David Earl
9/3/2006, 04:26 PM
Overview
Man, what an off-season we’ve had! With all the noise about losing a couple of players, the main chatter has revolved around questions relating to replacing those guys. Most of us have recognized the deeper story that goes beyond replacing two players. That story is one of team chemistry.
Amidst the turmoil and controversy has been an opportunity to help with team chemistry. Throughout August practice we kept hearing bits and pieces that made us believe OU is more of a TEAM this year than at the same time last year.
In spite of a close win and some struggles, I believe this is a different team than early last season. The team played well enough to win, better than the TCU outing last year. This UAB team would have defeated last year’s opening week Sooner squad worse that TCU did. The team not only played well enough to win; the team played like the TEAM we’ve been hearing about.
Offense
For the first game of the season I thought the offense was pretty crisp. The offense was better in this game than in the first two last year. Turnovers are certainly an issue, plus a couple of penalties, but for a first game the offense was fairly impressive.
There was a LOT of play action passes and drop back passes called early. That surprised me. Wilson was no doubt trying to exploit the UAB defense stacking to stop AD. The plan had some success. Minus an overthrown pass or two and a couple of drops, the plan would have yielded a couple more scores in the first half. The offense nearly broke this game open more than once. At this point last year the offense couldn’t break open an egg.
The offensive game plan was VERY simple, as it should have been. Think about it, I bet we ran less than a dozen plays. That’s not much for opposing coaches to look at on film.
Everybody wanted Peterson to get the ball more in the second half, rightfully so. The run up the middle was not there, but plays to the edge with AD were there in the second half. That kept the momentum going and it just felt like all night we were going to win because it felt all night like a different team than last year. Like a TEAM.
QB
Most were really pleased with Paul’s performance, including myself. Paul came out throwing well and with confidence.
He threw well under pressure until late in the first quarter. On one pass he was parallel to the ground and going down when he completed the pass to Finley.
He had a cold streak during the second quarter, throwing high on a couple of passes, one allowing a tip that was picked. We knew going in he was a little streaky on his throwing. His second interception was behind the WR just a hair. That play is a great example where a few inches can be the difference between first-and-goal inside the five and turning the ball over. Paul also had a great throw at end of third that should have been caught for TD.
Paul showed he can pass the ball around a little. He’s not John Elway. He’s a little streaky. But he’s mobile, and much more poised than last season. He was on a pace for 300 yards passing at the end of the first half. Paul did fine and will only get better.
RB
AD had the critical fumble in the third quarter and a holding penalty or two. That’s about the extent of the bad news. The good news is he is stronger, faster and healthy. When the kid hits the corner he’s like a freight train. I just love his stride when he’s got room to run. The swing pass that went for 69 yards and a TD was really sweet. He showed his speed there, leaving UAB defenders in his afterburner wake.
Clap looked pretty good blocking. He had a good block on the corner to spring AD’s 30+ yard sweep in the second quarter and did the same on another toss sweep in the third. I don’t believe we saw any significant action of our backup players here.
WR/TE
The guys were catching well early, though there were some drops later in the game. Part of that may be due to the fact Paul sometimes smokes the football in there like a missile. I’m sure Josh is trying to coach him to use a little more touch on some of those passes.
Finley had a huge game catching and blocking. He had an awesome crackback block to help spring Peterson’s TD on the swing pass. Think about getting blind-sided by a 260 pound TE! The TV had several angles of that, which I watched again in slow motion. That will be on the highlight reels I’m sure.
Kelly had a couple good catches. Iglesias missed the TD pass at the end of the third, but redeemed himself in the return game.
OL
I thought the pass protection very respectable. Paul got flushed a time or two, but never sacked. He got to his fourth or fifth read often so there was some protection there. We weren’t getting much push on those inside run plays. Even with UAB stacking the line we ought to get a little push.
On balance, I believe this group showed they will be a workable o-line this season. We know they’ll improve from week to week. If they stay healthy, the line should be pretty good.
Defense
Defense started out great but got sloppy in the second quarter. When UAB put in their other QB, our guys started struggling. Their QB is strong, but man... Quite frankly, I was disappointed in the defense, especially the over pursuit and sloppy tackling.
I guess those were the main problems, poor tackling and poor positioning. Recall we’ve had similar problems in previous years that got corrected or at least significantly improved. There’s reasonable hope our defense can improve, but that doesn’t change the fact we didn’t have the stellar defense we were expecting. It may grow to be that good, but it’s not there yet.
So is it Venables’ fault? You know I’m pretty slow to lay a lot of specific blame on coaches or players. They work hard and I feel we should appreciate them. BV has put together some good game plans against very respectable offenses; UT in 04, UO in the Holiday Bowl last year... There’s reason to think he can field a quality defense.
Brent is a great position (LB) coach and a great recruiter. We need to think carefully before we start wishing he’d move along. And I’m willing to be patient and see what he can do with this young and talented bunch. He may not be as good a DC as he is a head coach, time will tell, but I’m still behind him for now.
DL
I looked back over game tape a little and I was surprised at the push UAB got in their running game on our front four, especially the interior. With the depth we have, I’m not sure why that should happen consistently in any game.
The DE’s had trouble with outside containment against the run, but got decent pressure against the pass. Ah You especially had a good game, moving inside in the dime package. It looked like Ah You helped cause that fumble in the second quarter. Birdine probably wasn’t as big a factor as he’ll be when he gets warmed up in a game or two.
LB
LB’s struggle with over pursuit, in the second quarter especially. Tackling was not as crisp as we’re used to seeing. Lofton got considerable playing time, but I haven’t reviewed enough to see how well he did. Rufus stuck Hunt on an attempted scramble/QB draw late and that took Hunt out. If that hit happens mid way through the second quarter it’s a different ballgame.
DB
Williams caused a fumble in the second quarter with the help of Ah You. I thought he had a good game in run support. However, some of our secondary woes may have been due to safety play, I’m not sure. When a CB gets burned deep it’s hard for this untrained eye to tell if the CB got burned or if a FS/SS failed to roll coverage like they’re supposed to. So maybe Williams struggled some in pass coverage, but he was pretty good against the run.
Clayton hit well and tackled well, especially compared to the rest of the defense. He’s going to be a great addition to this defense. Reggie tackled fairly well, better than I expected. His coverage was awesome, shutting down one side of the field.
Harris had a nice hit on the blitz in the third quarter. He has shown some real improvement and I’m excited about what he can do for us defensively this season. Man he has bulked up during the summer! Wolfe got beat on a couple of deep passes. His coverage was really good a few times but he got toasted some too. I will say he tackles well and is a good run-stopping corner.
Special Teams
Special teams were special again. The punting was solid. Smith looks really good on returns. He put together some good yards, even with one return called back on block in back. He nearly got a punt return all the way early in the third quarter.
Iglesias is looking good on kick returns. He’s shifty enough I won’t be surprised to see him take one to the house before long. Gute was blocking well on returns. I hope he gets some playing time on offense soon. Hartley kicked well and got the FG when called upon to do so. We’ll need those kinds of points often before this season is done.
Zebras
The strip on Gresham that was ruled a fumble was marginal. His momentum was stopped. Stoops challenged the call and lost. It was too marginal to overturn. We got that back later in the game when they stripped the ball on an attempted punt return by Smith and it was blown dead.
I thought the zebras missed a grounding call against UAB but the QB was outside the tackle. I think UAB was flagged for personal foul on that same play so it didn’t make a huge difference anyway.
Summary
If you had told me we’d give up 300 yards total offense and have four turnovers I would have replied that we would lose the game by a couple of scores. If you had told me Paul Thompson would have a solid night throwing the ball for over 200 yards and two TD’s with AD getting over 130 yards on the ground with another 69 receiving I’d have told you we would have won. My point is this game did NOT go like I thought it would in any way, except for the fact we won. And that’s the part that counts. This TEAM won.
Laugh all you want, but I’m going back to my original statement that this is a different Sooner team than last year this same time. Chemistry seemed better. They played more like a TEAM. Did you watch the reactions when something good happened? Am I imagining things? It just seemed different this year.
The first two games last year were abysmal. There were problems Saturday, but there’s a spark of life, a spark of hope. I’m telling you people, it’s different from last year. Last year during the Tulsa game I BELIEVED we would lose to Tulsa. During the UAB game I never seriously doubted victory. It just felt different...
Don’t get me wrong. There are real concerns that must be addressed. If these things aren’t addressed we will lose to UO, UT, TAMU and Tech, and maybe others. But the improvements will come.
Will the team grow enough to seriously compete for the conference championship? We’ll just have to wait and see. For now I think we’re good enough to win next week. And that’s enough to keep this Sooner fan’s hopes on edge. Boomer Sooner!
Man, what an off-season we’ve had! With all the noise about losing a couple of players, the main chatter has revolved around questions relating to replacing those guys. Most of us have recognized the deeper story that goes beyond replacing two players. That story is one of team chemistry.
Amidst the turmoil and controversy has been an opportunity to help with team chemistry. Throughout August practice we kept hearing bits and pieces that made us believe OU is more of a TEAM this year than at the same time last year.
In spite of a close win and some struggles, I believe this is a different team than early last season. The team played well enough to win, better than the TCU outing last year. This UAB team would have defeated last year’s opening week Sooner squad worse that TCU did. The team not only played well enough to win; the team played like the TEAM we’ve been hearing about.
Offense
For the first game of the season I thought the offense was pretty crisp. The offense was better in this game than in the first two last year. Turnovers are certainly an issue, plus a couple of penalties, but for a first game the offense was fairly impressive.
There was a LOT of play action passes and drop back passes called early. That surprised me. Wilson was no doubt trying to exploit the UAB defense stacking to stop AD. The plan had some success. Minus an overthrown pass or two and a couple of drops, the plan would have yielded a couple more scores in the first half. The offense nearly broke this game open more than once. At this point last year the offense couldn’t break open an egg.
The offensive game plan was VERY simple, as it should have been. Think about it, I bet we ran less than a dozen plays. That’s not much for opposing coaches to look at on film.
Everybody wanted Peterson to get the ball more in the second half, rightfully so. The run up the middle was not there, but plays to the edge with AD were there in the second half. That kept the momentum going and it just felt like all night we were going to win because it felt all night like a different team than last year. Like a TEAM.
QB
Most were really pleased with Paul’s performance, including myself. Paul came out throwing well and with confidence.
He threw well under pressure until late in the first quarter. On one pass he was parallel to the ground and going down when he completed the pass to Finley.
He had a cold streak during the second quarter, throwing high on a couple of passes, one allowing a tip that was picked. We knew going in he was a little streaky on his throwing. His second interception was behind the WR just a hair. That play is a great example where a few inches can be the difference between first-and-goal inside the five and turning the ball over. Paul also had a great throw at end of third that should have been caught for TD.
Paul showed he can pass the ball around a little. He’s not John Elway. He’s a little streaky. But he’s mobile, and much more poised than last season. He was on a pace for 300 yards passing at the end of the first half. Paul did fine and will only get better.
RB
AD had the critical fumble in the third quarter and a holding penalty or two. That’s about the extent of the bad news. The good news is he is stronger, faster and healthy. When the kid hits the corner he’s like a freight train. I just love his stride when he’s got room to run. The swing pass that went for 69 yards and a TD was really sweet. He showed his speed there, leaving UAB defenders in his afterburner wake.
Clap looked pretty good blocking. He had a good block on the corner to spring AD’s 30+ yard sweep in the second quarter and did the same on another toss sweep in the third. I don’t believe we saw any significant action of our backup players here.
WR/TE
The guys were catching well early, though there were some drops later in the game. Part of that may be due to the fact Paul sometimes smokes the football in there like a missile. I’m sure Josh is trying to coach him to use a little more touch on some of those passes.
Finley had a huge game catching and blocking. He had an awesome crackback block to help spring Peterson’s TD on the swing pass. Think about getting blind-sided by a 260 pound TE! The TV had several angles of that, which I watched again in slow motion. That will be on the highlight reels I’m sure.
Kelly had a couple good catches. Iglesias missed the TD pass at the end of the third, but redeemed himself in the return game.
OL
I thought the pass protection very respectable. Paul got flushed a time or two, but never sacked. He got to his fourth or fifth read often so there was some protection there. We weren’t getting much push on those inside run plays. Even with UAB stacking the line we ought to get a little push.
On balance, I believe this group showed they will be a workable o-line this season. We know they’ll improve from week to week. If they stay healthy, the line should be pretty good.
Defense
Defense started out great but got sloppy in the second quarter. When UAB put in their other QB, our guys started struggling. Their QB is strong, but man... Quite frankly, I was disappointed in the defense, especially the over pursuit and sloppy tackling.
I guess those were the main problems, poor tackling and poor positioning. Recall we’ve had similar problems in previous years that got corrected or at least significantly improved. There’s reasonable hope our defense can improve, but that doesn’t change the fact we didn’t have the stellar defense we were expecting. It may grow to be that good, but it’s not there yet.
So is it Venables’ fault? You know I’m pretty slow to lay a lot of specific blame on coaches or players. They work hard and I feel we should appreciate them. BV has put together some good game plans against very respectable offenses; UT in 04, UO in the Holiday Bowl last year... There’s reason to think he can field a quality defense.
Brent is a great position (LB) coach and a great recruiter. We need to think carefully before we start wishing he’d move along. And I’m willing to be patient and see what he can do with this young and talented bunch. He may not be as good a DC as he is a head coach, time will tell, but I’m still behind him for now.
DL
I looked back over game tape a little and I was surprised at the push UAB got in their running game on our front four, especially the interior. With the depth we have, I’m not sure why that should happen consistently in any game.
The DE’s had trouble with outside containment against the run, but got decent pressure against the pass. Ah You especially had a good game, moving inside in the dime package. It looked like Ah You helped cause that fumble in the second quarter. Birdine probably wasn’t as big a factor as he’ll be when he gets warmed up in a game or two.
LB
LB’s struggle with over pursuit, in the second quarter especially. Tackling was not as crisp as we’re used to seeing. Lofton got considerable playing time, but I haven’t reviewed enough to see how well he did. Rufus stuck Hunt on an attempted scramble/QB draw late and that took Hunt out. If that hit happens mid way through the second quarter it’s a different ballgame.
DB
Williams caused a fumble in the second quarter with the help of Ah You. I thought he had a good game in run support. However, some of our secondary woes may have been due to safety play, I’m not sure. When a CB gets burned deep it’s hard for this untrained eye to tell if the CB got burned or if a FS/SS failed to roll coverage like they’re supposed to. So maybe Williams struggled some in pass coverage, but he was pretty good against the run.
Clayton hit well and tackled well, especially compared to the rest of the defense. He’s going to be a great addition to this defense. Reggie tackled fairly well, better than I expected. His coverage was awesome, shutting down one side of the field.
Harris had a nice hit on the blitz in the third quarter. He has shown some real improvement and I’m excited about what he can do for us defensively this season. Man he has bulked up during the summer! Wolfe got beat on a couple of deep passes. His coverage was really good a few times but he got toasted some too. I will say he tackles well and is a good run-stopping corner.
Special Teams
Special teams were special again. The punting was solid. Smith looks really good on returns. He put together some good yards, even with one return called back on block in back. He nearly got a punt return all the way early in the third quarter.
Iglesias is looking good on kick returns. He’s shifty enough I won’t be surprised to see him take one to the house before long. Gute was blocking well on returns. I hope he gets some playing time on offense soon. Hartley kicked well and got the FG when called upon to do so. We’ll need those kinds of points often before this season is done.
Zebras
The strip on Gresham that was ruled a fumble was marginal. His momentum was stopped. Stoops challenged the call and lost. It was too marginal to overturn. We got that back later in the game when they stripped the ball on an attempted punt return by Smith and it was blown dead.
I thought the zebras missed a grounding call against UAB but the QB was outside the tackle. I think UAB was flagged for personal foul on that same play so it didn’t make a huge difference anyway.
Summary
If you had told me we’d give up 300 yards total offense and have four turnovers I would have replied that we would lose the game by a couple of scores. If you had told me Paul Thompson would have a solid night throwing the ball for over 200 yards and two TD’s with AD getting over 130 yards on the ground with another 69 receiving I’d have told you we would have won. My point is this game did NOT go like I thought it would in any way, except for the fact we won. And that’s the part that counts. This TEAM won.
Laugh all you want, but I’m going back to my original statement that this is a different Sooner team than last year this same time. Chemistry seemed better. They played more like a TEAM. Did you watch the reactions when something good happened? Am I imagining things? It just seemed different this year.
The first two games last year were abysmal. There were problems Saturday, but there’s a spark of life, a spark of hope. I’m telling you people, it’s different from last year. Last year during the Tulsa game I BELIEVED we would lose to Tulsa. During the UAB game I never seriously doubted victory. It just felt different...
Don’t get me wrong. There are real concerns that must be addressed. If these things aren’t addressed we will lose to UO, UT, TAMU and Tech, and maybe others. But the improvements will come.
Will the team grow enough to seriously compete for the conference championship? We’ll just have to wait and see. For now I think we’re good enough to win next week. And that’s enough to keep this Sooner fan’s hopes on edge. Boomer Sooner!