Now that ENA has led the Sooners in two games

[stoopified]

where do we stand on our predictions for the season?

Personally I have to first admit that ENA is performing at a much higher level than I was anticipating.My thinking was that since he did not perform well in the TCU game and following this switched to wr that naming him as starting Qb before practice even started was a mistake.I figured if 3 1/2 years at qb did not prepare him as a qb,how was spending a year at WR going to help?

I was wrong and I apologize to ENA and all his supporters.He has done an outstanding job and in fact has the OU passing game already in the form that Rhett Bonehead did not reach till midseason.

My initial reaction when we lost Bonehead and ENA was named to replace him was that we were looking at an 8-4 regular season.If that comes to pass now it will be due to lackluster D performance and NOT because of ENA.

Barring critical injuries I fully expect OU to finish somewhere between 10-2 and 12-0 in the regular season.The D is Bob's baby and HE WILL do whatever it takes to get on track.He has talent and good,proven D coaches on board so I cannot concieve of this team not making a major improvement at stuffing the run and defending the pass.

Our problems on run D stem largely from poor tacling and overaggression taking us out of positionThis is a matter of fundamentals and I think fairly easy to correct.Game repitition as well as in practice should provide remedy.

Pass defense IMHO is simply complcency on the part of some players.I do not mean to single out DJ but he is the perfect example of this case.You have a player who is beginning his second year as a starter and he all of a sudden cannot cover anybody,even with a bedsheet.By all accounts and observations(at least that I am aware of) he is a sharp kid who knows the position and has the ability to do the job.The good thing about this team is whether it is D-line or D-back we have a lot of hungry talent that wii come in and go all out.Walker,Holmes,Jackson come to mind at CB and Blakard and McCoy at DT.


UO is a threat because they have decent talent,have a good coach ,and are at home early in the season.

UT of course is a threat because hey it is OU-UT,nuff said.

TT is a threat because they can score a lot and we may still have bugs in the D.I have to admit seeing UTEP take TT to OT and only lose by three lessens my concern.

aTm would not concern me except it IS at Kyle Field and history shows us that even great OU teams have to fight hard to win there.

Finally there are the Cowpukes,personally I think they are just getting themselves all pumped for no reason with cupcakes.BUT they have played us tough in Stoolwater in recent years.

In college football history it has been proven(even in OU's storied past) That going undefeated is hard to do. It is for this reason that I picked OU to finish between 10-2 and 12-0 in the regular season.At best we win number 8 and at worst go 10-2 and get a BCS bid.


So SOONER fans am I overly optimistic or am I on target?How do you see the season now?

[Paperclip]

I'm still not convinced. I don't particularly like any of our away games this year, including Missouri. I would love to be proven wrong, but I don't see a win at Oregon.

[OUGreg723]

I think you are on target my friend.

[Blue]

12-0. Gotta be optimistic.

[birddog]

i see 10-2 if our defense can't get more pressure on the qback. what is really helping us at this point is our special teams play. we are getting great field position and that takes the pressure off our offense from having to put together 80 yard drives. we seem to be winning the field position battle right now. i think we'll see some more packages with ap and a more diverse offense as the season goes along. we won't lose at home but we'll slip up a time or two on the road.

[Blue]

i see 10-2 if our defense can't get more pressure on the qback. what is really helping us at this point is our special teams play. we are getting great field position and that takes the pressure off our offense from having to put together 80 yard drives. we seem to be winning the field position battle right now. i think we'll see some more packages with ap and a more diverse offense as the season goes along. we won't lose at home but we'll slip up a time or two on the road.

We have put together a few long drives though, and that is encouraging.

We're our own worst enemy. Limit the turnovers and penalties and we're a solid top 10 team.

[sooneron]

I still think 2 or 3 losses, this team is far too sloppy. I think we still may lose to the quacks (law of averages thing + being on the road). Then I think we could lose a road game or two in conf. I do think we stand a chance at surprising ut and winning that one in a sloppy nail biter.

[stoopified]

i see 10-2 if our defense can't get more pressure on the qback. what is really helping us at this point is our special teams play. we are getting great field position and that takes the pressure off our offense from having to put together 80 yard drives. we seem to be winning the field position battle right now. i think we'll see some more packages with ap and a more diverse offense as the season goes along. we won't lose at home but we'll slip up a time or two on the road.
When you refer to AP,do you mean Allen Patrick or AD?I think you are right we will see more diversity on O.Our coaches say we are not holding anything back.I think they are telling the truth up to a point,what they are doing is adding more and different plays week to week as our players can handle them.So tecnically if we are still working on them ,we are not holding back.Kinda like Bob saying AD will carry 30-35 times a game and leading many(at least indirectly )to think that is all we got.This disinformation campaign seems to be working as Maisel and Herbie among others are still of the opinion we are AD and nothing else on O.I would like to see Bob give AD,a few plays off here and there and use AP and Gute.13-14 games is a long season.

[birddog]

patrick

[sooneron]

I concur, spell AD for a few plays per series in the late third/early fourth. Then, bring him out and bam! He's good for 6.

[birddog]

don't get me wrong, our offense has been pretty efficient. i just have to believe that the first two games were designed to give pt and the offensive line some experience and confidence. that was achieved no doubt about it. but as the season wears things change and we have packages that will allow us to be a little more diverse on offense. i really believe we'll see some of that this weekend. but at this point i like where we're headed.