OU has not forced a turnover (2-point tries do not count) in 5 games.....that is the longest stretch without a turnover in at least 20 years for OU.
Quick (and sad) statistic......
- Thread starter CTOkie
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So much for that emphasis...epic failure. The dumbest thing I saw last night was seeing our guys get burned in second half then half assed trying to strip the ball after the guy was clearly down. Like that negates their crappy tackling and coverage. TE burned us time after time. Not sure how good the Baylor TE is....
Last fumble recovery September 28th against Tech...last interception September 14th against UCLA...
I will join you, cheers. CT I just read your post again, and didn't realize the 20 year note! Wow.
Grinch has three hurdles ahead of him:
1.....Undoing the effects of Mike Stoops, which includes recruiting AND developing defensive players to a championship level. This may include having some veteran players leaving and/or graduating and taking their bad habits with them..
2.....Selling OU to prospective recruits.
3.....Determining with more accuracy the potential of these defensive players. (OU does well determining the potentials of offensive players, why not defensive ones ?)
It would help if our DBs could catch the fricking football. There have been balls that should have been intercepted but dropped.
And this was one stat Grinch earmarked as one of his priorities. He’s got to be frustrated.
Tell me I am wrong please but when the ISU TE cut inside on the TD it seemed the DB that fell down done it on purpose. He was already beaten and but I really fell like he intentionally flopped to make an excuse for himself. It just didn’t look like a genuine slip to me.
I don’t know if. I can stomach watching that wretched second half again. There were so many defensive blunders, it needs to be replayed to the song Yakkity Sax. Eye roll
It wasn't only defensive blunders in the 2nd half. The offense went 3 and out twice, Lamb fumbled on 2nd down and Hurts threw the interception on 3rd down. 4 out 5 series resulted in 3 and outs with the only TD being the 97 yard drive. The fumble was on the OU 32 and the interception on the OU 35. The offense didn't do much to help the poor defense out.
One big reason is because the DB's can't catch a ball that hits them right in the hands.
I don't want to hear the Mike Stoops hangover excuses anymore, not in November. Grinch had a bye week to right the ship after the KSU debacle (e.g., go back to the UT game plan) but instead we give up 41 when last year at their place - when they had Hakeem Butler and David Montgomery - we held them to 27 points. We are getting worse.
BTW: How did tOSU immediately fix their D issues from the previous year when Grinch was there?
BTW: How did tOSU immediately fix their D issues from the previous year when Grinch was there?
I usually listen to Grinch post game news conferences and he was not happy with the way the D played. Below is a piece of what he had to say. You can view the whole article HERE
I do think Grinch is the right answer to right the ship but you just have to wonder if he feels the players are even getting the message.
“We seemed at times frustrated that we wouldn’t need it on that particular play to need a tackle, which is really alarming to be a Division I football player at the University of Oklahoma and you’re not sure that you feel like making the tackle in that moment, so that’s something we’ve got to assess,” Grinch said. “Are we playing the right guys as coaches? Are we playing guys too many snaps and some of those things? A tackle has to be made no matter what’s on the scoreboard.”
I said it it earlier in the season, it may take a while to coach Mike S out of them and I will say this now, it may not be possible to for some of them.
Given what OU's defense has been in recent years and with most of the defenders having been recruited by Mike Stoops and his assistants, how could anyone believe that Grinch could make significant strides to improve the defense in one season ?
Having a bye week under these circumstances won't come near to fixing a defense that's been OU's achilles' heel for several years in the making. There just isn't an overnight solution for Grinch.
What matters now is to recruit defenders who can be part of the future solution and right now, only five defensive commitments are on the 2020 commitment list. There's only a trickle of help coming in as Grinch tries to stop the bleeding. Unless there are some studs lurking that we don't know of, 2020 and 2021 likely will reflect more of the same.
Having a bye week under these circumstances won't come near to fixing a defense that's been OU's achilles' heel for several years in the making. There just isn't an overnight solution for Grinch.
What matters now is to recruit defenders who can be part of the future solution and right now, only five defensive commitments are on the 2020 commitment list. There's only a trickle of help coming in as Grinch tries to stop the bleeding. Unless there are some studs lurking that we don't know of, 2020 and 2021 likely will reflect more of the same.
The defense has made strides this year. The front end of the defense is vastly improved in my opinion. The problem with the defense is the back end. Just seems to me that the majority of our DB's are undersized. When Bookie is still starting you know that we are paper thin in the defensive backfield. I would love to see Bookie make a play that shows me that he deserved a 5 star rating, because for two seasons he looks more like a 1 or 2 star football player.
Sounds like there are going to be some defensive personnel changes coming this week.
May as well. Couldn't get much worse.
This blaming Mike still is pretty bad stuff. Players make plays, or they don't. And I don't trust this new defensive philosophy. Never have.
The shifting presnap, might fool some teams for a little while. But once they have tape to look at on us, the movement can often be predicted. And moving laterally at the snap doesn't optimize DL performance. Just the opposite. The attrition over the course of the season is starting to mount. We miss JMT.
I also think that the injury K9 suffered in Lawrence, even though he only missed five or six snaps, affected him. And he is being game planned for every week. But he had several key missed tackles Saturday night that came in key situations.
Everybody is dealing with different dings on offense and defense. I don't believe Bonitto was ready to be a full time player. It hurts less when you lose a starter, when his backup can play. Bonitto has good quickness, and can occasionally be a positive factor in the pass rush. But he's not strong enough to stand up as well with the run game at him.
Did 23 make a single play the other night? I didn't see it, if he did. The whole defensive group better pick it up more than a notch this week. If they don't, we're looking at getting thumped.
ISU has struggled to move the ball against any defense with a pulse. Before November 9.
The shifting presnap, might fool some teams for a little while. But once they have tape to look at on us, the movement can often be predicted. And moving laterally at the snap doesn't optimize DL performance. Just the opposite. The attrition over the course of the season is starting to mount. We miss JMT.
I also think that the injury K9 suffered in Lawrence, even though he only missed five or six snaps, affected him. And he is being game planned for every week. But he had several key missed tackles Saturday night that came in key situations.
Everybody is dealing with different dings on offense and defense. I don't believe Bonitto was ready to be a full time player. It hurts less when you lose a starter, when his backup can play. Bonitto has good quickness, and can occasionally be a positive factor in the pass rush. But he's not strong enough to stand up as well with the run game at him.
Did 23 make a single play the other night? I didn't see it, if he did. The whole defensive group better pick it up more than a notch this week. If they don't, we're looking at getting thumped.
ISU has struggled to move the ball against any defense with a pulse. Before November 9.
Yet Grinch had good success at Washington State within a couple of years with this defense. Or am I mistaken? Maybe it’s as you point out with regard to the injuries and such but it doesn’t sound reasonable to blame the type of defense Grinch is running since it’s only his first year. I wholeheartedly agree that it’s a player’s issue.
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Up until this year, defensive recruits came to OU to be coached by Mike Stoops....so there is some fallout from the MS era.....like the level of talent and some bad habits.
You gotta give Grinch a few years to get his guys in here. The man can't work miracles with sub par talent. However, it might be hard to get the talent we need to come to OU when we stink like this on D. If you was a top D recruit would you choose OU?
His success at Washington St would not be acceptable at OU. I watched a replay of a game with Cal, when the Bears ran up and down the field against
his defense. I don't hold anything against him for Ohio State. That wasn't his defense.
I think the biggest factor is the general lack of overall strength of players on OUr defense. It's why our turnover production is lacking so much. When we try to rip the ball out, their ball carrier is usually stronger than those ripping at the ball. Even the fumbles we've occasionally seen, weren't really caused by us. They screwed something up themselves and we weren't quick enough, or big enough or strong enough to get the available ball. All the talk about turnovers, and the design to produce them, makes us vulnerable if we aren't getting any.
Instead of seeing improvement as the season progressed, they pretty much disappeared. We aren't to causing anything, but D coach headaches.
I could be wrong but I thought his 2017 squad made up of 2 and 3 stars ended up at # 14 in total defense. I think that was his third year at Washington State. But we’ll see what happens.
All I know, is that in their last four road games (including the bowl game) in 2017, once teams had seen the scheme, they allowed slightly more than 40 points per game. They weren't that great.
Tired of hearing about turnovers and "speed d". Lets just tackle and cover someone for a change.
Too much emphasis on offense for years while the defense took a backseat and it has reared its ugly head yet again.
OU needs to decide if it wants to settle for being Taco Tech North or if it wants to play Big Boy Football.
Grinch may be the right guy but he just does not have the players right now. He needs to recruit his butt off to get this turned around but it will take a while. What a mess.
OU needs to decide if it wants to settle for being Taco Tech North or if it wants to play Big Boy Football.
Grinch may be the right guy but he just does not have the players right now. He needs to recruit his butt off to get this turned around but it will take a while. What a mess.
Until there are more high school players in Oklahoma (and for that matter, Texas) capable of playing what you're calling "big boy football," that won't be easily accomplished.
LR has done a lot of things to accommodate the defense. He is intentionally slowing down OUr offense to give them more rest between defensive series. But I still maintain it will be tougher to recruit big boys on defense, when you are insisting that they all lose a bunch of weight and chase the football extensively. I understand that's a quality way to play defense. But elite defensive linemen don't typically gravitate toward schools using that style of defense. Maybe if Gallimore gets drafted, it might help a bit.
Watching Fresno State and San Diego State. Both their defenses are playing better than we did against Iowa St.
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