That horrible screeching noise you heard last Saturday was the Sooners slamming the breaks on all that National Title talk that was so prevalent in the off season.
The emergency brake was also yanked on Spencer Rattler’s Heisman campaign for good measure.
Now I know it was just one game. And my good friend Mike told me not to panic just yet. They were mostly correctable mistakes. And he is probably right.
But if the Sooners really want to be considered for the big trophy at the end of the season, stuff needs to get real. Like right now.
Neither the offense or the defense played very well at all. Although they both had flashes. The second quarter was great for both units. And honestly the defense had to defend short fields on most of Tulane’s scoring drives.
If I had to pick which unit needs the most improvement right now, I would have to say the offense. Which sounds kind of crazy since all we hear is how great the offense is and how the defense needs to pick it up.
But there has been a disturbing trend that has started to pop up for the Sooners on the offensive side of the ball. Why can’t they finish teams off?
LINCOLN RILEY POST-GAME COMMENTS
Against Tulane, after a 14-14 tie to end the first quarter, the Sooners scored 23 second quarter points to take a comfortable lead into halftime at 37-14. How many points did Oklahoma manage in the second half? 3.
Does that sound familiar to anyone?
At the end of the first half of the Big 12 Championship game the score was OU 24, Iowa State 7. How many points did Oklahoma score in the second half? 3.
And in the two games we lost last year we had halftime leads and we get outscored in the second half. Why can’t we put teams away?
There is no excuse to score 3 points in one half. Not with the offensive talent that we have. So what is it?
Does Riley just get too conservative? Does the offense just lose interest?
We had halftime leads and we get outscored in the second half. Why can’t we put teams away?
I don’t know what it is. But what makes it worse is seeing the defending National Champion Alabama just pick up right where they left off last year. New QB…new a lot of players. Doesn’t matter. They just took it too Miami.
Now to be honest, I figured that was going to happen. I don’t think Miami is a very good football team. And I have never been sold on their QB no matter where he played. But it doesn’t seem to matter who Alabama is playing. They just go about their business and dominate.
They don’t play down to other teams levels. They don’t lose interest.
Which is what I think OU does sometimes. If Oklahoma wants to be the champions, they have to start playing like it EVERY SINGLE PLAY, against EVERY SINGLE OPPONENT. And it needs to start this Saturday night against Western Carolina at home.
To be honest all I know about the Catamounts, which I have been told is some type of mountain lion or something, is that they lost to Eastern Kentucky on their home field last week. And they were 1-8 last year in the Southern Conference.
So this should be a stomping. And the Sooners need to take this opportunity to stomp and stomp hard and not let up.
Our second stringers should get the opportunity to score at will after the starters have had their fill. Oklahoma needs to get into an attacking frame of mind, from kickoff to the final whistle. That’s what Alabama does. And soon enough, Alabama and other very stout teams are going to be on our schedule quite often.
I’d have to look, but I don’t think I have ever had a Worry Meter at 0%. So let’s do that this week.
If the Sooners even come close to letting this team in the game, there will be much more to worry about down the road. With all that being said…BOOMER!!!
— Dave
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