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The next step

Jan 16, 2019
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I know many will think I am overreacting, but do we think Riley can take us to a championship? This has been the first year where I have doubted it in a sense. All the rumors about how they practice, the neglect that he shows on defense, etc.. Riley is a great play caller, but is that it for him with this OU team? In my opinion I think he needs to let go of the play calling and be the coach. Someone talk me off this cliff.
 
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He seems to get crazy eyes...somewhat panic...when his game plan gets throttled. Clock management needs work as does his middle zone game. He remains a solid Tx Tech guy. Just hate when we fail to score more than 30 points in a game with this much offensive talent. OL seriously is not nearly as good as advertised preseason. Been a frustrating season this year. Coaching has been wtf at moments. You have such a woody for WR then don’t use the ones he does get properly.
 
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He seems to get crazy eyes...somewhat panic...when his game plan gets throttled. Clock management needs work as does his middle zone game. He remains a solid Tx Tech guy. Just hate when we fail to score more than 30 points in a game with this much offensive talent. OL seriously is not nearly as good as advertised preseason. Been a frustrating season this year. Coaching has been wtf at moments. You have such a woody for WR then don’t use the ones he does get properly.
I understand he physically cannot control things sometimes, but play calling has been super confusing. Grant it, I'm no coach so take this opinion like a grain of salt. They neglect the run game quick this year. I understand O-line problems have a lot to do with that. Once his scheme isn't working, he does not know what to do.
 
Six CCs in a row bro. Four playoff appearances in six years. It's madness to talk about if Riley is the guy for the job. He can build a championship offense, there's no doubt about it.

Defense has been the issue. In my opinion, the question should be is if Grinch is the guy who can help get us a championship. I say yes, but feel free to disagree.

O-state has a better defense than us this year. Quite a bit better in fact. Once in a while, you might expect that to happen. But if this were to be the case for, say, three years in a row, I would start to be pretty concerned. If O-state has a better defense than us for three years in a row, then either our recruiting or player development/coaching is broken, and we should probably make a change.
 
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I'm not done with Riley. He's still young. But he's gotta find a mean streak and a swagger that will infect his players.

Grinch better let go and trust his players. Get aggressive and stay aggressive. It's to easy to move the ball between the 20s. You have to get after the quarterback and create turnovers. His platform was exactly that and he's failed to deliver, with what is a capable roster. You'll get beat from time to time but you gotta live with it.
 
Many heavyweight football programs, mostly outside of the teams from the South, have been dormant from winning national championships this century.
USC, Michigan, Penn State, Miami,, Nebraska, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma have been overshadowed by the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Clemson, LSU, Texas and Auburn since 2004. (Even though Texas and Florida State have faded from relevance when compared to the other southern teams).
Since 2003 through 2020, teams from Dixie have won 16 of the last 18 national championships, with only Ohio State and USC the only non-southern winners.
Oklahoma is just another historically great team that's been muscled out by teams from of the SEC and Clemson and the dominance shows no signs of fading. Georgia looks to be unbeatable and Alabama is close behind.
I think great recruiting in the south is the fuel that keeps SEC teams so dominant.
These southern teams prioritize defense as much as offense and I generally see a more fast and physical brand of football from them.
My hope is that OU can incorporate the recruiting and style of play when it becomes an SEC member. This won't happen unless the coaching philosophy changes dramatically and moves away from being an "arena" football team.
 
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This is just me, but if I were a really good offensive player, I would give OU a serious look. But if I were a really good defensive lineman or LB, I wouldn’t give OU the time of day. Why? Because OU very seldom turn really good defensive players into outstanding NFL worthy talent. And I think that’s the reason the Alabama and Georgia type programs reap the most defensive talent each year.
 
This is just me, but if I were a really good offensive player, I would give OU a serious look. But if I were a really good defensive lineman or LB, I wouldn’t give OU the time of day. Why? Because OU very seldom turn really good defensive players into outstanding NFL worthy talent. And I think that’s the reason the Alabama and Georgia type programs reap the most defensive talent each year.

Not to mention Grinch's unique rotation. If you're a superstar defensive lineman you're going to go play in a scheme that gives you 25 snaps a game. A DB and linebacker only half?

To me this rotating of starters and going 3 deep at many positions is as a big of problem as Grinch's failure to be aggressive or tweak his scheme based on the opponent.

I've given many Oklahoma coaches and players the benefit of the doubt that things would come together. I no longer can with Grinch. He's a failed project and we'll never field a championship defense with him. But hey at least we run stunts. I'd hate to ask Perrion Winfrey to just line up and be better than the guy in front of him and blow up a play before it starters. I'm over the 3-4 defense with hybrid guys. Might as well stuck with Mike Stoops.
 
Problem is there’s no more Charlie McBride’s coaching today. McBride was Tom Osborne’s DC for 18 years and he produced 11 Top 10 defenses during his career at Nebraska. If Riley had a guy like McBride or even Gary Gibbs, being the HC and OC would be manageable perhaps. But guys like McBride don’t turn down head coaching jobs anymore. Except for maybe Brent Venables. That’s why I think Riley should give up the offensive reigns and get more involved in all phrases of the team because he really needs to understand defensive coaching better so he can replace the not so great (Grinches) and evaluate the really good ones like the assistant DC at Georgia. I can’t think of his name but he will be running his own defense one day soon, I believe.
 
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OU has consistently been ranked around #5 while being #15 in recruiting. OU is doing a great job of developing players. In the past we had not been getting top MLB and CB recruits. Times have changed, we have had two top 10 recruiting classes and getting better. Give us some time. If we can be a consistently top 5 teams with #15 recruiting then we will be even better with top 10 in recruiting. This year we are ranked about #10 when combining the last few years of recruiting. The OL losses prior to the season sting. Boomer Sooner!
 
All over the internet people are gloom and doom OU. People want to fire Grinch yada yada. Look at Okie State's defense. They are ranked #1 in the B12 in every defensive category. Gundy has the best defense of his coaching career right now and will probably never happen again. My point is, for the stars to line up, you have to have the right combination of talent and experience. Very hard to do, and doesn't happen often. Riley is a great coach, but he will have a NC caliber team only a handful of times in his career.

Our phenomenal true freshman QB had an off day. QBs have off days. Baker, Kyler, Aaron Rogers, all of them. Baylor's D had a lot to do with it. It was part of the learning curve for Caleb and I think he'll grow from it. I like our chances moving forward. Let's finish strong!
 
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HIRING A DC OR OC AS YOUR HC

Any given year should be appropriate for this question and found this 2008 article (which reminds you how swift the coaching carousel is) and it’s results were inconclusive - both fare about the same of being in the top 20: www.google.com/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/58721-offense-vs-defense-who-makes-the-best-head-coach-in-college-football.amp.html

I’ll look at this differently - there have been 2 dynasties this century and both helmed by a former DC. And the current #1 was/is a DC.

My off the cuff: on D you get your ass reamed for screw-ups; offense is positive reinforcement - “let’s run it again.” I look at UGA and see discipline up and down their units - I look at OU and I can’t even figure out what we’re trying to do on offense this year.

You look at asshole Saban and you can conclude one thing: he’s a warden who insists on discipline. Can sustained winning be chalked up to that single word - discipline?

While Riley is whining "poor me" about a fieldgoal at the end of a game (how about yelling at your own kicker who couldn't do anything right and an O that scored 7 points per half?) , Saban is doing this:

Nick Saban says a lot of Alabama players 'had the poor-me's' at Wednesday's practice
10:05 pm EST Nov. 17, 2021
Nick Saban quickly made clear that he was not pleased with the Alabama football team's practice Wednesday as he stepped to the lectern minutes after it ended. His voice had hints of frustration as he talked about his team's preparation for Arkansas.

"I think we need to have the right mindset in preparation, in practice, how we practice, how physical we need to be in terms of how we need to play in a game like this," Saban said as part of his opening statement.
He added that Alabama needs to be excited about how they prepare, play and practice the things the Crimson Tide needs to do to get ready for "a tough team."

He said Tuesday's practice was OK but Wednesday was a different story.

"Today we got a lot of guys that had the ‘poor-me's,' whatever that means," Saban said. "You get into your feelings and you don’t do things you need to do 'em to have success, and when you get that way you don’t create good habits and that’s not a good thing. It’s not something that we can accept and it’s something that we’ve got to do a better job of.”
 
HIRING A DC OR OC AS YOUR HC

Any given year should be appropriate for this question and found this 2008 article (which reminds you how swift the coaching carousel is) and it’s results were inconclusive - both fare about the same of being in the top 20: www.google.com/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/58721-offense-vs-defense-who-makes-the-best-head-coach-in-college-football.amp.html

I’ll look at this differently - there have been 2 dynasties this century and both helmed by a former DC. And the current #1 was/is a DC.

My off the cuff: on D you get your ass reamed for screw-ups; offense is positive reinforcement - “let’s run it again.” I look at UGA and see discipline up and down their units - I look at OU and I can’t even figure out what we’re trying to do on offense this year.

You look at asshole Saban and you can conclude one thing: he’s a warden who insists on discipline. Can sustained winning be chalked up to that single word - discipline?

While Riley is whining "poor me" about a fieldgoal at the end of a game (how about yelling at your own kicker who couldn't do anything right and an O that scored 7 points per half?) , Saban is doing this:

Nick Saban says a lot of Alabama players 'had the poor-me's' at Wednesday's practice
10:05 pm EST Nov. 17, 2021
Nick Saban quickly made clear that he was not pleased with the Alabama football team's practice Wednesday as he stepped to the lectern minutes after it ended. His voice had hints of frustration as he talked about his team's preparation for Arkansas.

"I think we need to have the right mindset in preparation, in practice, how we practice, how physical we need to be in terms of how we need to play in a game like this," Saban said as part of his opening statement.
He added that Alabama needs to be excited about how they prepare, play and practice the things the Crimson Tide needs to do to get ready for "a tough team."

He said Tuesday's practice was OK but Wednesday was a different story.

"Today we got a lot of guys that had the ‘poor-me's,' whatever that means," Saban said. "You get into your feelings and you don’t do things you need to do 'em to have success, and when you get that way you don’t create good habits and that’s not a good thing. It’s not something that we can accept and it’s something that we’ve got to do a better job of.”
Good stuff thanks for sharing.
 
I'm not done with Riley. He's still young. But he's gotta find a mean streak and a swagger that will infect his players.

Grinch better let go and trust his players. Get aggressive and stay aggressive. It's to easy to move the ball between the 20s. You have to get after the quarterback and create turnovers. His platform was exactly that and he's failed to deliver, with what is a capable roster. You'll get beat from time to time but you gotta live with it.
Agree 100%
 
I thought the D played pretty well against ISU. I think everyone knew Broiles was going to be matched up on one of their TE's quite often and it didn't turn out as bad as I was hoping it wouldn't. I listened to Riley's ISU postgame interview today and he echoed what he does after every close game or loss and that is that "so and so team is a darn good football team and it took alot of guts for us to pull out the win"

Don't get me wrong, I understand his sentiment but ISU is 6-5. Kansas had 2 wins when we pulled out the squeeker against them. I sometimes wonder how those types of teams are considered so good to Riley when their record indicates otherwise? Is that just a defense mechanism of his that kicks in? We're 10-1 no doubt but dang it's been a baffling year.
 
I thought the D played pretty well against ISU. I think everyone knew Broiles was going to be matched up on one of their TE's quite often and it didn't turn out as bad as I was hoping it wouldn't. I listened to Riley's ISU postgame interview today and he echoed what he does after every close game or loss and that is that "so and so team is a darn good football team and it took alot of guts for us to pull out the win"

Don't get me wrong, I understand his sentiment but ISU is 6-5. Kansas had 2 wins when we pulled out the squeeker against them. I sometimes wonder how those types of teams are considered so good to Riley when their record indicates otherwise? Is that just a defense mechanism of his that kicks in? We're 10-1 no doubt but dang it's been a baffling year.

Old Coaches Rule. When you win say little, when you lose say less.
 
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