Tech had some people in position to make a play more than once, and they just didn't make it. I think it was Mixon's first touchdown, they had a linebacker unblocked in the hole and he barely touched Joe, who wiggled a little and then ran up the middle to score.
There was a huge third and 11 in the first half, when we ran a swing to Mixon and they had him for about five maybe six, and he just kept spinning until he got past the marker for the first down. Mixon is a terrific talent, but part of why he really looked like the guy we expected to see earlier, but who showed up today, was that Tech just doesn't have enough athletes, really on either side of the ball, but especially on the D side. OU was 10 of 13 on third down, which is ridiculous. One of those failures was converted on fourth down. So their D only forced two kicks. One a three and out punt on OUs first possession. The second was before the first missed FG of the year. OU ran for over 400 yards. That's Kansas level incompetence.
Part of is surely is the personnel changes made after the RRR debacle. The settled on the starting front five, which included two freshman tackles. Samia made some crucial blocks in the run game. Go look at Mixon's first touchdown. Samia blocked down and walled the whole damn thing off. THe broadcast crew gave Perine great credit for a nice block. But it was Samia who moved the defender about three yards laterally that gave Joe the space to make a move, to get upfield and score. I think Darlington is reasonably healthy at center for the first time in over a month. Samia wasn't ready six weeks ago. He is now. Brown is getting there. Nila has improved and Alvarez has cemented the left guard spot.
They are getting there in understanding the offense. I don't think you're really going to know about how good OU's offense really is until they play Baylor and TCU.
You don't measure an offense by scoring 60 plus on a poor defense. You measure by how you do when the other guys match up with you athletically. The offense is better. But the two most athletic teams we've played were the two UT's. We scored 17 against both in regulation.
This offense isn't close to brilliant yet.
I also thought today, that the defense getting four picks was a huge momentum factor, and kept the O in rhythm. We also got more than a few breaks.
Saturday was a really good step. But this offense will have to score close to 40, maybe more, to beat Baylor down there. If they can't at least get into the high 30s, then they're not nearly as good as what you say is being written about them.
