Tilting at Windmills

Another mid October saturday at the Cotton Bowl, another colossal kick to the Sooner nuts.  Really proud of the team and effort we rolled out though so let’s take a look at it.  You could argue that this is the 1st big game in a while, against comparable opposition, where we outcoached the other team.  Venables and Stoops had Greg Davis in a familiar position (the fetal one) for all of the 1st half and parts of the 2nd with a fantastic defensive scheme that was more than good enough to win this game.  Any time the defense holds the other team to under 17 points and you fail to win – the offense has failed.  Anyone who saw the game would agree with this conclusion.

Offense

OL – It all starts up front and this is our main problem as this unit is in shambles.  Can’t run block, can’t effectively pass block so we will continue to struggle here.  Moving Eldridge to the LG spot was an epic fail.  Look we all know Brody’s a good kid – he’s tough, has great technique, etc etc..but he weighs 265 and he’s going against 300 pound DT’s.  That just doesn’t work – the kid has never played OL before this season, why do we think it’s going to work now.  Not having Brian Simmons hurt.  Everything else broke down consistently in this game, thus the negative totals in rushing and the constant pressure on the QB.  This problem isn’t going anywhere folks – we obviously have some depth and talent issues on the OL that could cause us some big problems not just this year but in the future.  We need juco help.  We have a huge and talented OL class committed to us.  This group must pan out or our deficiencies here will continue.  Between Wilson and Patton, I’m not sure who is running the OL but what we’re doing isn’t working.  We foolishly thought coming into this year that UT’s rebuilt interior DL would be a weakness we could exploit – we were wrong.

RB – Good in the passing game, nice games there from Murray and Brown.  No room for either to run.  The “pistol” formation was interesting in theory, but it didn’t work and may have caused the mishandled handoff from Jones to Murray resulting in our 3rd fumble of the 1st half (this one in scoring position). 

WR – OK day for the WR’s – we threw the ball nearly 50 times because of an inability to run and there were no glaring errors here and drops like against Baylor.  My main issue with this group is personnel.  Cam Kenney is by all accounts a good dude, hustles, good speed, etc..I’m not sure the guy is a D1 talent WR though.  He continues to have drops and is not physical enough to play outside.  Dejuan Miller/Jaz Reynolds who played extensively against Baylor got very little if any playing time.  Adron Tennell made 1 nice catch and was never heard from again.  Miller/Tennell are our 2 most physically gifted WR’s and both over 6’4.  Why are we throwing jump balls to Kenney at 5’11 that he drops  bounce off his head when we could be throwing it to those guys? Norvell said that Miller didn’t play because Broyles was back in the lineup.  Broyles had 1 nice play, but was a decoy most of the time.  I’m not a coach but to me our best WR lineup is Caleb-Broyles-Miller/Tennel and then Kenney in a 4 wide set.  Let’s maximize the talent we do have.

QB – Face it folks, Sam’s shoulder wasn’t fully healed and he was never going to make it through this game.  One would have hoped he’d make it more than 2:48 into the 1st quarter but not so.  The way he fell was almost identical to the BYU hit.  The dude is snakebit – feel bad for him.  Would he have made a difference in the game? Absolutely, I don’t think he throws the 2 late picks and he makes enough plays for us to win.  LJ came in and played like a freshman.  Put some nice throws together, but the back to back picks late in the game can’t happen – both terrible throws that will get you beat every time.   Just a really rough game overall offensively, give Texas D credit – they are a solid unit.  Their coach is an overhyped douchebag but he has them playing well.  Credit to Mack for nutting it up a couple years ago and paying this guy $1 million per year after the string of 50 point beatdowns courtesy of Stoops.   I don’t put a lot of this on Wilson, I thought the play calling was adequate and he is obviously a little hamstrung when LJ is out there as opposed to Sam.  Sam+Gresham = a 2 TD victory for us in this game with the way the D played, I truly believe that – and we might still be undefeated as well.

Defense

Greg Davis is awesome.  I hope he never leaves.  He once again got bitchslapped but we just didn’t have the horses on O to exploit it (which makes what happened last year all the more unexplainable).  BV and Stoops devised a great plan of never before seen blitzes, different personnel groupings and solid tactics to completely stifle the Horn offense virtually all day.  1st half defense was an absolute thing of beauty.

DL – very solid day.  McCoy was an animal and backed up his promise.  His unit was ready to win this game and did all they could.  He and Taylor got a little winded due to lack of rotation in the 2nd half as usual but held up and finished strong.  Great day also from Beal and English who each registered a sack.

LB – best day our LB’s have had this year.  TLewis was a beast, Reynolds played well and his 3rd down stop in the 3rd quarter was huge.  When TX went 4 wide he came out for another safety Joseph Ibiloye.  A great move by the coaches due to RR’s documented problems covering the over the middle stuff and RR rewarded them with a hell of a day against the run.  He is a great leader and great Sooner – bottom line.  Only sore spot here was 2 dropped pick 6′s from Clayton.  Just 1 of those may have been the difference.  KC was in good position all day.

DB – also a very solid day here.  Franks/Jackson were solid.  Jackson came up huge again even after getting hurt.  He now has INT’s in 4 straight games dating back to Tulsa.  His INT in this game should have been a game changer but for a great tackle by McCoy.  Jon Nelson came in and played safety in obvious passing situations, replacing Carter and/or Proctor.  Nelson is obviously proficient in coverage and coaches are trying to get him on the field – another good move.  TX had 127 yards passing, Shipley had 4 catches for 22 yards – you tell me that before the game and I think we probably win. 

5 turnovers is inexcusable especially the nature of the 2 special teams fumbles by Franks and Madu.  Amazingly those only cost us 3 points – another credit to the D. 

Overall, great day for the defense but it must be said that TX offense is broken.  It misses Quan Cosby and is not championship caliber.  Their OL sucks – while not as bad as ours due to inexperience, this experience group should be better and it’s not.  This may not hurt them in the watered down big 12 this year but they won’t win an NC with that offense.  They have already faced the best defense they will all year unless they make it to Pasadena and they didn’t pass the test.  Florida or Bama would bitchslap the unit they threw out there on Saturday and both have more competent offenses at this point than OU.  McCoy’s not what he was last year but the OL problems and lack of playmakers outside Shipley will do that.  His pick 6 streak should have been kept alive numerous times.  He was responsible for both of UT’s turnovers.  UT had better not lose because guess what – the computers hate their guts – as they should.  Wyoming, ULALA and Rice will do that to you , as will the lack of highly ranked teams in the big12.  An OSU win over them in Stoolwater (their only remaining roadblock) might derail their Pasadena hopes – we can only hope. 

We’re the best 3-3 team in the country, without a doubt.  Sweet.