By Mike
My season tickets have arrived. Two-a-day practices begin for the Sooners this week. Hey, it’s August.
As that stadium announcer says, “It’s football time in Oooooklahoma.”
And not soon enough. We need to get that bad taste left in the mouth after the debacle in the Cotton Bowl.
But before we get too hyped up about the new season, let’s not forget how miserable last season ended.
That loss to Johnny Football and friends exposed significant weaknesses on the Oklahoma football team. And, until we’re well into October, we’re not going to know exactly whether those problems have been solved.
The biggest weakness has been defense. The reason Oklahoma is ranked no higher than No. 16 in the pre-season polls is the uncertainty at defensive line. You know, the front-four that rarely put pressure on opposing quarterbacks last year and allowed West Virginia to run at will against them for more than 700 yards.
We can excuse them for the performance against Johnny Manziel. After all, he made the number one defense in the country, Alabama, look almost mortal.
But, the Sooners defense last year was atrocious, principally because the defensive line fell short of expectations. If the Sooners can be 25 percent better in the front four, this team could be good.
But, as Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops said this week, the days of holding offenses in this league to 17 points or less are over. The spread offenses make it difficult for defenses to commit to covering wide receivers, or play enough linebackers to stop the run. It’s a back and forth guessing game. Too often last year, Stoops guessed poorly.
Here’s hoping he guesses right this year. It would help, however, if the guys up front could step up their game. Chuka Ndulue is the only defensive lineman who has played multiple games. After him, it’s all freshmen and JUCO transfers – so that’s a crap shoot.
Next weakness is linebacker. Oklahoma played only one linebacker against some of the spread offenses last year. The results weren’t good. For example, Oklahoma State’s center is probably still blocking Tom Wort somewhere. Corey Nelson is the only returning LB. Frank Shannon showed promise last year. Both will have to get better.
The secondary should again be good. But, like last year, there is this bad feeling that the top tackler on the team will be a safety – and that’s never a good thing. Aaron Colvin is a star. Kass Everett is good. Freshman Hatari Byrd is getting the early ooo-ahh talk in camp. He could move to LB before the first game. The secondary is the strength of the defense.
On offense, the national media wants to go on about how Blake Bell is untested as a passer. You would think he never threw a pass in practice when Landry Jones was on the team or something. Baloney.
Bell is known for his goal-line “Bell Dozer”, but he was a passing quarterback in high school – completing 67 percent of his passes for 32 touchdowns. I won’t be surprised if he has good success this year throwing the football. Landry Jones he will not be (by that I mean you Jones naysayers will find yourself missing him), but Bell will be a double threat to defenses. Run AND pass.
Bell will also be surrounded by a veteran cast. An experienced line, led by All Big 12 center Gabe Ikard, shifted their off-season training toward emphasizing the run game, but these guys showed they can protect the passing QB as well.
The stable of running backs – including Roy Finch (if he gets to ever carry the ball) and Brennan Clay, who became the star late last year, climaxing with his winning overtime TD against Oklahoma State.
But the star of this offense may well be Trey Millard. He’s the fleet footed RB who can be TE who can be leader of this team. His iconic leaping run against the Longhorns in Dallas last year will not be forgotten – either by OU or Texas.
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It was not the defensive lines fault. It was Mike Stoops absurd defense. Four down lineman were asked to play gap control defense against a spread offensive line deploying huge gaps.
Four down lineman were also asked to do the job of the linebackers on the second level since Mike Stoops frequently had none or just one small one.
Ex. K-State: They were asked to put pressure on the passer but they could only bull rush, not come around and get an edge. Why? They had to play gap control. If the defensive end comes around on the left weak side edge, where the lineman have taken ENORMOUS splits, boom Collin Klein has a hole spanning from the defensive tackle to the sideline. Go back and watch that ridiculous scheme. Especially stupid considering Mike had the 2011 tape of Venables defense destroying the No. 10 Wildcats who were undefeated through 7 games.
Look at Stoops brilliant alignment against West Virginia. Four down linemen forced to be wide apart. There are 7 defensive backs and no linebackers. The closest defensive back on the second level in position to come up and make a tackle is 10 yards from the ball.
Mike Stoops needs to take his current defensive end, the 6’4″ 263 lb. Geneo Grissom with 4.6 speed and put him at linebacker to save our defense. He also should take the defensive end 6’2″ 250 lb. P.L. Lindley and return him to linebacker. Coming out of high school he ran the 40 in the 4.5’s and had a 3.8 grade average.