Orange Bowl Opinions...........

[JLMSOONER]

JKM, Boulder, others......how about a breakdown of the Sooners and Tiggers 2015!

[SCSoonerfan]

We gonna win..
They gonna lose...
Breakdown complete.

[BoulderSooner79]

Always tough to do the match-ups when you go out of conference - no common opponents. My first comment is I think that last year's game is almost irrelevant. OUr players were down after an extremely disappointing season and the coaching staff knew there were big changes coming and were probably spending more time on resumes than game planning. It should help us a bit since Clemson has been stable with the same coaches and schemes, but it won't help Clemson planning for us. Watson is the real deal and will present a big challenge - we'll find out pretty quick how much our LBs have improved. OUr LB play will be the key on how much we can limit their offense. Their defense has good numbers, but is not nearly the stone wall it was from last year after losing all that talent to the NFL. BV has definitely done a good job, but they can be had. I don't think we can come out running the ball against Clemson or any other of the defenses in the playoffs. We need to tire their D-line a bit by having them pass rush or run them side to side with the short screen game before expecting our line to create some running lanes. I hope we come out firing just like we did against OSU before releasing Perine on their tired arses.

I haven't watched too much of Clemson, but I do observe they are not very "efficient". But that I mean they don't create as big of a deficit on the scoreboard as the stats would indicate. Perhaps they get lackadaisical with a lead.

[Soonerjeepman]

As Tyler D said, they watched the games yesterday...saw similar things on D and some new stuff. I think, as they said on espn, that the team that prepares the most will come out on top. I really like our "workman" like attitudes.

As Ty said this team really likes playing together and they get to do it 1 if not 2 more times. I think last year is completely out the window.

I'd say def advantage OU...we are much different than last year.

After watching the interviews of Sanchez, Ty and Eric, the one thing I liked was all 3 of them said the motivation is getting the title. Not anything about last year....or not much.

[SoonerMarkVA]

Seems the best approach will be to have someone with sufficient speed and reflexes to shadow Watson. Make him beat us as a QB, and not off of broken plays.

[Okie35]

Other than Watson and Scott they don't really have any significant play makers on offense. They shouldn't be able to run on us but who knows in these things. Their run game is equivalent to the Pokes.

My concern is only Watson and their defensive line. They've got some big boys there.

[soonercastor]

I haven't watched too much of Clemson, but I do observe they are not very "efficient". But that I mean they don't create as big of a deficit on the scoreboard as the stats would indicate. Perhaps they get lackadaisical with a lead.

actually advanced metrics show that they are very efficient on both sides of the ball top 10 in defensive efficiency and top 15 in offensive efficiency.
The good news is, so are we.

My only worry is our OL. I know they have improved, but Lincoln Reilley needs to make sure he has something in his gameplan in case they start dominating us in the trenches

[soonercastor]

Their run game is equivalent to the Pokes.

Ok that's just not true. I mean, not even close. Gallman has 1300+ yards on the season, and Watson has another 800+

[Okie35]

Ok that's just not true. I mean, not even close. Gallman has 1300+ yards on the season, and Watson has another 800+

My bad, I meant when they actually played good teams. Gallman did have 111 on ND but ND's defense isn't good. Watson used his legs against FSU. When it comes down to it Watson will be who we have to stop. Running and passing JUST like Walsh was. Watson is miles better though. Also, none of this matters if we don't tackle. That's really the biggest thing that bothers me. We get to these bowl games and act like we can't tackle any more.

[Flagstaffsooner]

They wear orange. Nuff said.

[swardboy]

^ Booyah

[BoulderSooner79]

actually advanced metrics show that they are very efficient on both sides of the ball top 10 in defensive efficiency and top 15 in offensive efficiency.
The good news is, so are we.

My only worry is our OL. I know they have improved, but Lincoln Reilley needs to make sure he has something in his gameplan in case they start dominating us in the trenches

I didn't mean the official efficiency metric, should have used a different term. What I meant was in many of their closer games, the stats were over whelmingly in favor of Clemson, but much closer on the scoreboard. If you just read the stats line, you think the game was a beat down, but they usually had to get a late score or stop to avoid a scare. Deep into the game last week, they had twice as many plays and yards as NC, yet would have had a real scare had the ref not screwed up the on-side kick call. The one exception was the ND game where the Irish had the huge advantage in total yardage.

Compare that to OU - if we had a big stats lead, we had an even bigger scoreboard lead. Killer instinct advantage, maybe?