Looking at Texass for 2007 reminds me of...

[goingoneight]

Ohio State 2006. Does it not? I mean, they have good targets to throw to, a coach with a National Championship, and a QB who could easily get to New Orleans undefeated, looking like a one-man show. But the defensive issues could lead to another lop-sided BCS MNC game.

That said, I still hope we whip the dog shat out of them. Their situation seems all too familiar. Especially when they have their so-called "rivalry" at season's end in College Station. Granted, Fran will never sniff an 11-win season at aTm, IMHO... it is in College Station.


Oh, yeah... Hook 'em (gawd I love that emoticon)

[BASSooner]

Could mack make the same mistake like he did long ago?


If colt, let's say starts to choke...will he start a newer QB?

They won't have a secondary, nor a line(well maybe a little bit) but still we still have the ability and opportunity to destroy them and put them in their place.

[goingoneight]

True, but McCoy is the problem for the RRS. If we can frustrate him at all like we did Chase Daniel, Booby Reid, Graham Harrell, Stephen McGee or Zac Taylor we can help the rest of OUr team tremendously. People keep saying it was all about the turnovers in 2006's RRS, but busted coverage on two Texas TD's is what killed us. The defense effectively did what was thought to be the answer prior to the game and that was to shut down the running game and let McCoy beat them. However, when McCoy held up in the pockt for five to ten seconds, he was going to test anyone with the crop of WR's he had.

The only way Colt is leaving the game is if he's injured IMHO. Sure, Applewhite looked good in 1999 and sure, :mack: let Chrissy take the reigns at QB... some reason, I just don't see him benching McCoy after seeing what a winning QB (Vince Young, Colt McCoy) can do for you.

[BASSooner]

Although, also realize that colt will not have his line so the pressure will be a lot greater consider OUr interior line AND john williams. We also return OUr entire secondary so this will be interesting.

[goingoneight]

Most definitely. But I think most people will agree that it could get really ugly if we have the usual young quarterback problems in the RRS.

[Big Red Ron]

Tressel > Buttertooth

[goingoneight]

Tressel 1-1 vs. :mack:

:mack: 1-1 versus Tressel

I'll take Texas talent over Acorn Aggie talent any day.

Even though he's a :texan:, just sayin'

[Big Red Ron]

Mack's done less with more for decades. Tress is almost Stoops like.

[Ash]

Ohio State 2006. Does it not? I mean, they have good targets to throw to, a coach with a National Championship, and a QB who could easily get to New Orleans undefeated, looking like a one-man show. But the defensive issues could lead to another lop-sided BCS MNC game.

That said, I still hope we whip the dog shat out of them. Their situation seems all too familiar. Especially when they have their so-called "rivalry" at season's end in College Station. Granted, Fran will never sniff an 11-win season at aTm, IMHO... it is in College Station.


Oh, yeah... Hook 'em (gawd I love that emoticon)

Are you saying Colt McCoy will be a one-man show? I don't see it. He's a good QB, but I haven't seen anything out of him to make me think he's the kind of player that can beat teams all by himself.

Mack's teams are heavily based on the running game, and I think without VY that's more true than ever. As usual, they'll be dangerous if they can dominate the ground game. Just as or more important than McCoy, is how the OL and backs perform.

[boomersoonerdude]

I hope McCoy is a one man show..... That make life a lot easier for our defense..... RRS main objective for the Sooners D is to take out Texas' only Show.

[SoonerAtKU]

If we see a QB other than McCoy this year for Texas, that means he's either newly re-injured, or that his injury from last year hasn't healed completely. That's discounting the annual blowout of a multi-directional school or Rice.

[htownsooner7]

I don't agree. Colt isn't a one-man show and neither was Troy Smith. Smith had a number of NFL players at his disposal. Ginn and Gonzales were first rounders.. I also didn't think Ohio State would 'easily' get to the NC last year as they had to win at No. 2 Texas and then beat No. 2 Michigan. Texas' schedule is much more favorable.

[BASSooner]

One man show or not, we will do the same thing we do every year, pressure the quarterback. The running game of theirs is the least of our worries. If it was bad last year, I don't see it being any better this year because of a new line. OUr DL make sure of that as well. Colt won't be standing in the pocket for 10 seconds anymore, he'll have guys running full speed at him to try and break him apart.

[The Maestro]

Colt threw for about 250 or less on us last year. I'll take a repeat of that any day. Just take away foolish turnovers, a crappy call on AD's fumble, a BS call that wipes out our biggest play of the day and the talent level should easily sway in favor of OU.

Oh, and our new QB has to produce...but not win the game. Just don't lose it.

[HTown77095]

Their confidence was high last year. Ours was alittle low (after being Bomar'd).

But after their nice choke job last year we have 'em right right where we want 'em..

I agree w/ statements above, need to put ALOT of pressure on McCoy and throw on their secondary. And keep our QB from screwing up too much and we should have it..

[Big Red Ron]

Colt threw for about 250 or less on us last year. I'll take a repeat of that any day. Just take away foolish turnovers, a crappy call on AD's fumble, a BS call that wipes out our biggest play of the day and the talent level should easily sway in favor of OU.

Oh, and our new QB has to produce...but not win the game. Just don't lose it.Did UT even have 250 total yards in that game?

[RedstickSooner]

One man show or not, we will do the same thing we did most years from 1999-2004, pressure the quarterback. The running game of theirs is the least of our worries. If it was bad last year, I don't see it being any better this year because of a new line. OUr DL make sure of that as well. Colt won't be standing in the pocket for 10 seconds anymore, he'll have guys running full speed at him to try and break him apart.

Fixed that for you.

[The Maestro]

Did UT even have 250 total yards in that game?

I don't think they did...I was just being nice on the totals as to not give less. Bottom line, they aren't very strong in the run game, the blocking cannot be as good as last year with three guys drafted and the defense is not as tough as the defense that fell apart last year. Oh, yeah...Chizik is gone. New defense or just moving someone over? I can't remember.

Not sure the love affair with Texas. I think they finish third in the South this year unless some new stars emerge at running back (Charles scares no one) and on the O-line.

[XingTheRubicon]

Colt threw for right at 100 yards in last year's RRS. UT's total yards were 250-260 IIRC.

[goingoneight]

Colt's numbers were also an admitted reflection of their OC's conservative game plan. He didn't turn it on until the second half, then he owned us. I agree on the AD "fumble" which was about as bogus as the "Tech Touchdown" in 2005.

Texas sucks at the run game right now, but their RB's have had their field days the last two years against us, so we'll have to keep an eye out for that while we try to pressure McCoy.

If OU didn't turn the ball over on the Iglesias fumble, who's to say we actually got the TD? We had the ball inside the 10 YL right before half and only managed a FG. Same thing happened against UAB, Oregon and Washington.

That game was entirely too easy for Texass last year... I know because I had the misfortune of watching us fall apart out there. If Chris Petersen or someone else with bawlz was calling the O's, we could have very well been blown out.

[HTown77095]

If OU didn't turn the ball over on the Iglesias fumble, who's to say we actually got the TD?


I agree. I quit watching after that fumble because I knew it was over. Take away the fumbles that would have been a good game for us..

[MiccoMacey]

This game is such a scary matchup for several reasons.

1) They lose three really good OLinemen. We lost three really good DLinemen, including who I thought was our best defensive player last year, CJ Ah You. Once Stoops put him more inside as a DT, he started getting a lot more pressure than Granger or Coleman did. Losing him is going to hurt more than any other loss. So to say their run game took a hit is a wash with the fact our ability to pressure the QB took a hit.

2) Their secondary was horrible statistically, but they had some great players who are now gone. Theoretically they should be worse and I'd like to exploit that. However, the one position on our team that could exploit that is the QB, and we're starting a brand new one. That's kind of a wash as well.

3) I'd like to think we have the edge on them, but this is the RRS. Edges and gameplans don't always go as scheduled. And as far as having a huge mental edge because they flopped at the end, they won their last game and we lost ours. I'd hope being the Big Twelve Champions gives us something mentally to hang our hat on, but a loss at the end of the season is still a loss.

[htownsooner7]

Rufus Alexander was our best defensive player and the best defensive player in the conference.

[MojoRisen]

We will once again be able to physically dominate the HORNS....

[BASSooner]

Rufus Alexander was our best defensive player and the best defensive player in the conference.
What does that mean? AD was the best RB in the country and we're supposed to be better without him.

[The Maestro]

Rufus Alexander was our best defensive player and the best defensive player in the conference.

While I agree, you can also say that AD was our best offensive player and the best one in the conference. But due to depth and new additions the drop off won't really be felt. The question is, will Texas be the same in the areas they lost key people, i.e., O-line, running back and D-backs.

Our running back stable is loaded...no AD, but lots of weapons and the DeMarco Murray factor will be interesting this year. At LB, we lost Rufus, but with Ryan Reynolds, Curtis Lofton, Mike Reed and others, we may not feel the sting of his absence. New faces have to step up...but if our QB play rivals Paul of last year, watch out. The schedule sets up better and we surely hope fewer turnovers and key penalties don't kill us against Texas. If we leave the Texas game unbeaten, we have very few excuses not to run the table based on our schedule, who we get at home versus the road, etc.

[HTown77095]

Lets all agree right now that texass blows..

[HTown77095]

Oh I forgot this thingy...Hook 'em

[htownsooner7]

I was referring specifically to the comment that Ah You was our best defensive player. I have tremendous respect for Rufus and what he accomplished here. So do the Big XII coaches as they selected him as defensive player of the year. Unfortunately, AD's injuries prevented the same type of accolades. AD was the most 'talented' player in the conference, Rufus 'achieved' the most defense. And don't take me as an AD hater, because I'm not.

And I agree that certain personnel losses don't necessarily translate into the team being worse. That being said, we have a long way to go at LB to fill their shoes.

[MiccoMacey]

htownsooner,

I love Rufus as a player as well. I appreciate what he (and all our players) did for us.

But I just think the biggest difference for us this year on defense was CJ. It wasn't until he started playing more DT that we got more pressure on the QB. I'm not taking anything away from Rufus...he did a heck of a lot and was probably our team leader on defense. But we played much better defense once he got more in the middle.

JMHO. It's good that we have something like this to discuss. I'd hate to be a fan of a team that can't find a good defensive player to give accolades to (and yes, I know I ended my sentence in a preposition ;)).

[Zing]

What does that mean? AD was the best RB in the country and we're supposed to be better without him.

Been gone from the boards for a while, but this is the common wisdom now? I remember getting pretty heavily negspekked near the end of last season when I said that I hoped that Peterson would go pro for OU's sake.

Well, if nothing else, maybe we'll be less one-dimensional next year at the RRS and in general. Although I'm sure they weren't thinking it consciously, could it have been possible that there was a stream of subconscious thought that said after, for example, a bad workout, "It'll be alright, we've still got A.D."? Here's hoping everyone - players and especially coaches - will grow a lot without that crutch to lean on. Heh, forgive me: That crutch upon which to lean. :P