Best move of 2005-2006

[ADalltheway]

The best move of 2005-2006 has to be Chuck Long leaving to become a head coach. Look at what that brought to the team, bring back a great QB coach, move up a man who has produced some of the best offensive linemen in the country! In my opinion this is the best thing to happen to the sooners in 2005-2006.

Good luck in MWC Chuck.

[NormanPride]

I would say the best thing wouldn't be a coach leaving... Continuity with coaching is really nice, especially to a team of young kids who still don't really know what's going on in Div-1 CFB. But it's perhaps the most intriguing thing...

I'd say the best thing to happen to us was a great emotional bowl win over a top team to carry us into workouts. We saw how bad a bad loss in the NC game could screw us up for the summer, so I imagine the opposite would be good for us. I can't wait!

[soonernation]

Yeah CL really sucked. :rolleyes: All he did was teach a Heisman winner and a Heisman runner up. Oh yeah he also won a couple of Big 12 titles, and was the OC in two National Title games.

[oumartin]

just see how well the WSU butt kicking did for the team. They came out on fire the following two years.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

bring back a great QB coach

i honestly don't know how there is any way he can live up to the expectation level that has been set...

[NormanPride]

i honestly don't know how there is any way he can live up to the expectation level that has been set...

Luckily, Rhett has an assload of talent and is already an OK QB. Even if Heupel doesn't do much with him, he should gradually progress into a pretty darn good QB. All Heupel has to do is not screw up.

[tbl]

Screwing up is not something Heupel does well. He sucks at screwing up.

[NickZeppelin]

I think that may prove to be the worst move. Our offense won't ever be as effective as Chuck made it.

[oumartin]

is this another prediction from you Nick? kinda like the mens BB team not losing again in the regular season.. Yeah, that turned out well

[NickZeppelin]

Well we didn't do much with Wilson at the helm against Oregon.

[Big John]

Well we didn't do much with Wilson at the helm against Oregon.
We only won that game.

[NickZeppelin]

Yeah but we didn't do much on offense.

[birddog]

Yeah but we didn't do much on offense.
We really didn't do a helluva lot against TCU, Tulsa, or Kansas either. Those teams are juggernauts so I can understand.:rolleyes:

[usmc-sooner]

We really didn't do a helluva lot against TCU, Tulsa, or Kansas either. Those teams are juggernauts so I can understand.:rolleyes:

you forgot Texas but you're talking too Nick his football predictions are on par with his basketball predictions.

You guys do know that KW has been a good OC in the past, CL was just a QB coach that was promoted to OC. Nothing wrong with that but KW does have some experience.

[birddog]

Believe you-me, I'm excited about K Dub coming in. We certainly will not drop off our production at all and will probably improve assuming we can build on a healthy, young squad that got some great experience last year. Can't wait. Wilson has alot to prove.

[Big Red Ron]

I think that may prove to be the worst move. Our offense won't ever be as effective as Chuck made it.:mack:

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

We really didn't do a helluva lot against TCU, Tulsa, or Kansas either. Those teams are juggernauts so I can understand.:rolleyes:

i need some context here. are you saying that those teams sucked last year? because normally the revisionist history doesn't start until may.

[NickZeppelin]

We didn't have good coaching at the offensive line and the WRs weren't well coached. But I think our overall coaching last year was bad. Not just one staff member. We probably lost our overall best coach on staff.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

nick, until you started posting i thought it was impossible to be right and wrong at the same time

[birddog]

I'm really just explaining to Nick that we will be ok w/o Long. Sure we didn't look great on offense in KW's FIRST game with alot of freshman, but we didn't exactly light it up earlier in the year with Long at the helm. We won't miss him as much as some people might have us believe. And yes, those teams sucked in case you didn't realize.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

interesting, because i could have swore that they were pretty solid teams that won the bulk of their games. to be honest, we should have had 2 losses out of those 3 games instead of 1.

i guess i missed the memo where it wasn't that OU overacheived last year, it was that the coaching sucked so bad we underacheived.

[birddog]

Nick's initial reply implied that we looked bad on offense in a win over a Top 10 Oregon team and that KW was responsible for that. Losing Long in his mind was the worst thing that happened over the 2005 season. However, when Long coached every other game we looked anything but stellar on offense. The team was young and improved overall throughout the year.
You're right, those teams won the bulk of their games and KW probably wouldn't have made a difference. But we lost those games with Long running the show.
It's not fair to say that our offense looked bad against Oregon and not mention the other games. That's all.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

i think both of them shoulder quite a bit of blame for our early season woes. long for not figuring out we had issues at QB and KW for the sieve that he was calling an OL.

as for the oregon game, it was at best an incomplete for the offense. we had a very sound gameplan. we looked good passing the ball, but we'd looked good passing the ball at other times throughout the season. we didn't look good running the ball at all. you take out peterson going sandlot and reversing his field plays and we didn't do much. of course, that could have been all ngata and their DL. we aren't going to know if peterson can run in this offense until spring and they'll probably hold him out of everything so that we aren't going to know until fall.

as a Sooner i want like nothing else for KW to be as good as everyone on this board is hoping. as someone who is looking at what he has done as an OL coach, well my expectations are a lot lower.

[NickZeppelin]

The offense never looked that good last year. Not consistantly. But the line wasn't well coached. They tried to play the younger guys. By the end of the year the seniors were playing and they suddenly looked a bit better. Still couldn't score a lot though because Bomar wasn't very good last year.

[sooneron]

i honestly don't know how there is any way he can live up to the expectation level that has been set...
Yeah, I think he has the potential to be a really good qb coach, but sometimes it's hard for someone that has a genius like level at something (reading defenses) to explain it to someone that may not pick it up as easily. My Dad is great at math, yet sucked at helping my bro and I with math stuff when we were kids.

[NormanPride]

I think the simple fact that one guy is calling all the plays will mean a better gameplan. I think our team suffered from two different minds interpreting the same gameplan different ways.

We may not have run well against UO, but they were DAMN good up front, and their LBs weren't that bad either. Let us also not forget that our OLine was made up of second-teamers and young guys... Also, how different would the game had gone if AD hadn't stretched the ball and lost it? We score a TD there no problem, and our offense still has all that fire in it. Personally, I think the O did pretty well, and I really couldn't argue with the playcalling much.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

everyone has their opinions on what they saw and in certain ways they are all right. personally, i think its strange that we only scored 17 points with great field position and everyone is happy. everyone on this board, myself included would have crucified chucky for that performance. field position is the main reason why i didn't call out chucky this last year. we had consistently good field position in one game - kstate.

eh, we'll have a lot more things to argue about throughout the offseason...

[FlatheadSooner]

Best Move(s):

Sticking w/ Bomar and his progression

Letting AD get healthy again

Winning Holiday Bowl vs. #6 Oregon

Coaching adjustments

Awesome recruiting class

[NickZeppelin]

Awesome recruiting class

When do we have a bad recruiting class?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

When do we have a bad recruiting class?

4 years later? ;)

[sooneron]

When do we have a bad recruiting class?
2002 was pretty suspect...
Yes, we got SOME output from some gamers, but as a whole. Eh

[NormanPride]

everyone has their opinions on what they saw and in certain ways they are all right. personally, i think its strange that we only scored 17 points with great field position and everyone is happy. everyone on this board, myself included would have crucified chucky for that performance. field position is the main reason why i didn't call out chucky this last year. we had consistently good field position in one game - kstate.

eh, we'll have a lot more things to argue about throughout the offseason...

We also lost Bomar halfway through the game, and Kelly got dinged up as well. That's pretty much all our offense was the first half...

Have you gone back and looked at it? I don't have it recorded but it would be interesting to see what you think of it looking at it now. I'll look up the drive charts somewhere and re-analyze because, honestly, I was so ecstatic we won that I forgot most of what happened. :O

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

2002 was pretty suspect...
Yes, we got SOME output from some gamers, but as a whole. Eh

i think that the latter part of the 2001 class, the 2002 class, and most of the 2003 class were suspect and all for the same reasons. the bulk of those classes were filled with guys who expected to start immediately with no work on their part. you can count on one hand the number of guys in those classes that didn't start early and stuck around.

[NormanPride]

Field position and results:
First Half
Own 39 - Pass goes off of Joe Jon's hands in the end zone (pretty open) and we settle for a field goal.
Own 29 - Get to the Oregon 45 and can't convert 2nd and 5. I think a couple drops were involved.
Own 12 - Get to our own 45 and Rhett throws a pick. I remember thinking someone ran the wrong route, but I dunno.
Own 4 - Did pretty well until three straight incompletions at our own 47... Was this the one where JD dropped a huge gain?
Own 35 - This one was killed when AD ran backwards 16 yards.

Second Half:
Own 35 - False start then two runs for 3 yards kills the opening drive
Own 47 - TD on Rhett to JD connection. Amazing. I cried.
Own 26 - TD by Kejuan. Rhett made the first first down, then AD went off for two more.
Own 47 - This is the AD fumble at the 1. Painful. I cried again.
Oregon 34 - Looked like a CL series. ;) Two losses on runs, then an incomplete on a screen. Punt.
Own 40 - Tried passing with a hurt QB. Rhett makes one 1st down then misses on the rest.
Own 33 - Two rushes, then failed to convert 3rd and 4.

I didn't include the last series, as that was just kneeling the game away.

It seems like we did okay... Sure, we squandered some opportunities, but our run game was almost nonexistent, and Rhett got hurt. If anything, I thought we might have passed a bit too much at times, but it worked in the first half.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

i was watching the replay just now. they should have been flagged for a false start on that fake punt. the upback is clearly moving forward before the snap of the ball.

[OUfan7]

We probably lost our overall best coach on staff.

I don't know if D. Wyatt was OUr best coach or not (debatable). ;)

[NormanPride]

Not to mention their fake fieldgoal play... :mad: I still think we got jobbed on that one.

Looking back, our D played awesome in that game. Good enough to put us in any game against anyone. Great plan by Venables.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

wilson is pulling a leach on the 1st series. we picked up large chunks of green inside the 20's but are having issues putting it into the end zone. as an aside, peterson made one heck of a catch on a bullet screen pass from bomar.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

from the 18, we go for it. finley should have had that catch but instead of being physical and taking it, he tried to finesse it and it got tipped away at the last second. it was 3rd and 2 and we went for the TD.

[NickZeppelin]

2002 was pretty suspect...
Yes, we got SOME output from some gamers, but as a whole. Eh

But at that time that was the greatest recruiting class under Stoops by far.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

according to who nick? guys who make money off of people who pay for their rankings?

[NormanPride]

from the 18, we go for it. finley should have had that catch but instead of being physical and taking it, he tried to finesse it and it got tipped away at the last second. it was 3rd and 2 and we went for the TD.

Hey, we all wanted an aggressive offense, right? We slam him for the call, but Joe Jon should have caught it. I contend it was a good call. He probably made the play during practice, but we didn't use him enough in game so he choked. :(

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Hey, we all wanted an aggressive offense, right? We slam him for the call, but Joe Jon should have caught it. I contend it was a good call. He probably made the play during practice, but we didn't use him enough in game so he choked. :(

this is what i'm talking about. everyone is correct as to whether its a good call or a bad call. 3rd and 2, i'm conservative. 3rd and 2, your aggressive. both are based upon what we like to see so both are right. i would have preferred to see the fake handoff to AD flip in the flats to runnells but hey, that's me.

[NormanPride]

this is what i'm talking about. everyone is correct as to whether its a good call or a bad call. 3rd and 2, i'm conservative. 3rd and 2, your aggressive. both are based upon what we like to see so both are right. i would have preferred to see the fake handoff to AD flip in the flats to runnells but hey, that's me.

See, I HATE passes to the flats in the red zone. It's too easy for a DB or a LB to jump a route and take it for 6. D's take so many gambles in the red zone anyway, and it's the most demoralizing thing there is. Personally, I spread it out and run a QB draw if the D's shown me that it might work. The way we had abused their pass D on that drive, I think it could have even gone for 6.

The call's done, though. Right or wrong, all we can do now is use it to see if our playcalling will fit what we need our O to do next year. Which is not screw up, am I right?

[NickZeppelin]

according to who nick? guys who make money off of people who pay for their rankings?

These boards then were thinking that. I don't think we've had a better class since the first one class under Stoops if you look at what the players have gone on to do. But every year since then we've had this hype about recruiting that this class is the best ever at OU.

[KC//CRIMSON]

Someone needs to take nick quail hunting.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

These boards then were thinking that. I don't think we've had a better class since the first one class under Stoops if you look at what the players have gone on to do. But every year since then we've had this hype about recruiting that this class is the best ever at OU.

do you see the logic that you are going by? you are judging people's foresight against your hindsight. the problem is that now you are pessimistic about the classes we signed and when they pan out you'll then be optimistic.

that 2002 class was weird. we had primary targets from out of state actually pick us and we took them because of the arms race with texas. humorously, it was the plan b guys that were the real jewels of the class. well, except at OL where wilson tosses out an offer to reid over IYC (who could be a 4 year starter for virginia).

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

I would say the best move was putting Bomar in and sticking with him especially early in the season when he made a lot of mistakes you would expect a freshman to make. Second best move was probably when the decision was made moving Patrick to RB where he is great compliment to AD, especially in light of Gute's injury.

I think the recruiting class we had last year was probably the best we have had. That won't be determined until we see how some of our OL like Braxton and Robinson develop and how some of our d-backs turn out as well. One need only look how far the team came from the TCU to Oregon games to see potential for greatness in the future.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

i think wolfe has improved the most of anyone this year. he actually looks like a pretty good corner against oregon.

[NickZeppelin]

I've always been the same way towards recruiting. The players have to prove it before I say they were a great get in recruiting. No one praised about getting Griffin, Heupel, White, Dvoracek, etc when we got them but they all did okay. I'm just more tired of all the hype our team has gotten after a bad year in football.

[KC//CRIMSON]

i think wolfe has improved the most of anyone this year. he actually looks like a pretty good corner against oregon.

I agree. But he still struggles with receivers who are over 5 '11;)

[soonernation]

The players have to prove it before I say they were a great get in recruiting.

No ****!!! I thought all five star recruits deserved to be in the college football hall of fame without question.:rolleyes:

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

has the funky OL formation we used at the beginning of the second quarter been discussed?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

before YOU say it? you still think that birdine sucks

[NormanPride]

has the funky OL formation we used at the beginning of the second quarter been discussed?

Which one is this? I remember something odd, but I can't remember specifically what.

Do you think we'll reintroduce that weird spread formation with AD and Gute (but use Murray)?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

it would be the one that looks like this...


TE.OT.OG.OC.OG.....OT

with messner out there by his lonesome.

[NormanPride]

Man, I can't remember that really well... What did we run out of it? Did it seem like just a gimmick formation like the Ninja?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

we treated it like an I formation with JD in the slot between the guard and tackle. the first play went to peterson for a yard with joseph pulling over. humorously enough, bomar can take 4 steps back to peterson and peterson can take 5 steps to the LOS before joseph takes 4 steps on a pull.

hmm, the second play we ran a smoke draw where we got 9 and bomar threw a pretty good block.

i don't know, messner was split out wide on a lot of these I formation gigs, even when he was on the strong side.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

wow, talk about predictable. he's in close, its a pass. he's split out wide its a run.

[MikeInNorman]

This thread shows what a strange thing perception is.

All of us want KW to succeed as the OC. OU can't be the team we all want it to be without a solid offense that, at a minimum, can score when it has to. But there is a portion of the universe of KW supporters who are desperate for KW to be the greatest OC in college football history right now, because of the grudges they nurse against Chuck Long.

By now, everyone has seen the statistics from the Holiday Bowl, which show that we were not good against Oregon. We weren't bad either. Instead, we we exactly average:

Oregon Season Defensive Stats:
Scoring Defense: 23.2 ppg
Pass Defense: 224 ypg
Rush Defense: 134 ypg
Total Defense: 358 ypg

Oklahoma Holiday Bowl Stats:
Points: 17
Pass Offense: 229 yards
Rush Offense: 132 yards
Total Offense: 361 yards

Oklahoma Season Offensive Stats:
Scoring Offense: 27 ppg
Pass Offense: 177.5 ypg
Rush Offense: 177.5 ypg
Total Offense: 355 ypg

The grudge-holders see the Holiday Bowl offensive production of exactly the same amount of offense as every other team on Oregon's schedule as proof positive of KW's genius and unpredictibilty. Never mind that the offensive production was also nearly exactly what OU averaged for the season, playing the Ducks or not. Ironically, in the Holiday Bowl we passed it a little better and ran it a little worse than we did all season, which is the opposite of the grudge-holders' expectations, what with all the QB/option and unpredictibility they coveted. In fact, it should have been no surprise to anybody that the stats were what they were, since KW had been the OC for a week, and the game couldn't be truly representative of "his" offense. Still, perception reigns.

Point: give KW some freakin' time. As earlier said, it would be nearly impossible for KW (and JH, for that matter) to live up to the expectations some people have set for him.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

i think your stats illustrate why people had such an issue with CL. KW is of the "take what the defense gives you crowd" and the stats show that. which method is better is up for debate. one thing is for sure after watching the game. there was a lot more freelancing going on in this game than i was used to seeing throughout the season. this was good on some plays (couple of 20+ yards by bomar and peterson) and bad on others (22 yard loss by peterson on a botched handoff by bomar). i guess this is "exciting" football to some, but to me, it reminds me of the horns 2-3 years ago.

[NickZeppelin]

before YOU say it? you still think that birdine sucks
When did I ever say Birdine sucks? All I ever said was he's not a great player.

[RacerX]

it would be the one that looks like this...


TE.OT.OG.OC.OG.....OT
with messner out there by his lonesome.

best I can do

http://members.cox.net/racerx4ou/sformation.jpg

[RacerX]

Come here Nick.
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/6765/a24outop6ae.jpg

[rhombic21]

Good lord. Some people in this thread (namely the guy who started it and Nick) are ridiculous.

Chuck Long was not the worst offensive coordinator. Losing him is not the best thing that happens to us. The best thing that happens to us is that we get a couple guys back from injury (Birdine, Williams, Walker, Peterson), and get a lot of other guys back with a year of experience that they didn't have going into last season.

But Chuck Long wasn't the greatest offensive coordinator either. We'll be fine without him. The stats against Oregon lie to me. How skewed are the OK State rushing stats by AD's two long TD runs? There were more than a few times in the Oregon game when we were just inches away from breaking one of those wide open. People like Nick forget that minus a Peterson fumble early in the fourth, we'd have been up 24-7 and won comfortably. Or what about when Joe Jon dropped what would have been a TD on the first drive? Or that fumbled handoff that cost AD like 18 yards rushing?

Oregon was better on defense than most of the teams that we played. They were certainly better than KState, Tulsa, UCLA, Baylor, Texas A+M, and OK State.

The offense played a fine game against Oregon, given what their potential was. It was exactly what I was expecting us to do, given what we did and how we progressed in the regular season. Would it have been a lot different under Chuck? Probably in style, but not all that much in results. In the final analysis, the offense was about on par with what could have reasonably been expected had Long coached the game. Not a whole lot better, and not a whole lot worse.

I don't think losing Chuck impacts our W-L record next year by more than a game, and if anything it will be a slight improvement, just because KW's style fits THIS team's makeup more than CL's did (more QB runs and misdirection, and aggressive passing plays on run downs to aid offensive line in protection). Anybody who thinks that CL would have put up 500 yards or 35 points on Oregon is insane. As is anybody who thinks that CL would have gotten shut out.

[Octavian]

Nick, my man, I'll defend your right to state your opinions till my last breath b/c you dont ever attack anyone and you're obviously a die-hard....but just check out a few of your thoughts:


Our offense won't ever be as effective as Chuck made it.


We didn't have good coaching at the offensive line and the WRs weren't well coached.


Bomar wasn't very good last year.


I'm just more tired of all the hype our team has gotten after a bad year.


he's (Birdine) not a great player.


http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/4309/glass2rl.th.png (http://img49.imageshack.us/my.php?image=glass2rl.png)


You're the anti-Jay.

[Big Red Ron]

:P


i guess i missed the memo where.... it was that the coaching sucked so bad we underacheived.I sent them out right after the 2003 & 2004 seasons.;)

[Desert Sapper]

Nobody would have ever questioned CL if the entire USC defense had not unanimously said that they 'predicted' every play in the OB. Oh, and had Lofa Tatupu not said that our 'vanilla' offense was the most predictable they'd seen all season. I don't agree fully with Nick, but I think CL was better than people think. It helps that JH comes back to coach QBs. He will likely be like CL was in the beginning (able to focus on the QBs). KW will be very good, IMO.

[FlatheadSooner]

:P I sent them out right after the 2003 & 2004 seasons.;)


Amen.

[Big Red Ron]

Nobody would have ever questioned CL if the entire USC defense had not unanimously said that they 'predicted' every play in the OB. Oh, and had Lofa Tatupu not said that our 'vanilla' offense was the most predictable they'd seen all season. I don't agree fully with Nick, but I think CL was better than people think. It helps that JH comes back to coach QBs. He will likely be like CL was in the beginning (able to focus on the QBs). KW will be very good, IMO.I've got to disagree a little here. In 2003, we played exactly two teams that we had equal or close to equal physical talent on the field with. We lost both because our offense sucked. If you want to blame Jason and the boys go ahoead. I saw the play calls, I blame Chuck Long.

[NickZeppelin]

Nobody would have ever questioned CL if the entire USC defense had not unanimously said that they 'predicted' every play in the OB. Oh, and had Lofa Tatupu not said that our 'vanilla' offense was the most predictable they'd seen all season. I don't agree fully with Nick, but I think CL was better than people think. It helps that JH comes back to coach QBs. He will likely be like CL was in the beginning (able to focus on the QBs). KW will be very good, IMO.
Our offense got as many yards as USC that game. Our problem was we kept turning the ball over on stupid plays. Starting with the special teams play that Mark Bradley fumbled away. And our defense really sucked that game too.

[Desert Sapper]

I've got to disagree a little here. In 2003, we played exactly two teams that we had equal or close to equal physical talent on the field with. We lost both because our offense sucked.

K-State and LSU? Ell Roberson threw four touchdown passes, Darren Sproles ran for 235 yards, and LSU Freshman Justin Vincent ran loose for 117 yards and was selected the Sugar Bowl's most outstanding player. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just our offense that was stinking in those games. And keep in mind that our offense didn't look that spectacular against FSU in the Orange Bowl three years earlier.

CL's greatest downfall was not gambling enough. When we were struggling, we should have pulled out everything, much like we did in years past. I hope we see more of that in the future.

[Desert Sapper]

Our offense got as many yards as USC that game. Our problem was we kept turning the ball over on stupid plays. Starting with the special teams play that Mark Bradley fumbled away. And our defense really sucked that game too.

My point was not that it was CL's fault, Nick. It was that people started blaming him after that game. The 'firechucklong.com' bandwagon began with the USC player comments. It was as much the fault of our defense, an insurmountable turnover deficit, and constant brainfarts by everybody from our Heisman-Trophy finalist QB and RB to our freshman CB as it was our OC. The bottom line is that everybody likes a scapegoat, and 'vanilla Chuck' fit the bill.

I think we will still be okay, because we have two people taking the reigns from Chuck. JH will be the QB guy and KW will be the OC. I'm excited to see what they can do, and I think CL will do a great job at San Diego.

[JRAM]

I definitely feel that the best move for 2006 would be for ADALLTHEWAY to jump off of a cliff while attempting to pull his head out of his ***. Thats the ticket.

[NickZeppelin]

I think if we win a lot of games this year it's because of defense like 01 was. I just don't see our offense being all that effective because it's a new offense and a new offensive line. Defense will have some new lineman especially at tackle and the defensive backs are still a question mark but there's less question marks then on the offensive line.

[Desert Sapper]

I think if we win a lot of games this year it's because of defense like 01 was. I just don't see our offense being all that effective because it's a new offense and a new offensive line. Defense will have some new lineman especially at tackle and the defensive backs are still a question mark but there's less question marks then on the offensive line.

You know that commercial for the NFL where everybody is making all those predictions?

Like "First thing I'd do is fire Mike Holmgren..." and "Now that Randy Moss is gone it's gonna be smooth sailing for Minnesota..." and "Chad Johnson? Never heard of him..."

This reminds me of that.

[MikeInNorman]

Oregon was better on defense than most of the teams that we played. They were certainly better than KState, Tulsa, UCLA, Baylor, Texas A+M, and OK State.

That is partly true. Oregon had an exactly average defense, and we had an exactly average performance against them. Oregon did NOT have a better defense than most of the teams we played. They had a better defense than five, a worse defense than six. Average.

IA National Team Report
Total Defense
Year: 2005 Thru: 01/04/06 Minimum Pct. of Games Played
Rank Name Games Plays Yds Avg TDs Ydspgm Wins Losses Ties
10 Texas 13 897 3938 4.39 25 302.92 13 0 0
11 Kansas 12 834 3639 4.36 33 303.25 7 5 0
25 TCU 12 881 3949 4.48 26 329.08 11 1 0
26 Nebr. 12 874 3986 4.56 30 332.17 8 4 0
30 Tech 12 847 4030 4.76 28 335.83 9 3 0
40 Tulsa 13 859 4528 5.27 37 348.31 9 4 0
44 Oregon 12 850 4292 5.05 35 357.67 10 2 0
45 K. St. 11 775 3954 5.10 38 359.45 5 6 0
63 Baylor 11 828 4158 5.02 36 378.00 5 6 0

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

One could argue however seeing as the Big 12 has so many highly ranked teams, The Big 12 offenses were really bad this year and there is some things to back that up....Kansas St, Colorado, Baylor, and they weren't world beaters. You could also say the OOC schedules were weaker and teams like Maine and East Popcorn State only have 65 yards. Now the same arguments can be made against every conference too ;) I just think stats are never good for arguments. There is lots of GREAT highly efficent offenses that can't rival Tech numbers over 2 games. A great offense isn't determined by output necessarily and the same goes for defense.

[Scott D]

K-State and LSU? Ell Roberson threw four touchdown passes, Darren Sproles ran for 235 yards, and LSU Freshman Justin Vincent ran loose for 117 yards and was selected the Sugar Bowl's most outstanding player. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just our offense that was stinking in those games. And keep in mind that our offense didn't look that spectacular against FSU in the Orange Bowl three years earlier.

CL's greatest downfall was not gambling enough. When we were struggling, we should have pulled out everything, much like we did in years past. I hope we see more of that in the future.

to be fair...take away Vincent's first run (the 80 yarder), and he had a mild game. I also think this past season with the Seahawks showed that Tatupu is a different breed of player when it comes to read and recognize.

[birddog]

I just hope to dear God we have some players that want to knock the bejesus out of opponents. Those short passes over the middle ala TCU, Tulsa, and UCLA got old fast. Especially since we didn't punish the receiver after the catch. Looked like the old umbrella D OSU employed against us in 2000, except theirs was successful.

[rhombic21]

That is partly true. Oregon had an exactly average defense, and we had an exactly average performance against them. Oregon did NOT have a better defense than most of the teams we played. They had a better defense than five, a worse defense than six. Average.

IA National Team Report
Total Defense
Year: 2005 Thru: 01/04/06 Minimum Pct. of Games Played
Rank Name Games Plays Yds Avg TDs Ydspgm Wins Losses Ties
10 Texas 13 897 3938 4.39 25 302.92 13 0 0
11 Kansas 12 834 3639 4.36 33 303.25 7 5 0
25 TCU 12 881 3949 4.48 26 329.08 11 1 0
26 Nebr. 12 874 3986 4.56 30 332.17 8 4 0
30 Tech 12 847 4030 4.76 28 335.83 9 3 0
40 Tulsa 13 859 4528 5.27 37 348.31 9 4 0
44 Oregon 12 850 4292 5.05 35 357.67 10 2 0
45 K. St. 11 775 3954 5.10 38 359.45 5 6 0
63 Baylor 11 828 4158 5.02 36 378.00 5 6 0
Oregon also plays in the Pac 10. Their defensive statistics are skewed because of the quality offenses that they face in conference. Plus they played Fresno State in their non-conference. You can't just look at the statistics. For instance, Nebraska's defensive numbers look at lot better because they played in the Big 12 North than if they played the South (especially since they didn't play Texas), not to mention the fact that they played NOBODY in the non-conference. Tulsa plays in Conference USA. Outside of Texas and Texas A+M, there isn't a single team that Tech faced who had a top tier offense. I'd be willing to bet anything that Oregon's defensive statistics look a ton better if they don't play USC, Arizona State, Cal, and Fresno State.

[skanklor]

Have to agree with the guy that started this thread-- Chuck Long leaving was the best thing to happen out of this 8-4 season.

QB play in the beginning of the year-- who was the QB coach? Long

Who got overruled by Stoops and had to start Rhett instead of his choice (Thompson)? Long

Who had three years to groom a successor to Jason White and then couldn't-- and things got so bad that he had to move the "successor" to WR? Long

Who couldn't tell that Paul Thompson was not a QB but a WR-- even when Mack Brown could tell (MB only offered a scholarship to PT if he played WR for the Shorthorns)? Long

Who was the OC when one of the most prolific offenses in OU history could only muster up ten (meaningful) points in the Orange Bowl? Long

Who was the OC that called four straight passes in the Sugar Bowl when he knew that Jason White was hurt? Long

Who was the OC that never called diverse pass plays to backs out of the backfield or to (gasp) a TE? Long

Who never apologized for calling really predictable plays or whenever he called a bad game? Long

Who always blamed the players for being "too young" or "not experienced enough" or "too injured" for him to open up his play book? Long

Chuck Long only got the job because he was Stoops' pal-- and he had the good fortune of having a Heisman winning QB, the world's greatest running back and the best WR corps in OU history. He was a total joke when he was OC at OU.

I predict he will get fired as SDSU within several years and be coaching pop warner football. What a joke.

[MikeInNorman]

Have to agree with the guy that started this thread-- Chuck Long leaving was the best thing to happen out of this 8-4 season.

QB play in the beginning of the year-- who was the QB coach? Long

Who got overruled by Stoops and had to start Rhett instead of his choice (Thompson)? Long

Who had three years to groom a successor to Jason White and then couldn't-- and things got so bad that he had to move the "successor" to WR? Long

Who couldn't tell that Paul Thompson was not a QB but a WR-- even when Mack Brown could tell (MB only offered a scholarship to PT if he played WR for the Shorthorns)? Long

Who was the OC when one of the most prolific offenses in OU history could only muster up ten (meaningful) points in the Orange Bowl? Long

Who was the OC that called four straight passes in the Sugar Bowl when he knew that Jason White was hurt? Long

Who was the OC that never called diverse pass plays to backs out of the backfield or to (gasp) a TE? Long

Who never apologized for calling really predictable plays or whenever he called a bad game? Long

Who always blamed the players for being "too young" or "not experienced enough" or "too injured" for him to open up his play book? Long

Chuck Long only got the job because he was Stoops' pal-- and he had the good fortune of having a Heisman winning QB, the world's greatest running back and the best WR corps in OU history. He was a total joke when he was OC at OU.

I predict he will get fired as SDSU within several years and be coaching pop warner football. What a joke.


This is obviously a hiarious parody of every Chuck Long thread started by the typing monkeys at Owen Field. Congrats, Skanklor! You had me going there for a minute! Oh good Lord, that's some funny stuff, right there. Whew!

[skanklor]

This is obviously a hiarious parody of every Chuck Long thread started by the typing monkeys at Owen Field. Congrats, Skanklor! You had me going there for a minute! Oh good Lord, that's some funny stuff, right there. Whew!

Actually I was being serious.

[NormanPride]

Actually I was being serious.

That makes me very, very sad.

[Desert Sapper]

Then you really are funny...we can laugh at you instead of with you, now.

[Scott D]

Actually I was being serious.

that's what makes it funny.