Hellofa game. Ive heard from multiple people that The Palace was ROCKIN and hearing that makes me heart smile. Coming down off of a 24hr high clarified a few things going into LSU and then bowl season. You dont win a game like that one and not make some new expectations regarding this group.
1. QB: Kid came into the game with a lot of questions marks. I think many people's concerns started with protecting the ball. We easily win at Mizzou if we just protect the ball. I gotta say, he did well. We deployed a Belldozer package and he executed the heck out of it. Very impressive. If, maybe, we're playing Houston or Maine or even Tulane..you give a side eye, but he just orchestrated an amazing gameplan against a Bama team gearing up for a playoff run. Gotta show love. Happy for him and all his success. Two wonderings: 1. Will he be able to throw the ball when needed? 2. Can he string two strong performances together? IFF he can do that, i may walk my opinion about his position next year back because I still firmly believe he's a portal candidate whether the new OC brings a qb with them or not. GRADE: 86. Even without a lot of great throws, kid played himself into Sooner history yesterday
2. RBs: X-Man is THEE dude at the position. His talent, body and style of play is the perfect compliment to the offense AND jfa (almost back to capitals). Hes a prime example why you need to fill your roster with a high volume of talented players. He was sort of an after thought to many, but man has he turned into a dynamic piece of the offensive puzzle. Based upon the offense we want to run now, he may be the most valuable offensive piece we possess. Kid literally ran over Bama defenders all night. He had great ball security and he looked competent in helping on blocking assignments. I dont give out many 90s but he, alone, stood head and shoulders above all the other rbs. Chuk is worth mentioning, but Tatum has proven again that hes not ready for the bright lights (hit that weight room young man). GRADE: 94. Kid was the best player on the field last night.
3. OLINE: Holy crap...they were nothing short of amazing. They blocked well. They finished blocks. They moved as a unit and they moved with an attitude. The biggest thing I can say is plain and simply...they were put into positions to be successful. I'll get to scheme shortly, but the big uglies..especially some of the young guys are definitely improving. The "BB is trash" community may have to quiet down a bit, but the "It takes BB half the season to getit right" community is giving me the side eye...lol. Either way, them boys balled out. Really strong showing. GRADE: 90. Bama under the lights AND we pretty much made a decision to just run at them. Much respect.
4. TEs/WRs: Poor wrs. Them boys get few chances and more often than not, throws aren't accurate. It's no wonder we've run a lot of 12 or 21 personnel of late. The unit is now the weak link of the offense. BOFF of em. Sharp, dropped an easy touchdown. Rotate your hips and catch the damn ball. The other guys were either inconsequential or just young. Kudos to Brenen for a nice catch, but we've gotta get more out of the unit and I'm well aware that jfa is part of the problem.
GRADE: 74. Hopefully freshman grow into sophomores.
5. SCHEME/COACHING: Masterful. BB heard the birds chirping. JJF has seen folk walking into the Switzer Center in their interview grey suits. They both responded with SPADES. So much respect for the gameplan. The nuanced adjustments in run schemes. The motion presnap and eye candy at the snap. The variations of RPOs and shuttle passes. The willingness to say "we're gonna win this game with physicality and trust our qb to do what he does well." All very good. JJF may not be ready to run our offense longterm, but i will not be surprised when he's killing it for some other school. I also won't be surprised when we're facing him sometime down the road in the SEC. I am impressed and optimistic about his potential. GRADE: 97. Best game plan in years maybe. Out manned. Out matched and flat out WHOOPED Bama for 4 whole quarters. Not even the Bradford or Baker teams did that an entire game against top shelf SEC competition. (TREVOR did though 😅).
6. DLINE: Most talented and deepest unit on the team. I think Jayden will be a future AA. The rotation of Dom, Stone, Terry and Halton...is Top Tier. The last month or so they've been playing with a swagger. The Ends joined the party last night. Best game by a mile for the unit. RMT led the way but Trace was not far behind. BOFF of em literally whooped their tackles all game. But Ethan wouldn't be outdone. He ALSO gave his tackle hell and was strong against the run. Woullard played well as well. Really strong effort. GRADE: 90
7. BACKERS: Kip and Danny have a chemistry now. They literally pick the other up when one makes a mistake or are both heat seeking missiles meeting at the ball. Something i think worth noting is Kips pass coverage skills. He sinks and carries in cuts and into the hole probably better than anyone on the team. I think its also worth saying. Danny sticking around was probably worth this win. His inspiration and leadership may re-build a "Backer attitude" this place took pride in during the 2000s. From T Marshall and Rocky to Teddy and L Mitch to Rufus and C-Lo...those dudes all took the role very seriously. He'll be mentioned in those conversations hopefully preparing Kip and Co to take the mantle. I'll always respect 28 for that (and his play as well). GRADE: 85. Very well played game. 11, 24 and 20 also got in on the action, but Saturday was about 10 and 28.
8. DBs: BV made a very important tweak to his defense early in the game. He took his backside safety and walked him into the box. Single high safety wayyyyyyy more than usual. I loved it for two reasons: 1. The obvious is deter Milroe from running and that worked. 2. Our dbs were forced to play much more man and they rose to the occasion. Lets hit some highlights...woodi's best game all year. Billy played one of his as well..in fact I kinda wonder if he isn't a better box safety than high safety. He was very formidable in the run game last night. I think the opposite of P Bowen..i Wanna see him play high safety next year. RSJ was strong but the corners shined. Eli stole the show, but Malone deserves props too. He was also in man coverage and did a solid job.
Now let's get back to Eli...kid is sooooo fundamentally sound. He stays in great position and is a really good tackler in space. Now...lets be fair. He's 2inches away from a 41 yard td when Williams toe nail steps out of bounce and now IM more confused about the illegal touching play as I've seen conflicting "rules" about the formation, touching, blah blah blah...but one thing that's CLEAR on the play...Williams caught that ball AND got a foot down. Eli won his fair share and was always right on his hip but he almost gave up 2 tds. That said...that pick...absolutely special. You need such a high iq to pull that off. GRADE: 85. To battle at that level all game was impressive.
9. SPECIALS: We missed a kick we needed but otherwise were solid. It'll be interesting to see how we rebound. Punts and KOs have been solid all season. GRADE: 71 Make the kicks damn it.
10. COACHING/SCHEME: BV and Co came prepared. We went to 8 in the box. We brought waves of pressure. We backed out sometimes, but a distinct difference in the game last night is we brought a lot more pressure on money downs. We sped up Milroe and he got flustered. Great scheme. Not much more to be said. Very proud of how prepared we were. It mattered. GRADE: 88
FINAL THGT...
We needed that win in the worst way. Recruiting, self belief, program culture, SEC respect...etc. all was on the line and we WHIPPED THEY ASSES. The illegal play was inconsequential to outcome of the game. I'm proud of the oline and extremely hopeful for our frosh. In a lot of positions an under classmen is the most talented player in the position group. And those pups turn into dawgs with the amount of reps they've had to handle. Also much respect for BB and JJF. Hellofa plan and execution. Next week will confirm if it was an aberration.
Who'd a thgt...Sooner Magic would start the Second Quarter and last the entire game 😅
Hellofa win
#Boomer
1. QB: Kid came into the game with a lot of questions marks. I think many people's concerns started with protecting the ball. We easily win at Mizzou if we just protect the ball. I gotta say, he did well. We deployed a Belldozer package and he executed the heck out of it. Very impressive. If, maybe, we're playing Houston or Maine or even Tulane..you give a side eye, but he just orchestrated an amazing gameplan against a Bama team gearing up for a playoff run. Gotta show love. Happy for him and all his success. Two wonderings: 1. Will he be able to throw the ball when needed? 2. Can he string two strong performances together? IFF he can do that, i may walk my opinion about his position next year back because I still firmly believe he's a portal candidate whether the new OC brings a qb with them or not. GRADE: 86. Even without a lot of great throws, kid played himself into Sooner history yesterday
2. RBs: X-Man is THEE dude at the position. His talent, body and style of play is the perfect compliment to the offense AND jfa (almost back to capitals). Hes a prime example why you need to fill your roster with a high volume of talented players. He was sort of an after thought to many, but man has he turned into a dynamic piece of the offensive puzzle. Based upon the offense we want to run now, he may be the most valuable offensive piece we possess. Kid literally ran over Bama defenders all night. He had great ball security and he looked competent in helping on blocking assignments. I dont give out many 90s but he, alone, stood head and shoulders above all the other rbs. Chuk is worth mentioning, but Tatum has proven again that hes not ready for the bright lights (hit that weight room young man). GRADE: 94. Kid was the best player on the field last night.
3. OLINE: Holy crap...they were nothing short of amazing. They blocked well. They finished blocks. They moved as a unit and they moved with an attitude. The biggest thing I can say is plain and simply...they were put into positions to be successful. I'll get to scheme shortly, but the big uglies..especially some of the young guys are definitely improving. The "BB is trash" community may have to quiet down a bit, but the "It takes BB half the season to getit right" community is giving me the side eye...lol. Either way, them boys balled out. Really strong showing. GRADE: 90. Bama under the lights AND we pretty much made a decision to just run at them. Much respect.
4. TEs/WRs: Poor wrs. Them boys get few chances and more often than not, throws aren't accurate. It's no wonder we've run a lot of 12 or 21 personnel of late. The unit is now the weak link of the offense. BOFF of em. Sharp, dropped an easy touchdown. Rotate your hips and catch the damn ball. The other guys were either inconsequential or just young. Kudos to Brenen for a nice catch, but we've gotta get more out of the unit and I'm well aware that jfa is part of the problem.
GRADE: 74. Hopefully freshman grow into sophomores.
5. SCHEME/COACHING: Masterful. BB heard the birds chirping. JJF has seen folk walking into the Switzer Center in their interview grey suits. They both responded with SPADES. So much respect for the gameplan. The nuanced adjustments in run schemes. The motion presnap and eye candy at the snap. The variations of RPOs and shuttle passes. The willingness to say "we're gonna win this game with physicality and trust our qb to do what he does well." All very good. JJF may not be ready to run our offense longterm, but i will not be surprised when he's killing it for some other school. I also won't be surprised when we're facing him sometime down the road in the SEC. I am impressed and optimistic about his potential. GRADE: 97. Best game plan in years maybe. Out manned. Out matched and flat out WHOOPED Bama for 4 whole quarters. Not even the Bradford or Baker teams did that an entire game against top shelf SEC competition. (TREVOR did though 😅).
6. DLINE: Most talented and deepest unit on the team. I think Jayden will be a future AA. The rotation of Dom, Stone, Terry and Halton...is Top Tier. The last month or so they've been playing with a swagger. The Ends joined the party last night. Best game by a mile for the unit. RMT led the way but Trace was not far behind. BOFF of em literally whooped their tackles all game. But Ethan wouldn't be outdone. He ALSO gave his tackle hell and was strong against the run. Woullard played well as well. Really strong effort. GRADE: 90
7. BACKERS: Kip and Danny have a chemistry now. They literally pick the other up when one makes a mistake or are both heat seeking missiles meeting at the ball. Something i think worth noting is Kips pass coverage skills. He sinks and carries in cuts and into the hole probably better than anyone on the team. I think its also worth saying. Danny sticking around was probably worth this win. His inspiration and leadership may re-build a "Backer attitude" this place took pride in during the 2000s. From T Marshall and Rocky to Teddy and L Mitch to Rufus and C-Lo...those dudes all took the role very seriously. He'll be mentioned in those conversations hopefully preparing Kip and Co to take the mantle. I'll always respect 28 for that (and his play as well). GRADE: 85. Very well played game. 11, 24 and 20 also got in on the action, but Saturday was about 10 and 28.
8. DBs: BV made a very important tweak to his defense early in the game. He took his backside safety and walked him into the box. Single high safety wayyyyyyy more than usual. I loved it for two reasons: 1. The obvious is deter Milroe from running and that worked. 2. Our dbs were forced to play much more man and they rose to the occasion. Lets hit some highlights...woodi's best game all year. Billy played one of his as well..in fact I kinda wonder if he isn't a better box safety than high safety. He was very formidable in the run game last night. I think the opposite of P Bowen..i Wanna see him play high safety next year. RSJ was strong but the corners shined. Eli stole the show, but Malone deserves props too. He was also in man coverage and did a solid job.
Now let's get back to Eli...kid is sooooo fundamentally sound. He stays in great position and is a really good tackler in space. Now...lets be fair. He's 2inches away from a 41 yard td when Williams toe nail steps out of bounce and now IM more confused about the illegal touching play as I've seen conflicting "rules" about the formation, touching, blah blah blah...but one thing that's CLEAR on the play...Williams caught that ball AND got a foot down. Eli won his fair share and was always right on his hip but he almost gave up 2 tds. That said...that pick...absolutely special. You need such a high iq to pull that off. GRADE: 85. To battle at that level all game was impressive.
9. SPECIALS: We missed a kick we needed but otherwise were solid. It'll be interesting to see how we rebound. Punts and KOs have been solid all season. GRADE: 71 Make the kicks damn it.
10. COACHING/SCHEME: BV and Co came prepared. We went to 8 in the box. We brought waves of pressure. We backed out sometimes, but a distinct difference in the game last night is we brought a lot more pressure on money downs. We sped up Milroe and he got flustered. Great scheme. Not much more to be said. Very proud of how prepared we were. It mattered. GRADE: 88
FINAL THGT...
We needed that win in the worst way. Recruiting, self belief, program culture, SEC respect...etc. all was on the line and we WHIPPED THEY ASSES. The illegal play was inconsequential to outcome of the game. I'm proud of the oline and extremely hopeful for our frosh. In a lot of positions an under classmen is the most talented player in the position group. And those pups turn into dawgs with the amount of reps they've had to handle. Also much respect for BB and JJF. Hellofa plan and execution. Next week will confirm if it was an aberration.
Who'd a thgt...Sooner Magic would start the Second Quarter and last the entire game 😅
Hellofa win
#Boomer
