Utah State Analysis

I spent some time this summer contemplating if my theory that Phil Steele was suffering from dymentia for ranking the Sooners number one and Landry Jones a Heisman candidate was incorrect. I had contemplated a post detailing how I could be wrong...Maybe Josh could develop Landry into better decision making, and perhaps last year's trials and tribulations for the o-line led to some improved performance this year. I couldn't figure out how to address the turnover in the defensive secondary. My work schedule never allowed me to publish what was clearly now a flawed view.


Now, let's role play a few discussions being played out on message boards across the casino state, if message boards were a free flowing exchange of logical and rational ideas.

• Statement: The Sooners will be alright next week. They had a very vanilla game plan against the Aggies, and that contributed to the performance. Rebuttal: Agreed, they Sooners did display a very plain game plan. Offensively, there were very few counters, and the pass plays had very little sophistication. There was no misdirection. There was also very little blocking. The Sooners were going up against defensive unit that did not have a single player in the top three WAC all conference units in Phil Steele's preseason mag. The o-line did not protect Landry well. They did not create a consistent push. This offense does not have a tight end threat for the second straight year. They don't appear to be able to block any better. If the face of this rush, Landry displayed the accuracy of Eric Moore, the happy feet of Nate Hybl and the elusiveness of Paul Thompson.
• Statement: The defense will be okay. The Sooners only ran one blitz package at Utah State, and they will be more aggressive next week against the 'Noles. Rebuttal: I sure hope you're right. The CBs gave up several big pass plays. Not sure why, but there never seemed to be any deep help from the safeties. Several trap plays were effective against the interior line, which is concerning. To Utah State's credit, their QB was very mobile, and created some big plays with his feet.
• Statement: Utah State is better than Stanford this year. Rebuttal: That's an interesting hot sports opinion. I would love to believe that Utah State is a quality foe, but they're probably the third or fourth best team in the state of Utah. I haven't seen Snow Valley JC this year to know if USU can overtake them, and the past and present both tell me Utah and the Fightin' Mormons are better.
• Statement: DeMarco Murray can carry this team this year. Rebuttal: No, he can't. The line's not good enough. If Landry doesn't become functional as a QB, the opposition's just going to load up on the run and defy Landry to beat them. He won't succeed agaisnt the elite teams.
• Statement: I think this is the worst I've even seen a Stoops coached Sooner team play at home. Rebuttal: Grasshopper, you have a short memory. It's not the worst, but it's in the bottom five. you've got the 2001 Oklahoma State game, 2005 opener against TCU, and later that same year against Tulsa that were probably worse performances. I can't think of the fourth at the moment.

Sooners Blank Boone State

Some thoughts from today's game:

• The Pokes had 15 possessions in the game. They were 0-14 on third down, and they had 4 drives that obtained a first down.
• In those four drives, the Cowboys had six first downs; 3 of those were via penalty. The Pokes did not have a first down in the second half.
• Zac Robinson was clearly not himself. Gundy was in a difficult situation. Do you start a dinged up Robinson, or a healthy Brandon Weeden, who played one game against a Division 1-A foe so far? If you consider the 2009 Colorado Buffaloes a D1-A team.
• The O-line played very well today, particularly in the second half. The Pokes were a top 10 defense against the run, and this was one of the few games where we've been able to run the ball with any authority.
• The Cowboy punter, Quinn Sharp, has some serious wheels. Once he used the angle to cut Ryan Broyles off to prevent a score, and on Broyles 88 yard punt return, Sharp nearly ran him down from behind.
• Tress Way was phenomenal punting the ball today. He averaged 59 yards per kick, and the Cowboys were able to return two of the kicks for a total 6 yards.
• I was having John Blake era flashbacks with the offense in the first half. We were just out of synch...we would be in good field position, and I just expected something bad to happen. Fortunately, they got out of the funk.
• DeMarco Murray is a special back. I hope he comes back next year.

I'm tired. Boomer!

Ineptitude

Here are the drives for the Sooners against the Huskers:

1. 16 yard drive to the Husker 29. 46 yard field goal missed.
2. 2 yard drive to the Husker 28. 45 yard field goal missed.
3. -10 yard drive starting at midfield. Punt.
4. 2 yard drive to the Sooners 4. Punt.
5. 0 yards prior to interception on drive starting at Sooner 8.
6. 45 yard drive to the Husker 35. Turnover on downs.
7. 4 yard drive to the Sooner 24. Punt.
8. 59 yard drive to the Husker 28. Field goal made.

At the end of the first half, the Sooners have made it to midfield or into Husker territory 5 times, and have three points.

1. 5 yard drive to the Sooner 28. Punt.
2. 28 yard drive to the Husker 44. Interception.
3. 11 yard drive to the Sooner 25. Punt.
4. 26 yard drive to the Husker 24. Missed field goal.
5. 32 yard drive to the Husker 39. Interception.
6. 43 yard drive to the Husker 24. Turnover on downs.
7. 41 yard drive to the Husker 33. Interception.
8. 0 yard drive to the Sooner 48. Interception.

In the second half, the Sooners had five possessions in Husker territory, and came away with zero points.

Pellini had an offensive game plan that was straight out of the Pat Jones playbook. Run the ball and hope you don't fumble. The Husker scoring drives were 1 and 33 yards. And they won handily.

This was the worst offensive performance since the season opener against TCU in 2005. Or the 2005 Texas game.

Sloppy Football

The AP story refers to the Texas-OU game as "sloppy" and Mack B referred to it as a defensive struggle like the SEC.

Let's compare a couple of marquee games:

Plays / Turnovers/ Pen Yds:
Game A: 131 / 6 / 173
Game B: 151 / 8 / 228
Game C: 131 / 4 / 108
Game D: 111 / 2 / 109

Game A is the classic Alabama / South Carolina game, B is the Horns / Sooners, and C is Razorbacks / Gators. Game D is the Florida / LSU game from Oct 10.

I won't dispute that the grade of SEC ball overall is superior to the Big 12 this year, I don't even think that's up for debate. What I do want to draw attention to is the number of plays in a game. the OU-Texas game had 15% higher number of plays. There were more opportunities for penalties and turnovers. Texas-OU had 40 more snaps in their game than Florida - LSU from the prior week.

I would propose that the pace of play in the OU-TX game led to a higher rate of penalties and turnovers, and that respect of the foes defense and control freakish nature of the coaches led to a slower pace in the SEC games referenced.

Was the game a little sloppy, you bet. I would say it kept me on the edge of my seat, but that's not true. I was standing the entire time.

More Postgame thoughts

Texas won a hard fought game. I tip my foam Sooner Schooner hat to them.


At the beginning of this year, I thought the Horns would win this game, as a result of a more experienced offensive line. I picked them to win in my Big 12 preview. Those picks were made prior to 1) realizing just how far the dropoff would be from last year's o-line to this years; 2) Jermaine Gresham getting hurt; 3) Sam Bradford getting hurt. If you would have told me at 800 am Sat morning that a) Bradford would get hurt in the first quarter; b) the Sooners would have five turnovers; c) have negative rushing yards, I probably wouldn't have even got in the car to go down to the Cotton Bowl.

Now, I'm going to digress into a couple of shoulda-woulda-couldas.

1. In the first quarter, Landry Jones throws a beautiful long pass to Cameron Kinney. Kinney jumps up over Curtis Brown, extends his arms - and the ball goes through his hands and hits him in the helmet. Incomplete pass, and Jimmy Stevens misses a 45 yard field goal into the wind. If he catches that pass, it's first and goal inside the give, and three plays later Jimmy could have make a much shorter field goal.
2. The Sooners DOMINATED the first quarter. And led 6-0 at the end of it. I thought the game was lost in the first quarter, when the Sooners had such an edge, but the edge didn't translate to points.
3. The hurry up offense needs to stop. The time of possession in this game was 34:32 Texas to 25:28 Sooners. In the first quarter, the Sooners had the ball 9:48 seconds to the Horns 5:12 seconds. The remaining 45 minutes of game time, the time of possession was 29:20 for Texas, and 15:40 seconds for the Sooners. As long as we can't: a) run the ball (3.9 ypc through, 66th in NCAA just ahead of Kent State, but behind Ohio), and b) convert 3rd downs (32 for 88 is 84th in Division 1-A), we need to not routinely snap the ball with 19 seconds left on the play clock.
4. The Baylor Bears have a run package where they take one of their defensive lineman and put him in at fullback. The Sooners need to do the same iwth Gerald McCoy on short yardage downs.
5. On Broyles TD catch and run, Brandon Caleb makes two crucial blocks that help Broyles make it all the way to the end zone.
6. The Sooner defense changed at half-time. They seemed to play mroe straight-up in the second half. At least from a lineup perspective. They seemed to not be moving around as much, and didn't seem to blitz as often. That probably was in part due to: a) half time adjustments and an effort to give Texas a different look; b) Longhorns snapping the ball more quickly and not allowing as much pre-snap movement; c) different looks given by the Horns.
7. The Sooner D did a great job of containing Shipley yesterday.
8. I realized in watching the game on the DVR that Brody Eldgridge played left guard yesterday. It's just another evidence of how bad the o-line is that our all-conference fullback and backup tightend has now played two different positions on the interior line thus far.
9. The Sooners were 0-5 on 3rd down conversions in the second half.
10. Keenan Clayton drops two different almost certain pick sixes during the second quarter.
    

Rope a Dope Works in 2nd quarter

I mentioned to a friend accompanying me to the game that the rope-a-dope was not a successful football strategy. However, in the second quarter, it did work.

Here are the Sooner possessions in the 2nd quarter:

1:16 TOP, 4 plays, 24 yards; fumble at the Texas 24
1:10 TOP, 4 plays, 10 yards; punt
1:25 TOP, 5 plays, 17 yards; punt
fumble on kickoff return
1:53 TOP, 3 plays, -13 yards; punt

That's 5 minutes and change of game time, 16 play, 38 yards and 2 turnovers.

Amazingly, the Sooners gave up only 3 points in this sequence, in spite of the Horns having five possessions, with an average starting point of their own 49.

On each of the five possession, the Horns crossed into Sooner territory, with the following results: one FG, one fumble, and a sack at the end of the half. Three of the possessions ended with the Horns being driven back to the 50 of on their own side of the field.

Folks, that's defense.

The Middle of the Field

As I thought about yesterday's loss to Miami, I realized that the Sooner coaching staff is treating Landry Jones like Nate Hybl or Paul Thompson. For those uninitiated, Nate Hybl and Paul Thompson were rarely allowed to throw the ball in the middle of the field. I don't have any stats to back this up, it just seemed like the passing attack with them as either side to side, or if down the field, it was fades. All stuff that was pretty low risk.

After having this thought, I watched the game again. Jones was 1-3 while throwing between the hashmarks on Saturday night. On the other 2/3 of the field, he was 17-27.

On the other side of the ball, the Sooners weak spot - for years it seems - has been defending the middle of the field. We are so determined to stop the run that we're susceptible to play action passes, where you get the ball over the second level of defenders. Conversely, Miami, which really loaded up the box in the second half, was not tested in this area. Are they that strong up the middle? I don't know.

After all this weeping and gnashing of teeth, the Sooners have played one of the toughest schedules in the country, and they're four points away from being undefeated.

Injuries and their impact on the offense

With Broyles out with a fractured shoulder blade, the Sooners are left without another playmaker. To understand this, consider the following stat:

In 2008, the Sooners passed for 4,891 yards, with 4,208 of those yards going to receivers and tight ends. With the eligibility completion (Iglesias, Johson, Chaney) and injuries (Gresham, Broyles), the Sooners have lost 4,005, or 95%, of those yards. Add in four o-lineman gone, and the starting QB on the shelf, and that's a lot ot make up for.

That being said, the offense scored 20 points. But it should have been enough to get us a W, if the D makes a couple of stops.

Jesse Can't Swim

I recall Jesse Jackson saying one time that if the media saw him walking on water, the next day's headline would say, "Jesse can't Swim". Well, after watching Landry Jones pass for 6 TDs in a game yesterday, a Sooner record, all I have to say is "We can't run the ball."

Three different quarterbacks have passed for 5 TDs in a game: Bradford, Heupel, and White.

Let's look at those games:

1. 2008 Nebraska - the Sooners exploded on Nebraska, winning 62-28. 3 rushing TDs and a defensive score were added to the 5 Bradford passes
2. 2008 Texas - Sooners have zero rushing TDs and lose 45-35.
3. 2008 Washington - Sooners roll 55-14. Sooners added three rushing TDs to Bradford's 5 passes.
4. 2008 Cincinnati - Sooners add 2 rushing TDs and a FG to the 5 Bradford scores to win 52-13
5. 2007 Cash Machine U - Sooners won 42-13. Bradford threw for 5, and Murray rushed for 1.
6. 2007 North Texas - wait, never mind. Just an error in the OU record book. This was Miami. Sooners won 51-13. Bradford threw for 5 TDs, Halzle threw for 1, and the D scored once. No rushing TDs.
7. 2004 Cash Machine U - Sooners win 42-35, with 5 passing Tds and 1 rushing TD
8. 2003 Cash Machine U - Sooners roll 77-0, with 5 passing, 5 rushing, 1 defensive TD
9. 2003 Iowa State - Sooners amass 53 points, with 5 passing TDs, 1 rushing Td, 1 KR TD
10. 1999 Louisville - Sooners score 42 points, with 5 passing TDs and 1 rushing TD
11. 1999 Indiana State - Sooners score 49 points, with 5 passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs

So, in a nutshell, in three of the 12 games now the Sooners have not had any rushing TDs to complement their passing attack. Frankly, that's more than I thought.

Drive Summaries

OU has 13 possessions last night. On 9 of the 13 possessions, OU was flagged for a penalty. On the four flag free possessions, the Sooners had a three and out once, turned the ball over via fumbles twice, and fumbled a snap on third and one to lead to another punt.

You're not going to win games like that.

That Was Ugly

First of all, let's tyip our cap to the BYU Cougars. They made the plays when they needed to make them and one the game. Now, let's take a look at the Sooners.

WTF?

Several things had me shaking my head in this game.

1) Penalties - the Sooners had 12 penalties for 93 yards. They had 50 yards in the first quarter alone. Frankly, from being at the game I thought we had to be in the 120 area. I don't think they keep stats on these things, but the yards negated by these penalties was significant was well. I can remember multiple aoccasions where the penalty negated a positive play. The difference between second and 1 and first and 25 is immense. Cory Brandon had a particularly awful night, with several false start penalties...including one that ended up being a 52 yard kick instead of a 47 yard kick.
2) Failure to stick with the running game. On the surface, the Sooners had 31 carries for 118, which is not impressive. However, Demarco Murray averaged almost 6 yards per carry, and Chris Brown averaged 4 yards per carry. These gents were able to move the ball, but the penalties put the Sooners in long down and distance situations that made sticking to the running game implausible. With a new, untested QB in, the Sooners started their first two possessoins of the second half with penalties...one 15 yard chop block, and another 10 yard holding possession. Starting with those down and distance situations makes it difficult to run the ball a lot and shorten the game for your untested QB.
3) Stopping the run - the Sooners did stop the run, but the Sooners almost always stop the run. They are obsessed with it, even when it become apparently the opposition can't run effectively. The play action and drop it over the LB is all too easy when playing the Sooners.
4) Defending the middle of the field in pass coverage - watching the second half gave me flashbacks to last year's OU-Texas game. BYU would run it wide, or throw a screen or two, but when they needed it, you could count on a pass between the hashmarks to a receiver who was open. The gentlemanly Fightin Mormons were kind enough to fall down after the catch in many instances, seemingly content with the first down reception, and assuming someone was nearby to tackle them when many times there was not. Ryan Reynolds reconstructed knees have not resulted in him being an improved pass defender. however, when the LBs are committed to stopping the run even when the D-line is handlng it just fine, it's not enough.
5) Dropped balls - Adron Tonnell dropped the first two passes thrown his way. Both would have extended drives, both hit him in the hands, and both passes hit the ground.
6) Receivers - on the final drive, there were two instances where receivers were sitting down in zones VERY near one another. Enough so that when Jones threw a pass, it was catchable by both receivers (though neither did). It didn't seem to me like it should be drawn up that way.
7) Fumbles - The Sooners had three crucial fumbles, losing two of them. The first was Murray's fumble at the BYU 7 that the Cougars recovered as the Sooners were looking to capitalize on Ryan Reynolds interception of a Max Hall pass. The second was a fumble by Ryan Broyles at the Cougar 36, which was recovered by BYU. Finally, the third was a mishandled snap by Landry Jones on a 3rd and 1 at midfield. The 5 yard loss led to a punt immediately thereafter.
8) 3rd Down Efficiency - the Cougars were 8-17 on 3rd down, the Sooners were 2 for 11. The Cougars ability to extend drives contributed mightily to the time of possession advantage of the Cougars, who held the ball for 0ver 37 minutes. The Sooners had mishandled snaps on third down, and dropped passes on third down. The Cougars had completed passes to the TE or slot receivers.

I don't believe you can pinpoint any one piece of this equation to blame, but if you consider the Cougard had nearly 200 more passing yards than the sooners, converted almost half of their third downs and controlled the clock for 37 minutes. If you throw in the loss of the startintg QB, it's kind of a surprise that we had a kick at the end of the game that would have won it if it were made.

That was depressing

The Sooners played so poorly Sunday I was too bummed to write about it afterwards. Blake outplayed the Italian League Rookie of the Year, but the Sooners had no answer to Denny Green, Ty Lawson, Bobby Frazor, Wayne Ellington and Deon Thompson.


Sooners couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a jumper, and the guards did a fabulous impression of the Feb 09 Baylor Bears, jacking threes with reckless abandon. The Sooners were 2-19 from behind the arc, and 22-35 from closer range. Toss out Blake's 9-12 effort, and the Sooners are still 13-23 on two point shots. Willie Warren had some success at one point in the first half of penetrating and getting shots, but didn't stick with it for long. Why they were so enamored with the three when it wasn't working just frustrates me. Someone needs to be able to penetrate/create their own shot.


I didn't really expect to win this game. I figured it would take a Crocker against Syracuse type of night from Warren, Crocker, or Davis, and it just didn't happen. The Sooner offense became really stagnant. A friend noticed it on Friday night even, the perimeter players aren't really moving, they're just waiting for Blake to dunk it or kick it back out to them. Substitute Kevin Bookout for Blake Griffin, and you have the 2004 Sooners, scoring 50 points per game. Kelvin Sampson woudl have been proud.


You have to give credit where credit is due, however, and that's to the Tarheels. They have better basketlball players, and more depth on their team. This is a team that made the Final Four last year, and all five starters played signficiant minutes during last year's tourney run.


The ILROY dominated Griffin - Taylor, that is - holding him to 4 points and two rebounds. Blake got his 23-16. Hansbrough tried a dunk over Griffin late in the game, but a throwdown over a 6-10 dude when you're 10 feet from the basket just doesn't work.

Next year will be interesting. From what I read, we have some good recruits coming in, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that pans out. Losing the Brothers Griffin is losing a LOT of production, and we're losing court general Austin Johnson.

Capel has some work ahead. If you go into the wayback machine, there was concern 24 years ago when Wayman Tisdale left a year early. However, Tubbs got more production the next year out of Darryl "Choo" Kennedy, Tim McCallister and David Johnson than you would have expected initially, and Ron Roberts and Stacey King got valuable playing time to be a force the following year.

With some development of Ryan Wright, Juan Patillo, and Orlando Wright on the inside, add a point guard (coming) and growth of Willie Warren, and the Sooners are poised to have an outstanding year.

Sooners Revenge Tour Continues

The Sooners finally got payback for a 2003 regional final dismantling by Carmelo Anthony’s national championship squad. The Sooners were impressive tonight. They never trailed in the game, and never led by less than 13 in the second half. The Sooners hit 9 of their first 18 three point shots, went 23-38 on two point FGs. The one weak spot was the 61% free throw shooting.

The vaunted Saltine Warrior zone defense lacked flavor against Crocker’s hot hand from outside and was unable to keep Blake Griffin from getting the ball in the lane. Griffin was 12-15 for the evening from the field. He made three dunks, three tip ins, and six layups while missing three layups. Griffin is now 37-47 from the field with 44 rebounds in the tourney.

The Crimson defense in the first half and first few minutes of the second half was stellar, as the Sooner guards contained Jonny Flynn and Eric Devendorf to below average shooting. On two separate occasions, Cuse guards lazily offered layups only to have them rejected by Tony Crocker and Austin Johnson. After that, I’m not sure if the Saltine Warriors found their stroke or if the Sooner D just put it in neutral – or both – the Cuse increased their offensive productivity after that.

Griffin ended up with another double-double, and had three outstanding dunks, including one from the baseline that resulted in Blake hitting his head on the side of the backboard. I’ve done that a couple of times myself, but only after lowering the goal to 7”.

I was very surprised that Crocker caught fire and posted a career high 28 points in this game. Most folks, me included, expected Willie Warren to assert himself in the game and be a premier contributor, but Crocker was on fire. At one point, Croker was 6-8 from outside the arc. He also added stellar defense on Rautins and Devendorf throughout the game.

I do have to tip my cap to Warren. For a kid that was an elite high school player just a year ago, he really does a good job of deferring to the hot hand and getting his shots in the flow of the game. As the game was winding down, Warren had the ball in semi-open floor on several occasions, but consistently slowed the tempo down and allowed some clock to wind down.

Capel did his normal outstanding job. He’s particularly good at getting Griffin maximum rest with minimal game time on the bench by maximizing the time around the TV timeouts. The Sooners more than held their own when the Terminator was getting his rest.

The one disappointing part for the game was the sideline coverage. During ESPN coverage throughout the year, the camera crews were overly fascinated with showing the Tommy and Gail Griffin, like they’d never seen an interracial couple before. Anyway, there was a gorgeous blond sitting behind Tommy tonight and the camera crew just didn’t seem to go there enough.
A curious point to me is the disappearance of Juan Patillo in the postseason. He’s played three minutes and scored zero points in the last two games, and Capel has seemed to “go small” with Blake not in the lineup.

Bring on the Tarheels. You have to go a little bit farther back for this revenge matchup, but I still recall the Sooners allowing Rick Fox to go baseline for the winning basket in 1990. The Heels were unranked, and the Sooners were top ranked but didn't make it to the Sweet 16 that year. The bitterness continued, as I had row 6 seats to the Regional finals and semi-finals in Dallas that year, and had to watch the Heels instead of my Sooners.

Holy Cow that was impressive

From my personal perspective, that W had to be the most impressive victory for the Sooners since the 2000 domination of the #11 Texas Longhorns, 63-14. A couple of thoughts:

The 3rd down D was the difference defensively. The Red Raiders converted one third down all day.

Leach's tendency to go for it on fourth down also hurt, in my opinion. He could've used the three when down 14-0 and in the Sooner red zone, and the fourth down down attempt at mid-field set the Sooners up for a short field. Not that it would have eliminated the 44 point gap, but it coulda narrowed it.

Iglesias' juke of defenders and score midway through the second quarter was a thing of beauty, as was Manuel Johnson's one handed grab of a Bradford bomb late in the third. DeMarco and Chris both ran well all day, courtesy of a powerful performance by the offensive line.

TAMU Report

The Sooners exploded early on the Aggies, scoring 21 points before Cash Machine U could manage a first down.

The Sooners passing game today was hampered by the Aggie defense. Aggie D coordinator Joe Kines, long considered a genius in the game, appeared to allow the Sooners to run at will in an effort to dissuade the Sooners from passing. It worked. Sam Bradford was held below his average of 340 yards passing per game, but the Sooners did rush for 328 yards on 38 carries. Murray and Brown both ran for over 100 yards. Murray was ineffective on his last four carries, netting zero yards on those. However, since he had 123 yards on his first three carries, it all turned out alright.

The defense played well today. Jerrod Johnson was under duress during most of his time in the game. His favorite receiver appeared to be Johnny "Zits" McFarland, a third-year tuba player for the Aggie band. Johnny is best known for his precision route running, but today Johnson kept throwing passes deep into the stands in an effort to connect with McFarland on a longer play.

Hats off to Sr Aggie signal-caller Stephen McGee, who played quite a bit in the second half of his final game at Kyle Field. McGee was a warrior during his 4-year tenure with the Aggies, and all the editors here at LandThieves wish him well.

Aggie Kick returner Cyrus Gray had a big game today, returning 7 kicks for 261 yards, including one 98 yarder. The Sooners have now yielded three TDs and over 1800 yards on kick returns.

LandThieves awards Gas Cards to: the Offensive Line, DE Frank Alexander, LB Austin Box, and CB Dominique Franks. Alexander confused me several times. I'm used to seeing #84 as a receiver, Cheney, but Alexander was in the backfield all day for the Sooners. Box also played solidly yesterday, and survived a clean, violent block by Jorvorskie Lane to return to the game. Franks returned a fumble for a score, marking the second straight game he's scored for the defense.

Bugeaters Dominated

It was over when Dominquie Franks read the first Husker play, intercepted it and took it to the house.After running 11 offensive plays, the Sooners held a 28-0 margin. The Sooners were up 35-0 at the end of the first quarter, and held serve after that. Quentin Chaney had a big night receiving

Bradford got back on track this week against Nebraska, throwing 5 TDs for the fourth time this year. On the downside, Sam did throw a red zone pick; the pass was probably his worst throw of the night.

The defense played much better this week. The Sooners held the Huskers to 28 points, and 7 of those were meaningless points in the last minutes of the game. The only other team to hold the Huskers to less than 30 was Missouri. The Sooners did give up 400 yards, but again, many of those were meaningless, and the Sooners held a 4-1 turnover margin advantage.

Overall, definitely a good performace.

Another Solid Defensive Performance. Not.

In the second half. Hey, K State only got one score.


The Sooners allowed Josh Freeman to go 29-51 for 478 yards. Freeman made a couple of unbelievable throws, so it really shoulda only been 378 or so.


The only thing that saved the Sooners was the 28 points in 6 minutes late in the second quarter. The Sooners took the ball at 8 minutes left, and took 1:34 to score, forced a fumble 3 plays later, scored in 1:33, got an interception 3 plays later, and scored 2 plays later in 1 minute. Then a three and out yielded a punt, which Ryan Broyles took to the house for a score. For the first half, the Sooners average field position at the start of the drive was their own 45.


Sam was an uncharacteristic 13-32 passing for 255 yards, but he did get 3 scores. It's only the second game in Bradford's career where he completed less than 50% of his passes, and it's the first one the Sooners won when he did so (the other was the 27-24 loss to CU last year). It's only the third time he's completed less than 60% of his passes (TCU 2008). Watching the game here on tape delay, I noticed several drops.


Demarco Murray is running with authority again, and completed the day with 17 carries, 104 yards and 2 scores on the ground. Murray added 2 more scores on 4 catches for 63 yards. Brown added 142 yards on 20 carries, as the Sooners amassed 273 yards passing overall. The Wildcats are one of the nation's worst at rushing defense, so one would have expected the Sooners to run the ball a lot today.


Travis Lewis was a monster on defense, with 15 tackles, 2 for loss, and 2 interceptions and 55 return yards. Austin Box looked a little bit lost at times.

The Sooners are going to have to figure this out if they expect to beat TT and OSU in November.

OU-KU thoughts

Exhaustion precluded the normal overblogging this weekend after the trip to Norman Saturday. Here are my various thoughts:

• Manuel Johnson's elbow dislocation was gruesome. Didn't realize how gruesome until I got home and checked out the game on the DVR.
• Demarco Murray ran much better...that was good to see.
• Lendy Holmes made several huge plays. The two picks in the red zone were part of that. I guess since he was named Big 12 Defensive player of the week others noticed that as well.
• Few teams have such a good pass rush and inability to stop people as the Sooners right now. The Sooners had 5 sacks for 33 yards lost, and still gave up almost seven yard per play (491 yards on 72 plays).
• For all their offensive firepower, Kansas was kinda feast or famine. They were 0-10 on third down conversions until the final drive.
• I didn't really think Sam Bradford played that well in the first half...until I saw he had passed for 300 yards in the first half. I guess tha tells you how good he is...I remembered seeing a missed open receiver (Murray on a failed 4th down) and he flat out blew a sure TD when he overthrew Gresham on a screen and go.
• Kansas is really good offensively. Reesing is fun to watch. From waht I've read, Meier is dinged up, but he made a great catch during the day. It's rare to see a position change like his (QB to WR) and be so good at the new position. Briscoe had a huge day, but we've allowed several huge days lately (Cincy receiver I'm too lazy to look up, Shipley, and Briscoe).
• We were in the opposite end zone from Chris Brown's TD run. It was truly amazing from that angle...as the CB closed, I didn't see anyplace for him to go. Obviously he did.

Texas on 3rd down - 2nd half

• 3rd and 10 from the Texas 24 - incomplete pass; Texas punt
• 3rd and 6 from the Texas 15 - 10 yard completion for a first down
• 3rd and goal from the OU 2 - McCoy completes a TD pass to Jordan Shipley
• 3rd and 1 from the OU 11 - incomplete pass (Lamont Robinson drops an interception); Texas FG
• 3rd and 8 from the OU 38 - 37 yard pass to Jordan Shipley for a first down.
• 3rd and 4 from the OU 26 - McCoy pass to Chef Boyardee for 10 yards and a first down.
• 3rd and 8 from the Texas 41 - Chef Boyardee run for 1 yard; Sooner punt.

For this last effort, the Horns were ahead 45-35 and just trying to keep the cclock moving. While the game was on the line, Texas was 4-6 on third down.

Curious Observations from Today

Thoughts during the day, while watching from Section 3.

• In the first quarter, Texas was called for running into the kicker during Oklahoma's first punt. Knall's punt was 32 yards to the Horns 39. While the penaltiy wouldn't give the Sooners a first down, I thought we would have a decent changes of a 27+ yard punt from 4th and 4.
• I was completely puzzled by the lack of deep passing game by the Sooners. We had good pass protection for most of the game, but rarely threw the ball farther than 10 yards down the field.
• DeMarco Murray is not healthy. He doesn't have his normal burst. He's not making good cuts. I love his attitude, and he's clearly a talented player, but he's just not back from the knee injury suffered during that TT game last year. The Horns kept kicking too him. While perhaps that is out of respect to Iglesias, Murray should have been able to punish the Horns, and wasn't able to capitalize.
• I thought the fake punt was a decent call, but the execution wasn't good. If Gresham makes a block, Knall converts it.
• The bobble by Gresham that Broyles converts into a score was very close to an incomplete pass, but we'll take it.
• The two roughing the passer calls on Travis Lewis were both questionable. Nonetheless, Sooners had many chances to make a play and negate the adverse calls, and didn't.
• With :45 seconds left in the first half, the Sooners force the Horns into a FG situation. I thought the Sooners should have called a timeout and had 38 seconds or so to see if they could make something happen. The Sooners didn't, and the clock wound down to 3 seconds left before a Texas FG.
• I don't know why the Sooners didn't try a fifth DB instead of raw LB Brandon Crow. The Horn passing game consisted of short throws to Cosby, and throws in the middle of the field to Shipley ALL FREAKING DAY.
• Colt McCoy does a great job of moving around the keeping the play alive. He's more athletic than you initially think he would be. Is that because he's white? Or because he looks like he still doesn't shave?