View Full Version : Impressions after Game 1
1) Special Teams is improved...again.
2) OLine does some things well, but inconsistently.
3) DJ Wolfe is hot and cold. Mostly cold tonight.
4) Our receivers and JJ Finley are as solid as we've thought.
5) Interior D Line...what's going on here?
We need to learn to block and tackle better.
sdsooner
9/2/2006, 09:30 PM
DJ got burned a couple of times but they were so effective running early that I think he got suck up the help support against it and got burned as a result. I think all in all he played well.
D has me worried more than anything... The came alive when it counted, but man....
OUinFLA
9/2/2006, 09:32 PM
Well, I thought the Tight End game was back after a couple of years off.
But after the 1st Qtr was over..............Im not so sure.
It was brutal...but it was a win. :D
Speaking of brutal, Ron Thulin is quite possibly retarded. How many times tonight did he say "he may have gotten back to the line of scrimmage" after someone gained significant yardage? I mean, Bob Barry is old...what's your excuse, Ron? ;)
A tough opening game may work in our Favor -- Letting these guys know we got keep working and improving.....We are ahead of last year....:)
Keep R'
Soonerus
9/2/2006, 09:36 PM
A win, D came through when called upon...I'm encouraged...Paul played pretty good...AD awesome...
r5TPsooner
9/2/2006, 09:39 PM
We spent the past week preparing for Wasington.
bigdsooner
9/2/2006, 09:42 PM
1st game sloppies, the 2nd half was much better than the 1st. we need to tackle better and remember that we have #28 on our team. glad to see that we DO in fact have a TE
PT played much better than last years 1st game.
props to UAB, they never quit
The Preach Man
9/2/2006, 09:43 PM
Im very pleased with Paul as our new QB. I know he threw a couple of picks but I dont see anything that he wont be able to easily correct (including the balls thrown too high)
I think our offensive game plan was pretty good for the most part. It does seem that we quit doing some things that worked early on though (maybe the D adjusted and caused that???)
Adrian Peterson has proven that he is the chosen one. When nobody blocks for him he gets 3 yards, when they do block he takes it to the house. :D
Our Defense was hot and cold, im not completely worried about them but Im not sold on them either.
King Crimson
9/2/2006, 09:45 PM
It was brutal...but it was a win. :D
Speaking of brutal, Ron Thulin is quite possibly retarded. How many times tonight did he say "he may have gotten back to the line of scrimmage" after someone gained significant yardage? I mean, Bob Barry is old...what's your excuse, Ron? ;)
no doubt. a couple times "he may have gotten a yard...." and it was 3rd and 5.
Sooner Eclipse
9/2/2006, 09:46 PM
We spent the past week preparing for Wasington.
This teams not good enought to pull that sh*t
everything we did wrong is correctable
joe john was real impressive. he's always been athletic with his recieving but uh oh, happy learned how to block.
if we improve a little bit on everything, we'll be good
im hoping it was just sloppy for the first game
and considering the situation, thompson played well
goingoneight
9/2/2006, 09:49 PM
Paul Thompson had one pick that was his fault, his incompletions were reciever errors and when he got hit while throwing. I'm really happy to see the QB solid for the opener. Defense as usual, hopefully is just adjusting, but is all but Reggie and Rufus-- overrated. Rufus did his job and I didn't see one pass thrown at Reggie. We need to be watching some serious tape, here. And what's the dealio with AD joggin around when we all know he can flat out move... A little worried, but the sky ain't falling far as I see.
I know this sounds redundant, blaming the coordinators and all, but how in the hell does a three deep defense, hyped as the best in America, look sooo bad??? C'mon Brent/BJ Wright, we're doing sooo many sloppy things it's unreal. Over-pursuit and tackling still hampers us, for the third year now.
Sooner_Bob
9/2/2006, 09:52 PM
Some people are never happy . . .
It was brutal...but it was a win. :D
Speaking of brutal, Ron Thulin is quite possibly retarded. How many times tonight did he say "he may have gotten back to the line of scrimmage" after someone gained significant yardage? I mean, Bob Barry is old...what's your excuse, Ron? ;)
maybe he was looking for his hot dog...
Reggie Smith is a stud.
And Iglesias, especially as returners! I was shocked at how well they returned today - all but two were over 15 yards if memory serves.
Our defense needs to be a little more consistent. It was night and day all game.
AD looks amazing - great screen play to get the 61 yard touchdown! Well on his way to 500!
PT didn't look too shabby... 14-24 is pretty good... 2 INT's can be credited slightly to his inaccuracy in the long ball, but also to a tip and... shoot, the other wasn't entirely his fault either.
4 turnovers, though - that's just unacceptable. We need to tighten a few screws before Washington.
Soonerus
9/2/2006, 09:54 PM
PT better numbers than Cult McCoy...
nic harris should start at FS
*and id like to see us play the option better - texam killed us with it last year and uab did well too
as of right now, i definitely dont want to play west virginia
Yeah, after they brought in the second QB and he promptly started lighting us up, I couldn't help but wonder aloud "Why the hell can't we ever stop a white option quarterback?" Reminded me of the Dead Lassie University game last season.
soonercody
9/2/2006, 10:08 PM
Glad for the win. We dodged a bullet in many ways, the wide open receiver dropping the ball, UAB self-destructing with multiple penalties, etc. We were the better coached team in that respect.
SoonerJason
9/2/2006, 10:14 PM
Reggie Smith is a stud.
agreed!
Wishboned
9/2/2006, 10:24 PM
One of the things I thought was great was when they showed AD on the sideline after he scored on the 69 yard reception. He wasn't celebrating, he had a look of intensity on his face that spoke volumes about his desire.
RedstickSooner
9/2/2006, 10:40 PM
A tough opening game may work in our Favor -- Letting these guys know we got keep working and improving.....We are ahead of last year....:)
There is no silver lining to sucking.
Paul Thompson had one pick that was his fault, his incompletions were reciever errors and when he got hit while throwing.
Uhm, yeah, he had a few receivers drop on him -- but he also had his numbers padded by a couple superhuman receptions.
Paul made some throws that were flat-out bad. Sure, I'd like to dwell on his hella-sweet throws, like that one he chucked while in the grasp, falling sideways, to JJF, but it takes some serious sunshine dust to conclude that all is well with Thompson's throwing.
Dude is much improved, but the stats fairly reflect how he threw. 14 for 24, for 227 yards, 2 ints, and 2 tds. Better than last year, but certainly not a world beater.
Is he the worst player to ever chuck the pigskin? No, of course not. But he's not the best - and there are a lot of D-1 QBs out there that'd be an improvement.
Hopefully it was just nerves (although the disturbing bit is that he started out great, and then got less consistent -- usually nerves go away the longer you play, not get worse) and he'll get back in his groove promptly.
I'm sorry for being so negative, and I know folks want to look for the positive -- I just think it's important we be honest with ourselves. We just struggled against a patsy at home. No matter how good their season ends up, there's no way they have the talent we have (just as there's no way TCU had the talent last year that we have).
Were we in our vanilla defense & offense tonight? If so, I hope we cut that crud right the fudge out. Every game can be a loss - and coaches have taken this "keep your offense a secret" nonsense way past the sane point.
Some commentator was talking about preparing for a certain NFL team every season, and what a huge pain in the rear it was, because the offensive co-ordinator liked to stick a couple gadget plays in every game. Because of all those weird gadget plays, you had to dedicate inordinate amounts of time to preparing for all of them, and that kept you from working on anything else.
Frankly, that seems like a much better idea than trying to play as simplistically as possible early in the season so nobody will know what to expect of us. I think we should do everything we can to win, every game we play, and not quit 'til we've got a four touchdown lead.
However good we may be, we clearly aren't good enough to automatically win just by showing up.
RedstickSooner
9/2/2006, 10:45 PM
Oh, and one other thing - we caught a break when they blew that fumble dead so we retained possession late in the game. The instant replay at normal speed showed rather conclusively that the play wasn't blown dead until after the fumble had happened - so the fact that they then *did* blow the whistle (and that a play, once called dead, apparently can't be re-animated) may have saved our bacon for us.
GrapevineSooner
9/3/2006, 12:12 AM
It was brutal...but it was a win. :D
Speaking of brutal, Ron Thulin is quite possibly retarded. How many times tonight did he say "he may have gotten back to the line of scrimmage" after someone gained significant yardage? I mean, Bob Barry is old...what's your excuse, Ron? ;)
A first down run by AD where he made about 6 guys miss comes to mind.
And wasn't one of these 'first down by the nose of the football' runs. He had it by a good two yards, and Thulin still questioned whether or not he got back to the LOS.
msteudem
9/3/2006, 12:38 AM
We need stickem for the receivers so they can catch the ball and we need it for most of the D so that they can wrap up on tackles. Is stickem still illegal?
Course I think the white QB for UAB had vaseline all over his body. Yeah that's it.;)
GottaHavePride
9/3/2006, 12:38 AM
Paul made some throws that were flat-out bad. Sure, I'd like to dwell on his hella-sweet throws, like that one he chucked while in the grasp, falling sideways, to JJF, but it takes some serious sunshine dust to conclude that all is well with Thompson's throwing.
...
We just struggled against a patsy at home.
I only saw three or four passes from Paul that were seriously off-target, either high or too far in front of the receiver. The rest hit recievers in the hands and were dropped. Also, all the throws he made were throws that, had they either been on-target or caught, were to open receivers.
And the "patsy" we struggled against took Tennessee to the wire and only lost by a touchdown to open last season. In 2003 they only lost by 3 to Georgia. I guess what I'm pointing out is that UAB is not your run-of-the-mill patsy team - they give good teams fits on a fairly regular basis.
Soonerus
9/3/2006, 12:40 AM
I agree, Paul's performance was very encouraging...
AZSOONER
9/3/2006, 12:41 AM
Not too impressed, but we should beat uw, and keep improving from there. By the time ut comes along we might be ready.
Solid, not spectacular, start by Paul Thompson. He'll do fine and more as the season progresses. To me, QB is not a concern this season.
Very disappointing start by the receiver corps. Some nice routes, got some seperation, WAY too many dropped balls (5? 6?). That should improve though.
D.J. Wolfe got faked off his man twice by play-action. Luckily the second time the pass was over thrown.
OUr guys are good to go at TE and FB.. excellent game at both positions.
Schmitty needs to add grip training to the strength and conditioning program. Defense wasn't tackling and the offense wasn't holding on to the ball. These problems can be fixed and I bet it's a priority for the coaches.
Hartley's kickoffs were too low and too short. That's fixable, too.
Team discipline was pretty good for a first game. Except for the multiple turnovers, of course.
UAB's "above and beyond" performance had a lot more to do with the single score margin than any glaring problems with OU. That guy Hunt can play some football and their whole team played their hearts out.
<Prediction!> We'll cheer more than one special teams score this season.. the Sooners have return threats again!
AD is in top form and playing great team ball. He had some terrific blocks protecting PT. The o-line was good in pass protection, not so good in run blocking.
Speaking of strength and conditioning... this was a hard fought game. UAB left it all on the field and it showed in the last quarter. OUr guys, however, never looked gassed even after the two long UAB drives. Gotta' like that!
The defense looked uncertain most of the game. Some of it had to be UAB's great schemes but some of it was just a lack of confidence, too.
Biggest Complaint: I hate the bare jersey look. Put the names back on 'em!
OU is 1-0 and tied for first! (With half the teams in the country.) ;)
Frozen Sooner
9/3/2006, 04:30 AM
Oh, and one other thing - we caught a break when they blew that fumble dead so we retained possession late in the game. The instant replay at normal speed showed rather conclusively that the play wasn't blown dead until after the fumble had happened - so the fact that they then *did* blow the whistle (and that a play, once called dead, apparently can't be re-animated) may have saved our bacon for us.
This is a common misconception about how it works.
The whistle was blown indicating the play was dead. That is not WHEN the play is dead. The play was dead when Reggie's forward progress was stopped-BEFORE the ball popped out.
When you think about it, it's pretty obvious that the play is dead before the whistle blows-an official can't blow the whistle simultaneously with the ballcarrier being down on a forward progress play.
The correct ruling was made on the field. The ballcarrier's forward progress was stopped by the first tackler and after it was stopped the second tackler stripped the ball.
JohnnyMack
9/3/2006, 09:36 AM
1. I hate white shoes.
2. I hate not having the names on the jerseys.
3. DT's need more discipline.
4. DJ Wolfe needs to stop peeking in the backfield.
5. AD was brilliant in spite of an average outing by the O-Line.
6. ENA will be fine.
7. I'd like to see more solid tackling and less attempts at crushing opponents rib cages.
edit: we had 13 possessions. 4 resulted in scores, 4 resulted in punts, 4 resulted in TO's (the 13th was the kneel down at the end of the game). We can't turn the ball over 4 times a game. A -3 TO margin makes my stomach hurt. We play like we did against UAB up at Oregon and we'll lose by 17 points.
AD doesn't play and we are in trouble. The front seven was not good against an average team and the o-line is in trouble. We have a lot of improving to do in a hurry.
tulsaoilerfan
9/3/2006, 11:43 AM
DJ got burned a couple of times but they were so effective running early that I think he got suck up the help support against it and got burned as a result. I think all in all he played well.
Sorry, DJ pretty much had a rough game out there last night against the pass; run support may have been good, but i don't think he played all that well
tulsaoilerfan
9/3/2006, 11:44 AM
maybe he was looking for his hot dog...
or his hair piece
tulsaoilerfan
9/3/2006, 11:46 AM
I only saw three or four passes from Paul that were seriously off-target, either high or too far in front of the receiver. The rest hit recievers in the hands and were dropped. Also, all the throws he made were throws that, had they either been on-target or caught, were to open receivers.
And the "patsy" we struggled against took Tennessee to the wire and only lost by a touchdown to open last season. In 2003 they only lost by 3 to Georgia. I guess what I'm pointing out is that UAB is not your run-of-the-mill patsy team - they give good teams fits on a fairly regular basis.
And Tennessee was what, 5-6 last season? Sorry, still not impressed by what UAB has
In retrospect, I'm less concerned about the D. KWilson is going to have to earn his pay this year if the OLine is going to look better. I don't know if schemes and tricks are going to help but I hope so. Bottom line, PT does not give us the deep pass threat so we are still going to face 8 and 9 man fronts until we can prove that we are at least consistently mediocre in the mid-range passing game. That's where JJFinley helped last night and might prove to be our unsung hero again soon.
Reggie Smith lived up to the hype.
We can't count on better teams to self destruct the way UAB did last night. They couldn't line up, couldn't snap the ball in 25 seconds, and failed to capitalize on more of our mistakes in coverage. They played great and I don't want to take anything away from them but their overall team speed was not even comparable to ours last night.
Blocking and tackling are the big concerns and I think the D can tighten up on the tackling. Blocking remains to be seen.
We are going to miss Dusty the most.
A fellow could have made a lot of money the last couple of years betting against OU to cover. Texas Tech on the other hand has consistently covered the spread.
sooners00
9/3/2006, 01:38 PM
WE'll be ok
mdklatt
9/3/2006, 01:58 PM
We spent the past week preparing for Wasington.
I sure hope not. UAB is better than Washington.
GottaHavePride
9/3/2006, 01:59 PM
A fellow could have made a lot of money the last couple of years betting against OU to cover. Texas Tech on the other hand has consistently covered the spread.
Too true, sadly.
Octavian
9/3/2006, 02:09 PM
If someone would've given me a choice between the D looking bad or PT looking bad in the first game, I'd have gladly said the D.
Bob and BV can make adjustments. We'll get better on D and improve.
We can't fix Paul being bad....and that wasn't the case.
soonercody
9/3/2006, 06:38 PM
Special teams was a pleasant surprise.
Duke o Brewery
9/3/2006, 07:02 PM
The O-Line was as good as can be expected since they're a new unit and were facing an experienced run stopping defense last night. Consistantly gave Paul fairly good protection.
Paul played well. Looked rusty, but on top of things. At least one of the INTs wasn't his fault. He'll be even better next week.
Recievers/TEs also looked rusty, but the upperclassmen like JJ Finley played fairly well and they'll be much sharper against the Huskies.
Fullback....Clapp looked young and unpolished, but he gave great effort and seemed to be better as the game went on. He will continue to slowly improve.
Linebackers and D-Ends looked too excited at times, like they were trying too hard to impress. Out of position too often. Rufus and Latimer regained their dominance. The rest of the front 7 needs to sharpen up and stick to their assignments. They were facing a very unusual Split-T offense.
The D-Tackles were the weakest unit of the night. The UAB O-Line skillfully blocked them all night. They were only able to start playing decenly once they really started bringing the power. These guys need to unleash the fury.
The secondary was rusty, and they were confused and pulled out of position by the UAB Split-T. Still, they performed fairly well as a unit. Wolfe wasn't on top of his game and was slow to react to the play action. That accounts for his lapses in coverage. I feel like these guys will definately be improved over the next two weeks.
Special Teams was Excellent. Better than expected. Only fault was one or two mediocre punts from the new punter/s. Reggie will be an absolute star.
Collier11
9/3/2006, 07:03 PM
My observations...
1: Those of you that are saying cotton bowl, give me a break already!! Its one game, we made good adjustments throughout the game but we need to be more consistent throughout. Our D really came on throughout the season last year and I expect the same this year
2. Our d-line has got to play better, I realize that they had the qb out of the pocket alot but we need pressure to help our secondary
3. reggie smith as a pr reminds me alot of reggie bush as a punt returner, looked great at corner
4. paul really surprised me, inconsistent but he showed a ton of improvement and the consistency will come with reps and game experience, I think we should have a few more qb run plays...you got a qb that runs a 4.5 then I think he needs to run more than 4 times
5. O-Line looked really good at times, really average at times...same as paul, with experience I see them being above average to really good
6. Its obvious that AD in the I-formation is alot better than AD in the spread
7. Our te's have a chance to be great and really busy if teams keep loading the box
Collier11
9/3/2006, 07:05 PM
Also, the new clock rules suck...it really cuts down the possessions I felt
Collier11
9/3/2006, 07:06 PM
Oh ya, one final thought...quit fumbling the damn football and quit turning it over when we are driving and killing all momentum
soonersam
9/3/2006, 08:04 PM
i was really disapointed in the front 4...... UAB was able to control the clock and tempo...
BASSooner
9/3/2006, 08:22 PM
My observations...
1: Those of you that are saying cotton bowl, give me a break already!! Its one game, we made good adjustments throughout the game but we need to be more consistent throughout. Our D really came on throughout the season last year and I expect the same this year
2. Our d-line has got to play better, I realize that they had the qb out of the pocket alot but we need pressure to help our secondary
3. reggie smith as a pr reminds me alot of reggie bush as a punt returner, looked great at corner
4. paul really surprised me, inconsistent but he showed a ton of improvement and the consistency will come with reps and game experience, I think we should have a few more qb run plays...you got a qb that runs a 4.5 then I think he needs to run more than 4 times
5. O-Line looked really good at times, really average at times...same as paul, with experience I see them being above average to really good
6. Its obvious that AD in the I-formation is alot better than AD in the spread
7. Our te's have a chance to be great and really busy if teams keep loading the box
The only problem with that though was that we made it very obvious to UAB's D about what type of play we were going to run...
westcoast_sooner
9/3/2006, 11:08 PM
The only problem with that though was that we made it very obvious to UAB's D about what type of play we were going to run...
You're kidding, right? I mean, seriously, we moved the ball pretty well most of the time. Without 4 (FOUR) turnovers and a dropped TD pass in the endzone we route UAB. Defenses are going to stack the line, and PT is going to have to make some throw. He did good, and I would expect him to get better as the season progresses. Plus, even in the second half when everyone in the entire stadium knew that AD was going to get the ball on every friggin play, the offense did a pretty good job of driving down the field.
I don't believe that we were flawless - I mean 4 turnovers are killers. The D was out of position, didn't tackle well. PT overthrew wide open receivers. AD fumbled. Igleasias dropped a TD pass.
We got a win. Let the coaches go over film with the team, work on stuff next week and get ready for Washington.
I seriously don't know, but isn't pass blocking harder to do well than run blocking?
Readyfor8
9/4/2006, 07:31 AM
I seriously don't know, but isn't pass blocking harder to do well than run blocking?
Not more difficult, just different. The idea is to stay in front of the player and keep him from going around you in pass blocking. The idea of run blocking is to drive the DL in the direction you want them to go.
Holding is a danger on both counts but more so in pass blocking if you have to keep pressure off for a long period of time.
soonercody
9/4/2006, 12:37 PM
I'm getting increasingly optimistic.
SoonerGOP
9/4/2006, 12:51 PM
I'm not to the "optimistic" point yet. Taking a realistic look:
I expect we will improve each game.
I think we beat Washington.
I think we struggle at Oregon unless we show great improvement against Washington.
The rest of the season hinges on whether or not we can recapture the OU mentality of the 1999-2003 Sooners.
It just seems to me that we have lost that "We're Oklahoma. You're not. You will lose this game." attitude we had then. We aren't taking it to them as much as we are just going out and trying to execute. Maybe I'm wrong, but have we lost our "swagger?"
If so, will someone return it to the lost & found underneath Sec. 8?
soonercody
9/4/2006, 04:00 PM
It seems that the relative strength of our O-line (pass blocking) doesn't match the strength of the rest of our offense (running).
BASSooner
9/4/2006, 04:08 PM
You're kidding, right? I mean, seriously, we moved the ball pretty well most of the time. Without 4 (FOUR) turnovers and a dropped TD pass in the endzone we route UAB. Defenses are going to stack the line, and PT is going to have to make some throw. He did good, and I would expect him to get better as the season progresses. Plus, even in the second half when everyone in the entire stadium knew that AD was going to get the ball on every friggin play, the offense did a pretty good job of driving down the field.
I don't believe that we were flawless - I mean 4 turnovers are killers. The D was out of position, didn't tackle well. PT overthrew wide open receivers. AD fumbled. Igleasias dropped a TD pass.
We got a win. Let the coaches go over film with the team, work on stuff next week and get ready for Washington.
Everything we played out of in the 2 TE set was good. Everything was awesome. It was just the I that we ran that kind of got me down..I mean even the whole crowd knew what we were going to run out of it(although one play out of that was a pass play). I love KW's new offense though. Don't get me wrong there.
My observations...
6. Its obvious that AD in the I-formation is alot better than AD in the spread
what plays did we run AD out of the spread?
*i dont remember them offhand (but maybe thats because we werent productive doing it)
Our D usually has trouble defending the option (remember A&M last year).
Reggie Smith is awesome.
Just need to eliminate turnovers and penalties and we are there.
TXBOOMER
9/4/2006, 09:38 PM
DJ got burned a couple of times but they were so effective running early that I think he got suck up the help support against it and got burned as a result. I think all in all he played well.
I thought DJ had his worst effort since playing corner. Stoops says if he doesn't get better they'll work Lendy Holmes in.
soonercody
9/4/2006, 10:21 PM
I may have mentioned this before but I'd like to see some better blockking and tackling.
Collier11
9/5/2006, 12:44 AM
what plays did we run AD out of the spread?
*i dont remember them offhand (but maybe thats because we werent productive doing it)
There was a stat in the paper where AD had something like 9 carries for 19 yards out of the spread or shotgun and 15 for 120 out of the I.
after you posted that, i asked someone who has the game recorded if AD ran out of the shotgun, and he said not that he could recall
*i just watched soonerscooters tape and all the runs on it either had 2 te or a te and a fb
but i know it wasnt all of petersons runs...
something to think about, isnt that peterson runs better out of the I, but maybe clapp and finley block better than some wr's. thoughts?
watching the game again on ozone...
uab's safeties were crashing hard
when we spread out, they still had 7 guys in the box and 2 safeties right behind them banking on run
Stoops, OU not upset at near upset
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer
9/6/2006
View in Print (PDF) Format
NORMAN -- Listen up, all you Oklahoma football fans who turned into worry warts last weekend. Will you please take a chill pill?
Hey, that's not my suggestion. Instead, it comes from some of those folks who played a role in making that ulcer in your gut do back flips.
If you want to continue obsessing over your beloved team's less-than-impressive season-opening win over Alabama-Birmingham, you should probably do it far, far away from Memorial Stadium.
And if your angst becomes so overwhelming that you can't keep a cork in it, express your concerns out of the earshot of Bob Stoops. He's apparently heard it before.
The OU coach said Tuesday that it didn't take last Saturday's 24-17 nail-biter with UAB to make him aware some people might not be too happy.
"If we don't win by 30 (points) everybody's disappointed," Stoops said.
Wait a minute, coach, that's not it.
Stoops, however, wasn't interested in hanging around to hear the seven-point victory wasn't what has caused sleepless nights in Soonerland ever since 10th-ranked OU was in a fight to the end with the 21-point underdog Blazers.
Instead, it was the inept tackling by what
was supposed to be one of the nation's best defensive teams. And it was also those four turnovers against a lightly regarded UAB team that has supporters feeling queasy and asking questions about what's wrong with their favorite players.
"You (media) guys probably told them they are too good and they believed it," Stoops said of the Sooners.
Don't kill the messenger, coach. We're just reporters seeking answers to questions thousands of anxious, confused and angry fans were asking as they nervously exited Memorial Stadium after the narrow victory.
"I'm not getting into all of this," said a testy Stoops. "If you've got questions that have some substance, outside of what fans might think, give me them. . . . otherwise, I'm gone."
Wait, don't leave, coach. Forget the fans.
How about that Associated Press poll released Tuesday? Voters apparently weren't too impressed with OU's effort against a UAB team that was ranked 94th out of 119 Division I-A teams by one preseason magazine, and was projected to finish sixth and last in the East Division of Conference USA.
"Shoot, they (voters) have been doubting us," Stoops said.
Uh, no they haven't.
Even after Stoops kicked starting quarterback Rhett Bomar off the team, the media involved in the AP poll stuck with the Sooners. The voters in the most objective poll in college football still had enough faith in Stoops' coaching, OU's defense and All-American tailback Adrian Peterson to keep the Sooners in the AP's preseason top 10.
Informed his team had slipped to No. 15 in the new AP poll, Stoops said, "Oh, really? Hey, it doesn't much matter."
Stoops, who said the tackling problem wasn't new and would be solved like it has before, wasn't the only Sooner not rattled that OU came within a touchdown of losing at home for a second consecutive season opener.
Veteran quarterback Paul Thompson is the epitome of cool. In fact, I'm not sure the always-in-control Thompson has had a single testy moment in the five years he's been a Sooner.
A calm Thompson acknowledged Tuesday that when he replaced Bomar, he was aware "everyone was freaking out, except people within this organization."
OK, so the freak show was staged by some of those hysterical Sooner fanatics. But shouldn't those folks be pushing the panic button again after Thompson tossed two interceptions against the Blazers to go along with two touchdown passes?
"Everybody should calm down and relax," Thompson said. "Everything is going to be all right."
Granted, the Sooners should be all right against Washington this Saturday. Thanks to the arrogance coach Rick Neuheisel took with him when he left Colorado for Seattle, the once-proud Huskies' program has turned into a dog.
But before he was fired, Neuheisel did recruit some talent a grade or two above anybody UAB put on the field last week.
Still, OU may be able to get away with turnovers and sloppy tackling against the Huskies. But how does Thompson feel about the rest of the season, which includes a road trip to Oregon next week and that eight-game Big 12 schedule, which starts a month from now against defending national champion Texas in Dallas?
"From the outside looking in, there might be some worry," Thompson said. "But I feel within the organization that we feel real comfortable where we're at right now, and the things that we can do in the future."
See, chill out, OU fans. Everything's cool.
But on the off chance you still feel like freaking out, you're best advised to get all those worries, concerns and doubts out of your system before Saturday. Just in case you bump into coach Stoops before the game.
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Online: Read Dave Sittler's blog at www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra..
CincySooner
9/6/2006, 12:13 PM
...the most objective poll in college football... ... :eek: that took some balls to write
Sooners78
9/6/2006, 01:01 PM
One of the things I thought was great was when they showed AD on the sideline after he scored on the 69 yard reception. He wasn't celebrating, he had a look of intensity on his face that spoke volumes about his desire.
He was also giving credit to Joe John for the monster block he threw.
I was happy with the offense except for the turnovers and dropped passes. On defense, tackling and DJ concern me. Someone said coach mentioned Lendy. Why not Marcus? Is he still not back to his old self?
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