Fatigue?

[PryorFan]

Was it a factor vs Clemson. I noticed early in the game that the Sooners looked gased, especially the defense. On the morning sports animal they were discussing the same thing mentioning that Bob Stoops let the team go home for almost two weeks and then started practicing again 1 1/2 weeks before the game vs Clemson who kept all the players on campus, going through conditioning, except for 2 days around Christmas. They mentioned that the info was from one of OU's strength coaches.

If this is true then Bob Stoops just dropped a notch in my esteem. How can he allow the team to get out of game shape when your getting ready for a possible championship run?

Can anyone confirm if this happened or not?

 

[PryorFan]

One of the sports animal guys said he was going to press Bob Stoops on this issue at his weekly press conference.

 

[JConXtsy]

This wouldn't be the first time that Bob has been accused of such. I think it's just his Bowl Game MO.

 

[Schoonerman]

The guys have been working out year round to stay in playing shape. They might have had a week off after finals to rest up and enjoy the holidays, but I can't imagine a week or so off would have caused them to be "gassed" during the game. They seemed to have plenty of energy in the first half, scoring on their first possession and then again before half to take the lead.

However, Clemson controlled the time of possession in the 2, 3 and 4 quarters by pounding the rock, sustaining drives and wearing down our defense. Our D line got gassed, but it was not because they took a week off to rest up. I'm sure Clemson did the same thing after finals and before bowl preparation. They just took it to us in the second half and wore us down. I don't think taking a week off was the cause for looking gassed. They were just better than us in the trenches and wore down our D. This one is not on Bob.

 

[barkingwater2000]

Was it a factor vs Clemson. I noticed early in the game that the Sooners looked gased, especially the defense. On the morning sports animal they were discussing the same thing mentioning that Bob Stoops let the team go home for almost two weeks and then started practicing again 1 1/2 weeks before the game vs Clemson who kept all the players on campus, going through conditioning, except for 2 days around Christmas. They mentioned that the info was from one of OU's strength coaches.

If this is true then Bob Stoops just dropped a notch in my esteem. How can he allow the team to get out of game shape when your getting ready for a possible championship run?

Can anyone confirm if this happened or not?

Pryor I was thinking just the opposite. I agree the players, especially on defense, looked tired and lifeless. I questioned whether the players had went too hard in practice in the weeks leading up to the game. Did they leave something on the practice field? The defense had their hands on their hips during the first drive of the second half.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

Blood bath tweet from Riley
Walker concussed on Monday before the game Thursday
1's playing against 1's

They got after it leading up to the game. But I'm not sure if this was a typical Bowl Game preparation from Stoops.

 

[Plainosooner]

I think that might be less an issue than something else. I heard Coach Riley talking about a scrimmage not long before the game, that he described as a blood bath.

What I saw in the game was no Walker. And it appeared even before he got hurt, that Mixon was hurting. I thought that maybe they overdid it too close to the game. I believe they said the Walker's concussion happened on Monday. That's pretty late in the prep time to be having a full scale scrimmage. But if they didn't get them back until the 26th, then they had to at least get some game planning done beofre they scrimmaged. So Monady would be about as early has you could have a dogfight of a scrimmage.

It's a really tough call for a coach. Players are so worn down from the season, that they need some down time. Then deciding how much contact to have after that is not something that you can determine on some recurring rule. And you could do the same thing every year, and this year, it might not be good when two years ago it worked great. There isn't a right way.

But whatever way it was, we looked really lethargic in the game. Sometimes though, when you get your butts kicked, whatever you did wasn't a good plan. But Clemson was really good. We the Sooners weren't.

 

[JConXtsy]

If we had won, there'd be no questioning it. Doubt creeps in with loss.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

If we had won, there'd be no questioning it. Doubt creeps in with loss.

I agree. But with a loss I believe I begin the process of wondering why. Which leads to the questioning. You're correct though, if OU won, we'd be discussing Bama.