It looked like we actually have a tight end that not only can play, but plays are called for that position. Nice job Brayden!
*OFFICIAL OKLAHOMA VERSUS UTEP GAME THREAD*
- Thread starter bcsoonerfan
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Loved the balanced offense and the defensive effort. Great first game for Brent. Love it.
Rice gave up a pick six to usc but Rice has a little running back that will be over 100 yards in the first half
Unfortunately it went downhill for Rice after that. TBOW has his first cuck win
3 pick 6's Rice is pretty bad but USC defense is very porous, Stanford will give them problems with their run game.
Decent first game. Not great but not terrible. Felt like I was watching the famous Mike Stoops lay 15 yards off the ball defensive strategy at times.
At the game observations:
Good; Defense was connected and kept plays in front of them, tackling has improved. IMO Major was our best back. Conditioning--on a hot day, I don't remember any of our guys getting cramped up. I'll watch my tape of the game but it looked like we rotated a number of guys in and out. I also like the fact that we got our backup QB into the game (another guy I don't know much about) at an apropos time.
Bad: Sorry but we're spoiled at QB. Gabriel was okay but, frankly, I was unimpressed by his pocket presence and he doesn't seem to go through his reads very well/stares down receivers. Give him credit for throwing an absolute seed on the hands to Mims on the opening drive.
Overall: About what I expected against a team we were supposed to beat. We kept things pretty vanilla on both sides of the ball except by a reverse by a guy I've never heard of. UTEP's only TD was on a sketchy PI call and the Miners got six points off a couple of long line drive FGs.
Good; Defense was connected and kept plays in front of them, tackling has improved. IMO Major was our best back. Conditioning--on a hot day, I don't remember any of our guys getting cramped up. I'll watch my tape of the game but it looked like we rotated a number of guys in and out. I also like the fact that we got our backup QB into the game (another guy I don't know much about) at an apropos time.
Bad: Sorry but we're spoiled at QB. Gabriel was okay but, frankly, I was unimpressed by his pocket presence and he doesn't seem to go through his reads very well/stares down receivers. Give him credit for throwing an absolute seed on the hands to Mims on the opening drive.
Overall: About what I expected against a team we were supposed to beat. We kept things pretty vanilla on both sides of the ball except by a reverse by a guy I've never heard of. UTEP's only TD was on a sketchy PI call and the Miners got six points off a couple of long line drive FGs.
Iasooner, you know I value your opinion. Gray may do it this year but, last year I didn't care for him that much. He has the moves but he lack's physicality.
I concur about Gabriel, but I think we can be a little deceived sometimes. Gabriel knows the offense better than any of his received teammates. Sometimes it can make a qb look bad if the defense calls for a receiver to run a particular route, and he runs the wrong one. The QB is ready to deliver the ball, and the receiver isn't where he's supposed to be.
I think we can be pretty sure that we won't have a quarterback in the Heisman top ten this year. He wasn't close to the best Big XII quarterback this weekend. But I also think we were very vanilla. I'm more concerned about the receivers than I am the quarterback. I'm also more than a little concerned about the secondary. Maybe they made more plays today, but last week, UTEP's offense was feeble against that powerhouse UNT.
My perspective from the stands:
DEFENSE: We have a very solid rushing defense. Our passing defense is not good. Our secondary plays much too soft and far off the ball. UTEP had more passing yards than OU late in the 4th quarter. I can't say if the game ended with UTEP having more passing yards. It would be close in any case. Our D Line, DEs and LBs are highlight reels. They play very well together. Grimes is a force. He was all over UTEP on every play.
OFFENSE: Our OLine is a little out of sync. They will be better with game time experience. Gabriel is simply not as advertised at this point. He does not seem comfortable. His accuracy is average and average is not good enough at OU. He does not seem to go through his progressions very well. He stares down his receivers and gives the defense more than they earn. He missed a few passes off target and he missed wide open receivers on a few plays. Eric Grey is OK but I thought Majors was better. Grey seems to miss holes with his stunting or juking. Barnes showed flashes of skilled running. Walker the same but they were late in the game and didn't get many snaps.
OU needs to get better soon. They have game film now to work on the weak spots. Lebby has more to do than Roof. I didn't see anything in the play calling that I would call "brilliant". I will hold any revision of season predictions until we have a better sample of game times. It seems a few adversaries had good Week One games but against lesser opponents.
DEFENSE: We have a very solid rushing defense. Our passing defense is not good. Our secondary plays much too soft and far off the ball. UTEP had more passing yards than OU late in the 4th quarter. I can't say if the game ended with UTEP having more passing yards. It would be close in any case. Our D Line, DEs and LBs are highlight reels. They play very well together. Grimes is a force. He was all over UTEP on every play.
OFFENSE: Our OLine is a little out of sync. They will be better with game time experience. Gabriel is simply not as advertised at this point. He does not seem comfortable. His accuracy is average and average is not good enough at OU. He does not seem to go through his progressions very well. He stares down his receivers and gives the defense more than they earn. He missed a few passes off target and he missed wide open receivers on a few plays. Eric Grey is OK but I thought Majors was better. Grey seems to miss holes with his stunting or juking. Barnes showed flashes of skilled running. Walker the same but they were late in the game and didn't get many snaps.
OU needs to get better soon. They have game film now to work on the weak spots. Lebby has more to do than Roof. I didn't see anything in the play calling that I would call "brilliant". I will hold any revision of season predictions until we have a better sample of game times. It seems a few adversaries had good Week One games but against lesser opponents.
I didn’t see any of the Kent St - Washington game but did see where they put up 20 against the Huskies. With that being said I was concerned about our secondary play and was a little disappointed with it. I hope they get that tightened up soon and maybe we see a nice improvement next week against Kent St.
Offensively I thought OU ran the ball well but like others not all that impressed with Gabriel. I think tougher competition down the line will give us a better read on him but for now I would say he isn’t as good as past OU QBs.
Its only game 1 in the books but this team has a ways to go if they want to get to the CFP.
Offensively I thought OU ran the ball well but like others not all that impressed with Gabriel. I think tougher competition down the line will give us a better read on him but for now I would say he isn’t as good as past OU QBs.
Its only game 1 in the books but this team has a ways to go if they want to get to the CFP.
Wow. One game and all the confidence in winning the conference, etc. is taking a step back. Perhaps too much was expected by some. It sure seemed like it to me. I liked what I saw and it’s probably because I never drank the Kool-Aid. It’s going to take time to get back but I am confident Brent will get us there. Better players are on the way. Blast away.
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Much of OU's opening game issues were impacted by the 118-degree heat on the playing field, aside from Gabriel learning to jell with his new receivers in game conditions. Gabriel had not played in over a year having broken his left collarbone early in the 2021 season. He also is not playing behind the offensive lines that Mayfield, Murray and Hurts had. Not by a long shot. I thought he showed well given these factors I just mentioned.
Tackling seemed better and the defense, with a few big plays yielded, held a decent offensive team to only a touchdown.
Lots of players played in the extreme heat and showed well. To my knowledge, there were no injuries.
Gray and Major will be a good 1-2 punch at RB with Barnes and Sawchuk backing them up.
Kicking game remains solid and Bowman looks like he will be superb at returning kickoffs.
This team is loaded, but so much of the roster is raw talent that needs to come through, which I believe it will. The team we saw yesterday will be a different team later in the season.
This team now is a work-in-progress the way I see it, but there's a high level of potential looming.
And.... UTEP was not the cupcake opponent I expected, so it was a good first test for OU.
Tackling seemed better and the defense, with a few big plays yielded, held a decent offensive team to only a touchdown.
Lots of players played in the extreme heat and showed well. To my knowledge, there were no injuries.
Gray and Major will be a good 1-2 punch at RB with Barnes and Sawchuk backing them up.
Kicking game remains solid and Bowman looks like he will be superb at returning kickoffs.
This team is loaded, but so much of the roster is raw talent that needs to come through, which I believe it will. The team we saw yesterday will be a different team later in the season.
This team now is a work-in-progress the way I see it, but there's a high level of potential looming.
And.... UTEP was not the cupcake opponent I expected, so it was a good first test for OU.
I liked the effort. I enjoyed knowing that they wanted to win as much as I wanted them too. It was easy to see in the way they ran to the ball and played hard until the end. If there are miscommunications, a weak understanding of their job responsibilities, or unfamiliarity with the scheme….I can live with that. That will all improve. Last year there was a lack of effort, & it was painful to watch. It will be easy to like & support this team because they have a desire & passion for the game. They will get better every game.
I watched a clip of Joe C giving Brent the game ball. If you watch it, you’ll feel a lot better about this team.
I said before the season and without seeing much of Gabriel that due to his injury and just due to him not being a real stand out qb to date that it wouldn’t surprise me if he stayed at OU for 2 years to show consistency to pro scouts. After watching him yesterday I still very much agree. If he can just be consistent it’ll be enough to win a lot of games. Look at AJ McCaron and some of those Bama scrub QB’s before Saban got serious about having a good offense. Those guys were game managers, nothing else.
The tackling stood out. Was there a missed tackle? Swarming defense. The announcers made a comment about UTEP crossing the 50 every drive against North Texas and that their passing game was legit. I think it was obvious we ran a very base defense with zone coverage all game. We have to get better in our zones but I'm not panicking. As Stutsman and a few others get experience that will come together.
Walkon Gavin Freeman revealed to me just how well Venables and his coaches can find talent and I see Freeman as a good recruiting tool to use, not that Venables needs it.
Freeman could be a huge addition to the rather thin receiving corps.
Freeman could be a huge addition to the rather thin receiving corps.
Medic007
Sooner starter
The defense gave up 99 yards and 3 points in the second half. Compared to giving up 21 points and nearly the game to Tulane last year, I'm very pleased.
I really enjoyed the game. I liked how the announcers Huard (sp) kept saying look at their eyes on defense an their spacing between ball and man. Encouraged with the D. It seemed to me we didn't ask Gabrial to do too much. I thought it was a nice opening day, far from great or perfect but encouraging.
Did Gabriel miss a few throws, sure he did, but he also didnt turn the ball over. We keep running the ball like that and Willis will lead the country in touchdowns with Gabriels playaction ability. Secondary needs some work, I know it was very vanilla in its coverages, and their qb made some good throws. I am sure we will see more man coverage as the season goes on. BV and company will have the defense ready. If Sawchuck is faster than Barnes, watch out they will be dangerous.
I was impressed by their qb’s passing ability. Not sure why he’s not playing at a bigger school to be honest
I believe we've got the dline, I want a suffocating secondary to go along with it. We had it at one time.
Did the TV broadcast much of Venables on the sideline? He was pretty animated on the sidelines. We were behind the bench so it was not possible to determine his "face". Willis threw a couple of good blocks and Venables met him with enthusiasm. Same for Downs and Grimes on aggressive plays. Do NOT misunderstand my previous post. I admit that I might have hyped this team above reason expectations. I have faith in our coaching staff to working out the kinks
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When the UTEP receiver went uncovered right in front of Brent (the receiver dropped the pass)…..Brent ran onto the field and gave Woodi Washington a “pep” talk. I spewed my beer all over the coffee table. First time I’ve seen the head man do that in a very longtime. I love it.
It’s okay. I like it and agree with your assessment of the potential of both the players & coaches. Speaking of over-hyped, I think it is obvious the press is dying for USC to be good again.
Oops sorry. I wondered where that went
(Fitty was wanting a conversation over the phone)
(Fitty was wanting a conversation over the phone)
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That's kind of how I looked at it too. We didn't score 70 points, and the new QB is no Murray or Mayfield. But the game was over in Q3 unlike last year vs. the green wave. Much more fundamentally sound on defense.
Still, it sure doesn't look like we have the skill position players on offense like we used to. No Mark Clayton or sterling shepard. No demarco murry or Perine. No Mark Andrews or Orlando Brown or creed Humphries. Mims is a poor mans Hollywood Brown, but that's about it. That can change with a recruiting class or two, sure, but I don't think this years version of the O is going to make opposing DCs lose any sleep. Hope I'm wrong.
I agree with some of this but the GREAT offenses of OU past, had 2 things. A great TE and a great HB, that can sneak out and give defenses, fits. Riley got away from it and now Lebby needs to bring it back.
The DBs playing buffered, will not work. Bend don't break, has ran it's course. Hopefully we will not see it again.
I’m pretty sure Brent isn’t going to change his Clemson defensive strategy just because he’s back in Norman. So when we see the defensive backs playing deep, it’s for a reason. Just saying.
Medic007
Sooner starter
I heard that UTEP only had one play over 15 yards. Probably shouldn't compare that to the Tulane game last season...
Apparently the UTEP QB is on the radar of NFL scouts. He was accurate and that side armed pass was amazing. Soft zones were frustrating but I'm going to trust Brent's plan of obviously not showing much.
I'd very much like to see Lebby pound the ball the next 2 games to establish the OL. That he had the humility to not keep bombing away after Gabriel and the offense got out of sync was nice.
I'd very much like to see Lebby pound the ball the next 2 games to establish the OL. That he had the humility to not keep bombing away after Gabriel and the offense got out of sync was nice.
Medic how accurate was your “fan down” count ? It would have been brutal to be in the old student section (on the east side) as it was back in the 70s
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