Tilting at Windmills

After seeing Miami play Thursday I posted about our upcoming tilt with them and wrongly overlooked Tulsa.  I do think Tulsa is a quality outfit, with a good scheme and a few athletes here and there but playing Oklahoma in Norman nowadays is a dicey proposition for just about anyone – whether you’re # 2 or # 118 you’re very likely to get blown out and  the Golden Eagles Hurricane were no exception.  Here are a few observations..

Offense

- – OL is still I think our biggest area of concern so will address it first.  This was a solid day for them and they seem to be improving every week.  The group of (L-R) Williams-Simmons-Habern-Evans-Jones seems to be the group that has stepped up in practice and earned the starting spots.  Really surprising that the highly recruited Steve Good is not a starter but he will be needed for depth along with Brandon.  The emergence of true frosh Tyler Evans is a real story here – he is a beast with a better technique and understanding than most freshman at this level – really promising stuff for the future.  They run and pass blocked for the most part effectively and really were not noticeable(at least negatively) which is a good thing and a nice change.

- Landry Jones was stachetastic.  The pick on the 1st play of the game was a bad throw but he shook it off and came back out and started throwing darts.  At times you might have thought Sam had made a miraculous comeback and was back out there, but nope it was the facial hair challenged one…a quick shout out to the offensive coaches here.  They, especially Wilson, take a ton of shit and some of it deserved, but kudos to them for having the confidence in Landry and not changing the offense dramatically because of his presence.  Many on this board were calling for massive offensive scheme changes without Sam, count me among the ones that thought at least a little tweaking was needed but that doesn’t seem to be true so far.  They knew much more about Landry than we did obviously, and also how about Josh Heupel – if we ever let this guy go it will suck – because it seems under his tutelage we just churn out qb’s that flat out get the job done and put up impressive numbers in the process.   No one thought the skinny kid from PC North would win a Heisman and although Landry was highly recruited who would have thunk he would be ready to break records this quick.  The competition will be dramatically improving from here on out and if LJ’s going to continue to be needed he may take a step back, but color me impressed so far.  I said if we didn’t have Bradford against Miami that we’re toast – not so sure anymore.

-WR’s, RB’s were good – TE’s not so much.  Broyles is a stud and saying that is beginning to sound like a broken record.  Solid day for Brown and Murray was explosive but needs more touches.  Apparently the coaches are limiting his touches in an effort to keep him from getting banged up – which I’m ok with – we will need him in FL and in the big 12, just wish he wasn’t so fragile.  The swing pass, make a guy miss and flip into the end zone was sportscenter top 10 playsish..Props to Brandon Caleb for stepping up and clearly emerging as the # 2 receiver that is sorely needed.  Cam Kenney looks the part as the #3 guy.  I actually am starting to feel for Tennell, I think the guy is trying but he just doesn’t have it.  His confidence is so shot that he’s a liability.  His TD drop on the beautiful ball by Jones was a travesty. 

Without Gresham, the TE position is just an extension of the OL because there is nothing offensive about what’s going on there right now with regards to a passing threat.  Actually it is offensive, it’s non existent.  Brody and Ratteree can block and that’s about it, James Hanna’s not ready.  Ratteree’s TD drop was travesty # 2.  Really a shame because a competent/elite TE is such a matchup nightmare for defenses..could still end up costing us at some point again this year, or maybe it already has (see BYU..)

Defense

-I’ve said it once, I’ll keep saying it – this is an ELITE – championship caliber defense.  Words such as stifling, relentless, angry and several others were thrown out in description of this performance and all apply.  Stand out players were Beal, Adrian Taylor, Reynolds, TLewis, Clayton and Brian Jackson.  All were fantastic.   OU is now # 1 in run defense (40.7 ypg), #1 in scoring defense ( 4.7 points per game) and 9th in ypg allowed at 223.3 and recorded back to back shutouts for the 1st time since 1987.

Jeremy Beal is the best DE in the big 12 and possibly the country.  3 tfl, 3 sacks and a forced fumble on 1 of TU’s 2 scoring opportunities got the rumors of the shutout started.  I’ll take Beal over Sergio Kindle’s drunk driving, apartment crashing, take 2/3 of the game off, cheap shot helmet to helmet hitting ass any day.  We’ll see who has a better RRS.

Miami will test these guys more than anyone else this year with their speed and athleticism but with this D, there’s not a game left on our schedule we can’t win. 

-Special teams again solid with some true freshman really contributing here.  Again – we would have given up a punt return or kickoff return TD in this game last year so the solid play is a welcome sight.

Overall, a quality outing that should have instilled confidence for all involved into the off week and then down to So. Florida.  Don’t think Tulsa will be getting shut out again this year.

In other news/notes it looks as if Balogun is done which is not great news as Box was sidelined with a flared up back for Saturday’s game.  LB depth could be an issue if any injuries occur.

Also, check out my AccuScore buddy’s diatribe on how we are back in the championship hunt and what we need to have happen to stay there.  Word..

The problem with judging spring scrimmages is that if the offense looks great, it could mean that the defense really sucks, and vice versa. And with that caveat in mind, based on Saturday’s Red and White Game, sophomore Frank Alexander is going to win the Lombardi, and senior Trent Williams is going to finish his OU football career in the same state of exile in which Brandon Crow currently resides.

You didn’t need to have the ghost of Isaac Newton again explaining the arcane scoring system to know that the white team (defense) had kicked the asses of the red team (offense). For the record, the defense won, 63-36, but even with the offense being awarded points for saying excuse me after belching or for linemen not noticeably staining their britches , the red team couldn’t make a game of it. Sure, the offense was missing more weapons — DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown, Jermaine Gresham, Brody Eldridge, Matt Clapp and maybe most importantly, Jarvis Jones and Stephen Good — but still, with the biggest questions being how would the Sooners replace the graduation-depleted offensive line and wide receiver corps, after Saturday’s game, those questions remain unanswered.

Now when you go from having Gresham as your main target at tight end to walk-on sophomore Trent Ratterree (sophomore James Hanna failed to distinguish himself), you’ve got a problem. But if you’re a freshman quarterback and you get precious little time to throw before Alexander or junior Jeremy Beal or a defensive tackle is all over your ass, you’ve got an even bigger problem. Williams, at left tackle, was slapped around by Alexander worse than Rihanna is by that other Chris Brown, and junior Cory Brandon didn’t fare much better against Beal on the other side. Now Beal’s really good, and Alexander, in the little time he played last season after recovering from a stabbing, showed a lot of potential, but still, your best OT has to block his guy at least some of the time. (Williams, who went most of the way at LT, held his own against the second-teamers, while sophomore Donald Stephenson, the second-team RT, was caught holding frequently.) Colorado State transfer junior Brian Lepak, who was playing LG and getting a lot of Good’s reps, was cast aside by whatever DT he was facing with the ease of Lindsay Lohan tossing away her show-biz career (but at least Lindsay got laid a lot in the process). Redshirt freshman center Ben Habern and senior quasi-starter Brian Simmons held up the best, but then, that’s probably akin to being the ace of 1962 Mets rotation.

Bradford handled the pressure all day.

And if what we learned about the OL is that they still need to get a whole lot better by fall, we learned even less about the receivers. Sophomore Ryan Broyles was hands-down the best of the bunch, which has been the assumption since January. Senior Pooh Tennell showed a couple of flashes of brilliance — like on the 23-yard TD pass he caught from Sam Bradford — but then he’s always showed flashes; his problem is staying healthy, and that remains to be seen. Youngsters like sophomores Jameel Owens and Dejuan Miller need to step up, and whereas Owens had a solid but not spectacular game, Miller was a nonfactor. Mossis Madu looked pretty good as the slot receiver (although he fell to the ground making a cut and allowing junior CB Dom Franks to get a pick for an easy score), but he was far and away the best of what was healthy at RB. Redshirt freshman Jermie Calhoun had a couple of nice runs early on, but after that, he was being met by three defenders in the backfield whenever he got the handoff. Sophomore Justin Johnson was pretty much the same thing only less so. It’d be nice to see what they could do with blocking.

Calhoun should be productive in a bit role this year.

At quarterback, well, hey, that Bradford kid looks like he could be a player. The Heisman-winner, despite facing the same limitations as freshmen Landry Jones and Drew Allen, managed to complete more passes than the other two combined. He seemed to be able to find an open WR against senior CB Brian Jackson (such as the TD pass to Tennell) or the tight end across the middle against senior MLB Mike Balogun whenever he needed to. Given the pass rush he was facing, Jones probably played acceptably, or at least as well Joey Halzle did in this game the last couple of years. And although their numbers were roughly the same (5 of 12 for 73 yards for Jones, 4 of 14 for 58 yards for Allen, with both throwing a pick), Allen looked significantly worse. Two or three more of Allen’s passes probably should have been picked off (freshman safety Javon Harris had a couple of drops) and he threw a couple of passes to nowhere. But hey, the guy should be getting ready for the prom, so what do you expect?

But then, the same can be said about the entire crew of second-team LBs, Jaydan “the Raptor” Bird at weak side, Tom “the English Football Hooligan” Wort at middle and Ronnell Lewis at strong side. Heck, they might have been the best-looking group the Sooners fielded Saturday. Bird has a nasty streak that the Sooners haven’t had at LB in a while. Not just the ability to be in the right place and make a play — Travis Lewis does that, and so did Rufus Alexander pre-knee injury — but the meanness to just blow people up as well. And if anything, Wort is even nastier. Ratterree could consistently catch a quick pass over the middle for a 4-yard gain against Balogun, but with Wort lowering the boom as the ball arrived, he couldn’t. Nobody could. I’m not sure when the Sooners have had an MLB who looked equally competent and vicious against both the pass and the run as Wort, and I can’t see how any Texas prep LB could have been ranked ahead of him. You’ve got to love this kid’s moxie. He was one of the few players who went over and signed autographs for fans after the game (Bradford, of course, was one of the others), and for a kid who has yet to play in a varsity game, that takes a lot of chutzpah. I think the last MLB we had with that level of talent and attitude was Brian Bosworth, and we did OK with him.

Anyway, not a lot to be said about the defense, other than the first- and second-team defensive fronts pretty much kicked ass. Franks had a great game at one corner, and Harris, other than the drops, had a nice game at safety, but once Bradford was out of the game, the DBs didn’t have a lot to do, and it didn’t seem to matter that Quinton Carter didn’t play. The quarterbacks didn’t have enough time to find receivers downfield, and the running game was getting stuffed without the DBs having to come up and help out. Keenan Clayton didn’t play either, and senior J.R. Bryant, who largely looked clueless last year, had a very good game in his place. Balogun’s still iffy against the pass, but Justin Johnson’s going to be checking for Balogun before sitting down for the next two weeks, because Balogun was always in his back pocket. Seniors DT DeMarcus Granger and DE Austin English didn’t play either, and and although they’re capable when healthy, we got along without them for a large part of last year. Sophomore LB Austin Box and junior LB Crow also didn’t play, but I think it’s safe to say they’re now both about as far behind Wort as a politician running as a Whig candidate, and Crow will be lucky if somebody e-mails him the practice schedule. But I do find consolation in the fact that the offense looked nearly as lousy in last year’s spring game, and that bunch wound up posting some fairly decent numbers, I seem to recall.

As for the kicking game, not to change the subject, but the weather for the spring game was really nice. Sunny, but not too hot, breezy, but not too windy. I mean last year, it really sucked, cloudy, colder than hell and a fierce wind. Redshirt freshman Tress Way had a couple of really great punts, but most of them looked like they could have come off the foot of Mike Knall. Maybe we can at least cover the damn things this year.