This has been the most disappointing season since Stoops arrived in Norman. Last night, after the loss to OSU, I starting thinking about why a team, that was expected to do so much, ended up being so disappointing. So, here's my opinion of why things went the way they did this year:
1. Over-hyped
This one is the most obvious. Last year's Sugar Bowl win set the hype machine in motion, and on the surface it made sense. The majority of the defense coming back, almost the entire O-line returning and Knight looked to have turned the corner. We had just beaten the "best" team of the decade, with relative ease, and the conference looked to be a little down going into the season.
Looking back now, we were fooled (whether through the media, or because it's what we wanted to believe) into thinking this team was one of the best in the country and deserved to be in the national title conversation. Everything was pointing in that direction, and it was easy to get caught up in the hype. For a sunshine pumper like myself, there was so many positives and no glaring negatives. The truth was that there was some major glaring issues, but I (and most of us) didn't want to see them. So, we all went into the season with some expectations that, upon review, were way too lofty.
2. The conference was better than expected.
We all knew Texas would be down. There was a time in the Big XII when a down Texas meant a very easy path to a conference title. Those days are gone. Baylor picked right back up where they left off, TCU finally materialized into the team they were supposed to be last year, and Snyder pulled another rabbit out of his hat. Let me be clear, I'm not excusing this year's performance based on the conference being tougher than expected, I'm attributing some of the disappointment to the fact that nobody expected all three of those teams to be good enough to beat us (one or two maybe, but certainly not all three).
The conference ended up screwing itself. Because there were a larger-than-normal amount of very good teams this year, the conference beat up on each other. Had our conference name been "SEC", that would have been excused...but since we don't have that name, it hurt both TCU and Baylor in the long run. Anyway, that's a discussion for a different thread. The point is that the Big XII ended up being better than most of us expected.
3. Aaron Colvin & Gabe Lynn was sorely missed -or- We were ridiculously young in the defensive secondary.
I knew it would be hard to replace Colvin, but I think we underestimated just how much of a loss he would be. Zack Sanchez, when 100%, is a very good defensive back. He's not the greatest to ever wear a Sooner uniform, but he's very good and only being a sophomore points to a continued development. After Zack, we were terribly inexperienced or downright mediocre in the secondary. I expected Quinten Hayes to be a different player this year, and to his credit he did play well at times. However, Hayes never became that leader on the field. At least it looked that way. After Hayes, there was Wilson. Wilson didn't have a terrible year, but this was probably not the best season to make a position change like he did. He had good moments, but there were also times when he looked confused, or in over his head...those things are to be expected when playing a new position, but a late season injury just added to the already building issues in the secondary.
Then there were the new guys. Ahmad Thomas, Hatari Byrd, Jordan Thomas and Steven Parker had a combined zero starts coming into the season...yet they were all leaned upon heavily to produce. And more times than not, they looked like guys with little experience. All of them had there moments, but it just wasn't enough. Of the entire group, Parker seems to be the one guy that showed major development throughout the year. Mike Stoops has heavily recruited DBs this year, and I think we all know why. This group must get better before next year.
4. Scheme
I love what Mike Stoops and Josh Heupel have done for the program in the past. I'm not in love with what they're doing now. I've made it known that I think Heupel get's too much blame for issues on the offense, but when it comes to QB development, that rests squarely on his shoulders. The OU program should never have to be in a situation that requires a redshirt freshman, that isn't ready, to have to come in and play in meaningful games. I realize that Blake Bell's move to TE threw a wrench into the works, but the fact that Thomas isn't ready combined with the fact that the only other option was a true freshman (that isn't ready) shouldn't happen at OU. The only person to blame is Heupel. As for his play calling, I don't have a problem with his body of work over the season. I'm sure there are those of you that disagree, and we can discuss that, but from my perspective the biggest issue Heupel has to face is why we are in the current situation with the QBs.
I have no idea what's going on with Mike Stoops. I've never seen a defensive coordinator (at OU) play so conservative. What makes it worse is that this defense (his defense) is built to be aggressive. Let's be honest, Eric Striker is a beast off the edge and can play the run pretty damn well...but if he's going to be asked to cover, he's not in the situation that sets him up for success. That's true for several players. I won't rehash the same issues we've seen play out over the season on defense, but either Mike needs to bring in help for the 3-4, go back to the 4-3, or hang it up. What we saw this year was as bad as we've seen in a long time.
There's much more that could be expounded on, but those are the four major issues I've given thought to, and they're pretty big ones. I do not believe that OU "doesn't have the talent" to compete nowadays. That's just not true. And there were some instances (many instances) when players did fail to execute. But, when that failure to execute continues throughout the year, and it causes 4 losses (3 to teams we were more than capable of beating), then there is a systematic issue.
If Stoops is the coach we think he is, then he sees everything we see (and probably more). I have no idea if anyone gets fired this year, but I pray that internal changes are made (whatever they may be). I also believe this team was simply not as good as we all thought they were. So, if the youth and inexperience had a lot to do with the season's results, next year should show the improvement that would normally occur.
I'll of course watch the bowl game, and cheer for a Sooner victory, but as far as I'm concerned this season is officially over. And it couldn't have ended soon enough.