OU Total Offense: #108. Littrell is a disaster

[Phaeded]

To date the Sooners have run the "gauntlet" of Temple, Houston and Tulane and produced the #108 team in total O: www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/21/p3

All Tennessee is going to show us is what we already know: how completely worthless Seth Littrell is at OC

He's managed to engineer 3 points in the 3rd quarter through three games. 3 measly points. That means all 3 DCs, that you've never heard of and have comparable crap talent, have been outcoaching him in their half time adjustments. Yes we've been injured, but a good OC manages to play to the strengths of the hand he has been dealt. What I see from Littrell are the same calls, especially in the running game (watch Ikard's breakdowns of the lame running play that is our bread and butter if you need to be enlightened) with zero creativity. And if we don't have time for the deep ball then mix in some max protect, etc.

Here's a typical Littrell special: 2nd series after the half we run speed back frosh Tatum up the gut twice as if he's Bo Jackson, and then on 3rd and long Littrell continues to refuse to acknowledge of the floundering OL - does not move the pocket around, roll out Arnold, throw a screen or have a relief valve - and Arnold gets sacked.

If Littrell has been sandbagging the offense before SEC play that's pretty inexcusable because we've been in dogfights in 2 out of the 3 .

BTW: The year we fired Heupel (the 2014 season) ) here were the results of those first 3 games:
La Tech W 48–16
Tulsa W 52–7
Tenn: W 34-10

 

[trademarcs]

Why are you holding back? Tell us what your really feeling.

 

[iasooner24]

Punting is winning (Iowa slogan for 2 years and counting)

Get field position with great punting, play great Defense and get some short fields to make it easier to score

 

[Sooner_Ga]

I don’t think it’s Seth at all, I think it’s poor execution by the OL compounded by poor play at QB and lack of a #1 RB.

I do think the Defense is much better but you can’t go 3 and out over and over and expect your Defense not to break.

The talk shows will have a field day with this one next week.

 

[iasooner24]

I’m hearing good things about who are cleared to play including #1 center a starting OL man and N. Anderson which should help

 

[OUSOONER67]

I’m hearing good things about who are cleared to play including #1 center a starting OL man and N. Anderson which should help

Even with those back I am not sure it will help a whole lot. JA is our leading rusher on offense right now, we need a running game to show up and that needs to start Sat Night, if not it will be difficult to stay with them for 4 qtrs. Already sick of the Rocky Top Hillbillies, they think are are going to win the Natty after beating 3 cream puffs and think they will blow us out at home, they might win but I just don't see a blowout happening.
SEC fans are some of the biggest trash talkers in CF so better get used to that, only way to shut their pie holes isnto beat them but even then half of them will make excuses for why they lost.

 

[Sooner_Ga]

Even with those back I am not sure it will help a whole lot. JA is our leading rusher on offense right now, we need a running game to show up and that needs to start Sat Night, if not it will be difficult to stay with them for 4 qtrs. Already sick of the Rocky Top Hillbillies, they think are are going to win the Natty after beating 3 cream puffs and think they will blow us out at home, they might win but I just don't see a blowout happening.
SEC fans are some of the biggest trash talkers in CF so better get used to that, only way to shut their pie holes isnto beat them but even then half of them will make excuses for why they lost.

I hope not but my fear is the O is stagnant and JFA is a deer in headlights again and that puts the D out there over and over and it snowballs on them. The OL has to be much better and JFA has to see the entire field and not panic in the pocket.

 

[NellySooner]

To date the Sooners have run the "gauntlet" of Temple, Houston and Tulane and produced the #108 team in total O: www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/21/p3

All Tennessee is going to show us is what we already know: how completely worthless Seth Littrell is at OC

He's managed to engineer 3 points in the 3rd quarter through three games. 3 measly points. That means all 3 DCs, that you've never heard of and have comparable crap talent, have been outcoaching him in their half time adjustments. Yes we've been injured, but a good OC manages to play to the strengths of the hand he has been dealt. What I see from Littrell are the same calls, especially in the running game (watch Ikard's breakdowns of the lame running play that is our bread and butter if you need to be enlightened) with zero creativity. And if we don't have time for the deep ball then mix in some max protect, etc.

Here's a typical Littrell special: 2nd series after the half we run speed back frosh Tatum up the gut twice as if he's Bo Jackson, and then on 3rd and long Littrell continues to refuse to acknowledge of the floundering OL - does not move the pocket around, roll out Arnold, throw a screen or have a relief valve - and Arnold gets sacked.

If Littrell has been sandbagging the offense before SEC play that's pretty inexcusable because we've been in dogfights in 2 out of the 3 .

BTW: The year we fired Heupel (the 2014 season) ) here were the results of those first 3 games:
La Tech W 48–16
Tulsa W 52–7
Tenn: W 34-10

Nobody can possibly sandbag as much as we have this year. The jump from the plays we’ve seen to what we should see is too great. It’s definitely been the injuries. Has to be.
I agree about as an OC there should be some evidence of being able to adjust.

About the 3rd quarter play, when Riley was HC, he was not the best in the 3rd either though. Look back at the stats.

OU should have beat TCU, K State and OSU in 2014, tbh. Baylor was exceptional that year too! But, if the defense had been better, it could have shifted the momentum in that game so who knows. It wasn’t a bad year in totality. Knight wasn’t the guy they wanted or needed but the guy they had to work with. I think still to this day that Huepel could have done great with Baker at QB, maybe as well as Riley. We will never know.

What I don’t like is how they dismissed Huepel. The whole thing was dumb. But, after it all I still think it’s possible for him to coach in Norman down the road if he continues to succeed in Tenn and wants a change one day.
🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[CTOkie]

If OU loses tomorrow, regardless of the score, there will be more of the “fire Venables”, “fire Littrell” crap.
And with this year’s schedule, by far the toughest in Sooner history and the second rated toughest schedule this year, the doom and gloom bunch will be at their peak.
This team enters the SEC a year too early and is still a work in process as I see it.
I think a realistic view is to see the team play hard in every game and to improve as the season goes on. There is a lot of talent on the roster but most of it is new or not quite ready for prime time. And injuries aren’t helping either.
The team we see in November must be better than the one we see now.

 

[Sooner_Ga]

If OU loses tomorrow, regardless of the score, there will be more of the “fire Venables”, “fire Littrell” crap.
And with this year’s schedule, by far the toughest in Sooner history and the second rated toughest schedule this year, the doom and gloom bunch will be at their peak.
This team enters the SEC a year too early and is still a work in process as I see it.
I think a realistic view is to see the team play hard in every game and to improve as the season goes on. There is a lot of talent on the roster but most of it is new or not quite ready for prime time. And injuries aren’t helping either.
The team we see in November must be better than the one we see

 

[Sooner_Ga]

in BV’s first two years the team has not gotten better as the year moved along, in fact they regressed both years. If there’s any hope we HAVE to see improvement this year.

 

[NellySooner]

in BV’s first two years the team has not gotten better as the year moved along, in fact they regressed both years. If there’s any hope we HAVE to see improvement this year.

OU won 10 games last year from 5-6 in 2022. What are you talking about?

 

[Larry4681]

I don’t think he means from one year to another but for those individual years as the season went along

 

[CTOkie]

OU won 10 games last year from 5-6 in 2022. What are you talking about?

OU was not competing in the SEC last year. Had the team played against this year’s schedule, ten wins would not have happened.

 

[Sooner_Ga]

OU won 10 games last year from 5-6 in 2022. What are you talking about?

The thread was about getting better as the year moves along. My point was that in both years the team faded down the stretch.

 

[Phaeded]

This team enters the SEC a year too early and is still a work in process as I see it.

Given the defense and the fact that Arnold put up ~350 in the bowl game (albeit with picks - but we should not have had him come out slinging it which lead to that - that too is on Littrell) there was a definite sense of tempered optimism we were way under-rated going into the season, even with level headed folks like Dvorak, Lehman and Ikard. That's gone now solely based on the O. The D may not be as great as advertised but even our 2nd string O should do better than 16 points at home versus Cougar high.

For me its not the personnel but the lack of off-setting that with call-playing creativity, especially getting the ball out of Arnold's hands behind that OL instead of perfecting the art of insanity and pretending this time they'll hold up on 3rd and long. Again, Tatum on screens instead of runs up the gut, or even have him chip block him and turn around beyond the DL for a traditional screen, not to mention timed wheel routes. We are under-utilizing him by a mile. There's just not enough max protecting, rolling Arnold out (pass run options) or providing a check down option (why he forced that pick 6). None of this is "Mensa from Muleshoe" material - basic schemes to deal with a problem OL. That's on the OC.

 

[ShamWowed]

in BV’s first two years the team has not gotten better as the year moved along, in fact they regressed both years. If there’s any hope we HAVE to see improvement this year.

True but this many guys returning from injury are a bit of a different paradigm. We have had near zero downfield threat with this Swiss cheese OLine and 4th string receivers. Will it make a difference vs. Tenn, I have no idea. I do give the coaches a bit of a break though for this season's games thus far.

Still, the bigger issue is our Line is never ready at the beginning of the season. I am sure it has happened but I cannot remember a time where there was not massive reshuffling taking place several games in.

 

[CTOkie]

in BV’s first two years the team has not gotten better as the year moved along, in fact they regressed both years. If there’s any hope we HAVE to see improvement this year

Venables first year saw OU lose five games by a single score and OU played Texas without Gabriel and without a viable backup QB during a 6-7 season. Losing Caleb Williams didn’t help either.
The team won ten games in year two of Venables.
I believe 10-3 is an improvement over 6-7.

 

[coeSooner81]

OU was not competing in the SEC last year. Had the team played against this year’s schedule, ten wins would not have happened.

out of 138 teams 130 of them wouldnt win 10 games with this schedule. One of the toughest schedules in college football this year.

 

[Phaeded]

Meanwhile Cincy already has 21 points vs Houston in the 2nd.

The bottom line is we don't have the 108th ranked offense after facing the SEC schedule everyone keeps pointing to...but against chumps.

​

 

[Larry4681]

I know this much. No one makes excuses more than our fan base

 

[Soonerborn59]

Meanwhile Clemson is thrashing NC St at the half 45-7. The team UT fans was bragging sbout beating

 

[CTOkie]

Meanwhile Clemson is thrashing NC St at the half 45-7. The team UT fans was bragging sbout beating

Cincinnati up on Houston 34-0, the team OU barely beat 16-12.

 

[trademarcs]

Will I still be watching by halftime?

 

[OUSOONER67]

Really hard to say who is good and who is bad at this point in the season, only 3 games in.
Are we really as bad as we have looked? I hope not but the offensive stats so far don't lie. I guess we will find out a lot more about this team tonight. If the offensive woes continue and OU gets blown out then its going to be a very rough season with this schedule.
I am optimistic that we are better than what we have shown but they are gonna have to be a lot better than what we have seen so far and that may be asking too much.
I saw a 4 star OL decommitted the other day, hopefully that won't snowball.

 

[Oklabama]

I know this much. No one makes excuses more than our fan base

How would you ever know?

 

[Soonerborn59]

Cincinnati up on Houston 34-0, the team OU barely beat 16-12.

I didnt see any of our fanbase bragging about the Houston win. In fact many of us looked at that game as a loss. Big difference.

 

[Soonerborn59]

Really hard to say who is good and who is bad at this point in the season, only 3 games in.
Are we really as bad as we have looked? I hope not but the offensive stats so far don't lie. I guess we will find out a lot more about this team tonight. If the offensive woes continue and OU gets blown out then its going to be a very rough season with this schedule.
I am optimistic that we are better than what we have shown but they are gonna have to be a lot better than what we have seen so far and that may be asking too much.
I saw a 4 star OL decommitted the other day, hopefully that won't snowball.

After what I seen in Auburn today and depending how OU game goes tonight, I think Auburn game is winnable. Neither Arkansas or Auburn looked good today

 

[Oklabama]

After what I seen in Auburn today and depending how OU game goes tonight, I think Auburn game is winnable. Neither Arkansas or Auburn looked good today

Definitely.

 

[OUnabomber]

Venables first year saw OU lose five games by a single score and OU played Texas without Gabriel and without a viable backup QB during a 6-7 season. Losing Caleb Williams didn’t help either.
The team won ten games in year two of Venables.
I believe 10-3 is an improvement over 6-7.

get ready for a 5 or 6 loss season

 

[CTOkie]

Game went as I expected.
Late rally by OU showed this team plays hard for 60 minutes.
I said before the season that Arnold may not be the best QB on the team. He stilll might be, but Hawkins showed he’s going to be a good one.
Tennessee is a top 5 team and its defense was excellent.
Better days ahead for OU in my opinion.

 

[OUSOONER67]

Anyone else notice that the offense changed once Arnold was benched?
I have heard chatter that because of NIL that he was pushed to be the starter wven tho he was nit the best qb on the team. That the offense had been simplified specifically for him?
If true this is absolutely unforgiving. You put the players on the field that give you the best chance of winning. Who exactly is running this program and making these decisions? Bob? BV? JoeC? Boosters?
JA has looked lost all season long with a Vanilla Offense and cannot execute the simplest of plays.

And no I do not see Tenn as a top 5 team. Yes JH could have stepped on our throat and made it worse but he didn't because its his former team but he didn't or maybe couldn't. Why did BV wait so long to make a change? Will JA be the starter going forward, I think so but he shouldn't be. And why does BV keep saying the Offense needs to communicate better and that he is tired of it not happening. You are the HC, FIX IT!

Just so much to digest 4 games in and I am about done. Each game going forward is our Biggest Game and if this staff cannot find answers after 3 yrs they need to make some serious changes. I am a fan of BV and I have hoped he would be the next great OU Coach but to be honest I just don't see it now. The defense is a lot better but at what expense, no offense?

Is BB past his prime? Is DM a good RB's Coach? A former good RB does not mean you will be a great RB Coach. We HAVE ZERO RUNNING GAME right now and the RB's were supposed to be one of the better Rooms on this Offense.
If anyone would be honest with themselves you know this is unacceptable at OU.

If it continues kiss those recruits goodbye. Nobody wants to come play for an offense that stinks this bad. See the Defense the past 20 yrs.

I blame Bob Stoops for a lot of that. He fired JH for not being able to run a Johnny Football Offense and hired the punk ass TBOW to do what JH was wanting to run yet let his Brother sink us into a laughingstock of the defensive side of the ball for yeats before LR or whomever grew a sack to fire him.

OU better wake up, we are not trending up like texass but trending down and its only gonna get worse before it gets better meaning most of this crap cannot be fixed during the season. Can anything be done to salvage the Season? Based on qhat I have seen from.this "learning on the job staff" NO!

 

[Soonerborn59]

Anyone else notice that the offense changed once Arnold was benched?
I have heard chatter that because of NIL that he was pushed to be the starter wven tho he was nit the best qb on the team. That the offense had been simplified specifically for him?
If true this is absolutely unforgiving. You put the players on the field that give you the best chance of winning. Who exactly is running this program and making these decisions? Bob? BV? JoeC? Boosters?
JA has looked lost all season long with a Vanilla Offense and cannot execute the simplest of plays.

And no I do not see Tenn as a top 5 team. Yes JH could have stepped on our throat and made it worse but he didn't because its his former team but he didn't or maybe couldn't. Why did BV wait so long to make a change? Will JA be the starter going forward, I think so but he shouldn't be. And why does BV keep saying the Offense needs to communicate better and that he is tired of it not happening. You are the HC, FIX IT!

Just so much to digest 4 games in and I am about done. Each game going forward is our Biggest Game and if this staff cannot find answers after 3 yrs they need to make some serious changes. I am a fan of BV and I have hoped he would be the next great OU Coach but to be honest I just don't see it now. The defense is a lot better but at what expense, no offense?

Is BB past his prime? Is DM a good RB's Coach? A former good RB does not mean you will be a great RB Coach. We HAVE ZERO RUNNING GAME right now and the RB's were supposed to be one of the better Rooms on this Offense.
If anyone would be honest with themselves you know this is unacceptable at OU.

If it continues kiss those recruits goodbye. Nobody wants to come play for an offense that stinks this bad. See the Defense the past 20 yrs.

I blame Bob Stoops for a lot of that. He fired JH for not being able to run a Johnny Football Offense and hired the punk ass TBOW to do what JH was wanting to run yet let his Brother sink us into a laughingstock of the defensive side of the ball for yeats before LR or whomever grew a sack to fire him.

OU better wake up, we are not trending up like texass but trending down and its only gonna get worse before it gets better meaning most of this crap cannot be fixed during the season. Can anything be done to salvage the Season? Based on qhat I have seen from.this "learning on the job staff" NO!

Good post and I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we feel the same as you. If they start Arnold vs Auburn then I think it sends the message that possibly losing him to the portal outweighs whats best for the team. At least the offense showed some life with Hawkns at QB.

 

[Golden Tate]

To date the Sooners have run the "gauntlet" of Temple, Houston and Tulane and produced the #108 team in total O: www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/21/p3

All Tennessee is going to show us is what we already know: how completely worthless Seth Littrell is at OC

He's managed to engineer 3 points in the 3rd quarter through three games. 3 measly points. That means all 3 DCs, that you've never heard of and have comparable crap talent, have been outcoaching him in their half time adjustments. Yes we've been injured, but a good OC manages to play to the strengths of the hand he has been dealt. What I see from Littrell are the same calls, especially in the running game (watch Ikard's breakdowns of the lame running play that is our bread and butter if you need to be enlightened) with zero creativity. And if we don't have time for the deep ball then mix in some max protect, etc.

Here's a typical Littrell special: 2nd series after the half we run speed back frosh Tatum up the gut twice as if he's Bo Jackson, and then on 3rd and long Littrell continues to refuse to acknowledge of the floundering OL - does not move the pocket around, roll out Arnold, throw a screen or have a relief valve - and Arnold gets sacked.

If Littrell has been sandbagging the offense before SEC play that's pretty inexcusable because we've been in dogfights in 2 out of the 3 .

BTW: The year we fired Heupel (the 2014 season) ) here were the results of those first 3 games:
La Tech W 48–16
Tulsa W 52–7
Tenn: W 34-10

Spot on. It was a horrible hire. The head coach is responsible for this hire. He needs to fix it. This is Gary Gibbs 2.0 with what is going on with the program. We literally have a program where your not sure they will win another e game other than Maine.

 

[Soonerborn59]

Spot on. It was a horrible hire. The head coach is responsible for this hire. He needs to fix it. This is Gary Gibbs 2.0 with what is going on with the program. We literally have a program where your not sure they will win another e game other than Maine.

Are we even sure Maine is 100% given?

 

[CTOkie]

Good post and I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we feel the same as you. If they start Arnold vs Auburn then I think it sends the message that possibly losing him to the portal outweighs whats best for the team. At least the offense showed some life with Hawkns at QB.

This loss to such a good team and its great head coach, can be, in my opinion, a quality loss in that it should answer a lot of questions of what it takes to get better and to compete in the SEC going forward.
If Venables and his staff are what we hope they are (and will be) as coaches, this game last night can be the a great lesson learned. I believe they see it that way.
Bedenbaugh is a quality o-line coach and I believe he will develop a line that Arnold and Hawkins can operate behind, unlike last night.
Sooners will have some turbulence ahead unlike their biggest rival Texas who does play Georgia (in Austin) but don’t play South Carolina, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and LSU.

 

[OUnabomber]

This loss to such a good team and its great head coach, can be, in my opinion, a quality loss in that it should answer a lot of questions of what it takes to get better and to compete in the SEC going forward.
If Venables and his staff are what we hope they are (and will be) as coaches, this game last night can be the a great lesson learned. I believe they see it that way.
Bedenbaugh is a quality o-line coach and I believe he will develop a line that Arnold and Hawkins can operate behind, unlike last night.
Sooners will have some turbulence ahead unlike their biggest rival Texas who does play Georgia (in Austin) but don’t play South Carolina, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and LSU.

CT the probably is BB may not really have anything to develop. The talent just doesn't seem like its there and we have many kids hurt. I'm sure we will get better but not where we need to be.

 

[CTOkie]

CT the probably is BB may not really have anything to develop. The talent just doesn't seem like its there and we have many kids hurt. I'm sure we will get better but not where we need to be.

Agree. The talent level just isn’t there anymore.
My hope is that Bedenbaugh can weave some magic.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

How would you ever know?

Larry's part of said fanbase.

 

[Larry4681]

It’s what our fan base does lol. Not exactly a secret. I’m surprised we don’t have fans blaming the Ryan Reynolds injury on the losses from the past few years