Texas-Oklahoma Football Preview: Sooner Offense

as always brilliant. The Machete is without question the X-factor in all of this. He might not be able to remove Broyles from the equation like A. Williams did last year but he may well give Stills a few more bad tattoos.

Jeffcoat just needs to make sure he shows us his skills before the whistle. He killed us with late hit penalties that extended drives for OU last year

Fantastic stuff as usual Scipio.

I must trust the Diaz.
I must trust the Harsin.
I must trust the young players to play hard.
I must trust the old players to play smart.
Expect nothing. Expect everything.
Ommmmmmm.

or

We will see what we will see.

I’m not sure OU’s defense doesn’t hold a down-to-down advantage on this UT offense. OU will give up points, but they will be off the ~ 4 busted assignments/manufactured plays Harsin generates. I can’t see too many 12 play drives from the Horns.

1. All you said about Jones is true. However, he’s much more composed since the end of last year. Early setbacks don’t rattle this offense nearly as much.
2. OU basically gave up on the tempo aspect at FSU. I think that their was some recognition that the chaos of a hostile environment isn’t conducive to the tempo.
3. When OU needed to run at FSU, a pretty good DL, LB’s not so much, they were able.

Time to see if your young corners are for real or have just feasted on a menu of average passing offenses.

“Landry Jones and OU passing game vs. Texas pass defense – this is the matchup of the game.”

This is the bottomline, but it just isn’t our secondary, that statement also includes our damn DTs and “all world 5 star” pair of DEs who can’t seem to get in the damn backfield on a consistent basis yet without an all out run blitz.

Like Scipio Texas says, this game is HUGE for Okafor and Jeffcoat who have underachieved to this point.

I expect Oklahoma to try to throw deep on the first play of the game.

Great review, thanks. Regrettably, I have to be at a family wedding in Cleveland, not the one near Houston, at noon on Saturday. Trying to determine if there is a streaming option to see the game on my iPhone, no success on that yet. Any guidance there much appreciated. Hook ’em!

Great write up Scipio,

IMO its all about pressure on L Jones, if we can keep up with there tempo (lets hope after last year we will be better prepared for that) and pressure the QB we have a good chance. They have a smaller defense so if we can keep our offense on the field and wear them down I like our chances. If they run 80-90 plays we are in trouble.

The ou coaches think our young defense will not be able to adjust to their fast pace of play. This week, they are practicing on snapping the ball faster than they have in any other game so far.

Thanks for the write-up, good stuff as always. It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again, if we can get pressure, we can win this thing. If we get picked apart or burned on a blitz, we are in for a long day.

3 days…

I love these previews, thanks. I can’t wait to see what Diaz has in store for Landry Jones in his first RRS. I bet you he’s got something up his sleeve.

Manny’s confidence was on full display in his press conference on Monday.

Earlier Mack had told reporters that Urban Meyer joked about bringing 9 on a blitz in the spring game. He said to Mack something along the lines of “Mack, it’s spring, are you going to do let him do that in October?”

When that exchange was relayed to Diaz, Manny quipped, “Urban’s seen that blitz in October.”

I doubt Diaz is fazed by much of anything at this point even his first TX/OU game.

Our entire team is way better than last year. OU is good, but I have not seen anything in either of the reports to show VAST improvement for them over last year. Is there something this year that makes them so much better than the 28-20 over Gilbert team?

Great analysis ScipioT. I believe that Harsin and Diaz can scheme the winning game plans for OU.

It’s the intangibles that bother me, such as turnovers, penalties, injuries and Special Teams being burned. If we can win the intangibles and the players can execute the O & D game plans, we can pull out a close game.

Pray that the Tower is Orange Saturday night.

Whoop if you beat both RRR teams last year.

Whoop!

It was disappointing last year to see OU use the hurry up to march downfield while the Longhorn D couldnt get set. Muschamp didnt prepare for the obvious. Here’s hoping that Diaz has these guys lined up, and that he wont be trying to shuffle mass substitutions between plays.

why are aggy posting on here about last year?

anyway…

I believe that our defense matches up very well with OU’s o. If we can rattle Landry’s cage early he will be the gift that keeps on giving… He almost gave it up last year.

Our offense is so much more disciplined than last year and they are not afraid to hit you in the fucking mouth. Let’s get it on…

very nice summary. we all have a clearer picture after these two breakdowns. thanks much.

you know these coordinators have been cogitated overtime for this game since their hires. with all the movement and innovation we’ve seen to this point, i can just imagine what saturday is going to look like.

hey, google is reporting unusual activity in oklahoma this morning. something about ‘football-shaped shoes’. anybody know what that all about?

Off subject.
I’m glad I’m not a Cowboy fan. I’d hate to be the fan of a team that consistently blows huge leads in games they think they have won. Can you imagine how frustrating that must be?

Whoop!

Scipio,

I’m convinced that this game boils down to whether the Texas defense will be able to stop the OU running game. If not, they will establish the run and then kill us with play action and pace. If we can stop the run, I believe that Manny will be able to have his way with the inexperience on the OU line and Jones’ inability to extend / make plays with his feet. As you correctly note, Jones has no playmaking ability as a runner, and think forcing him out of his cocoon will be a manageable deal if we can slow down the running game.

You seem to feel like we can stop the run but are vulnerable in terms of applying pressure on the passing game. Here’s to us both being right about Manny & the defense’s abilities.

Great post, Scip.

Thankfully, Jones can’t hurt you with his feet unless he throws a cleat at you. That means Texas can bring unbalanced pressure and overloads without any real consequence, the DEs can pass rush without containment worry, and the pesky task of honoring the running QB is no more.

Maybe this is Reggie Wilson’s chance to shine.

Mizzou couldn’t pressure Jones in a standard set. That killed us. OU’s pace was too much for the Tigers and the d line struggled to get to Jones and his quick release. Mizzou’s corners weren’t getting beat badly, but Jones was so precise and the WRs so good they made plays. Jones will make mistakes, though, as he threw two picks to Mizzou. One was just an awful pass.

Aside from one big Whaley run, Mizzou stopped the Sooner running game. Not that it mattered much.

why are aggy posting on here about last year?

Any year but this year – last year, next year… that’s all they have.

agy is as agy duz.

I’m looking for results from second down plays on both sides of the ball.
We have been able to get upfield quite a bit resulting in 3rd & Short (1-4 yards) and OU struggled to keep MIZZOU from doing the same in their first two (successful) drives a couple weeks ago.
Conversely, Manny was able to stunt and blitz well on 3rd & long in all four games this year, succeeding in about (a memory adled approximation of) 85% of 3rd and 4th down stops.
Sure I think this is a simple observation – most teams will see positive results if they find themselves defending six or more yards and/or trying for three yards on third down – but I believe this is magnified not only by the sheer profound nature of this game, but also by matching our strengths in these matchups.
Uncle Rico will be sweating in his orange panel van if he’s constantly looking at 5- and 7-man blitzes on 3rd and 7, while it has been a pleasure watching Harsin move the chain gang almost 85% of the time with a play call on 3rd and 3 or less.

The tempo is everything. It’s why they average 555 and 42. It places psychological and physical pressure on the defenders to make adjustments on the fly and punishes them for not communicating and lining up correctly when OU goes from shotgun spread to ace form to pistol to empty-backfield on consecutive downs. If you remove the 20-25 extra plays OU receives from their tempo, then they become good, but not great. They go fast, and they go even faster after they hit a big play because they think the defense is discombobulated from thinking about the previous down.

On OL, the big key is whether the Soph Ikard can make the communications, avoid crucial errors against Diaz’s pre-snap confusion, and make clean snaps to Landry to maintain the center-QB exchange, and in effect, maintain the timing of the throws to the receivers.

Senior Jarvis Jones, the LSU ex-patriate, was penciled in as the starter at RT. He suffered a knee injury in the spring and missed six months, and is has tried to get back into the mix, having played only a few series in the past couple of games. His return is important because Daryl Williams is a RS-freshman and Lane Johnson is, right now, a pure athlete still learning the blocking schemes and how to handle multi-talented Big 12 defensive ends who run 4.6s and can stop the run. Williams got hurt in the season opener, and gave way to Johnson.

Stephenson continues to be inconsistent at LT. When he’s having a good day, that left side is a strength. As stated, Trey Millard is the key to sealing the edge on the left side that has broken Whaley free a few times this year.

Overall, the running game has produced 177 ypg and 4.4 ypc. On its face, those numbers are good enough, but it’s hard to gauge where OU’s rush offense is at because they’ve been challenged by only one strong and athletic front 7 in FSU. Its job is to set OU up in 2nd and sixes, and 3rd and fours, soften the interior of the defense with smash-mouth running, and work opposing defenses when OU accelerates into the second gear.

The backs are very talented. They’re fast, they’ve all got good hands, and they’ve protected the ball (zero fumbles between them through four games). Whaley’s a good story, but the RRS will be the first time a massive spotlight shines on him since middle school (he backed up FS Javon Harris at runningback at Lawton MaCarthur HS, and backed up someone else at Langston College). He’s a gritty runner, and he’ll need to gain the tough yards if OU wants to stay in 3rd and fives.

Brandon Williams. Stoops has hinted that redshirting was never the plan, and finally played him against Ball State because Whaley and Clay left the game with injuries on back-to-back plays, and Finch has simply not shown he can be an every down back (poor pass protector, shies away from contact when he runs , and tries to break every run outside). A few weeks ago, Jonothan Miller and Jermie Calhoun announced their transfers, so OU’s six-deep at RB became four, which is probably the norm for the average spread offense running 80 plays per game. I don’t know how much of an impact Williams’ll have in the RRS, but the coaches acknowledge his explosiveness and speed, but may not yet fully trust him to reliability know the plays and overcome his fumbling problems in practice.

Jaz Reynold’s 10/234 has come in the past two games. He’s fast after the catch, feisty, and you notice when he’s on the field. If he becomes a legitimate threat as the number 3, OU becomes tougher because they can stretch the field past the first-down marker with he and Stills, allowing Broyles to wreak havoc underneath.

OU now rotates three tight ends, as Soph Austin Haywood has worked himself into the mix.

I hope Vaccaro makes Stills his pet project for this game. Maybe re-arrange that Mad Max mohawk.

The Sooners always seem to have someone step up big in this game, often times someone unexpected. I’m leery of Millard playing that role this year.

Perhaps the Machete can make the RRS no country for mo’ed men.

Great write ups. After watching the first half of the Iowa State game a second time last night on LHN, I began to worry a little more about this game. I loved the game and the result, but we don’t look like a top ten team yet. I’ve seen OU play only FSU and thought they looked for real. (I know, all of that is obvious factually, but surely you all want to know my feelings!).

I think we get punched hard to start the game and then grow into the upgrade in competition. I think we lose and grow which may mean we surprise OSU the following week. That’d be fine if that’s how it plays out. If OU doesn’t get too far out in front, maybe we make it a game at the end.

Yeah, if we can handle the pace, we will be okay. I wonder if our constantly shifting defense will cause confusion for OU to help slow down the pace, or if they will just go with the called play and try to catch us flat footed.

There are subtle ways to slow down a fast pace (other than faking injuries—which I’m also in favor of if necessary). We can get up slow off the pile, and kick the ball around a bit to delay the ref. But I think we are better off with a hockey mentality, that is, instead of trying to slow the pace, we adjust to it subbing big in certain situations – sacks, long incompletions, long plays while the fat guys run down the field etc. to keep our guys fresh.

Oh, and above all, we need to be able to run the ball to keep their offense off the field as much as possible.

I disagree that our pass defense is the most important, if we can run we can win.

If only we had the 08 defensive line. More famous photos of Landry on his knees might appear. We don’t, and I think we watch our d line get painfully close at times, but not get there without help. Cobbs could be our wildcard on defense. There’s no film on him, and his speed and suddeness isn’t replicated anywhere else in our two deep save perhaps Vaccaro after a poorly timed turn of phrase in intramural sports.

I see a game of could have been, and would be thrilled with a split of the next two games.

Thanks for the breakdown, Scip.

Great write-up Scipio. Couldn’t agree more that the game turns on the front 4’s ability to get pressure on Landry. That along with whether or not we can establish any sort of consistent offense and running game without resorting to gadgets will be huge.

Reggie Wilson looked quick off the edge later in the game against Iowa St. I’d like to see him early against OU if Jeffcoat or Wilson isn’t getting it done.

This game reminds me somewhat of the98 Texas/OU game… Our QB is virtually an unknown, great running back and wide receivers that can make plays…

Not the greatest d-line but a very good one that can get pressure when needed. I know that Jeffcoat and Okafor are better than Humphry and Woodard…

Sorry 1999 Tx/Ou Game

If Texas can pressure Jones without having to go zero down on an all interest mortgage with prudent fire zone deception, we’ve got a shot at turning the Sooners over, inflicting some negative plays, and getting the OU offense to take the pedal off of the gas without offering up a young secondary to the wolves.

Mortgage metaphors!

Nice preview. Hoping to steal a win this year before we mudhole these ingrates next year.

Heart rate steadily rising…

“As a fan base, we should enter the game with the expectation of a lot of yardage allowed and an end goal of turnovers, being strong on 3rd down, and red zone buckle downs. That should be a treat to read real-time on our game thread.”

Scipio, you are a lot like the prophet Jeremiah.

Thanks for continuing to speak the truth. Hookem!

pass rush is good and well, but how do we beat the screen game?

Regarding the x-factor, I would pay particular attention to the threat of Brandon Williams in the screen game. I’m not so worried about him taking a handoff behind the line of scrimmage as much as what he can do catching a short pass just past the DL with as little as an arm’s length of space to launch. He’s probably not going to be used much to block in pass protection, so when he’s in, I’d scheme to contain short receptions to him (ie big play potential) in particular.

Yea agreed that i think we will give up A LOT of yardage to OU (by design or not) but the game will be won in the red zone. OU is used to scoring a lot of TD’s so every time we limit them to a field goal it really should be treated as a turnover and a win for the D. After a few red zone failures, OU offense will start pressing and forcing things hoping for a big play. If we can capitalize on this and turn OU over then we have a good chance for the upset.

If our rushing game is effective allowing us to sustain long drives and eat clock, OU will be under even more pressure to score a TD on each possession etc…

Lastly, i think HarsinWhite and Manny will make better adjustments at halftime than OU’s coordinators will, thus i think if the game is close at halftime, we again can pull the upset since i’m confident we will win the 2nd half. I’m just concerned how much OU will win the 1st half by.

anonymous -
 
It ties in with not bringing the house for pressure. There’s also a situational aspect – when Finch and Williams are in, it’s not to pass protect.

Noticed the biggest way they beat FSU was screen pass combos and let their WRs make a play. Quick passes to the outside to reduce pressure on QB. I think our Secondary is good enough to make good tackles and quickly. Hopefully, the freshman are itching bad enough to get a piece of BlowU it will increase their effort to epic proportions. Should be a good game gentlemen. Trust in HarsinWhite, Trust in Diaz, NEVER trust yourself drinking…

So what you’re saying is in Oklahoma their houses are mobile, but their quarterback isn’t.

“That should be a treat to read real-time on our game thread.” Yeah, I think we could all write that game thread in advance and even those of us who know better have a hard time holding back. It’s just hard to watch a 7 yard gashing run and say “That’s ok, we’ve got them right where we want them” without feeling like you’re making feeble excuses (I don’t know how Aggie does it).

As I mentioned in the Cosm discussion, UT’s TEs and DEs will decide this game, IMO.

If our ends are mean, we justify!

I do not fear the OU run game. It strikes me as very pedestrian based on what I have seen. They are one-dimensional on offense as well as inexperienced at the OL. I think Diaz will be able to exploit those two realities. Basically, it boils down to whether or not our secondary is for real. I have a good feeling that, despite their youth and inexperience, they are and that gives us a real chance at the upset. This aspect of the game does set up very much like 2008.

I also think that we will be able to run the ball, even if a big chunk of our success is “manufactured” through misdirection, trickeration and the WildFozzy. That will be key to clock management. I also think that we will get two or three big plays from our pups at WR. If we can get another big play from the TE, one cheap score on a trick play and limit the damage on special teams, we are one defensive score away from victory. I think we have a legit 30 to 40% chance of winning this game.

Setting aside our youth, inexperience and the residual trauma of 5 – 7 last season, the matchups for this particular go round are not all that atrocious from our standpoint. Broyles is a motherfucker, for sure and special teams are what they are – but those are the only clear cut advantages for them that I perceive other than hype based “conventional wisdom”. I am convinced that we are significantly better in both running the ball and stopping the run than they are and this could prove the difference.

I’m 100% with Felonious. We’re not as good as OU but we match up well. If both teams come to play I don’t think this one will be decided until the fourth quarter.

Interesting to see a lot of optimism that smoke and mirrors with trick plays is going to win this game. The gimmicks have worked so far. Not sure it continues against better competition. At some point those reverses and trick plays even out to some big losses and turnovers against higher quality competition – unless there is the element of surprise. Oklahoma goes into the game expecting the unexpected.

The OU run game has been effective in situations. Stats weren’t great against FSU but when they needed balance and to control the ball and move clock, they got the yards they needed. The OL has a lot more experience than last year. Whaley is a solid back and makes up for the disappointment to date of Roy Finch.

Landry Jones can be rattled at times but he can bounce back and has shown to deliver in the clutch. OU used to be a team that faded if the opponent survived the early TKO. Now OU is winning close games. Making clutch plays. FSU ties the game. Sooners immediately answer and then salt the game away with a textbook combo of INT, grind out first downs and then FG. There was no panic when OU fell behind 14-3 against Missouri. The defense settled down, the offense scored 28 unanswered and kept the Tigers at arm’s length the rest of the way. Missouri tried to rally and OU just went right down the field and put it away.

I think Texas is headed in the right direction. A lot of young talent that will be a force down the road but I expect a wake up call this Saturday. I see references to 2008. Big difference – the experience at QB. I think this could be more 2003, although not that wide of a margin. Just a possible snowball effect given the youth at certain positions. Think UT’s overconfident coordinators are going to roll the dice and Sooners have the poise and players to capitalize.

To call what Harsin does “smoke and mirrors” and gimmicks is a great disservice to the brilliance he brings to calling plays. Yes some of his plays are unexpected, but it is a rare situation that the sole reason for the success of the play is that it hasn’t been seen before. In fact many times he uses that fact that you think you have seen this before to force a reaction that he can work against. Harsin uses a Judo like approach to gameplaning and playcalling. So the greater the opponent’s strength and aggressiveness the harder they fall in the direction he pushes or pulls them.

OU’s strength’s on Defense, aggressiveness and quick reaction are perfect grist for Harsin’s mill.

As far as LJ is concerned, I don’t think anyone is figuring that we will hit him a few times at the beginning and he will be done. I think Diaz will come after him for 60 mins, so he will just keep bouncing back into our brick wall.

Also calling the coordinator’s overconfident is ignorance of the highest order. No one on the staff is suffering any delusions about the strengths and weakness of the our team or OU’s. Any confidence that they have in the own abilties is well deserved and will be on display int the Cotton Bowl.

Finally regarding the youth on the team, most of them are not playing young. That certainly may change on Saturday, but I think it is far from a given.

Too many of you are resigned to losing this game.

Since the Rice game, we have improved by quantum leaps – offensively AND defensively.

As it has been stated many times – stoopsie ain’t playing against GD anymore and he remembers Harsin – Oh, how he remembers him. He remembers that Harsin OWNS him!

We’re gonna win this game, boys, and we’re gonna mudhole them while doing it!

Have faith and ou STILL sucks!

The OU run game is pedestrian. We again showed an ability to dominate Mizzou off the ball despite “circling” them as a unit that we had something to prove to in short distance. I think that OU has looked decent running the ball off tackle with Millard.

None of the OU backs should scare UT into thinking that they are going the distance on any given play. They have shown an ability to get the LB’s, but rarely passed that.

I think that you will see OU start to work the passing game if they get into short yardage in the red zone. I think that the coaches tried to show that the OL had something to prove and walked away fairly disappointed to date.

We could point to the FSU game state the running game helped solidify that win (it did) but objective fans could also point to the Mizzou and Tulsa games and say that there was little to be impressed with in the push by the OL. Combine that issue with the fact that Habern is out and I think that OU’s offense is more one dimensional than it has been in years past.

I would have liked to have seen a great deal of running between the tackles with Ball St. last week, but curiously it was missing (even with a lead). That just leads me to believe that we will try to stretch the field on run plays and, as scip said, provide a steady dose of screen plays.

Supposed to say “inability” to dominate Mizzou

http://blog.newsok.com/ou/files/2011/08/kenny-stills-1.jpg

really don’t like him.

I hope that Stoopsie and Vulnerables also think that all HarsinWhite and Diaz have are “smoke and mirrors with trick plays” too.

That will be delicious.

I think the key is tackling. Sounds very simple, but it is the truth. OU won’t grind it out. Look at their play calling. You can put 11 CBs out there and at best they will go 50/50 pass/run. Young DBs will have to accept giving up 5 yd passes and 0 YAC. If they press and try to be heroes it is over. They need to buy into Manny’s philosophy and make OU drive the length of the field. If OU takes 12-15 plays to score, you just tip your hat. I would bet that will not happen much, because a sack or holding penalty will come up and give an opportunity to shut them down. There is really one gimmick offense out there and it isn’t the Longhorns.

Bravo,

I expect and would not mind if Heupel dials up 30 pass plays in the first half.

In the 2010 RRS, Landry attempted 17 passes within the first quarter, and 28 in the first half. In anticipation of facing a strong run defense with our a weak run game, there was no mistake that OU planned to set the tempo early with the pass.

In his final RRS, they’re going to force the issue on getting Broyles involved just as they did with Murray in last year’s game.

miketag continues to copy and paste the same post over and over again about our young secondary. Johnny One Note.

You’d think he’d be a little more concerned about the Aggy secondary from what I’ve seen and they’re not young—-just dumb, slow and poorly coached. Tell us mike, how many yards to you think Landry will ring up on your secondary in Norman? As feasts go, that one should make Babbette blush.

Des Jackson has been tearing it up in practice and will bring it on Saturday
Our secret weapon &Texas OU has very little film on him
Texas 38
OU 17

Scip, great write up. I’ll throw in the following as a supplement:

-I wouldn’t lean too hard on the FSU game as a primer on Broyles. Remember how pedestrian Colt McCoy looked in 2009 when he got the flu before the game? Broyles was on IV’s before, during, and after the FSU game. It took me all of a quarter to figure out something was wrong with him during that game. He’s Landry’s favorite target, and Landry was looking elsewhere on his first read.

-Heupel isn’t like Kevin Wilson. He’ll go to the intermediate routes much earlier and much more often. He’ll also stick with the run even when it’s tough sledding.

-

-“Texas can bring unbalanced pressure and overloads without any real consequence, the DEs can pass rush without containment worry, and the pesky task of honoring the running QB is no more.”
If by “without any real consequence” you meant without Landry making you pay with his feet, I agree.

-Stills had “lingering effects” from a concussion against Mizzou, suspended against Tulsa for January DUI. Stills wasn’t told he was out until Thursday of Mizzou week, and he was suited up for the game. I’ll go further than calling him the best #2 in the league. At anywhere aside from OU, A&M, or OSU, he’s either the #1 WR or he’s #1A

-Landry doesn’t collapse under pressure as he’s done in years previous. I wasn’t a believer until the FSU game, but it’s 3rd and long …and Landry steps into the pocket and delivers a money strike to Broyles 20 yards downfield between 4 defenders. If you’re hoping for Uncle Rico circa 2009, he’s dead. Jones can be pressured, but Broyles and Stills will beat UT’s secondary for contested balls 9 times out of ten. Particularly Stills.

-Likewise, if you’re hoping for the same OU team that you can punch in the mouth and they back down, you’re not paying attention. Down 14-3 at home against Mizzou, and OU calmly shuts down the Mizzou offense and scores 28 unanswered points. After a huge turnover at Doak Campbell, OU needs to run as much time off the clock as possible and still get at least 3 points. Dom Whaley proceeds to average 4.57 ypc on 7 straight carries, eating three and a half minutes off the clock and putting OU in FG range. All FSU had to do was stop Whaley. We weren’t going to the air, and everyone knew it. We still got the yards.
When people ask “What’s the big improvement in OU from last year”, this is the answer. They’re playing for Austin Box, and they remember it every single week. Simply put, if you tell me it’s a tight game in the 4th quarter last year, I’m probably not betting on OU. This year? If it’s a tight game in the 4th, OU wins.

-The loss of Ben Habern is the only reason I think UT may have success getting pressure out of their base defense. Gabe Ikard isn’t going to be able to handle Kheeston Randall on his own. OU will double/combo block him, and force UT to try to win 3 on 3. I’m not impressed with UT’s 2nd DT options. Jeffcoat and Okafor are both good, not great DE’s. OU has faced better in FSU’s tandem. Get in Gabe Ikard’s head and see if you can get him to botch a few snaps.

-Gamble with press coverage. Stills and Broyles are fast and dangerous, but neither is physical. Whichever one is in the slot, make sure you’ve got help on him. If the other is on the line, beat the hell out of him. Are you going to eat shit for this a time or two? Sure. Will it pay off more often than not? You’ll force OU to keep them off the line and buy your DL a second more to get to Landry.

Codaxx:

Landry’s been sacked twice all year. OU’s averaging 36 ypg in penalty yards all year. If you think OU will kill themselves with sacks and penalties, you haven’t been paying attention.

Great supplement, Nate.

“Landry doesn’t collapse under pressure like he used to” I don’t think this is necessarily true. He makes questionable decisions on a regular basis under pressure or if his first read is well-covered. I’m pretty sure we’ll see if this is true or not saturday.

Colt’s “weak” performance in 2009 seemed to have a lot more to do with Stoops taking away Shipley than anything else. He ran the ball 20 times, cleaned up his interception with a game-saving tackle, and generally willed Texas to victory. I’m willing to accept that Broyles might not be as tough as Colt but he did play in 09 with a broken scapula or something himself.

We don’t have Muschamp anymore and are less likely to try and defeat you solely with 4 pass rushers. We aren’t going to try and exploit Ikard by having Randall line up and beat him like Muschamp would have tried but instead will throw quick and delayed stunts up the middle with Acho and Robinson. Underestimate our DL at your own peril, we have lots of athletic bodies that are going to be really unpleasant for your guys to stay in front of for 4 quarters. I wish we had Okafor lined up on Stephenson since he seems vulnerable to a bull rush or inside move but I guess Jeffcoat will get his chance.

In general, our hope for a 4 quarter game comes in the belief that our gadgets and depth in the trenches vs. your smallish defense and OL. Ultimately though, statistical analysis has suggested that in sports close games are a 50-50 proposition, even for the best teams, so getting the game into the 4rth quarter is really more of an equalizer for us against a more experienced team than it is a certain means of victory.

“make them abandon the run”

Wouldn’t it be much better to tempt OU to run the ball and see how that works out? It slows the game down and might even get the OU passing attack out of sync. We know that OU passes the ball very well so force OU to beat you another way.

The key to getting to a QB is zone blitzing and, typically, overloading the tackle. The key to the zone blitz is having athletes on the field that can play multiple positions so that somebody can rotate to where the blitzer is coming from and fulfill that assignment. The easiest way to achieve this is to sell out to stop the pass both in strategy and personnel (play fewer run stoppers and more pass rushers and defenders).

Obviously you need to force Landry to move to his left, making his throw more difficult.

Best to hit Broyles as hard you can right off the LOS to knock him off balance and screw up the timing of the play.

I have been saying for a few years that play signaling by the DC vs a proficient hurry up offense needs to be computerized. That is, a computer generates the play call and displays the call on big sideline displays visible to the field. That way there is no waiting on the call from the sideline. The call is available as soon as the previous play ends, while players are still getting up. It is strange to me that a sports team that does $100,000,000/year hasn’t got this done yet.

The leading contender for Mixed Metaphor Award this week.

Not in the same league as that thing from the Oklahoma writer who stirred Batman, carousels, and cows into two sentences, though.

Physics seems to deny this possibility; I’d have to see it to believe it. Greater mass, wind resistance, etc. can’t be wished away.

Agreed, which is why I call it a 35-17 OU win. The Texas pass defense is barely out of middle school.

nate- My pt is that it is hard to drive 10-12 plays and score for any offense. The key to beating OU is make them work. This isnt wisconsin where they will pound you the whole game. 48 passes in Mizzu game. Ran the ball more than I would have thought, but 2 main backs went for 31 carries and 111 yds. That is 3.58 yds per, not great by any standard. That includes a 30 yd run. FSU game it was 33 carries for whaley and clay for 123. 3.7 per.. Had 4 drives in both games of 10+ plays yielding 2 TDs and a FG. Key is to keep them in front of you and limit the big play. Vs FSU they had a success rate of 14% on passing downs. Success rate on running plays was 34%. Last yr they passed the ball 77% of the time on passing downs that was 112th in the country. This is a passing team. They are very capable offense, but you can slow them down.

Here’s my preview of the game…

ou is expected to win. We’re going to show up, anyway.