Lincoln Riley............

[K2C Sooner]

I'm sure some of you are like me and have seen where Riley's second year offense will be deadlier than last year. That's according to several pundits. I really have a hard time imagining a major difference. The offense was prolific last year. I can see only one game where it was not hitting on all cylinders and that was Texas. We were better, but not that game, and damn well should have been. If you disagree ,look at the Iowa State versus Texas game.

TCU was well in hand until Baker's injury. We scored plenty on Tulsa, but they beat the spread because of the failure of the defense.

Clemson should not even be considered. Their defense was just flat out better in the second half. No excuses.

Will Lincoln leave after this year if he does improve the offense? His numbers would be off the charts.He won the top offense coordinator of the year last year. If he improves that offense, the sky is the limit........

BTW, I read where some coach or pundit said Cody Ford was the best lineman coming out of fall practice. I also read where Perine is in the best health he's ever been at OU. He had an ankle problem as a freshman.

 

[BillyRay]

I don't think we can automatically chalk up this season as "will be deadlier" than last season. One HUGE hole that needs to be filled is Shepard's departure. That is a TON of production that needs players to step up to fill. If Baker can't find a clutch, go-to target again, then the offense could take a slight step back from last season. If Baker finds enough targets to throw to, then I agree this season the offense could be a step up from last year.

And I do not understand the stance of not even considering the Clemson game since they had a quality defense. Really?? So we are only going to consider games where things went really, really great for OU and ignore all others?? Good grief. That stance is really saying that Lincoln can only have success against incompetent defenses that populate the Big XII. Because last season Lincoln's offense was unbelievably impotent against the Tennessee defense as well. If not for Tennessee taking their foot off the gas offensively in the 2nd half, OU would have lost that game. And the Clemson game was at the tail end of a run where Lincoln's offense was playing as well as any offense in the country, and just got completely dominated by Clemson's defense. Not sure how you can choose to not even consider that......

But I don't think Lincoln will leave after just 2 seasons at OU. I could be wrong, but at 32 years old he is just incredibly young to take a step up to a head coaching position. I'm sure Bob would recommend him not just jump at the first job that comes calling, and continue to build his resume and wait on a quality job. It's the same thing Bob did.

 

[K2C Sooner]

Fair enough. That's why I threw the question out. Pundits are talking most offense coordinators teams improve the second year in and Riley's name has been mentioned. I stated it would be hard to improve on the numbers myself.

As far as the Clemson game. They were just better in the second half. Better players and I have no problem losing to a better team as long as we give it our best.

 

[8085sooner]

He needs to improve, the Running game. He hasn't figured out how to utilize his best and most talented position, consistently. He needs to improve what I call the feel for the game, he has good instincts but not great. His biggest, problem is what I call the spread junk routes that Baylor, TT, OSU and TCU have perfected. You can take an average WR, with only decent hands and make them productive, this hasn't happened at OU, under Riley. Yet!

With OU talent, running the Riley Spread should never have a 3 and out. They should always be able to move the ball in between the red zones. OU should be able to set the RUN up with the spread, junk routes. OU has one of the most talent backfields in CF, they should be effective against every defense, including Clemson.



Don't get me wrong I really like Riley and think he is great but he defiantly has room for improvement. He needs a lot more experience, with Top Flight athletes

 

[ccraider]

Wait so we finally play a top tier team on the national stage but we shouldn't consider it because they have a great defense?!? Um ok. Well then there are a few bowl games I would like removed from our record/my memory because they kicked the shit out of us.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

I think we run the ball more than last year. And as much as I love Sterling, I think we'll be fine. We have more talent at WR this year than last collectively. I also think Mixon is going to tear it up this year. And for some reason, it seems that Andrews is simply not getting his due. The dude set an all time TD record as Freshman last year. Offensively we will be better I think. More balanced. Baker is more comfortable w/ the offense and Riley is more comfortable with his players. If you recall, Riley didn't run the ball often until AFTER the Texas loss.

 

[Plainosooner]

K2C, I'm with you. I think the bigger factor is that the conference teams on your schedule, have a whole lot better idea about how you're going to attack them. OUr guys surely know better what they're supposed to do. But the other guys do too. It's the same reason why it got harder to run the wishbone after a decade. The defense knows your read keys, and your play call inclinations.

A whole lot of game planning goes on during the off season. Lots of opponent video is watched. Teams we play this year, will have a lot better idea what Baker is going to do against pressure, and will game plan accordingly. Throw in the loss of Sterling, and I think OUr offense will be challenged in ways they weren't a year ago.

The biggest offensive upswing this year, is likely to be some growth amongst OUr big guy receivers. I'm looking forward to seeing Smallwood and Miller as improved players and quality contributors. They had better be.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

and Riley watches video as well of the conferences defenses as well. Baker on many occasions, literally scrambled and extended plays to win a couple of those games. That's not only bad for the health of the QB, but it's also hard for defenses to plan against. I think Riley's play book will be opened to include a few more (new) chapters this year.

 

[BillyRay]

and Riley watches video as well of the conferences defenses as well. Baker on many occasions, literally scrambled and extended plays to win a couple of those games. That's not only bad for the health of the QB, but it's also hard for defenses to plan against. I think Riley's play book will be opened to include a few more (new) chapters this year.

Well and also, last year like you said much of the success of the offense was Baker and his "Vince Young" effect. Where the play had basically broken down, and Baker made something happen on his own. So not everything that went well last year is on Riley's shoulders. Baker bailed him out on many occasions.

 

[WhyNotaSooner]

Well and also, last year like you said much of the success of the offense was Baker and his "Vince Young" effect. Where the play had basically broken down, and Baker made something happen on his own. So not everything that went well last year is on Riley's shoulders. Baker bailed him out on many occasions.

True. I attribute this to the lack of comfort w/ the offensive on both Baker & his surrounding players. But I also think Riley also learned what players he had & what each could. He admitted as much after the Texas loss in that he needed to rely on his run game and call more plays designed for his RBs. Which he did as the games going forward had much more run plays in his game plans. His offense evolved as the season went forward and the players executed better as the season progressed.

 

[ESPiam]

I think we are a year away from total dominance. But if we can have another great year and another possible final 4 our recruiting is going to the moon! Now if we can get everyone including the coaches to stay and commit to another year or two ESPN will be doing our recruiting for us instead of Bama.

 

[OUSOONER67]

Is Overrated.

 

[barkingwater2000]

From the looks of it I think the offense is going to struggle this season. The lack of a go to receiver and a sub par offensive line will hinder progress. I also can't say I was all that impressed with the game Riley called today.

 

[OUSOONER67]

I was not happy with the hire from the start. Had Baker not improvised as he did last season we would have seen exactly how bad the play calling was. Baker made Riley look very good last season. Just my opinion.

 

[BillyRay]

So like...does this mean going forward Houston shouldn't even be considered either??

 

[Phaeded]

The biggest offensive upswing this year, is likely to be some growth amongst OUr big guy receivers. I'm looking forward to seeing Smallwood and Miller as improved players and quality contributors. They had better be.

Yeah, well you have to throw to them to know if they are improved. By my calculation Smallwood, Miller and Mead were collectively thrown to once.

I said Riley blew his good will from the regular season with the game plan versus Clemson (e.g., direct snap to an injured Perrine on a critical 4th and short?) but that was discounted here; well, Riley has crapped his pants two games in a row now.

Did we throw one slant?

Did we throw one WR bubble screen?

Instead Riley allowed Baker to run around like some schoolyard pick-up game, even though it was seldom working (13 rushes for minus one yard). Yes Baker bailed out Riley with scrambling last year, but when its not working you rein the kid in.

Meanwhile Herman had a beautiful game plan against us - flares and passes out into the flats, and when we cheated in to the flats he went over the top.

What was our O game plan?