I'll go position by position, for some order.
QB: Man Caleb played awful. The early drops didn't help him get in a rhythm though that's for sure. His deep ball still isn't there, though Riley's inability to confuse DCs has become a big issue. They're playing 2 high S and Riley can't figure it out. We seem to be unable to just get 7-10 yards at a time, which is what we should be doing if they're playing us safe like that. More on that later.
RB: It's rough watching good team across the nation run the ball, then watch OU. Such slow developing plays due to the GT counter. Brooks is a good (not great) back, but he leaves meat on the bone. He just lacks explosion and brings nothing in the passing game. Watch Cook 2.0 at Georgia this weekend. Watch any RB at Bama. We just simply don't have the horses at RB. Major seems like he could be that guy, but he's yet to ever do much by way of production. Think of OU's best RBs under Riley. Mixon, Perine, Anderson, Stevenson. Anderson was the smallest of them and he was yoked. We need bigger RBs, which makes me a little squeemish about our RB crop in '22. Talented and speedy, but when has Riley ever deployed a small speedy back with success? I'll wait. And if teams are gonna play us safe, why not more RB stuff in the middle of the field? How are we not implementing Gray in ISO routes with LBs in the middle of the field?
WR: Boy, this group is just a bunch of JAGs. I've been harping on it since this summer, but goodness gracious they can't seem to get open consistently. If defenses played 2 high vs. CD or Shep, they'd carve their ass up with 12 completions a game. We just don't have that. Another reason why this summer's WR decommits are such a big deal. Help ain't coming, nothing's changing.
TE: Man it's hard to watch Stogner. An already limited athlete just looks like a shell of himself. I actually think we need to implement Hall more often. More leaks.
OL: I'll leave the OL breakdown to Gabe and Josh, but man it's hard to watch the run game. IIRC we started the GT counter because we needed a differentiator because the talent when Bedenbaugh arrived just wasn't that good. It worked, and our (at least recruiting wise) talent increased. Now teams have adjusted, yet we're still banging our heads against a wall. It's no coincidence that Sermon leaves to tOSU and he explodes. No OL is getting better. No one is making leaps. Heck, Creed Humphrey could be an All Pro this year in the NFL and he was extremely "meh" his last year at OU. I think it's scheme.
DL: I'm just not a fan of all the movement at or right before the snap. Seems our DL is moving sideways far more than they're moving upfield. I don't have a ton of complaints on this group though, it's the most talented group on the teams sans QBs.
LB: Boy. Asamoah had the best game of his career and the group still blew. I don't anything epitomizes this more than David U hitting the RB 1-.5 yard behind the LOS and being carried an extra 5 yards to the first down. Our 6'3" 245 pound middle linebacker met a RB and went for a ride. I really don't recall the last time I saw one of our LBs drive a RB backwards on their own.
Dbs: Like Ugwoegbu getting driven backwards, nothing summarizes our D more than a former LB, now RB, reversing field on a zone run, and beating 2 OU DBs to the edge for a big gain. For a speed D, we are slow.
Overall I stand by what I said this summer.
1. We simply aren't that talented.
- I believe we have a bunch of fringe NFL, UDFA guys on our team. We don't have the top end talent. Teams that win national titles usually have 4-5 1st rounders, a slew of future 1st rounders, and a handful of day 2/ day 3 guys. We just don't have that much talent on this roster.
2. We are getting worse as a team. After the '17 class, ('18-20) who on offense has gotten better as their career has gone on? Here's a list: B. Walker, Pledger, Moore, Simpson, Robinson, Crawford, Taylor, Mordecai, Willis, Swaby, Wease, Haselwood, Rattler, Bridges, Wilkins, Stogner, Alexander, Major, ENO, Felix, Stevenson, Parks, Anderson, Nelson, McGowan, Raym, Conyers, Harrison, Mims, West, Henderson, Darby, Morris. That's 33 offensive signees. 15 (45%) are gone and didn't do jack. 9 (27%) aren't doing jack but still on the team. 9 (27%) look to be starters or better. But even of those 9, it ain't like they're lighting the world on fire. Riley, Simmons, Gundy, and Bedenbaugh have shit the bed since the '17 class in terms of developing talent. But don't worry, I'm sure the portal will solve all our problems.
In terms of the speed D. Grinch took over in '19? '19-20 classes, let's take a look: W. Washington (good), Morris (switch pos, 3rd string), Wete (swith pos, 4th string), Hicks (switch pos, 4th string), Davis (poor performance), Criddell (meh when available), Stripling (switch pos, 3rd string before CK injury), Ugwoegbu (switch pos, poor performance), Roberson (3rd string), Dearman (gone), Green (gone), Perkins (gone), Stokes (4th string), Winfrey (starter, NFL bound), Grimes (promising but 3rd string), B. washington (3rd string), Eaton (3rd string), Graham (starter), Arinze (9th string), Harrington (gone), Dennis (3rd string), Ellison (3rd string), Whitter (2nd/3rd string but promising), Walker (4th string),
24 signees between his first 2 classes. only 6 are having real impacts, some of those impacts aren't that great either.
In totality of my thoughts, the '18-20 classes were absolute crap. We don't have the high end guys, and we don't have the day 2-3 guys to make us a national title team. Again, it goes back to this summer. There's only so long you can say "are we really worried about Riley landing elite offensive guys?" before it actually catches up to you. It has caught up to us, boys.
OU yards per game:
2015: 530
2016: 555
2017: 580
2018: 567
2019: 538
2020: 495
2021: 458
Notice a trend? The further we get into Riley's tenure. The worse our offense is getting. Teams have figured out the GT counter, and our evaluations/development on offense have been awful. I'm not calling for jobs, but more a change in philosophy. Bigger RBs, more speed at WR, a zone running scheme, and a renewed emphasis on not just accepting that "you get who you were meant to get" offensively.
QB: Man Caleb played awful. The early drops didn't help him get in a rhythm though that's for sure. His deep ball still isn't there, though Riley's inability to confuse DCs has become a big issue. They're playing 2 high S and Riley can't figure it out. We seem to be unable to just get 7-10 yards at a time, which is what we should be doing if they're playing us safe like that. More on that later.
RB: It's rough watching good team across the nation run the ball, then watch OU. Such slow developing plays due to the GT counter. Brooks is a good (not great) back, but he leaves meat on the bone. He just lacks explosion and brings nothing in the passing game. Watch Cook 2.0 at Georgia this weekend. Watch any RB at Bama. We just simply don't have the horses at RB. Major seems like he could be that guy, but he's yet to ever do much by way of production. Think of OU's best RBs under Riley. Mixon, Perine, Anderson, Stevenson. Anderson was the smallest of them and he was yoked. We need bigger RBs, which makes me a little squeemish about our RB crop in '22. Talented and speedy, but when has Riley ever deployed a small speedy back with success? I'll wait. And if teams are gonna play us safe, why not more RB stuff in the middle of the field? How are we not implementing Gray in ISO routes with LBs in the middle of the field?
WR: Boy, this group is just a bunch of JAGs. I've been harping on it since this summer, but goodness gracious they can't seem to get open consistently. If defenses played 2 high vs. CD or Shep, they'd carve their ass up with 12 completions a game. We just don't have that. Another reason why this summer's WR decommits are such a big deal. Help ain't coming, nothing's changing.
TE: Man it's hard to watch Stogner. An already limited athlete just looks like a shell of himself. I actually think we need to implement Hall more often. More leaks.
OL: I'll leave the OL breakdown to Gabe and Josh, but man it's hard to watch the run game. IIRC we started the GT counter because we needed a differentiator because the talent when Bedenbaugh arrived just wasn't that good. It worked, and our (at least recruiting wise) talent increased. Now teams have adjusted, yet we're still banging our heads against a wall. It's no coincidence that Sermon leaves to tOSU and he explodes. No OL is getting better. No one is making leaps. Heck, Creed Humphrey could be an All Pro this year in the NFL and he was extremely "meh" his last year at OU. I think it's scheme.
DL: I'm just not a fan of all the movement at or right before the snap. Seems our DL is moving sideways far more than they're moving upfield. I don't have a ton of complaints on this group though, it's the most talented group on the teams sans QBs.
LB: Boy. Asamoah had the best game of his career and the group still blew. I don't anything epitomizes this more than David U hitting the RB 1-.5 yard behind the LOS and being carried an extra 5 yards to the first down. Our 6'3" 245 pound middle linebacker met a RB and went for a ride. I really don't recall the last time I saw one of our LBs drive a RB backwards on their own.
Dbs: Like Ugwoegbu getting driven backwards, nothing summarizes our D more than a former LB, now RB, reversing field on a zone run, and beating 2 OU DBs to the edge for a big gain. For a speed D, we are slow.
Overall I stand by what I said this summer.
1. We simply aren't that talented.
- I believe we have a bunch of fringe NFL, UDFA guys on our team. We don't have the top end talent. Teams that win national titles usually have 4-5 1st rounders, a slew of future 1st rounders, and a handful of day 2/ day 3 guys. We just don't have that much talent on this roster.
2. We are getting worse as a team. After the '17 class, ('18-20) who on offense has gotten better as their career has gone on? Here's a list: B. Walker, Pledger, Moore, Simpson, Robinson, Crawford, Taylor, Mordecai, Willis, Swaby, Wease, Haselwood, Rattler, Bridges, Wilkins, Stogner, Alexander, Major, ENO, Felix, Stevenson, Parks, Anderson, Nelson, McGowan, Raym, Conyers, Harrison, Mims, West, Henderson, Darby, Morris. That's 33 offensive signees. 15 (45%) are gone and didn't do jack. 9 (27%) aren't doing jack but still on the team. 9 (27%) look to be starters or better. But even of those 9, it ain't like they're lighting the world on fire. Riley, Simmons, Gundy, and Bedenbaugh have shit the bed since the '17 class in terms of developing talent. But don't worry, I'm sure the portal will solve all our problems.
In terms of the speed D. Grinch took over in '19? '19-20 classes, let's take a look: W. Washington (good), Morris (switch pos, 3rd string), Wete (swith pos, 4th string), Hicks (switch pos, 4th string), Davis (poor performance), Criddell (meh when available), Stripling (switch pos, 3rd string before CK injury), Ugwoegbu (switch pos, poor performance), Roberson (3rd string), Dearman (gone), Green (gone), Perkins (gone), Stokes (4th string), Winfrey (starter, NFL bound), Grimes (promising but 3rd string), B. washington (3rd string), Eaton (3rd string), Graham (starter), Arinze (9th string), Harrington (gone), Dennis (3rd string), Ellison (3rd string), Whitter (2nd/3rd string but promising), Walker (4th string),
24 signees between his first 2 classes. only 6 are having real impacts, some of those impacts aren't that great either.
In totality of my thoughts, the '18-20 classes were absolute crap. We don't have the high end guys, and we don't have the day 2-3 guys to make us a national title team. Again, it goes back to this summer. There's only so long you can say "are we really worried about Riley landing elite offensive guys?" before it actually catches up to you. It has caught up to us, boys.
OU yards per game:
2015: 530
2016: 555
2017: 580
2018: 567
2019: 538
2020: 495
2021: 458
Notice a trend? The further we get into Riley's tenure. The worse our offense is getting. Teams have figured out the GT counter, and our evaluations/development on offense have been awful. I'm not calling for jobs, but more a change in philosophy. Bigger RBs, more speed at WR, a zone running scheme, and a renewed emphasis on not just accepting that "you get who you were meant to get" offensively.
