What went wrong this season.

We may have been 8 points away from being a one loss team, but we were also 6 points away from being 7-5.

The coaches get a big fat F this season. There's no polishing this turd.

Other than that, a pretty good post.

 

Don't blame CT for that debacle that was the OSU loss! We got up by 2 scores and the coaches decided to let off the gas. Couple that with a terrible secondary and a poor decision to re kick. BTW Thomas handed over the only lead we had in the K-State game!

The majority of discussion about what went wrong should be on the other side of the ball. Defense wins championships and right now we need a lot of improvement in that area. We also need a healthy Shephard.

 

Same problems we had in 2011--no depth at several key positions. Starting 11s were pretty good, even excellent, but injuries in a key spot here and there and the whole thing broke down. Coaching is expected to fix that. Just resembles 2011 all over again to these eyes. Plus once we had a couple of close losses, the enthusiasm seemed to go out of the program, which is something I fear going forward into the playoff days. Once you know you're not going to make it into the playoff, why kill yourself?

 

I'm not blaming CT for the OSU loss. The team clearly wasn't focused - even the coaches were not focused. As much as I dislike losing to the Pokes, the reality is there was nothing to play for other than Stoops' career record. But you can't be saying that CT was a viable QB because he clearly was not. If we had something on the line, Bell probably is forced to play QB with hopes that KT is well by bowl time. Even if we started with CT for real, he would have been yanked by halftime at TT. It may be okay to just hand off against defenses like TT, KU and OSU, but without a real passing game, we would have been destroyed by a true top 4 team had we made the playoffs. Once OSU tied us did you really think we had a prayer in OT? I know I didn't. Folks may grumble that we tried passing in the OT, but the truth is that if CT doesn't make a play with his arm we are going to lose. So I had no problem with the coaches at least trying. Had we just run the ball w/o Perine, the best we get is FGs and would eventually fall when OSU scores a TD. So either CT comes through with a big play or we have to hope OSU shoots themselves in the foot.

 

Trevor had Sounders,Bester & Shephard last year. This year only Shep. Sam had Broyles. Landry had Stills. Who has CT had? He was asked to come in off the bench and take over the last 3 games of a very disappointing season. He put us in position to win all 3 games. I think you're mistaking "big play" opportunities with "pick 6" opportunities (see TCU, K-State & Baylor).

Here's Samaje on CT's ability in the run game Perine said Monday that on zone read plays, Thomas keeps the ball about “half-a-second” longer than Knight, which made a difference, too.
“I think that half-a-second, it really gets the defense committed to one run, Perine said. “And then when he pulls it out the backside, he can run for days with that. I think that had a lot to do with his success, how long he holds it in the mesh.”

There's a reason why the coaches took a chance on bringing DGB in here even though now he will never play a down for us.

 

Our problems at WR are well known - CT was indeed in a tough situation. But his mechanics were bad, especially his footwork. His passes were not accurate and the velocity was not great. If you haven't noticed, Perine is a very humble guy that gives credit to everyone but himself. And I'm not talking about the zone read anyway - I explicitly said "with his arm". We ran the ball 9 times in our last 3 series of regulation for exactly zero first downs. Once Perine left the game, OSU was capable of stopping our run, that's why I say that CT had to make a play or we lose. When I say "big play", I really just meant a routine play in a critical situation. On 2nd and 3rd down in OT he had chances. On 2nd down, he under led Bell by a foot or 2 that allowed the defender to break it up. It would have taken a very accurate pass, but if he makes it we may score or we're at least inside the 10. On third down, Smallwood had good separation and he didn't need a pin point pass. But he threw way too far out of bounds. The coaches said that Bell was open on 1st down and CT got happy feet. The camera didn't show it, so I'll just take their word for it. I'm not saying CT isn't capable, it's just clear he was not prepared at this point in his career. And I'm talking about as a passer - something critical to almost every offense outside the military academies.

 

Thomas was NOT ready to take over. He runs the read-option well, but his throwing is a long way from being where it needs to be. I think he will continue to improve, but I wasn't that impressed with his arm in high school. I've been a proponent of Hansen since he committed, but it would have been crazy to have expected him to come in and do any better.

Thomas is a good athlete, but he just wasn't ready to put the team on his shoulders.

 

On 1st down the D end beat Thompson (Thompson had to hold him) As soon as CT dropped back and planted his back foot he got flushed. Bell was open but CT already pulled the ball down. On 2nd down you need to watch the game again. They show the replay behind CT's shoulder. You couldn't have placed that ball better yourself. It was perfect with Blakes arms reaching OUT for it. 3rd down is a pass CT should have completed but didn't matter as Thompson did get called for holding on that one.

I have never heard any of the coaches refer to CT having "happy feet" where's your source for this?

 

Second down was a great throw. Unfortunately the DB made a great play. I hate when that happens.

 

I paraphrased happy feet, coaches said Bell was open and CT didn't see him. You can pick at all the details you want, but after watching CT in 3 starts, he showed very few signs he was ready to even be a game manager. It wasn't the best of conditions with the wind and rain, but I've seen back-ups for countless other teams step in in similar situations and show much more. And all 3 of these teams have pretty weak defenses. Maybe it's because the coaches have been busy working their networks for potential jobs after the Baylor loss or maybe CT spent too much time on basebase in the offseason. But for what ever reason, he didn't look well prepared for a guy 2 years into the program.

 

I don't know how CT came in against Kansas State on one drive and looked awesome and has regressed ever since.

 

Maybe because his most awesome play on that drive was a simple hand off to Ross that went for 30+ yards on 3rd and 20? He didn't really do that much on that drive other than stay calm. He did salvage a bad snap that would have been disaster and I think he completed 1 pass. I had hopes after that small sample too. But I don't see that CT has created any QB controversy for next year after his 3 game debut. And that's comparing him to TK who is not even mentioned when the talk of all conference QBs comes up.

 

Thomas went two for two on that drive for 17 yards, both to Sterling Shepard. Maybe the problem he's had with passing is the same Knight has had...if Shepard isn't on the field drawing attention, the rest of the guys are just swarmed over.

But you're right, outside of that one drive--which was awesome, particularly the salvaged snap and the subsequent run--he's been pedestrian at best. I'm willing to cut him some slack against Kansas because that really was lousy weather and neither QB on either side could throw worth a dang.

But 10 for 20 and 3 oskies at Tech, and 10 of 17 at home (though admittedly no interceptions), doesn't exactly scream potential Heisman next fall, or even the backup role.

 

I know this is a long *** delay, but I had to take a break from the boards.

OU was not over-hyped. They didn't meet expectations set upon them by their fans and the media.

If there were no such thing as preseason top 25's, if the first rankings didn't come out until Mid October, OU would not have been #4 at any part.

IMO, if OU had a real OC last year that did not sh!t the bed every time the going got tough, then OU would have been in the playoffs. Our offense lost use 3 of the 5 games.

And frankly, I am glad the season turned out like it did. If it would have turned out with 1 loss and a playoff birth, then we would have to endure another season of Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell as Co-OC.

I am still waiting for Kish and Mike to go!

 

One word...DEFENSE

 

And...OFFENSE.

And...SPECIAL TEAMS.

 

Bob Stoops is a good ambassador for the university. He gets rid of bad eggs and had a good group of guys who really stepped up after that stupid SAE racist video.

But I am not naive. We are not paying $6 million for 8-win seasons, even with all the good off-field relations. Big 12 championship with contention for playoff spot or bust this season.

 

The defense was more of a bust than the others. Concerning TCU and KState, 30 points should be enough to win. And for Baylor, both O and D imploded. OSU was a coaching brain fahrt.

 

Special teams cost us KSU and OSU. Offense cost us against TCU. All around collapse against Baylor and Clemson.

And I know several of those games were a contribution of more than one thing, but we have to get better on offense, defense, and special teams. No way around it.

 

And the fan meltdown threads s.ucked. With 5 losses, we had ample practice to be more creative than just b.itchin' moanin' and whinin'