Give OU poor marks for planning. The best option football players of all-time were honored Saturday. There on Owen Field again were the players from Oklahoma’s 1974 and 1975 national championship teams.
But really? On a day when the Sooners were facing the best option team of today – Air Force?
Not good mojo.
Air Force gave Sooner defenders fits, to the tune of 24 points (one score away from upsetting No. 7 Oklahoma) and 351 yards. Much of it came on what middle-aged Sooner fans know very well as the “base” play – a fullback gaining yards up the middle because the defense sold out defending the pitch man.
This must be how fans of the other seven Big 8 schools felt when they played Steve Davis and Joe Washington. (Of course having the greatest Oklahoma football player of all time, LeRoy Selmon, had something to do with OU’s great success then too.)
At halftime I wondered if all the week’s attention over music lyrics had diverted the collective Sooner energy from the threat posed by Air Force. Coach Stoops and players said all week this would be a tough one, but we were all debating the closing stanza of the Star Spangled Banner.
Still, a win is a win, no matter how you sing it.
What we did (and didn’t) learn
We didn’t learn much about this Sooner team Saturday. The Sooner defense devised a less than successful scheme to slow down Air Force’s option game – but they won’t employ that in any future games this year. No one else runs that offense. Thank goodness.
Offensively, the stellar performance against Florida State a week ago is now officially old news. This week QB Landry Jones was inconsistent. And when he wasn’t, too many receivers dropped his tosses. On the other hand, the DeMarco Murray running game was good – especially when it needed to be to run clock – but the physically bigger and stronger O-line was expected to control the line of scrimmage against the smaller Falcons when straight ahead blocking.
One thing learned is that previously maligned Jimmy Stevens can kick field goals. He hit two on Saturday. The last one, a 41-yarder in the third quarter, turned out to be the winning margin.
Maybe the most important thing learned is that this Sooner team can win a close one. That may serve them well through the season, because I have a feeling there will be more such opportunities.
Landry Jones’ Play
“I thought he was inconsistent,” Coach Bob Stoops said of his quarterback. “There were times he played really well, and I’m sure there were some throws, like in most cases, you would like to have back. But I’m not going to ride the roller coaster there. He’s going to do well and continue to improve and learn from it and keep gaining experience.”
This is where the arm-chair coaches start complaining that Stoops is selling sweet Kool-Aid. As if, inexplicably, demoralizing this young team would someone make them play better.
I don’t think most fans were paying much attention all week long when Stoops and defensive coordinator Brent Venables were warning us that the high powered mis-direction option offense was going to be a huge problem. Call them prophets.
O’ say can you see…
Well, I’m glad we’ve put to bed the “home of the brave” vs. “sooners” controversy.
The overwhelming sound during the national anthem was from fans singing the original Francis Scott Key words.
But, I’m sure at the next home game on October 16 the Sooner fans can return to their “home of the Sooners” version, at least until the next time a service academy comes to town (it won’t be Air Force) – or, until Coach Stoops again pleads with fans not to mess with the Star Spangled Banner.
Halftime video
OU’s scoreboard video presentations have been wonderful so far this season and Saturday was no exception.
Of particular note was the video from eastern Afghanistan, where OU visiting professor, ABC News correspondent and OU Alum Mike Boettcher joined members of the 101st Airborne Division to give a
“Boomer, Sooner” greeting. (See the video at soonersports.com)
In so doing, Mike and those soldiers gave us an important reminder from a far away land that this was still just a football game.
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