A really poor OU-Kansas Assessment

[JConXtsy]

I finally had a chance to watch the OU-KU No Huddle replay. I may or may not have been inebriated during the live event. I don't kiss (a bottle) and tell. I might have even imbibed during the replay, but that's between me and.... nobody?

Seeing the no huddle, I wasn't influenced by the extracurricular activities.

Here are my impressions

• Baker was on. I think I only saw 2 poor throws. Most of his incompletions could be pinned on the receivers. He was way in front of Andrews on one and in front of Lamb on another. The one with Lamb might have been an improper route by Lamb. No excuse on the Andrews one, just a bad throw... as should happen by anyone human.
• First half offense play calling really wasn't that bad. I felt the play calling by Lincoln, though it didn't produce a ton of points, seemed good at face value. I thought it was creative to start a game with a Heisman QB and you run 3 times. The 3rd was only 3 or 4 to go. Long enough to be a "guaranteed" pass, but he didn't. I probably would have done the same against Kansas. Just didn't work. That leads to the next point.
• In the first half, Kansas was getting crazy penetration and selling out with the linebackers... and it worked. Watching the no-huddle, everything goes so fast that it's difficult to assess. I don't know if our OLine just wasn't that good, or if it almost seemed like Kansas knew what we were about to do on every play. Did they read something that we were giving? Were we so vanilla that we were obvious?
• Receivers:
  • Lamb - What happened? Why don't we target him more? Is he double-covered always? He was so hot at the beginning of the year.
  • Brown - Wow is he fast still. Without replay, it looked like Baker hit him in stride in the first half for a TD and he dropped it. The dback was right there, but the ball was so perfect that only Brown had a chance to grab it. Maybe replay showed it was tipped. I don't know. I saw him miss another catch in the second half, but again, it was probably a low percentage catch. He's so fast, how come we're not trying slot routes in the middle with him? Is he scared of contact? He'd be sick streaking through the middle of the field with guys screening for him downfield.
  • Badet started with so much promise this season, but it seems like he's just a reverse runner. Just seems like receivers are getting so obvious (besides Andrew), that we're easy to cover.
  • Andrews is Andrews. What can I say? I think I saw one pass to him that he dropped and it was his fault (in real-time). Other than that, he's automatic. I don't like this comparison, but I make it anyways. He reminds me a ton of Witten. Just a big dood. Doesn't scream speed, but he gets open somehow, makes the catch, runs away from tacklers and punishes others. He's ready to ball in the NFL. If he's not the first TE taken, I'll crap my drawers.
  • Calcaterra. Damn. How can you have Andrews and his potential to leave, and it's really not that concerning? Oh yeah, cause you got a guy named Calcaterra behind him getting open as often as the DJIA rises under Trump. Oh yeah, and he catches it. Guy is ready to be the man. Insane for me to believe personally knowing how weak most Cali kids can be. Seriously, it's a sea of pansies out here.
  • Mykel Jones. I'm so happy he's been coming on lately. My life has been a blur lately, so I can't remember if I was wanting him to sleep with my sister last year or the year before, but at some point, he disappeared. He's back. He's making plays and looking just like he did back when I wanted to be his bro-in-law.
  • Smallwood. We all know he ain't so small. More TDs rushing, but Saturday, he caught a couple passes too. On one of them, he caught at the scrimmage line or behind and did exactly what he does on the run... there were 3 or 4 guys keyed on him, and he made them miss or bounce off and drag them. Guy is a WR tank. I haven't seen how he blocks, but he's got the size to. Freaking run the Ninja formation out wide with Smallwood, Andrews and Calcaterra blocking. Have Brown receiving behind them. Watch what happens. Then for fun, let Smallwood fake the block, slip by and launch it to him in the backfield. Guaranteed TD.
  • Mead. Sigh. I hate beating up on him. He's a Sooner, so I love him, but geez. That was his ball in the EZ. He was like 3' taller than the dback and the dback had their head turned. I couldn't see an excuse in real time for him not to catch it.
• Kansas offense had 2 plays. They either ran from a spread formation for confusion inside or threw short curls to the outside on the lines. We were more than willing to let them keep doing this.. .and they did..... like they didn't care about the score, just cared about slowing the game down and keeping the score respectable. Weird to say but 40-something to 3 was exactly that, a respectable score for Kansas. Trash.
• On the idea that we were willing to let them do it, there was one thing I hated. Surprisingly, it looked like we ran a 4 man front more often in this game. The problem? Our linebackers were lined up 6 yards from the LOS. Our 4 dline guys would engage the whole oline and keep them occupied. Time for the LBs to step in the pockets and stuff doods for no-gain, right? Nope. Our LBs literally sat on the 6 yard back area and maybe stepped up 1 yard when the RB or slot receiver came up. It was an awkward way of dominating them with our defense yet giving them 4-5 yards per play. Like, "Yo, we're way better than you, so we're going to sit where we are and give you 4-5 yards per play. That's how awesome we are."
• Rodney Anderson. So the RB debate is over, right? Is anyone still screaming where is Adams? Healthy Rodney is amazing. I get it now when we would read Stoops who said that even though he had Perine and Mixon that he would also get Anderson into the mix as a freshman. I swear I thought this was more Stoops slight of hand, hokus pokus crap. No way. Rodney is really, really good. Barring injuries, he could (still could) be one of our best. Speed, hands, moves, power. He's really good y'all.
• Sermon. I guess he finally proved to someone that he doesn't go down from hand tackles. I think he broke 3-4 on that TD. Peterson Freshman level? No. Pretty damn close? Yes.

That's all I've got. I didn't proof read and edit this post... yet. I might in the morning. Would love to hear more from y'all if you have input that veers away from the Baker BS. I don't take either side on that crap. Half of me is like, don't disrespect my school and team, and the other half of me says they were trying to essentially kill you (yeah, a cheap shot through violence can lead to death even with pads) so eff'em - we didn't pay them back enough. I dunno. I won't argue either side unless I'm intentionally trying to be argumentative.

 

[CTOkie]

Well presented JCon.
It's hard to gauge a team's performance when the opposing team is so weak, but OU looked good for the most part. I'm very pleased with the success Riley has had in replacing three franchise players on offense from last year in Perine, Mixon and Westbrook.
I am really encouraged over the rebuilt secondary and the freshman studs that have made it happen....and the secondary is greatly helped out by the use of the four man front. Murray and Kelly seem to get better each game at their LB positions.
I think Smallwood could have had a bigger impact at OU with his size and physical presence, but I like the way he's being used...finally...this year.
Jeffrey Mead's decline is a mystery. I thought he had really started to show his stuff last season.
At this time, I want the team to stay focused and get healthy for what's ahead. I would also like to see the team avoid "chippy" behavior as that crap always begets crap in return, and there's no time to let that get in the way of playing well and winning 4 more games.

 

[veritas59]

I finally had a chance to watch the OU-KU No Huddle replay. I may or may not have been inebriated during the live event. I don't kiss (a bottle) and tell. I might have even imbibed during the replay, but that's between me and.... nobody?

Seeing the no huddle, I wasn't influenced by the extracurricular activities.

Here are my impressions

• Baker was on. I think I only saw 2 poor throws. Most of his incompletions could be pinned on the receivers. He was way in front of Andrews on one and in front of Lamb on another. The one with Lamb might have been an improper route by Lamb. No excuse on the Andrews one, just a bad throw... as should happen by anyone human.
• First half offense play calling really wasn't that bad. I felt the play calling by Lincoln, though it didn't produce a ton of points, seemed good at face value. I thought it was creative to start a game with a Heisman QB and you run 3 times. The 3rd was only 3 or 4 to go. Long enough to be a "guaranteed" pass, but he didn't. I probably would have done the same against Kansas. Just didn't work. That leads to the next point.
• In the first half, Kansas was getting crazy penetration and selling out with the linebackers... and it worked. Watching the no-huddle, everything goes so fast that it's difficult to assess. I don't know if our OLine just wasn't that good, or if it almost seemed like Kansas knew what we were about to do on every play. Did they read something that we were giving? Were we so vanilla that we were obvious?
• Receivers:
  • Lamb - What happened? Why don't we target him more? Is he double-covered always? He was so hot at the beginning of the year.
  • Brown - Wow is he fast still. Without replay, it looked like Baker hit him in stride in the first half for a TD and he dropped it. The dback was right there, but the ball was so perfect that only Brown had a chance to grab it. Maybe replay showed it was tipped. I don't know. I saw him miss another catch in the second half, but again, it was probably a low percentage catch. He's so fast, how come we're not trying slot routes in the middle with him? Is he scared of contact? He'd be sick streaking through the middle of the field with guys screening for him downfield.
  • Badet started with so much promise this season, but it seems like he's just a reverse runner. Just seems like receivers are getting so obvious (besides Andrew), that we're easy to cover.
  • Andrews is Andrews. What can I say? I think I saw one pass to him that he dropped and it was his fault (in real-time). Other than that, he's automatic. I don't like this comparison, but I make it anyways. He reminds me a ton of Witten. Just a big dood. Doesn't scream speed, but he gets open somehow, makes the catch, runs away from tacklers and punishes others. He's ready to ball in the NFL. If he's not the first TE taken, I'll crap my drawers.
  • Calcaterra. Damn. How can you have Andrews and his potential to leave, and it's really not that concerning? Oh yeah, cause you got a guy named Calcaterra behind him getting open as often as the DJIA rises under Trump. Oh yeah, and he catches it. Guy is ready to be the man. Insane for me to believe personally knowing how weak most Cali kids can be. Seriously, it's a sea of pansies out here.
  • Mykel Jones. I'm so happy he's been coming on lately. My life has been a blur lately, so I can't remember if I was wanting him to sleep with my sister last year or the year before, but at some point, he disappeared. He's back. He's making plays and looking just like he did back when I wanted to be his bro-in-law.
  • Smallwood. We all know he ain't so small. More TDs rushing, but Saturday, he caught a couple passes too. On one of them, he caught at the scrimmage line or behind and did exactly what he does on the run... there were 3 or 4 guys keyed on him, and he made them miss or bounce off and drag them. Guy is a WR tank. I haven't seen how he blocks, but he's got the size to. Freaking run the Ninja formation out wide with Smallwood, Andrews and Calcaterra blocking. Have Brown receiving behind them. Watch what happens. Then for fun, let Smallwood fake the block, slip by and launch it to him in the backfield. Guaranteed TD.
  • Mead. Sigh. I hate beating up on him. He's a Sooner, so I love him, but geez. That was his ball in the EZ. He was like 3' taller than the dback and the dback had their head turned. I couldn't see an excuse in real time for him not to catch it.
• Kansas offense had 2 plays. They either ran from a spread formation for confusion inside or threw short curls to the outside on the lines. We were more than willing to let them keep doing this.. .and they did..... like they didn't care about the score, just cared about slowing the game down and keeping the score respectable. Weird to say but 40-something to 3 was exactly that, a respectable score for Kansas. Trash.
• On the idea that we were willing to let them do it, there was one thing I hated. Surprisingly, it looked like we ran a 4 man front more often in this game. The problem? Our linebackers were lined up 6 yards from the LOS. Our 4 dline guys would engage the whole oline and keep them occupied. Time for the LBs to step in the pockets and stuff doods for no-gain, right? Nope. Our LBs literally sat on the 6 yard back area and maybe stepped up 1 yard when the RB or slot receiver came up. It was an awkward way of dominating them with our defense yet giving them 4-5 yards per play. Like, "Yo, we're way better than you, so we're going to sit where we are and give you 4-5 yards per play. That's how awesome we are."
• Rodney Anderson. So the RB debate is over, right? Is anyone still screaming where is Adams? Healthy Rodney is amazing. I get it now when we would read Stoops who said that even though he had Perine and Mixon that he would also get Anderson into the mix as a freshman. I swear I thought this was more Stoops slight of hand, hokus pokus crap. No way. Rodney is really, really good. Barring injuries, he could (still could) be one of our best. Speed, hands, moves, power. He's really good y'all.
• Sermon. I guess he finally proved to someone that he doesn't go down from hand tackles. I think he broke 3-4 on that TD. Peterson Freshman level? No. Pretty damn close? Yes.

That's all I've got. I didn't proof read and edit this post... yet. I might in the morning. Would love to hear more from y'all if you have input that veers away from the Baker BS. I don't take either side on that crap. Half of me is like, don't disrespect my school and team, and the other half of me says they were trying to essentially kill you (yeah, a cheap shot through violence can lead to death even with pads) so eff'em - we didn't pay them back enough. I dunno. I won't argue either side unless I'm intentionally trying to be argumentative.

Good stuff!

 

[iasooner1]

Love it ! Ladies and Gentlemen we have a writer among us that doesn't have anything to prove like some others we've seen in the past...

Now let's go get some. SOONERS !

 

[OUSOONER67]

I finally had a chance to watch the OU-KU No Huddle replay. I may or may not have been inebriated during the live event. I don't kiss (a bottle) and tell. I might have even imbibed during the replay, but that's between me and.... nobody?

Seeing the no huddle, I wasn't influenced by the extracurricular activities.

Here are my impressions

• Baker was on. I think I only saw 2 poor throws. Most of his incompletions could be pinned on the receivers. He was way in front of Andrews on one and in front of Lamb on another. The one with Lamb might have been an improper route by Lamb. No excuse on the Andrews one, just a bad throw... as should happen by anyone human.
• First half offense play calling really wasn't that bad. I felt the play calling by Lincoln, though it didn't produce a ton of points, seemed good at face value. I thought it was creative to start a game with a Heisman QB and you run 3 times. The 3rd was only 3 or 4 to go. Long enough to be a "guaranteed" pass, but he didn't. I probably would have done the same against Kansas. Just didn't work. That leads to the next point.
• In the first half, Kansas was getting crazy penetration and selling out with the linebackers... and it worked. Watching the no-huddle, everything goes so fast that it's difficult to assess. I don't know if our OLine just wasn't that good, or if it almost seemed like Kansas knew what we were about to do on every play. Did they read something that we were giving? Were we so vanilla that we were obvious?
• Receivers:
  • Lamb - What happened? Why don't we target him more? Is he double-covered always? He was so hot at the beginning of the year.
  • Brown - Wow is he fast still. Without replay, it looked like Baker hit him in stride in the first half for a TD and he dropped it. The dback was right there, but the ball was so perfect that only Brown had a chance to grab it. Maybe replay showed it was tipped. I don't know. I saw him miss another catch in the second half, but again, it was probably a low percentage catch. He's so fast, how come we're not trying slot routes in the middle with him? Is he scared of contact? He'd be sick streaking through the middle of the field with guys screening for him downfield.
  • Badet started with so much promise this season, but it seems like he's just a reverse runner. Just seems like receivers are getting so obvious (besides Andrew), that we're easy to cover.
  • Andrews is Andrews. What can I say? I think I saw one pass to him that he dropped and it was his fault (in real-time). Other than that, he's automatic. I don't like this comparison, but I make it anyways. He reminds me a ton of Witten. Just a big dood. Doesn't scream speed, but he gets open somehow, makes the catch, runs away from tacklers and punishes others. He's ready to ball in the NFL. If he's not the first TE taken, I'll crap my drawers.
  • Calcaterra. Damn. How can you have Andrews and his potential to leave, and it's really not that concerning? Oh yeah, cause you got a guy named Calcaterra behind him getting open as often as the DJIA rises under Trump. Oh yeah, and he catches it. Guy is ready to be the man. Insane for me to believe personally knowing how weak most Cali kids can be. Seriously, it's a sea of pansies out here.
  • Mykel Jones. I'm so happy he's been coming on lately. My life has been a blur lately, so I can't remember if I was wanting him to sleep with my sister last year or the year before, but at some point, he disappeared. He's back. He's making plays and looking just like he did back when I wanted to be his bro-in-law.
  • Smallwood. We all know he ain't so small. More TDs rushing, but Saturday, he caught a couple passes too. On one of them, he caught at the scrimmage line or behind and did exactly what he does on the run... there were 3 or 4 guys keyed on him, and he made them miss or bounce off and drag them. Guy is a WR tank. I haven't seen how he blocks, but he's got the size to. Freaking run the Ninja formation out wide with Smallwood, Andrews and Calcaterra blocking. Have Brown receiving behind them. Watch what happens. Then for fun, let Smallwood fake the block, slip by and launch it to him in the backfield. Guaranteed TD.
  • Mead. Sigh. I hate beating up on him. He's a Sooner, so I love him, but geez. That was his ball in the EZ. He was like 3' taller than the dback and the dback had their head turned. I couldn't see an excuse in real time for him not to catch it.
• Kansas offense had 2 plays. They either ran from a spread formation for confusion inside or threw short curls to the outside on the lines. We were more than willing to let them keep doing this.. .and they did..... like they didn't care about the score, just cared about slowing the game down and keeping the score respectable. Weird to say but 40-something to 3 was exactly that, a respectable score for Kansas. Trash.
• On the idea that we were willing to let them do it, there was one thing I hated. Surprisingly, it looked like we ran a 4 man front more often in this game. The problem? Our linebackers were lined up 6 yards from the LOS. Our 4 dline guys would engage the whole oline and keep them occupied. Time for the LBs to step in the pockets and stuff doods for no-gain, right? Nope. Our LBs literally sat on the 6 yard back area and maybe stepped up 1 yard when the RB or slot receiver came up. It was an awkward way of dominating them with our defense yet giving them 4-5 yards per play. Like, "Yo, we're way better than you, so we're going to sit where we are and give you 4-5 yards per play. That's how awesome we are."
• Rodney Anderson. So the RB debate is over, right? Is anyone still screaming where is Adams? Healthy Rodney is amazing. I get it now when we would read Stoops who said that even though he had Perine and Mixon that he would also get Anderson into the mix as a freshman. I swear I thought this was more Stoops slight of hand, hokus pokus crap. No way. Rodney is really, really good. Barring injuries, he could (still could) be one of our best. Speed, hands, moves, power. He's really good y'all.
• Sermon. I guess he finally proved to someone that he doesn't go down from hand tackles. I think he broke 3-4 on that TD. Peterson Freshman level? No. Pretty damn close? Yes.

That's all I've got. I didn't proof read and edit this post... yet. I might in the morning. Would love to hear more from y'all if you have input that veers away from the Baker BS. I don't take either side on that crap. Half of me is like, don't disrespect my school and team, and the other half of me says they were trying to essentially kill you (yeah, a cheap shot through violence can lead to death even with pads) so eff'em - we didn't pay them back enough. I dunno. I won't argue either side unless I'm intentionally trying to be argumentative.

Ditto! Good read Jcon, thanks for posting!
I really thought OU would suffer on offense more after losing Perine, Mixon and Westbrook but for the most part they haven't missed a beat. I credit Riley for the job he has done so far getting guys ready to play. I don't know how far this team can go but I believe it is going to be fun to watch. A lot of teams would love to be in our shoes right now. I hope the Sooners take advantage of the opportunity at hand.

 

[RightFieldHomie]

Our offense was vanilla in this game. Baker missed a few pass early but other than that was spot on. The offensive line just really didn’t seem to be into the game at all. They seemed to be going through the motions all game. On short yardage we are pulling a lot so kansas shot the gaps. This is something we need to change up. On defense we played ok, I would have like to have seen more aggressiveness from our lb’s and some more blitz calls but we really kept it straight up. I still understand why continue to play our lb’s in such wide fits. Teams have been eating us up when we do that. Like mentioned we also play way too far off the ball. Even on short yardage we are too far back.

 

[kcstorm06]

I sure wish the Sooners would pick up the tempo. Their heartbeat in the KU game was slow and deliberate. Seemed like we were super vanilla...and that the OL had its hands full most of the game. We better pick up the tempo here on out. It was a sluggish game in person...wind effects did not help.

 

[iasooner1]

My gamewatch neighbor was there also. Talked to him last night and he said heard nothing about Baker at the game and heard the comments on the radio after. He did not appreciate the pre-game non handshake nor the cheap shot. Agree on the pure vanilla. Time to seal the deal Lincoln...

 

[JConXtsy]

Our offense was vanilla in this game. Baker missed a few pass early but other than that was spot on. The offensive line just really didn’t seem to be into the game at all. They seemed to be going through the motions all game. On short yardage we are pulling a lot so kansas shot the gaps. This is something we need to change up. On defense we played ok, I would have like to have seen more aggressiveness from our lb’s and some more blitz calls but we really kept it straight up. I still understand why continue to play our lb’s in such wide fits. Teams have been eating us up when we do that. Like mentioned we also play way too far off the ball. Even on short yardage we are too far back.

You know a lot more than me. That was a good assessment and pretty much exactly what I saw but couldn't explain as well.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

My gamewatch neighbor was there also. Talked to him last night and he said heard nothing about Baker at the game and heard the comments on the radio after. He did not appreciate the pre-game non handshake nor the cheap shot. Agree on the pure vanilla. Time to seal the deal Lincoln...

Most of America didn't see it or even care until the media blew it up and Boren stepped it up. And most of America didn't appreciate the pre-game non handshake.

JC, great stuff. Enjoyed the read. Losing the three big spokes from last year and then being the #1 offense this year is quite telling.
1. We are blessed with an amazing O-Line.
2. Riley can indeed dial up some offensive plays and strategies.

 

[owenfieldreams]

If there was ever any doubt about ESPN bias I suggest you watch a replay of last night's Egg Bowl.

 

[CTOkie]

I give ESPN little credibility since it's now another extension of liberal BS and caters almost exclusively to the under-30 crowd. The CFB game coverage is good, but outside of that, I don't pay ESPN much attention.