Just Got Back from Mighty Autzen Stadium...

[Octavian]

I haven't seen the replays but:

I'll say this was the worst the defense has looked to begin a season since John Blake roamed the sideline. 33 points is more than enough to win a game...especially at Oklahoma.

Our D rarely takes advantage of the gifts given to it (ie. dropped pick-6 on the first play of the game) and we seem to still let WR's run right by us on fly routes. It really boggles my mind how this just keeps on happening...

That being said...

If you get the ball inside the 10 as many times as we did today and settle for field goals, you usually lose.

...and Kevin Wilson needs to take his own advice and grow a pair.

Adrian Peterson is still the best player in America. He was a warrior today.

Props to the OL...4 sophs and a senior pulled it together and had a better game than the prognasticators expected.

Paul missed a few throws but by no means is he why we lost....very pleased w/ Paul Thompson.

Oregon really wasn't that good...our defense is just pretty bad. If the rest of the conference wasn't so incredibly **** poor, I'd really be worried.

I'll reserve comment about the blown calls until I get to really sit down and watch them....but I will say that the jumbotron clearly showed the PI call was bogus due to the ball being tipped....as if it actually had to.

I was sitting in the highest corner of the stadium and I saw the trajectory change course in mid-air...nothing controversial about it...it was an easy call.

But again, we gave up over 500 yards total offense? Sweet.

Oregon fans are really classy....if you only pay attention to 1 in 40 of them.

Oh, and mighty Autzen Stadium? Please.

It got pretty loud on some 3rd downs (the times-out we blew had as much to do w/ getting the plays into Paul too late as they did w/ the 50K highliter fans) but I've been I've heard it get louder than that in Stillwater.

Best college football venue on the West Coast, though? Well, I believe it.

All in all, probably the toughest loss to swallow I've ever sat through...Garret Hartley had a chance to join Uwe. It would've been immortal.

Oh, well.

Notre Dame got smoked at home. Miami got drilled and is now 1-2. It could be worse...

And oh yeah, we've got 3 weeks to prepare for Texas....we're far from done.

[King Crimson]

If you get the ball inside the 10 as many times as we did today and settle for field goals, you usually lose.



i hear that.

[SelmaBamaFan]

Dont be too hard on the defensive coaches guys. I seem to remember jkm stating some recruiting woes in the secondary not too long ago? The problem with the defensive side of the ball is you need talent no matter WHAT kind of scheme you run.

I also seem to remember someone stating (maybe it was in the game thread) that you guys have a converted RB and WR playing in the secondary now?

[SoonerGOP]

Welcome back!

Wish I had been able to make the trip. The Oregon fans I met in San Diego were fairly nice and respectable. I'm sure through their yellow tinted glasses the calls were clearly correct. It will take time for them to realize they didn't deserve the win.

I agree wholeheartedly about giving up 500+ yards of offense. And since you didn't get a chance to hear the radio interviews, Venebles and Wilson both took the blame for the shortcomings on both sides of the ball.

[GrapevineSooner]

I also seem to remember someone stating (maybe it was in the game thread) that you guys have a converted RB and WR playing in the secondary now?

Yep.

DJ Wolfe and Lendy Holmes.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Dont be too hard on the defensive coaches guys. I seem to remember jkm stating some recruiting woes in the secondary not too long ago? The problem with the defensive side of the ball is you need talent no matter WHAT kind of scheme you run.

I also seem to remember someone stating (maybe it was in the game thread) that you guys have a converted RB and WR playing in the secondary now?

we have talent problems, but we are compounding them with our aggressiveness. we have 10x more talent than what we are showing...

[SelmaBamaFan]

Yep.

DJ Wolfe and Lendy Holmes.



I think that should speak volumes then. I wouldnt go on a witch hunt for a new defensive staff just yet. However, I am curious as to why OU cant recruit the top DB's in the nation considering their defensive reputation.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

I'll say this was the worst the defense has looked to begin a season since John Blake roamed the sideline. 33 points is more than enough to win a game...especially at Oklahoma.


Our D rarely takes advantage of the gifts given to it (ie. dropped pick-6 on the first play of the game) and we seem to still let WR's run right by us on fly routes. It really boggles my mind how this just keeps on happening...

I used to be real patient with things, seeing playcalling from Watson Brown and Ty Willingham and realizing they've got scheme. Tight playcallin'. VERY educated offensive fronts and a gameplan to match that takes real advantage of a fast defensive front seven. Very respectable, and I wrote off the first two performances to just that. Good playcallin'. Fantastic pre-game prep. Playing your strengths to the University of Oklahoma's weaknesses.

I can't say that anymore. I can't say that about Oregon, not after today.

There was a lil' zone read, but for the most part, it was hat for hat, let's see who the better man is. And that Duck offensive front put boys on the sled today. It's awful damn hard to play read/react when you got rollerskates on, trying to identify and shuck your block when you're gettin' turned like a record at a 70's disco. That's bad defense. Period. And it's a combination of coaching, talent, and scheme.

There's no more need to look at it through coach's eyes when a defense puts on a display the likes of our Sooners did today. God bless 'em, but that was thoroughly... Unimpressive.

[soonerhubs]

Dont be too hard on the defensive coaches guys. I seem to remember jkm stating some recruiting woes in the secondary not too long ago? The problem with the defensive side of the ball is you need talent no matter WHAT kind of scheme you run.

I also seem to remember someone stating (maybe it was in the game thread) that you guys have a converted RB and WR playing in the secondary now?


See: Andre Woolfolk. YWIA

[SOONER44EVER]

we have talent problems, but we are compounding them with our aggressiveness. we have 10x more talent than what we are showing...
I think we need to start recruiting like we did when Stoops first got here. The guys we have now are athletes. The ones we had back then were football players.

[SelmaBamaFan]

jkm, could you elaborate a bit? Are you saying OU's defense is too aggressive and the lack of talent is giving up big plays (leaving your DB's on an island when they probably shouldnt be left in that situation); or under aggressive and not having the coverage skills to properly break on the ball? Is it a mixture of both?

I only got to watch the end of today's game (damn ABC, but was lucky they switched once Louisville started blowing out Miami), so I didnt get a feel for the first half of the game. In the second half it was just a case of trying to sit on the lead, but you guys still gave up big plays in the passinig game. I, personally, think that maybe the coaches are trying to run a complicated Stoop's scheme when maybe it should be scaled down a bit so your players can react instead of think.


As I said though, I havent been able to watch EVERY second of the Sooners' games this year.

[Octavian]

There's no more need to look at it through coach's eyes when a defense puts on a display the likes of our Sooners did today. God bless 'em, but that was thoroughly... Unimpressive.

that's being kind.

I realize the DT situation creates a ripple effect throughout the linebacking corps and then into the secondary but c'mon.

Dixon (who's about as good as Tony Lindsey) had all day to throw...their RB Stewart (who's pretty good...but, just pretty good...he's not as good as Jamaal Charles and he's certainly nowhere near the level of Adrian) swept around our vaunted DE's all day....the safeties and linebackers continued to overpersue and, at times, seemed to be lazy

Reggie was.....Reggie. Just a very special player.

Very disappointed b/c I think we're so much better than what we're showing.

[Blue]

I used to be real patient with things, seeing playcalling from Watson Brown and Ty Willingham and realizing they've got scheme. Tight playcallin'. VERY educated offensive fronts and a gameplan to match that takes real advantage of a fast defensive front seven. Very respectable, and I wrote off the first two performances to just that. Good playcallin'. Fantastic pre-game prep. Playing your strengths to the University of Oklahoma's weaknesses.

I can't say that anymore. I can't say that about Oregon, not after today.

There was a lil' zone read, but for the most part, it was hat for hat, let's see who the better man is. And that Duck offensive front put boys on the sled today. It's awful damn hard to play read/react when you got rollerskates on, trying to identify and shuck your block when you're gettin' turned like a record at a 70's disco. That's bad defense. Period. And it's a combination of coaching, talent, and scheme.

There's no more need to look at it through coach's eyes when a defense puts on a display the likes of our Sooners did today. God bless 'em, but that was thoroughly... Unimpressive.

I think that says it all....Good post.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Very disappointed b/c I think we're so much better than what we're showing.

Gospel true. Thing I noticed more than anything is the difference in linebacking corps today. Not in number of tackles, passes defensed, yadda yadda yadda, but in positioning. Granted, I'm just a hack with a love of the game, but didja notice?

Snap of the ball, OU linebackers, unlike in years past, are stepping up. Addressing the line of scrimmage. Closing the gap between themselves and the LOS. By doing so, they're cutting off flow lanes, creating better blocking opportunities for the offense, and as has been mentioned, removing themselves from becoming that big hammer that swings loose to guarantee anything within 3 yards of the LOS gets a red hat on it.

You can't flow and attack like that. And because Oregon LBs stayed back, made the read, and flowed to the point of attack, they shined early. They were flyin' all over the place early on. They were able to shuck blocks. They were able to read and either flow or blow the gap. All by something as simple as stayin' back, making the read, and attacking.

Seems like a no-brainer, but again, I'm just a couch-bound hack coaching the beer in one hand and the remote in the other. :)

[Octavian]

well, I've seen the onside replay now several times and, yeah I agree w/ all of you, we got hosed.

After reading Matt Zemek's article on CFN and Maisel's blog on CNNSI, I feel a little better...not much. I feel bad for the guy's cause they should be celebrating a big win right now but we'll learn a lot before conference play starts.

Cheer up, I don't know if anyone would've given us a chance to beat Oregon at their place in the week following the Idiot Meltdown.

We're a much better team than last year...and we're a lot better than even many of our detractors said we were a weak ago...

Look at our remaining schedule...w/ the state of the Big XII right now, the conference race is probably gonna come down to one game again.

Dallas...3 weeks from now. We'll beat the hell outta Middle Wherever, get a bye, and go play Texas.

That basically gives us three full weeks to prepare.

[garland sooner]

i just got back. Autzen was loud, i'll give them that and their fans are pretty bad. The Washington fans I talked to last week said that oregon has some of the worst fans and it showed. When the game ended, I, with the rest of the Pride, had to stay there and wait. Those fans had no class. It's pretty bad when the classy fans apologize for the bastard ones. I had a fun trip... I just wish we won.

[MamaMia]

we have talent problems, but we are compounding them with our aggressiveness. we have 10x more talent than what we are showing...
So, do you think that is our only problem area?

[OklahomaTuba]

Theres plenty of talent back there, the problem is the coaching on that side of the ball.

Never thought I would say that about a Bob Stoops team.

[Jewstin]

A buddy of mine, a trumpeter in the band, had a really negative experience at Autzen. Said he was getting bombarded with food and trash the whole game.

Lameness.

[gooklahoma]

Think OU misses Mike Stoops?

[MikeInNorman]

we have talent problems, but we are compounding them with our aggressiveness. we have 10x more talent than what we are showing...

True 'dat.

The problem is that the blitzes have a terrible success rate. Is there a LESS effective blitzing team than the Venables-era Sooners?

Irony of ironies that BV is getting killed by terrible linebacker play. Zach Latimer has regressed, and Rufus has done nothing to dispell the rumors that he's the Sears version of Derrick Johnson.

Yeah, the secondary's mistakes are more noticible, and maybe wouldn't be so noticible if we weren't blitzing safties into the wrong hole every other down. When you are having a three way fight for one corner spot between an RB, WR, and a guy with no shoulders, wouldn't a more conservative approach be wiser?

[sooner518]

My impressions of my trip to Eugence:

The stadium:
Sure it's loud. Is it louder than other stadiums I've been to? Not that I could tell. I can tell you that it is loud because of the overhang on one side of the stadium. You can actually hear the difference in sound coming from that side as opposed to the other side. It's definitely got architecture which enhances the sound.

The fans:
In one word: annoying.

As a whole, they were pretty nice. We had some really cool guys sitting behind us who were great to us the whole game. Everyone else was just annoying. They're nice, but they would not shut up about how loud this place was going to be. "You aren't going to be able to hear yourself think." "It's the most intimidating stadium in America" etc....

SHUT UP.

I've been in loud stadiums before. Yours is no different.

I did have some complete jackasses in front of us though. One guy, wearing a Joey Harrington jersey (lol) about 8 rows ahead of us who was caught with a half bottle of liquor before the game. They let him stay though and he proceeded to turn around periodically to give me the Bill Callahan "throat slash" with his idiot friends. His friends were later removed from the stadium for smoking weed. That was awesome.

Another guy who sat 2 rows ahead of me turned around and started screaming at me when they went ahead with 46 seconds left. I don't know what I did to this D-bag but he just kept starting at me screaming for a good 10 seconds before I yawned and flipped him off . I was beyond ****ed off at this point and having this idiot screaming at me set me off.


One thing I noticed was how quiet the stadium got when they fell behind. At the beginning of the game, everyone was doing their little "O" hand signals during the kickoffs. By the 4th quarter, everyone was sitting on their hands during kickoffs. It just seems like they should have been more supportive during the rough stretch.

We also noticed the lack of football knowledge by the fans. Fans screaming about calls they had no idea about. Screaming about how the pass interference "penalty" cant be reviewed because "you cant review a penalty!!!!!!". A Nebraska fan who I met at the game, who was sitting with his girlfriend, kept commenting to me about how these fans knew very little about football.

And finally, rushing the field after beating a team you were favored to beat after a couple horse**** calls? Seriously guys, act like you've been there before. We were #15, not #1. If you want to be considered an 'elite' team, act like you expect to beat the real 'elite' teams.


After the game, we drove out to the coast and saw the ocean which was absolutely beautiful. We drove along the PCH which is an absolutely incredible drive, especially while the sun is setting. I highly recommend it if you're in the area.

Some photos:

From our seats, the Duck riding in on the motorcycle was quite comical.
http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/124/108/9600736/n9600736_31920323_9463.jpg

AD leading the team in pregame
http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/124/108/9600736/n9600736_31920324_9909.jpg

The fog rolling in over the beach
http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/124/108/9600736/n9600736_31920332_3287.jpg

At the beach. I couldnt resist.
http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/124/108/9600736/n9600736_31920343_8307.jpg

One last beach shot
http://pe-ip005.facebook.com/v17/124/108/9600736/n9600736_31920345_9352.jpg

[arizwebfoot]

As a lifelong Duck Fan, I agree (tis why I don't live in Eugene), the fans there are about as dumb as a box of rocks with a hole in it.

[OUTrumpet]

Oh, and mighty Autzen Stadium? Please.

It got pretty loud on some 3rd downs (the times-out we blew had as much to do w/ getting the plays into Paul too late as they did w/ the 50K highliter fans) but I've been I've heard it get louder than that in Stillwater.

Ding ding ding ding!

Autzen is no louder than KSU or OSU...A&M makes the place look like a kiddie park...

[MamaMia]

sooner 518
Thanks for the photos and for telling us about your Oregon experience. :)

Now if a certain somebody would just answer my question. ;)

[imasoonergirl]

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9287/cheatedwg1.th.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cheatedwg1.jpg)

[Paris of Troy]

"Oh, and mighty Autzen Stadium? Please.

It got pretty loud on some 3rd downs (the times-out we blew had as much to do w/ getting the plays into Paul too late as they did w/ the 50K highliter fans) but I've been I've heard it get louder than that in Stillwater.

Best college football venue on the West Coast, though? Well, I believe it."

When UW was good, they had the loudest, best home crowd on the West Coast.

But with 'SC now on top, it's hard to beat 93,000 packed in the ol' Coliseum, with the peristyle, the torch, etc.

Sorry that you guys got cheated. That was as bad as the worst I've seen at South Bend.