Gene Chizik

[The Maestro]

Please tell me the love affair with this guy is over.

31 first half points for Texas Tech against the vaunted defense.

The horns score 42 on the road at Kansas freaking State...and lose!!!

The charm has worn off of this guy.

[DrZaius]

I would not be surprised if someone gave him a head coaching job this year

[stoops the eternal pimp]

San Diego State?

[The_Red_Patriot]

I agree. thank god someone brought this up.

[SOONER44EVER]

Texas did give KSU a few turnovers and a short field about 4 or 5 times.

[soonerlaw]

Don't forget about the defensive collapse against Nebraska for most of the game (other than that forced fumble and recovery at the end of the game). Needless to say, I still hope he is gone at the end of this year.

[yermom]

Northwestern maybe?

please not Miami :D

[caphorns]

Chizik should be questioned at this point. He insisted on staying in the base 4-3 even when KSU went to about 80-85% straight passing. I find that part frustrating to say the least. I really think the offensive strategy is simple against Chizik's D - throw on just about every down or at least 2 out of 3 downs per series and run trick plays.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Chizik does the same thing we do - blitzes to the degree that the corner play a ton of man-to-man. And, same as us, if the corners have an off game, the whole defense ends up looking bad. It's not rocket science. In Stoops' and Chizik's defenses, you are going to live and die on what the corners do.

The thing that gets me is, if Nebraksa's receiver can just hang onto the ball, Texas has two conference losses and we're pulling a 2001 on them already. I can't even say "if" about the Tech game because it's a given that the Red Raiders defense caves.

Remember this about Tech - they lost to 2-9 Colorado! And, they lost 30-6 to them! Their defense is, was, and will always be a joke.

[caphorns]

You're right TDTW. We have sucked on the road and are lucky to have won those 2 games and to have our last game at home or this would clearly be OU's year. I still am worried about the upcoming ag game and about how dirt poor our secondary has been and could be - even with lowly Stephen McGee skipping passes off the turf. We've made alot of mediocre QBs look like world beaters this year.

Is it possible for the Big XII to fail to qualify a single team for the BCS this year?

[CtheB]

You're right TDTW. We have sucked on the road and are lucky to have won those 2 games and to have our last game at home or this would clearly be OU's year. I still am worried about the upcoming ag game and about how dirt poor our secondary has been and could be - even with lowly Stephen McGee skipping passes off the turf. We've made alot of mediocre QBs look like world beaters this year.

Is it possible for the Big XII to fail to qualify a single team for the BCS this year?

No, champion is automatic BCS.

That being said, I think you all are being a bit rough on Chizik. A great DB, i.e. TRRW, Huff, etc, makes gameplanning in the secondary pretty easy. When you lose them, it can expose everyone else. Also the losses of guys like Wright, Dibbles, and Harris, while not as notable as Huff, provided solidity and depth on your defense. I think the claims of this defense being Mack's "best ever" at the beginning of the year were merely comfort food to soothe the loss of VY.

I think you have enough to beat A&M, as much as it pains me to say it.

[TexasLidig8r]

Something to keep in mind as well.

Duane Akina is the co-defensive coordinator with Chizik and defensive backs coach.

The secondary's collapses this year have included faulty technique, blown assignments and bone headed stupidity.

How much is due to Chizik vs. Akina remains to be seen. I believe Chizik stays for another year, adjustments are made to the staff (bye Akina) and next year, he works on restoring his wonderboy image before leaving for a head coaching job in another BCS conference.

[caphorns]

Akina's butt is squarely on the line. But it's not like our LB coach (Chizik) has the LB's getting a pass rush on. There's plenty of blame to be going around. No doubt that the secondary is a jumbled mess though and Akina is right in the middle fo that.

[Tear Down This Wall]

Yeah, but you can't blame Akina totally. It's a whole scheme.

For instance, Stoops' defensive scheme has always been aggressive, heavy on man-to-man coverage from the corners. It was that way when Mike was here, when Pelini was here, and its still that way with BJW coaching the secondary.

In the years when we've had shut down corners, we've done well. But, even in those years, when we lost a few (Ok St and A&M in 2002, USC 2004) it was breaks down in the secondary that bit us.

The deal is, what Stoops and Chizik do works more often than not. We both just happen to be in seasons (for us, consecutive seasons) where our secondaries, especially corners, are not as consistent as usual. For us, its just been a matter of not recruiting enough good ones, and sometimes none at all (this is still the most shocking thing to me). With you all, it's just an experience thing.

Either way, I doubt either of us would trade the success our schools have had running those high risk, high reward schemes. We've each gotten a national title out of it - even though it ain't always pretty when those corners break down or a safety bites of a play fake.

Akina's no different than our secondary coaches - you can coach 'em til your blue in the face. But, until they get it and can do it, you take your lumps.

[caphorns]

TDTW - we have 2 seniors playing corner and one is a Thorpe semi-finalist. Originally we had issues because of injuries/depth. But now, we have the experienced guys out there looking a bit clownish at times. I agree that it's a defensive scheme issue and goes beyond the secondary. We also are getting no real pass rush from the LBs.

[JohnnyMack]

Hang anyone out on an island like that long enough and they're going to be made to look bad at some point.

[Luthor]

Our pass D has been as porous as cheese cloth the entire year with the exception of the Okie Lite game. I don't have a clue why we can't defend the pass. 2 probable AAs back there and QBs nobody's even heard of are lighting us up with 50 yard bombs.

I don't think it's so much Chizik as Duane Akina. He's the hands on guy for the DBs.

[BIG_IKE]

The funny things is...


Texas secondary produced last years Thorpe Winner (Huff), 2 NFL Draft picks...

and this year's secondary features the National Leader in Pass Breakups (Ross)
a Thorpe Award Semi-Finalist (Ross) and a Lott Award Finalist (Griffin).

The secondary has caused more turnovers, fumbles and picks, than any other secondary....

AND THEY ARE RANKED SO LOW and GIVE UP SO MANY YARDS!!!!

It is quite a mystery indeed...

[humblesooner]

[QUOTE=Luthor] 2 probable AAs back there and QBs nobody's even heard of are lighting us up with 50 yard bombs. QUOTE]

Because of the latter, the former is highly unlikely.

[starrca23]

Gotta put my 2 cents in here. You have to look at the total defense. I didn't get to watch the Texas game, but I have noticed that people have talked about how much better the OU secondary has been playing, but no one seems to notice that this comes at the same time that we are getting more sacks. Which means that the secondary is not having to cover for as long on most plays, and getting help from the coaches via scheme and blitzes as well as being put in situations (third and a mile) in which we can be more agressive and know what is coming, and help from the d-line by causing that pressure without having to blitz. So to some it up again, I think the whole defense is playing better especially in my mind the d-line.

[FaninAma]

Chizik should be questioned at this point. He insisted on staying in the base 4-3 even when KSU went to about 80-85% straight passing. I find that part frustrating to say the least. I really think the offensive strategy is simple against Chizik's D - throw on just about every down or at least 2 out of 3 downs per series and run trick plays.

Too bad OU's coaches didn't figure this out at the start of the 3rd quarter in this year's RRS.