A “w” is a “w” regardless of how ugly it was. That is about the only positive OU can take away from today. They are 1-0.
I’ll be interested to see Josh’s report card on today’s game. From my vantage point there was not a single player or position group playing anywhere near the level necessary to contend for a NC.
Lincoln Riley is one of the best in all of football when it comes to offensive game planning and play calls. Today was THE worst I’ve ever seen from him as the OC or HC at OU. It appeared that LR was convinced they could use “dink and dunk” football to spring some big plays. The receivers and backs were consistently tackled right where they caught it. Aside from the free play on offsides, there was zero attempt to stretch the D vertically and very few passes even went beyond the sticks. Despite a massive advantage in speed and size, Riley elected to play small ball against an overmatched secondary. What little running game the Sooners did show was was all predicated on the delayed handoff. No attempt to just line up, hand the ball to a RB going downhill. Every part of the preparation and game day coaching was woeful.
While it would be really nice to blame the entire fiasco on coaching, the execution from the players was even worse!
The offensive line was absolutely dominated by an undersized and massively overmatched Tulane DL. The RBs were getting getting hit within a split second of the handoff and neither Brooks nor Gray showed any ability to make the first guy miss. Worse yet, when the Sooners needed to run the ball and kill the clock, they didn’t have a big, physical back to turn to.
Rattler was awful beyond words. There’s no disputing his arm talent, but the decision making was awful and he missed badly on A LOT of easy throws. You clearly can’t/shouldn’t bench a returning starter and Heisman candidate for one really poor game, but the Sooners better get Williams some reps next week and be prepared to go to him if Rattler can’t get right quickly.
Everything we saw from the defense at the end of last season and heard about through spring and summer appears to have been an anomaly. The DL was getting pushed around in the running game. The LBs and DBs still can’t tackle in space. Busted coverages seem to occur at least once every 4 or 5 plays. The angles taken on very basic running plays and QB runs were horrific. All in all, AG seemed to be more focused on rotation than getting his f’ing defense dialed in and playing fast and physical. All that depth is neat, but it doesn’t mean much if none of the guys can tackle or cover.
In all seriousness, BOTH the coaches and players looked like they prepared for a completely different team than the one they played. Nothing about what Tulane did should have caught them off guard. They went to a bowl game last year and the HC has been there long enough to have extensive tape. Tulane simply lined up with middling talent and executed the same offense and defense they have played for the past several seasons. Somehow, OU was unprepared to deal with any of it.
The only bright spot I see from today is that the staff and team should be humbled to a point where they stop thinking about the NC and start actually preparing to play the next game. OU is a very talented football team that was poorly coached, totally unprepared and completely apathetic about their home opener. If not for a fantom PI call and a couple of self inflicted turnovers, Tulane would’ve and probably should’ve knocked off #2. OU is significantly better than they showed today but that doesn’t mean much until they show that they can do it on game day.
I’ll be interested to see Josh’s report card on today’s game. From my vantage point there was not a single player or position group playing anywhere near the level necessary to contend for a NC.
Lincoln Riley is one of the best in all of football when it comes to offensive game planning and play calls. Today was THE worst I’ve ever seen from him as the OC or HC at OU. It appeared that LR was convinced they could use “dink and dunk” football to spring some big plays. The receivers and backs were consistently tackled right where they caught it. Aside from the free play on offsides, there was zero attempt to stretch the D vertically and very few passes even went beyond the sticks. Despite a massive advantage in speed and size, Riley elected to play small ball against an overmatched secondary. What little running game the Sooners did show was was all predicated on the delayed handoff. No attempt to just line up, hand the ball to a RB going downhill. Every part of the preparation and game day coaching was woeful.
While it would be really nice to blame the entire fiasco on coaching, the execution from the players was even worse!
The offensive line was absolutely dominated by an undersized and massively overmatched Tulane DL. The RBs were getting getting hit within a split second of the handoff and neither Brooks nor Gray showed any ability to make the first guy miss. Worse yet, when the Sooners needed to run the ball and kill the clock, they didn’t have a big, physical back to turn to.
Rattler was awful beyond words. There’s no disputing his arm talent, but the decision making was awful and he missed badly on A LOT of easy throws. You clearly can’t/shouldn’t bench a returning starter and Heisman candidate for one really poor game, but the Sooners better get Williams some reps next week and be prepared to go to him if Rattler can’t get right quickly.
Everything we saw from the defense at the end of last season and heard about through spring and summer appears to have been an anomaly. The DL was getting pushed around in the running game. The LBs and DBs still can’t tackle in space. Busted coverages seem to occur at least once every 4 or 5 plays. The angles taken on very basic running plays and QB runs were horrific. All in all, AG seemed to be more focused on rotation than getting his f’ing defense dialed in and playing fast and physical. All that depth is neat, but it doesn’t mean much if none of the guys can tackle or cover.
In all seriousness, BOTH the coaches and players looked like they prepared for a completely different team than the one they played. Nothing about what Tulane did should have caught them off guard. They went to a bowl game last year and the HC has been there long enough to have extensive tape. Tulane simply lined up with middling talent and executed the same offense and defense they have played for the past several seasons. Somehow, OU was unprepared to deal with any of it.
The only bright spot I see from today is that the staff and team should be humbled to a point where they stop thinking about the NC and start actually preparing to play the next game. OU is a very talented football team that was poorly coached, totally unprepared and completely apathetic about their home opener. If not for a fantom PI call and a couple of self inflicted turnovers, Tulane would’ve and probably should’ve knocked off #2. OU is significantly better than they showed today but that doesn’t mean much until they show that they can do it on game day.
