We hear it all the time from the Oklahoma defensive players. It has been the motto of defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill for years and years.
F.I.D.O. – Forget It and Drive On. It has sounded like a broken record, especially during the Sooners’ three-week struggle here down the stretch.
Can’t lament about it, can’t fix the past, just have to keep pushing forward. The majority of OU’s first 11 games have left fans shaking their heads at the defensive effort and execution. Whether it was the first six games under Mike Stoops or the last five under McNeill, nothing has been solved.
Forget it and drive on is hard when you allow more than 500 passing yards to Bedlam rival Oklahoma State. It’s tougher to accept when you allow more than 300 rushing yards against Kansas.
But the sixth-ranked Sooners, while they can’t erase a season’s worth of confusion, can take a season’s worth of frustration out on West Virginia.
“For me, I know the guys I’m playing with,” sophomore safety Robert Barnes said. “I’ve been grinding with these guys all summer, all fall camp and all that. I’m very confident that when we step out there, it’s going to be more physical. We’re going to make those plays.
“I have utmost confidence that everybody on that field, me included, will do their job. We’re going to come out and win this game and the defense will play a lot better.”
The hope was that OU would be galvanized by the coordinator change halfway through the season. After allowing 501 yards to a pretty pedestrian Texas offense, head coach Lincoln Riley made the call of dismissing Stoops and putting McNeill in the spot on an interim basis.
Six games with Stoops? OU allowed 421 yards per game (157 rushing, 264 passing). Five games with McNeill? OU is allowing 432 yards per game (169 rushing, 263 passing). OU allowed a combined 520 yards in wins at TCU and vs. Kansas State but has now allowed 640 yards and 524 yards in back-to-back weeks.
OU enters as the 87th-ranked defense, while West Virginia is No. 10 offensively. It doesn’t sound like a recipe for success for the Sooners.
“We’re still hungry, still out there trying to get it,” sophomore linebacker Kenneth Murray said. “A lot of times when you’re trying to achieve something, it’s easy to beat at the wall, beat at the wall and then give up. You never know if maybe you’re an inch away from that wall.
“The attitude of this defense is we’re going to beat at that wall until we break through. We ain’t gonna ever quit. We’re gonna continue to fight no matter what. We’re gonna do what we’ve gotta do to continue to get these wins.”
Somehow, the wins keep coming. OU has become the first team since the AP poll was created to allow at least 40 points in three consecutive games yet win them all.
It’s hard to bet on OU holding the Mountaineers under 40 points in a raucous environment in Morgantown, but it’s not likely West Virginia can do the same against Kyler Murray and all of OU’s weapons.
OU’s defense can try to ignore the outside noise. But they hear it. They know what everybody is saying about them. And now, sadly, what everybody expects of them is another dud of a performance.
Is F.I.D.O. still the answer?
“I’m going to say FIDO for the rest of my life,” senior linebacker Curtis Bolton said. “We can’t dwell on the bad things that already happened.
“Everybody predicts bad things are going to happen before we even line up. That’s not how we think. If it happens like that, you have no choice but to move on because it’s not going to do you any good dwelling on it. All you can do is move on and get into the film room and try to correct it.”
OU’s defense has tried to remain upbeat, tried to remain optimistic. They’ve stated time and time again how they feel it’s just some little things and they’re “this close” toward becoming a complete unit.
But it’s the last game of the regular season. You are who you are at this point. And if the Sooners win in Morgantown to advance to Arlington in a bid for a fourth straight Big 12 championship, it’s hard to envision it’s the defense that carried the day.
“I'm not saying that everything's going to change in these last three games,” Bolton said. “But we don't play well, but we play good enough to win. As bad as that is to watch on film, that's what happens. That's what happens when you have the best offense in the country.”
F.I.D.O. – Forget It and Drive On. It has sounded like a broken record, especially during the Sooners’ three-week struggle here down the stretch.
Can’t lament about it, can’t fix the past, just have to keep pushing forward. The majority of OU’s first 11 games have left fans shaking their heads at the defensive effort and execution. Whether it was the first six games under Mike Stoops or the last five under McNeill, nothing has been solved.
Forget it and drive on is hard when you allow more than 500 passing yards to Bedlam rival Oklahoma State. It’s tougher to accept when you allow more than 300 rushing yards against Kansas.
But the sixth-ranked Sooners, while they can’t erase a season’s worth of confusion, can take a season’s worth of frustration out on West Virginia.
“For me, I know the guys I’m playing with,” sophomore safety Robert Barnes said. “I’ve been grinding with these guys all summer, all fall camp and all that. I’m very confident that when we step out there, it’s going to be more physical. We’re going to make those plays.
“I have utmost confidence that everybody on that field, me included, will do their job. We’re going to come out and win this game and the defense will play a lot better.”
The hope was that OU would be galvanized by the coordinator change halfway through the season. After allowing 501 yards to a pretty pedestrian Texas offense, head coach Lincoln Riley made the call of dismissing Stoops and putting McNeill in the spot on an interim basis.
Six games with Stoops? OU allowed 421 yards per game (157 rushing, 264 passing). Five games with McNeill? OU is allowing 432 yards per game (169 rushing, 263 passing). OU allowed a combined 520 yards in wins at TCU and vs. Kansas State but has now allowed 640 yards and 524 yards in back-to-back weeks.
OU enters as the 87th-ranked defense, while West Virginia is No. 10 offensively. It doesn’t sound like a recipe for success for the Sooners.
“We’re still hungry, still out there trying to get it,” sophomore linebacker Kenneth Murray said. “A lot of times when you’re trying to achieve something, it’s easy to beat at the wall, beat at the wall and then give up. You never know if maybe you’re an inch away from that wall.
“The attitude of this defense is we’re going to beat at that wall until we break through. We ain’t gonna ever quit. We’re gonna continue to fight no matter what. We’re gonna do what we’ve gotta do to continue to get these wins.”
Somehow, the wins keep coming. OU has become the first team since the AP poll was created to allow at least 40 points in three consecutive games yet win them all.
It’s hard to bet on OU holding the Mountaineers under 40 points in a raucous environment in Morgantown, but it’s not likely West Virginia can do the same against Kyler Murray and all of OU’s weapons.
OU’s defense can try to ignore the outside noise. But they hear it. They know what everybody is saying about them. And now, sadly, what everybody expects of them is another dud of a performance.
Is F.I.D.O. still the answer?
“I’m going to say FIDO for the rest of my life,” senior linebacker Curtis Bolton said. “We can’t dwell on the bad things that already happened.
“Everybody predicts bad things are going to happen before we even line up. That’s not how we think. If it happens like that, you have no choice but to move on because it’s not going to do you any good dwelling on it. All you can do is move on and get into the film room and try to correct it.”
OU’s defense has tried to remain upbeat, tried to remain optimistic. They’ve stated time and time again how they feel it’s just some little things and they’re “this close” toward becoming a complete unit.
But it’s the last game of the regular season. You are who you are at this point. And if the Sooners win in Morgantown to advance to Arlington in a bid for a fourth straight Big 12 championship, it’s hard to envision it’s the defense that carried the day.
“I'm not saying that everything's going to change in these last three games,” Bolton said. “But we don't play well, but we play good enough to win. As bad as that is to watch on film, that's what happens. That's what happens when you have the best offense in the country.”
