Is Stoops more active on the defense?

[David Earl]

The defense has improved this season. The secondary is still having occasional problems, but is playing more consistently. The line, especially the ends, are getting more pressure and getting pushed less.

How much of this is Venables coming into his own and how much is Stoops running the defense more?

[King Crimson]

we're gonna have our work cut out for us at Mizzou. Daniel is the real deal and makes good decisions. he can also make plays with his feet. and they won't be as one-dimensional as CU. though, i was pretty impressed with the D against ISU being there in person. Meier poses some run-pass problems and Blythe and Flinn are good WR's with some size. minus the long run at the end of the half** and the early ISU TD drive.....D was pretty stout.

**i thought ISU had half a second left on the clock, personally. we were in section 3 and had a perfect view of the game clock and Hicks going out of bounds. FWIW.

[start8]

Like the tootsie pop question-'The world may never know'.

[MikeInNorman]

I've never been a big fan of Venables, but the most likely thing is that he's doing better, not that Stoops is running the defense. The way it works is not that Bob starts doing the job for the co-ordinator, but that Bob may be a little more vocal in expressing his viewpoint to the co-ordinator regarding what Bob wants to see as a product on the field. For instance, against UAB, the half-time offensive "adjustment" (half-time adjustments being especially revered by SF posters) was this:

BOB: Give AD the *&%* ball! Run the &^$^%$ ball!

KW: Okay.

I expect that some similar conversations have taken place between Bob and Venables. But "Bob coaching the defense" is definitely not happening. Bob "encouraging" Brent is more like it.

[goingoneight]

The defense has improved this season. The secondary is still having occasional problems, but is playing more consistently. The line, especially the ends, are getting more pressure and getting pushed less.

How much of this is Venables coming into his own and how much is Stoops running the defense more?

He said a few weeks back, after Oregon, I think, that he was taking a more active role in coaching the fundamentals, somethign to the extent of telling OUr guys to be more concerned with coverage and technique, rather than X's and O's. Sort of a "I'm the ventriloquist, you're the puppet style, I guess. That to me seems like the only explanation for sucky defense is guys who are more concerned with theory and "blowing them up" rather than covering and tackling correctly...

[David Earl]

There has been a marked improvement in fundamentals, IMHO. That says something, I'm just not sure what.

[westcoast_sooner]

Defense played a great game against a poor CU offense. The CU offense only managed a pathetic 5 first downs for the game. But we did a good job of bottling them up - lots of 3-and-outs.

Next week our D will have to play a lot better. From what I've seen from Mizzou, Daniel is the real deal. I think it's time for the Sooner D to burst their little bubble, though.

[goingoneight]

I thought Mizzou was actually breaking out of the "Run, Brad, Run" kinda wannabe Vince Young/Greg Davis offense and actually making some progress... then they got embarassed several times by a non-existent aggy defense, I know the game was close... but I kept telling myself several times... Rufus would have totally batted that one down, or Reggie wouldn't leave that much space between him and a wideout... We've been bad, but I dunno about Fran-bad...

Slow start, with a hidden gem, like maybe a Chris Brown highlight or something... OU 28 UM 17 Mizzou defense has been known to start a couple of DJ Wolfe's, themselves... PT to the rescue.

[Big Red Ron]

What would be wrong with Bob calling the plays on D. You always hear about HC's that call the plays on O but don't really hear about the other side of the ball.

[MiccoMacey]

DLine pressure is prolly due to moving Ah You inside. He's big enough to play DT, and still super quick.

[soonerhubs]

DLine pressure is prolly due to moving Ah You inside. He's big enough to play DT, and still super quick.
I thought it pretty cool to see Ah You inside as well.

I think the Condoms have Carroll calling the Defense. I may be wrong though.

[Egeo]

What would be wrong with Bob calling the plays on D. You always hear about HC's that call the plays on O but don't really hear about the other side of the ball.
up until recently pete carrol ran the usc defense

[Texas Golfer]

The play of the defense is night and day different than it was earlier in the season.

We need the defense to step up with the remaining schedule.

[The Consumate Showman]

Stoops is not coaching any more than usual IMO. To me, Venables is just now getting the guys to settle down and play fundamentally sound.

IMHO, Stoops has been part of the problem, not the cure. Here, let me explain:

Stoops comes from a strong Big 10 background. What is the Big 10 best known for??? RB's and a S T R O N G emphasis on running the ball. This is becoming more and more evident and part of our program as we speak. Stoops, to me, is the only thing that has stayed the same since day 1. I think that Bob's arrogance is R E A L L Y starting to show as of late. It's almost like he has it in his head that no matter what, no matter who is back there, we are going to run tha ball, even if it's not working, and THEN we'll worry about passing. The reason I mention his arrogance is because that in the preseason, KW was hinting around that he would like Reggie to play more on offense and that he was indeed an "attacking OC". Well, I've yet to see it.

Stoops is the final call; he' the boss; the godfather; Da MAN! The buck stops with Bob and IMO, he is the one during the game planning for teams each week that is telling KW and BV what they can and can't play call. For God's sake people, throw to the freakin' TE more often...that play is almost always going to be there! Where is Reggie? Where is the reverse? Where is the reverse pass from Manuel Johnson(former HS QB) to Kelly? Where has the creativity gone?

It's there people, but Bob isn't letting us get it out; he is the kind of caoch that is going to stick to his guns and do what he wants in spite of it's effectriveness, this should be evident when we continually run off tackle on about 80% of our first downs. If you think I'm crazy, just go back and look at when Bob first came here. VERY dynamic, very unpredictable, very explosive. Then the NC came and things have slowly been working themsemves into this kind of a team.

Little contact in practices, which, to me, tells us why we are missing tackles early on, there's just not enough prep for it because it's almost like he is afraid of the depth chart.

Little creativity and a lot of predictablility. I hate to say it, but guys, look at where Bo Pelini is and what kind of a D he has.......Then, look at Leach and Mangino, much more creative in their play calling, just don;t have the right athletes to pull those games out...

I'm not here bashing BOB. This is just what I have observed over the past 4-5 years. I hope Bob will let KW be the OC I know he can be. KW is a great game planner and OC and if you don't believe that, you should go back and watch some of his old games at NWestern. He can get it done, so can Brent, we just need more hitting and tackling in practices IMO...other than that, I think our D is pretty darn good and will finish out in the top 15 at the end of the year in total D.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

So, Bob has become fully indoctrinated by Chuck Long, or Chuck was a bonehead because Bob made him that way?

[David Earl]

We ran a double reverse against CU. We passed on first down several times. WR/TE dropping the ball takes the shine off of otherwise good playcalling.

[CincySooner]

DLine pressure is prolly due to moving Ah You inside. He's big enough to play DT, and still super quick.


huh? I havent got the last two games on TV up here, so bear with me.

How long has this been going on?
Who is playing the other end?
Who did he replace at DT?
Are they doing this all the time, or only in certain situations?

A little help.

[David Earl]

huh? I havent got the last two games on TV up here, so bear with me.

How long has this been going on?
Who is playing the other end?
Who did he replace at DT?
Are they doing this all the time, or only in certain situations?

A little help.

We've been putting a DE in the middle in dime situations almost all season long. In 4-3 or 4-2 sets I believe we're still using our DT's in the middle all the time.

[OklahomaTuba]

All I know is tackleing is MUCH improved.

It sounds like they went back to the basics and its helped a lot. Lets hope Mizzery doesn't burn our secondary though.

[n8v_ndn]

huh? I havent got the last two games on TV up here, so bear with me.

How long has this been going on?
Who is playing the other end?
Who did he replace at DT?
Are they doing this all the time, or only in certain situations?

A little help.

OU was also showing a 3-man front with Ah You at the Nose and 2 other DE's on the ends, to maximize quickness. Ah You was pretty disruptive on quite a few of those plays.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Neat thing with that 3 down set I noticed was bringing Nic Harris up to give it a fast 3-3 look. Add Ah You's separation skills and great hand work (you guys noticed this? He looks like Ali out there with the hands. Beautiful!) and that 3 up dime actually gets penetration. Shoots gap. And just looks sharp.

What wouldn't exactly break my heart is gettin' away from that 4-3 look alltogether. Guys are tryin' to read and react off blocks so they're standing up offensive lineman, but in doing so, are de-pantsing themselves on the zone read because they're fighting through hat instead of having the freedom to engage and release and go huntin' for the ballcarrier. Now I'm all about gap responsibility, and far be it from me to armchair quarterback, but when A) you're having trouble keeping LBs in flow lanes, B) you're gettin' gutted on the cutback, C) contain at times has been a laughable joke from the DE spot, and D) have a plethora of team speed, why NOT stick with those 3 man fronts? Maybe even give a 3-3 stack look with the nickel up like they do with the dime set? Sure plays to your speed, and gets those high speed motors playing DE a chance to pin their ears back and go make a play.

But that's just me. I've never been a fan of a 4 man front. Especially as you hear DTs being spoken to as soaking up blocks so LBs can flow. Soaking up blocks don't get you sacks. Soaking up blocks forces you to be aggressive with the linebackers and DBs. Soaking up blocks leaves you with fast, strong talent like Bird and Ah You existing only to take up space instead of puttin' those dangerously massive and quick bodies upside the likes of a Colt McCoy's squishy lil' sparkly white jersey.

But hey, that's just me.

[trpltongue]

We ran a double reverse against CU. We passed on first down several times. WR/TE dropping the ball takes the shine off of otherwise good playcalling.


Well,

In the first quarter we were pretty "open" on offense. After our 2 scores we pretty much closed the playbook. I looked at the first down play selection, and in the first quarter it was 5 passes 3 rushes. The rest of the game it was 3 passes, 17 rushes on first down. We even went 8 first down's in a row rushing the ball in the 3rd quarter. I know the wind was a factor, but why not even attempt a pass of more than 25 yards in a game when you're playing one of the worst passing defenses in the big 12? Kevin Wilson himself even said:
“Maybe we talked ourselves in and out of some things in the second and third quarter, when we were going into the wind,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said.




Glad we escaped with the win in spite of our play calling.

[RedstickSooner]

Coaching up the fundamentals is precisely what we needed. Our early defensive collapses were due to poor tackling more than anything else. We usually had a Johnny-On-The-Spot pretty much every play.

Problem was, Johnny made a weak arm-tackle attempt, got juked out of his shoes, fell down, and ate turf while the other team's offense ran right past him.

If our dudes made tackles this season, a fundamental which historically we've been solid on with Stoops, it would've been a top-20 (or better) defense just like we expected.

Sometimes you gotta go back to basics.