What has plagued OU's offense since BV and Lebby's arrival? I think I have the answer.
The best way to describe Lebby's offense so far through 22 games would be: Inconsistent, Hot/Cold, disjointed, rhythm based. Spurts of looking unstoppable, followed by instant 3 and outs, either within a game or many times (as we saw against OSU) within a drive. Things are going great until suddenly they aren't. The offensive line has not been good in the run game and the whole offense has been prone to mental mistakes, penalties, snap issues, WR drops, and some horrible turnovers - In many cases by veteran players. I think all these problems are related and come down to one thing: The pace at which the sooners seem determined to snap the ball every series.
Let's look at some of these issues individually.
Offensive line and run game - When snapping the ball so quickly the Oline doesn't have time to get set, make their calls, and make sure everyone is on the same page. They don't even have time to think about anything really. So you get missed assignments and guys not firing off the ball because many times they haven't keyed into their assignment, or the defense isn't even in place yet. Not to mention its hard to blow a D Lineman off the ball when you've just run up to the line after a 20+ yard play, or on a series when you've run 8-10 plays with literally no rest in between snaps. Give these 300 pounders a break if not just for 20 seconds!
Snap Issues, penalties, WR Drops - Again, 0 time to reset or think about anything. There's just been a big play, and now an audible that changes the snap count. Someone (many times a WR) jumps early and you have a false start. Drake stoops had a false start and ran his route short on the final lay of the game and he's the most experienced player on the field. Its just too much to ask of these players to run at break neck speed with no rest and be 100% focused on the details. I don't think pro players would be capable of this. These are world class athletes but they still get tired with no rest. What happens when you get tired? Mental mistakes, and doing things you normally wouldn't do (drops).
Turnovers / Overall disjointedness - Many of the turnovers have occurred on non conventional plays. Again 0 time to reset and think about the play about to happen or what you're supposed to do. This is especially problematic on non conventional plays when you're doing something out of the ordinary when you can't rely on instinct. We've seen this all year on direct snaps or reverses when things go horribly and many want to point to play calling. I think some of these are good plays that are just not executed because of the breakneck speed at which the ball is being snapped.
I think all these can be fixed somewhat if the sooners just decided to take 15-20 seconds between plays. THATS IT!!! We've gotten to a point when you have to look at the cost/benefit of running fast. The benefit is (I guess) catching the defense off guard. But is it really worth it? We scored fewer points on OSU than S. Alabama, Kansas, Iowa St and West Virginia. We only put up 20 on Cincinnati! Its not as if this offense is a scoring machine. And what does a defense do to slow down our pace and get the offense out of sync? Fake injury. We've seen it all year and was particularly costly against OSU. Every time we got out of rhythm after a timeout or injury the offense really struggled.
Sure I have an issue with Lebby's general cuteness in play calling, conservatism, and RPO concepts, but even if all that stays the same I think things could drastically improve with just a little slower pace. SOONERS! - This one weird trick can improve your offense!!
Beyond the offense there's one more HUGE thing that a slower pace would improve. Defense. Through 9 games the sooners have lost time of possession by a combined 20 minutes. That's over a quarter extra of football that OU's defense has been on the field and you can see them wearing down. We saw it in 2022 as well. There's nothing that kills a defense more than allowing a long scoring drive and then going right back on the field after a 3 and out that lasted 30 seconds.
This is so easily fixable and even with all the other issues that the team has dealt with over these last 3 dreadful weeks, I think this could be the answer. Let me know if I'm crazy
The best way to describe Lebby's offense so far through 22 games would be: Inconsistent, Hot/Cold, disjointed, rhythm based. Spurts of looking unstoppable, followed by instant 3 and outs, either within a game or many times (as we saw against OSU) within a drive. Things are going great until suddenly they aren't. The offensive line has not been good in the run game and the whole offense has been prone to mental mistakes, penalties, snap issues, WR drops, and some horrible turnovers - In many cases by veteran players. I think all these problems are related and come down to one thing: The pace at which the sooners seem determined to snap the ball every series.
Let's look at some of these issues individually.
Offensive line and run game - When snapping the ball so quickly the Oline doesn't have time to get set, make their calls, and make sure everyone is on the same page. They don't even have time to think about anything really. So you get missed assignments and guys not firing off the ball because many times they haven't keyed into their assignment, or the defense isn't even in place yet. Not to mention its hard to blow a D Lineman off the ball when you've just run up to the line after a 20+ yard play, or on a series when you've run 8-10 plays with literally no rest in between snaps. Give these 300 pounders a break if not just for 20 seconds!
Snap Issues, penalties, WR Drops - Again, 0 time to reset or think about anything. There's just been a big play, and now an audible that changes the snap count. Someone (many times a WR) jumps early and you have a false start. Drake stoops had a false start and ran his route short on the final lay of the game and he's the most experienced player on the field. Its just too much to ask of these players to run at break neck speed with no rest and be 100% focused on the details. I don't think pro players would be capable of this. These are world class athletes but they still get tired with no rest. What happens when you get tired? Mental mistakes, and doing things you normally wouldn't do (drops).
Turnovers / Overall disjointedness - Many of the turnovers have occurred on non conventional plays. Again 0 time to reset and think about the play about to happen or what you're supposed to do. This is especially problematic on non conventional plays when you're doing something out of the ordinary when you can't rely on instinct. We've seen this all year on direct snaps or reverses when things go horribly and many want to point to play calling. I think some of these are good plays that are just not executed because of the breakneck speed at which the ball is being snapped.
I think all these can be fixed somewhat if the sooners just decided to take 15-20 seconds between plays. THATS IT!!! We've gotten to a point when you have to look at the cost/benefit of running fast. The benefit is (I guess) catching the defense off guard. But is it really worth it? We scored fewer points on OSU than S. Alabama, Kansas, Iowa St and West Virginia. We only put up 20 on Cincinnati! Its not as if this offense is a scoring machine. And what does a defense do to slow down our pace and get the offense out of sync? Fake injury. We've seen it all year and was particularly costly against OSU. Every time we got out of rhythm after a timeout or injury the offense really struggled.
Sure I have an issue with Lebby's general cuteness in play calling, conservatism, and RPO concepts, but even if all that stays the same I think things could drastically improve with just a little slower pace. SOONERS! - This one weird trick can improve your offense!!
Beyond the offense there's one more HUGE thing that a slower pace would improve. Defense. Through 9 games the sooners have lost time of possession by a combined 20 minutes. That's over a quarter extra of football that OU's defense has been on the field and you can see them wearing down. We saw it in 2022 as well. There's nothing that kills a defense more than allowing a long scoring drive and then going right back on the field after a 3 and out that lasted 30 seconds.
This is so easily fixable and even with all the other issues that the team has dealt with over these last 3 dreadful weeks, I think this could be the answer. Let me know if I'm crazy
Last edited:
