After watching Ruffin and Lincoln's press conferences, something sort of jumped out at me.
First, Lincoln covers the ugliness of wins by saying " we have a record that most teams would love to have. We made plays when we needed and found a way to win. We are very close to making plays on defense and I love what we have within these walls". Obviously paraphrasing a few of his quotes, but nothing can really be argued against what he is saying.
Second, Ruffin states that he loves how the defense fights and that after the game, "how can I help these guys be better on the field with play calling." He goes on to state that you have to "scrap" in November to get a win. A one point win is still a win. Again, nothing one could really argue with in his statements.
My thought is this. You have coaches that have come from programs that use to be the underdogs in many games they played. They are of the old school mentality that all you have to do is find a way to outscore the other team and be ahead when the game ends. I call this the current UCF syndrome. It use to be the Boise St. and TCU syndrome. With how the game is evolved and given the human element of the selection committee, a win isn't just a win when you are in a beauty contest.
I would like to believe Riley is going to put his best foot forward and hire a DC that changes the perception of Oklahoma's defense. Not that it is just a perception, it's as bad as it looks. As discussed in other threads, there is nothing he can do right now except play with what he has. But this "a win is a win" isn't going to be a mentality that will get OU to another national championship game. I will take the "win is a win" in the CFP, or against a highly ranked team. Not every team that has a pulse.
Hopefully this isn't a tl;dr. Just wanted to post a thought and see what others think.
First, Lincoln covers the ugliness of wins by saying " we have a record that most teams would love to have. We made plays when we needed and found a way to win. We are very close to making plays on defense and I love what we have within these walls". Obviously paraphrasing a few of his quotes, but nothing can really be argued against what he is saying.
Second, Ruffin states that he loves how the defense fights and that after the game, "how can I help these guys be better on the field with play calling." He goes on to state that you have to "scrap" in November to get a win. A one point win is still a win. Again, nothing one could really argue with in his statements.
My thought is this. You have coaches that have come from programs that use to be the underdogs in many games they played. They are of the old school mentality that all you have to do is find a way to outscore the other team and be ahead when the game ends. I call this the current UCF syndrome. It use to be the Boise St. and TCU syndrome. With how the game is evolved and given the human element of the selection committee, a win isn't just a win when you are in a beauty contest.
I would like to believe Riley is going to put his best foot forward and hire a DC that changes the perception of Oklahoma's defense. Not that it is just a perception, it's as bad as it looks. As discussed in other threads, there is nothing he can do right now except play with what he has. But this "a win is a win" isn't going to be a mentality that will get OU to another national championship game. I will take the "win is a win" in the CFP, or against a highly ranked team. Not every team that has a pulse.
Hopefully this isn't a tl;dr. Just wanted to post a thought and see what others think.
