BoulderSooner79]

....I'm surprised we don't try to move a d-lineman over to o-line, it's not like we haven't done it before

ss

Again, a question of experience vs. talent. A converted d-line guy would be just as inexperienced or even more so. He would have to be much more talented for that to pay off (and motivated to make the move).

[Curly Bill]

I must have missed the part where we are so deep in defensive linemen that we could contemplate moving them even if we wanted to???

[BoulderSooner79]

I must have missed the part where we are so deep in defensive linemen that we could contemplate moving them even if we wanted to???

Plus, that would be something to do in the spring at the latest - most d-line would have to add 20+ lbs to switch. I don't think we lack O-line bodies, just experienced ones.

[Curly Bill]

Plus, that would be something to do in the spring at the latest - most d-line would have to add 20+ lbs to switch. I don't think we lack O-line bodies, just experienced ones.

Yup!

[SoonerStormchaser]

We've done much worse is opening games.

Yah...we lost...

[cherokeebrewer]

Replay show 676 FSSW@ 7:00

I think Baker Mayfield was something like 23-33 and at least 3 incompletions should have been caught. Inexperience on Oline definitely showed but Coach B will get then up to speed. Akron's strength is on defense and we wore them down. I get too excited during the game to evaluate much...Joe Mixon is certainly the real deal.

[rock on sooner]

Welp, I went over to Youtube and watched the game. Some thoughts....
downfield blocking by wideouts was RILLY good! O-line needs to work on
the running game. Mixon has outstanding hands! Recievers not Shepard
show a LOT of promise..tall, good hands, down field awareness. Perine is
a HORSE! RIDE THAT PUPPY ALL THE WAY!!! Mayfield has good, quick
release, be careful if you catch a TD..he can hurt..

Brand new kicker....yay!!!!!

Big test coming is one week to two week.....coming atcha Tennessee!!!!

[BoulderSooner79]

I watched the whole game now that is is online and had a more positive impression than I got from just listening yesterday. Once the offense got in rhythm, it looked like something that could be effective against better defenses. And the Zips did lead their division on defense last year and returned their core - their front 7 on D is supposed to be their strength. Mayfield has a quick release and delivers a catchable ball on-time and on-target. That is crucial for this offense to work as the completion rate on the short passes has to be very high in order to keep moving chains and earn more opportunities for big chunk plays. I wasn't sure how Mixon looked from the audio. That long TD reception was a total bust on their D and any of our RBs should have been able to house that one. But the play that impressed me the most was that one where he hurdled the defender as he went out of bounds. Not because of the hurdle, but the burst of speed he showed right as he caught the ball. That reminded me of how DeMarco would take off with a flat pass. I really like how well the ball was spread around. We even have a TE now. I think Durron Neal is sure being helped out with this new system and new QB. Maybe he has just improved a lot, but it looked to me that he was just getting accurate passes thrown his way. And my very favorite part of having Riley call the plays is that he is clearly organized and gets the play called quickly. We rarely snapped the ball with less than 10 sec on the play clock and I can't recall anytime that our QB was running up and down the line barking the signal with the clock below 5 seconds. Good riddance to that. The down side of course, was our tepid run game. We all knew the O-line is in rebuilding mode and it certainly showed there. I don't see any quick fixes to that one other than just keep plugging at it and trust we will improve and hope we can win games during the process.

The defense looked solid all around, but unlike on D, I don't think the Zips were good enough to test us. There were a few busts in the secondary, but it looked much better than last year. I really like the fact that we had 4 guys rushing on passing plays. It was so frustrating last year to watch us rush 3 and the opposing QB would just stand there and survey the field until someone got open. I don't think we blitzed very much and probably kept it pretty vanilla on purpose since we pretty much controlled there offense. The defensive test will come next week. UT has big, powerful RB and a fast, shifty RB that they alternate. They pretty much over powered Bowling Green, but BG is supposed to have a much weaker defense than Akron.

It's always dicey to try to predict the season based on week 1 result. But being a fool, I'll do it anyway. I think the big12 title will come down to the OU/Baylor game.

[cherokeebrewer]

After watching the replay show last night, I change my mind. I thought the Oline play was good. Penalties held us back in the 1st quarter more than anything else.

Best news...no injuries except for one special teamer getting a little banged up.

[yermom]

Welp, I went over to Youtube and watched the game. Some thoughts....
downfield blocking by wideouts was RILLY good! O-line needs to work on
the running game. Mixon has outstanding hands! Recievers not Shepard
show a LOT of promise..tall, good hands, down field awareness. Perine is
a HORSE! RIDE THAT PUPPY ALL THE WAY!!! Mayfield has good, quick
release, be careful if you catch a TD..he can hurt..

Brand new kicker....yay!!!!!

Big test coming is one week to two week.....coming atcha Tennessee!!!!

yeah, he leveled Mixon after that long TD :D