Check this article out on Patterson and Briles before we talk about Mike Stoops:
http://espn.go.com/college-football...atterson-tcu-horned-frogs-became-star-coaches
It really puts in perspective how lost Mike Stoops is defending offenses today. Briles and Patterson built their identities with their respective schemes. Briles has a go-long Air Raid look that has beat the brakes off of defenses at the high school and collegiate levels and given a floundering program new look. It's a methodical way of playing the spread that adjusts for what defenses are giving you but also gives the playcaller the freedom to break one open with deep sideline passes at the right time. Patterson has a defensive scheme in his 4-2-5 that has been able to stifle spread offenses ever since they started popping up and, as we've seen from TCU in games against teams like Wisconsin and Boise State, has the versatility to stop power and pro attacks too.
We all know the story with Mike Stoops since he's been back. OU tried a 4-3 in 2012 that tried to emulate Nebraska's pattern-matching zone coverage and gap-plugging front. The 4-1-6 alignment that let WVU and Tavon Austin run all over OU's defense. Now he's using a 3-3-5/3-4 that has at least been consistently used, if not outright terrible at times, over the past couple years.
The thing is, when you juxtapose the three coaches, Briles and Patterson and Stoops, two have a clear vision and identity and the other guy looks like he's grasping at straws. Stoops just now got in guys that have had experience coaching in a 3 man front (Cooks and Reynolds) and has now displaced himself from his established position as defensive backs coach. How ass backwards can this thing get? I don't know how Oklahoma played defense when Stoops was here from 1999-2003, but it seemed at least there was an identity back then. 4 man front that got upfield and in opposing QBs faces' and a roving safety in the middle of the field that dealt punishing hits to guys over the middle and cleaned up anything missed in the run game. When you look at then and now, it just looks like Stoops has went away from what he was good at and into uncharted territory. If he was actually a good coach, wouldn't he have tweaked what he was good at and built it to stop the offenses that OU sees today? Patterson and Briles have done it with their schemes. Bud Foster has ran the same 4-4 Bear defense (now a 4-2-5) at Va Tech for, what, 20 years? Even John Chavis has his "Mustang" dime package. I don't see anything like that with Stoops at OU in 2014.
And the biggest thing is where has Bob been with all of this? Wasn't he a top DC at UF in the 90s? Can he not see the struggle here? Given what I've seen, I'm thinking people are right and the game has passed the Brothers Stoops by.
http://espn.go.com/college-football...atterson-tcu-horned-frogs-became-star-coaches
It really puts in perspective how lost Mike Stoops is defending offenses today. Briles and Patterson built their identities with their respective schemes. Briles has a go-long Air Raid look that has beat the brakes off of defenses at the high school and collegiate levels and given a floundering program new look. It's a methodical way of playing the spread that adjusts for what defenses are giving you but also gives the playcaller the freedom to break one open with deep sideline passes at the right time. Patterson has a defensive scheme in his 4-2-5 that has been able to stifle spread offenses ever since they started popping up and, as we've seen from TCU in games against teams like Wisconsin and Boise State, has the versatility to stop power and pro attacks too.
We all know the story with Mike Stoops since he's been back. OU tried a 4-3 in 2012 that tried to emulate Nebraska's pattern-matching zone coverage and gap-plugging front. The 4-1-6 alignment that let WVU and Tavon Austin run all over OU's defense. Now he's using a 3-3-5/3-4 that has at least been consistently used, if not outright terrible at times, over the past couple years.
The thing is, when you juxtapose the three coaches, Briles and Patterson and Stoops, two have a clear vision and identity and the other guy looks like he's grasping at straws. Stoops just now got in guys that have had experience coaching in a 3 man front (Cooks and Reynolds) and has now displaced himself from his established position as defensive backs coach. How ass backwards can this thing get? I don't know how Oklahoma played defense when Stoops was here from 1999-2003, but it seemed at least there was an identity back then. 4 man front that got upfield and in opposing QBs faces' and a roving safety in the middle of the field that dealt punishing hits to guys over the middle and cleaned up anything missed in the run game. When you look at then and now, it just looks like Stoops has went away from what he was good at and into uncharted territory. If he was actually a good coach, wouldn't he have tweaked what he was good at and built it to stop the offenses that OU sees today? Patterson and Briles have done it with their schemes. Bud Foster has ran the same 4-4 Bear defense (now a 4-2-5) at Va Tech for, what, 20 years? Even John Chavis has his "Mustang" dime package. I don't see anything like that with Stoops at OU in 2014.
And the biggest thing is where has Bob been with all of this? Wasn't he a top DC at UF in the 90s? Can he not see the struggle here? Given what I've seen, I'm thinking people are right and the game has passed the Brothers Stoops by.
