Last night was awful. It exposed a severe lack of depth on defense and asking the offensive line. I'm going to try to explain here what happened and hopefully it'll help some of the more chromosomally challenged among the posters here to move on and realize the program is moving in a good direction.
First, for those among you accusing Lincoln of not being the answer at head coach...and understand I'm trying to phrase this as politely as I can...fist yourselves.
Bob Stoops was a great coach for OU but there is little doubt in hindsight that he was here too long. His last 5-7 years he stopped recruiting difference makers and placed far too much faith in friends and family that repeatedly demonstrated they were not capable of performing up to the expectations at a program like OU. The depth along various positions suffered and in many cases have yet to be replenished (CB, Safety). Bob left this program in a better condition than what he found it offensively but in a dramatically worse condition on the defensive side of the ball. That was on him for failing to hold his brother accountable and, in turn, on his brother for failing to hold his position coaches accountable for failing utterly in their jobs.
Mike Stoops had no idea how to form a cohesive identity for his defense. He had delusions of grandeur that he could construct a defense that could hold the wide open spread offenses of the XII in check while simultaneously being ready for games versus the SEC and their more traditional approaches to offense. As a reward for his idiocy he accomplished neither. He brought with him a linebacker coach that was, in a word, incompetent and hired a defensive back coach that had no idea how to teach the fundamentals of covering a receiver. We witnessed historically awful defenses because of hilariously poor fundamentals from defensive backs. That poor coaching was masked because of historically great offenses led by amazing QBs. And as a result, and due to Bob's unwillingness to fire his brother, those coaches were retained far beyond their sell-by date. Each year the talent in the defensive backfield got worse and less talented and more poorly coached.
When Lincoln was hired he rebuilt the offense in short order as offensive coordinator but he built a rapport with Bob that developed two traits that directly led to last night.
1) He got far too comfortable with the idea that he could coach up a transfer QB into a world beater. This worked fine as long as those QBs were able to be developed by Lincoln over the course of several seasons to run his system. Baker and Kyler were in the system for years and could run it blindfolded. Both were capable of passing the ball and distributing it to the appropriate personnel. Jalen, as good a person as he is, was in the system for less than one year and was a sub par passer. Lincoln's system demands a dual threat QB and Jalen is not that. He's a good leader and a great runner but he was a square peg being forced into a round hole.
2) He developed a loyalty to Bob that led to him delaying the axing of Mike, and by extension the defensive staff that Mike wanted, and caused the delay in the defensive switch that led to more players ill fitted for coverage in an offensive era that demanded elite (or at the very least competent) coverage from defensive backs. Mike should have been fired as soon as Lincoln took over. He should have been fired again after the Georgia game. Delaying that firing caused the countdown clock on the rebuild process to start at the hiring of Alex Grinch.
Grinch's hire began a process that will take time. His scheme has an identity and he is recruiting players that fit into it...a stark contrast to Mike's policy of trying to find talented players and designing and redesigning his scheme to fit whatever talent he could find. Alex is restocking a defensive backfield largely devoid of players capable of executing. He took what he had and put the best available options on the field and managed in his one season to improve that historically bad defense into one that was at least capable of dealing with the XII level talent they were so incapable of doing before. The loss of Dellarin Turner Yell exposed the chink in that armor though when he was forced to play Justin Broiles, a player that is blatantly incapable of performing the duties for which he was responsible.
Last night Broiles missed multiple tackles and got caught trailing bigger and faster receivers as he gave up chunk play after chunk play and TD after TD and there was no way to help him without allowing multiple opposing receivers to get open. As a result a talented qb picked on Broiles and drove down the field over and over. And over. And over. A competent player would have forced check downs and second reads. Broiles allowed an immensely talented offense to design their game plan to take advantage of him and it worked every time. Every. Single. Time. And Grinch had no answer for it. Not because he's a poor coach. Not because he wasn't capable of scheming around Broiles. No, it was because the only players capable of executing the defensive game plan were starting all year and with the loss of one of them two weeks ago he was forced to go with a player that had no business on a college football field.
Grinch improved the defense this year by identifying players that could execute his system and plugging them in and getting damn lucky over the course of the year that those players stayed healthy. He took a defense incapable of executing a game plan versus an NAIA level program into one that could defend most of the XII. He was ahead of schedule this year and forced everyone to think he may be a miracle worker when the truth was he still needs to construct a two deep filled with players that can be trusted to execute the fundamentals of defensive football.
The offensive line woes exposed last night were a result of 80% of last year's line moving on to the NFL, many of whom left early, and not having players ready to plug in. Those were unfortunate losses and needing to plug in a player that couldn't start at a sub par ACC program in the most important position on that line was a huge warning sign that should have been apparent to everyone. Rebuilding an offensive line after losses like that is a monumental task. Ideally you lose one or two players and can plug in replacements that can learn on the job while experienced players teach them and mask their deficiencies in technique while they learn. That didn't happen and the unit OU was forced to field this year want ready. It was fine versus the talent available in the XII but not remotely ready for playoff level talent.
With all that said the important thing to take away is that the offense is in good hands . There are few coaches better than Bedenbaugh and Lincoln is a very good to great offensive coach. Again, he isn't a miracle worker. He needs to develop players in his system. And he needs a complementary defense. And in Grinch he has a coach that is building that complementary defense but it is going to take time to rebuild. And fans that had a notion that the rebuild should have been accomplished by now and OU had the talent needed to compete on that level already on the roster are delusional in the extreme. OU was ahead of schedule this year and that talent will likely still not be fully ready next year. I fully expect in year 3 of Grinch's tenure he will be fielding a defense that is capable of slowing offenses like the he he faced last night while next year he will have one capable of doing so vs teams that aren't fielding generational talents.
The TLDR version: Give it time, chill out and allow the rebuild to happen. Anyone calling for these coaches to be fired should be wearing a helmet to protect them from broken glass if they press too hard against the window they're licking.
First, for those among you accusing Lincoln of not being the answer at head coach...and understand I'm trying to phrase this as politely as I can...fist yourselves.
Bob Stoops was a great coach for OU but there is little doubt in hindsight that he was here too long. His last 5-7 years he stopped recruiting difference makers and placed far too much faith in friends and family that repeatedly demonstrated they were not capable of performing up to the expectations at a program like OU. The depth along various positions suffered and in many cases have yet to be replenished (CB, Safety). Bob left this program in a better condition than what he found it offensively but in a dramatically worse condition on the defensive side of the ball. That was on him for failing to hold his brother accountable and, in turn, on his brother for failing to hold his position coaches accountable for failing utterly in their jobs.
Mike Stoops had no idea how to form a cohesive identity for his defense. He had delusions of grandeur that he could construct a defense that could hold the wide open spread offenses of the XII in check while simultaneously being ready for games versus the SEC and their more traditional approaches to offense. As a reward for his idiocy he accomplished neither. He brought with him a linebacker coach that was, in a word, incompetent and hired a defensive back coach that had no idea how to teach the fundamentals of covering a receiver. We witnessed historically awful defenses because of hilariously poor fundamentals from defensive backs. That poor coaching was masked because of historically great offenses led by amazing QBs. And as a result, and due to Bob's unwillingness to fire his brother, those coaches were retained far beyond their sell-by date. Each year the talent in the defensive backfield got worse and less talented and more poorly coached.
When Lincoln was hired he rebuilt the offense in short order as offensive coordinator but he built a rapport with Bob that developed two traits that directly led to last night.
1) He got far too comfortable with the idea that he could coach up a transfer QB into a world beater. This worked fine as long as those QBs were able to be developed by Lincoln over the course of several seasons to run his system. Baker and Kyler were in the system for years and could run it blindfolded. Both were capable of passing the ball and distributing it to the appropriate personnel. Jalen, as good a person as he is, was in the system for less than one year and was a sub par passer. Lincoln's system demands a dual threat QB and Jalen is not that. He's a good leader and a great runner but he was a square peg being forced into a round hole.
2) He developed a loyalty to Bob that led to him delaying the axing of Mike, and by extension the defensive staff that Mike wanted, and caused the delay in the defensive switch that led to more players ill fitted for coverage in an offensive era that demanded elite (or at the very least competent) coverage from defensive backs. Mike should have been fired as soon as Lincoln took over. He should have been fired again after the Georgia game. Delaying that firing caused the countdown clock on the rebuild process to start at the hiring of Alex Grinch.
Grinch's hire began a process that will take time. His scheme has an identity and he is recruiting players that fit into it...a stark contrast to Mike's policy of trying to find talented players and designing and redesigning his scheme to fit whatever talent he could find. Alex is restocking a defensive backfield largely devoid of players capable of executing. He took what he had and put the best available options on the field and managed in his one season to improve that historically bad defense into one that was at least capable of dealing with the XII level talent they were so incapable of doing before. The loss of Dellarin Turner Yell exposed the chink in that armor though when he was forced to play Justin Broiles, a player that is blatantly incapable of performing the duties for which he was responsible.
Last night Broiles missed multiple tackles and got caught trailing bigger and faster receivers as he gave up chunk play after chunk play and TD after TD and there was no way to help him without allowing multiple opposing receivers to get open. As a result a talented qb picked on Broiles and drove down the field over and over. And over. And over. A competent player would have forced check downs and second reads. Broiles allowed an immensely talented offense to design their game plan to take advantage of him and it worked every time. Every. Single. Time. And Grinch had no answer for it. Not because he's a poor coach. Not because he wasn't capable of scheming around Broiles. No, it was because the only players capable of executing the defensive game plan were starting all year and with the loss of one of them two weeks ago he was forced to go with a player that had no business on a college football field.
Grinch improved the defense this year by identifying players that could execute his system and plugging them in and getting damn lucky over the course of the year that those players stayed healthy. He took a defense incapable of executing a game plan versus an NAIA level program into one that could defend most of the XII. He was ahead of schedule this year and forced everyone to think he may be a miracle worker when the truth was he still needs to construct a two deep filled with players that can be trusted to execute the fundamentals of defensive football.
The offensive line woes exposed last night were a result of 80% of last year's line moving on to the NFL, many of whom left early, and not having players ready to plug in. Those were unfortunate losses and needing to plug in a player that couldn't start at a sub par ACC program in the most important position on that line was a huge warning sign that should have been apparent to everyone. Rebuilding an offensive line after losses like that is a monumental task. Ideally you lose one or two players and can plug in replacements that can learn on the job while experienced players teach them and mask their deficiencies in technique while they learn. That didn't happen and the unit OU was forced to field this year want ready. It was fine versus the talent available in the XII but not remotely ready for playoff level talent.
With all that said the important thing to take away is that the offense is in good hands . There are few coaches better than Bedenbaugh and Lincoln is a very good to great offensive coach. Again, he isn't a miracle worker. He needs to develop players in his system. And he needs a complementary defense. And in Grinch he has a coach that is building that complementary defense but it is going to take time to rebuild. And fans that had a notion that the rebuild should have been accomplished by now and OU had the talent needed to compete on that level already on the roster are delusional in the extreme. OU was ahead of schedule this year and that talent will likely still not be fully ready next year. I fully expect in year 3 of Grinch's tenure he will be fielding a defense that is capable of slowing offenses like the he he faced last night while next year he will have one capable of doing so vs teams that aren't fielding generational talents.
The TLDR version: Give it time, chill out and allow the rebuild to happen. Anyone calling for these coaches to be fired should be wearing a helmet to protect them from broken glass if they press too hard against the window they're licking.
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