View Full Version : 2016 OU Sooners Football



Throckmorton
08-11-2016, 06:35 PM
http://i.imgur.com/HqlYlGb.png

Throckmorton
08-21-2016, 09:19 AM
#3 in the AP's Preseason Top 25, behind Alabama and Clemson. Cowboys at #21.

Preseason AP Top 25 poll: Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma top first 2016 rankings (http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/preseason-ap-top-25-poll-alabama-clemson-oklahoma-top-first-2016-rankings/)

Throckmorton
09-03-2016, 12:56 PM
Welp.

dcsooner
09-03-2016, 01:30 PM
Welp.

Sooner Magic is DEAD! NO magic in Norman. They are who we though they were.

venture
09-03-2016, 01:31 PM
Well i'm fully expecting to get a lambasting in a couple weeks...by family and friends up here in Ohio. It is going to be ugly.

reverend
09-03-2016, 01:32 PM
I hope Stoops know the Heimlich maneuver because the Sooners choked.

Jake
09-03-2016, 01:50 PM
At least OU got the disappointment out of the way now instead of giving fans false hope.

jerrywall
09-03-2016, 02:02 PM
Look, not an OU fan, but this is the time to work out the kinks. There is a long season ahead and a loss this early won't necessarily keep them out of the playoff picture.

Laramie
09-03-2016, 03:37 PM
OU's offensive line will continue to be its Achilles heel.

Throckmorton
09-06-2016, 11:45 AM
Sooners fall to #13 in the Coaches Poll.

Link (http://oklahoma.247sports.com/Bolt/Week-2-Amway-Coaches-Poll-released-47256918)

Bill Robertson
09-06-2016, 01:08 PM
OU's offensive line will continue to be its Achilles heel.I just painfully rewatched the game. Most of the time Mayfield had plenty of time. He often ran out of the pocket when he still had protection. Or skipped over an open receiver to look for a better gain. They need to work on keeping Mayfield's head in the game, stop making stupid penalties, cover all possibilities on kicks and not let the other team pass downfield at will.

Jake
09-17-2016, 10:51 PM
:(

Laramie
09-17-2016, 11:02 PM
Give it up to the Ohio State Buckeyes; Coach Urban Meyer & staff. OSU continues to attract top notch recruits to their program.

Our OU Sooners need to continue to get better. We still have the Big XII conference to go through. A week off to prepare for TCU in Fort Worth.

Let's support these guys, they gave it their best shot. Just lost to a better team.

chuck5815
09-18-2016, 07:49 AM
A 1-4 start seems like a distinct possibility at this point. Shades of the John Blake Era, I'd say.

soonermike81
09-18-2016, 09:42 AM
Don't think we will lose to TCU like many were predicting preseason. But yeah,1-4 seems very possible. Can't even imagine that

BG918
09-18-2016, 11:23 AM
What was supposed to be a promising season has turned into a disaster. I hope the Sooners can turn it around but I'm not very optimistic based on what I've seen.

dcsooner
09-19-2016, 06:11 AM
Many of us have settled into apathy about OU football. This scenario has played out too many times in the past 8-10 years. B12 conf championship does not carry any cache. Weak teams. OU will continue to fall after entry of Houston cutting off Houston recruiting. Move now or become even more mediocre. BS is not longer hungry, he has made his milllions and these Bozos have already made a statue of him, What is his motivation? Not excited about OU or big12 currently or expansion candidates. Lost a big opportunity to move to PAC 12

Martin
09-19-2016, 07:48 AM
it sucks entering conference play at 1-2... but losing to two top ten teams isn't exactly the end of the world. -M

SoonerDave
09-19-2016, 08:05 AM
Give it up to the Ohio State Buckeyes; Coach Urban Meyer & staff. OSU continues to attract top notch recruits to their program.

Our OU Sooners need to continue to get better. We still have the Big XII conference to go through. A week off to prepare for TCU in Fort Worth.

Let's support these guys, they gave it their best shot. Just lost to a better team.

We've got two distinct problems, in my view.

First, Mayfield has lost his focus. I don't know if he's feeling the pressure of living up to the expectations created for him by virtue of last year's run, or if he felt that last year was just a natural "thing" that would just happen again this year, I don't know. I think that's Riley's biggest job going forward - getting Mayfield's "head game" reset. He's *got* to stop pressing to make every play a monster. The absurd 3rd and short cross-body deep throw vs tOSU where he had acres of room to scramble for an easy first down and keep a drive going is emblematic of his poor decision making this year. This offense is perhaps too predicated on having early momentum and "rolling downhill" - when Ford went down with the broken leg and the OL got shuffled, we seemed to instantly lose momentum, and when Seibert clanked the FG...we became a bit psyched out offensively.

Also, I think the off-season surgery on Perine's foot has ever-so-slightly-but-critically affected his ability to rebound off tacklers. He just seems to have lost a fraction of that "x-factor" that made him such a beast the last couple of years.

When you hear people or Stoops talk about making mistakes, to me that's got to be aimed at the offense. Mixon drops a good throw on an underneath route where it appears he has a *monster* chance to split two defenders and snag a *huge* play. Mayfield misses a *wide open* Andrews on a really nice TE drag to the right - again, another *huge* play miss - possibly a TD run if Andrews is hit in stride. And Andrews dropping the TD right in his hands...dang. In this offense, you can't miss those. I think Riley's offensive gameplan was sound and had potential - until we got so far behind.

Defensively is where we suffer from *talent* and *technique* issues. We simply do not have and have not recruited and do not run the type of defense we need to stop a physical team like Ohio State. We haven't had the likes of a Tommie Harris, a Dusty Dvoracek, a Teddy Lehman, a Curtis Lofton etc in a *looong* time. We don't have the size or the speed, and our secondary is just gasping for answers. Our tackling technique is abysmal. We seem to struggle with basic positioning and assignments.

Does that latter paragraph sound a little familiar, however? I fear we might have masqueraded these shortcomings with talents like Striker who turned into this guy opposing offenses *had* to account for on each play, and sometimes even then it didn't matter. That can disguise the fact that your down linemen aren't big or physical enough to get off blocks and either create pressure and penetration themselves or create lanes for your LB's or safeties to rush. That said, our interior linemen had a decent game - but when you see your LB's struggle to wrap up and watch the other guy's RB just bounce to the outside for 8 yards a whack, and things start to disintegrate pretty quickly. I've lost count of how many years now it seems our guys don't have good fundamental technique on tackling.

Bob Stoops has the toughest job ahead of him in his tenure IMHO. He's got to keep this team focused and playing for something. National title hopes are obviously out the window. In two weeks, they face a decent TCU team with just the kind of QB that can leverage our problem at corner, and if Mayfield doesn't figure out what's wrong with himself, that can turn a 1-2 disappointment into 1-3 disaster. And let's not even talk about what happens in Dallas in three weeks if that one goes south.

Aside from possibly the 2005 season, I can't recall any year in Stoops' tenure wherein there existed a legitimate chance that *every possible goal* you put on the map could be *gone* coming out of the Texas game. A 1-4 start for a team starting at #3 is going to be yet another penny in the well of antagonism toward the OU program as one that chronically underachieves, and one that increasingly tends to suggest 2015 was an aberration due to a lightning-strike confluence of opposing quarterbacks getting hurt, and a playmaking WR in Sterling Shepard that's now earning a paycheck in the NFL.

As a fan, I'm still trying to be optimistic, but as a realist its very hard for me not to see a lot of dark clouds on the horizon. Offensive issues are fixable, but I don't know the same can be said about the talent issues on defense, especially in the backfield. I fear we're seeing some poor recruiting decisions come home to roost, and I'm not at all sure Mike, Cooks, or Kish know what the solution is. Scary part may be that there *isn't* one - short of a defensive overhaul similar to what Bob did on the offensive side year before last.

I'm always a Sooner fan, and I've already got my Dallas trip planned, but man, I've got to tell you, it's awfully hard to be optimistic right now. Fandom gets slapped around by the reality of the product on the field, and right now, that product, quite frankly, just isn't very good.

SoonerDave
09-19-2016, 08:15 AM
Many of us have settled into apathy about OU football. This scenario has played out too many times in the past 8-10 years. B12 conf championship does not carry any cache. Weak teams. OU will continue to fall after entry of Houston cutting off Houston recruiting. Move now or become even more mediocre. BS is not longer hungry, he has made his milllions and these Bozos have already made a statue of him, What is his motivation? Not excited about OU or big12 currently or expansion candidates. Lost a big opportunity to move to PAC 12

I don't think there's a chance of a sneeze in a windstorm that Houston gets a B12 invite. Outside of Texas' support (which is political) and, I think Texas Tech, I don't think another school is interested in Houston joining this conference. Why on earth would anyone want to *invite* a team to join that inherently already competes for recruits on their own turf?? That makes *zero* sense.

I think Boren's telegraphing something to someone with his comments about expansion not being a given, whether it really is the fact that none of the expansion candidates really helps the conference, or that the networks have ponied up extra cash to perpetuate this ramshackle conference as-is, or if UT and OU have jointly or separately decided to ride out the GOR and then go their own ways, I don't know. But conference affiliation is a different thread, I suppose.

warreng88
09-19-2016, 09:05 AM
I watched the game beginning to end on Saturday and I kept asking, why is Mixon not getting the ball more? It's like in basketball when the player has a hot hand, you don't just take them out, you wait for them to cool, then take them out. Every time Mixon touched the ball, he made plays (except for the drop in the flat in the first quarter, of course). Why when he was running and picking up 5-8 yards per carry/catch would you take him out in favor or Perine would was stuffed at the line most of the plays? It's like when we played LSU in the Sugar Bowl, we were driving down the field, running it down their throat and then we decided to pass when the run worked every time.

jerrywall
09-19-2016, 09:16 AM
it sucks entering conference play at 1-2... but losing to two top ten teams isn't exactly the end of the world. -M

But barring some major chaos, it is likely the end of any chance of making the playoffs.

Martin
09-19-2016, 09:24 AM
But barring some major chaos, it is likely the end of any chance of making the playoffs.

true, and i totally understand how that's frustrating for fans... i just don't see it as justification for the various "the sky is falling" and "it's time for a new head coach" rumblings i've been hearing. -M

dankrutka
09-19-2016, 09:29 AM
I'm not a sky-is-falling type. But it is worth pointing out that OU didn't just lose both games, they were dominated in both games. They were clearly inferior across the board. If OU has two close, competitive losses I think fans would be less worried. We'll see OU has two more tough games coming up...

jerrywall
09-19-2016, 09:32 AM
A 1-4 start seems like a distinct possibility at this point. Shades of the John Blake Era, I'd say.

John Blake had a win percentage of .383 IIRC. Stoops has never had a losing season at OU. His W/L percentage is .789. I'd say that's a far cry from the Blake era. Although we've now hit the longest gap since 1950 without a national championship, which is concerning.

SoonerDave
09-19-2016, 09:44 AM
true, and i totally understand how that's frustrating for fans... i just don't see it as justification for the various "the sky is falling" and "it's time for a new head coach" rumblings i've been hearing. -M

Its the scope of the losses that raises the flags. Lose a 35-31 showdown in the last minute to a top ten team? Hey, that's how it goes. But when you play the best, and get *blown out* each time, it shows where you are as a program. Clemson showed this to us two straight years, now tOSU. Things have to break *just right* for us *not* to get blown out. That's not where fans expect OU to be as a program. And that's why people look to Stoops and what he commands as a salary and say this guy should *never* field a team that brings back echoes of the Blake era. Yet it seems we have nervous flashbacks to that era, particularly against more physical teams. And if that's a consequence of staffing to win a spread-happy Big 12, that's a problem I don't know how we solve short of exiting the conference. We can't be lockstepped into a conference that inherently puts us behind the eight-ball when it comes to vying for championships.

dankrutka
09-19-2016, 09:52 AM
References to the Blake era don't make sense. Even if OU went 6-6 this season, the program is in such a stronger position across the board. There are valid criticisms, but those points are kind of undermined by making comparisons to the Blake era... which was a disaster in every possible way. This team would blow out any Blake era team.

Probably OU's top problem is that recruiting really fell off from 2010-2015. OU went from pulling in top 10 classes to pulling in top 20 classes. OU's current 2017 recruiting class is the best OU has put together (assuming it holds until signing day) in years. 2018 is off to a good start. Like Barry Switzer said, it's not about Xs and Os, it's about Jonnie's and Joe's. OU just needs more talent across the board. They don't have enough quality depth (see the lines) or even good options (see CBs) across the board to compete with some of the elite teams. In some ways, things are moving in the right direction. I see the current problems to actually be a manifestation of problems from past recruiting.

Laramie
09-19-2016, 10:32 AM
Guys, my family, brothers & friends have all supported the University of Oklahoma Sooners' (Big Red) since early years leading back to my childhood.


I'm a Sooner born and Sooner bred
and when I die, I'll be Sooner dead
Rah Oklahoma, Rah Oklahoma
Rah Oklahoma, OK U!

It's not the end of the world. Sure, we had Great Expectations with our OU Football:


“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Historically, OU football is rich in tradition and will continue to be; Bob Stoops gave us a glimpse of that in 2000. We continue to long for the great days of old.

Enjoy Sooner football; however, don't let it define who we are.

SoonerDave
09-19-2016, 10:39 AM
I don't think anyone is actually suggesting these teams are literally at a Blake level, but as I was mentioning earlier it's the idea that Stoops and the caliber of coach he is necessarily implies that we should *never* see the kind of disorganization or general competitive level on the field that would *remind* us of that awful era. It's just hard for someone like yours truly see us struggle to remember to get all 11 guys out on special teams, seem frequently confused on how we're supposed to line up defensively, and not have shuddering echoes of the Blake Error at least come to mind.

Here's one example that illustrates where I'm coming from. OU has corner issues. Everyone knows that. And I lost track of how many plays where tOSU just comes up in all-but a bunch formation to the near side, and get isolation on that weak corner if for no other reason than to see if they are *ever* going to shift that corner to play outside leverage and force the WR in, allowing the safety to provide help over the top. If that happened, I sure never saw it.

That's not some magical defensive brilliance or unheard of notion. That seems a pretty basic way of helping out a kid who just isn't experienced or skilled enough or whatever at corner. But I don't think we even *tried* to help, and tOSU was glad to say, "well, ok, if you're going to do that, we're going to pounce..." and that bears eerily familiar to what Baylor did here in Norman two years ago...to the same side corner...and we never adjusted...to a chorus of boos as Baylor ran the *exact same play* some seven or eight consecutive times.

Those kinds of seemingly inexplicable sequences are what scare up Blake memories for me.

Richard at Remax
09-19-2016, 08:01 PM
Kinda random and could be wrong (I had quite a few adult beverages saturday) but did anyone notice the lack of replays on the big screen during the game?

Eric
09-22-2016, 12:01 PM
Posted by Jake Trotter on ESPN on Tuesday:


The stark fact is, Oklahoma hasn’t defeated a top-20 opponent that didn’t have an injured starting quarterback since it took down Alabama in the 2013 Sugar Bowl.

Ouch.

OSU fan saying honestly I hope that OU doesn't fall into a spiral of self fulfilling prophecy. Hopefully they can get it turned around. This year seems to be a down year for the league as a whole, so hopefully that bodes well for the Sooners.

Lord knows OSU is going to need to catch some serious breaks to have a successful season.

dankrutka
09-22-2016, 12:14 PM
That stat is a little misleading in my opinion. Stidham at Baylor is unquestionably the quality of a top-notch starter and was only behind Petty because he was younger. OU beat TCU after only having their own starting QB for one half. And OU destroyed OSU who had a former starter playing (even if Rudolph is a lot better), but it's not like OSU was beating OU that day. OU won convincingly in every phase of the game. Injuries are part of the game and OU won all of those games.

Dustin
10-08-2016, 02:17 PM
#### texas!

Boomer Sooner!

Laramie
10-08-2016, 02:25 PM
Game full of excitement, down to the wire . . .

OKCRT
10-08-2016, 02:46 PM
This game has lost much of it's luster and nationally it's doesn't register much. What a shame Texas has done to this once great conference. Just a shame. It's become a regional contest in a 2nd tier conference.

reverend
10-08-2016, 07:34 PM
Listened on the radio why traveling to the McAlister area. Stopped at Chili's in, I think, Atoka and there were as many Texas fans as there were Sooner fans. I got to watch the second half of the fourth quarter there and I was on the edge of my seat. When they started all the laterals instead of a hail mary for the last play I got nervous. If we had somehow lost the game on some buffoonish play like that I would rioted in that Chilis. Good to have the Golden Hat back on the right side of the Red River.

Spartan
10-09-2016, 09:35 AM
This game has lost much of it's luster and nationally it's doesn't register much. What a shame Texas has done to this once great conference. Just a shame. It's become a regional contest in a 2nd tier conference.

Don't worry, Sooner fans can continue the age-old tradition of pretending that OSU is just another game.

SoonerDave
10-10-2016, 09:01 AM
Several takeaways from this game:

1. The OU offense is getting into a great rhythm:

a. Samaje Perine is getting back into 2015 form - he missed a chance for some long-range runs of the type he made last year on a couple of occasions. I think he's still just a bit hesitant on that surgically repaired foot - but once/if he gets that step back, man, he's like a human bowling ball.
b. Once Mayfield got rolling, he made some *tremendous* throws into tight windows - the slant to Westbrook was a *much* more complicated throw than it looked initially: Andrews clears out to the boundary, Westbrook feints a comeback and then bolts to the cleared out area and the ball arrives *perfectly* on time. Westbrook's speed to the endzone was startling.
c. How about a shout-out to the job Bedenbaugh has done with the OU OL? Corey Wren is becoming a *force* at C as a *freshman*, and in general this line simply dominated UT's front.

2. Young players stepped up when they had to on D.


a.You never like to give up 40 points, but... when the D *had* to come up big, it did. Jordan Smallwood's pick of Buchele's throw inside the 10 after Mixon's muff was, to me, the turning point of the game. OU takes the ensuing possession, scores, and goes up 15. What a swing. Lots of kids who really shouldn't have expected to play showed up big-time. And plays like Smallwood's are positively *infectious* for a young defense.
b.OU may have corner problems, but their DL is getting *really* good. Jordan Wade, Neville Gallimore, even without Charles Walker, this group is getting great leverage, disrupting blocks, and getting pressure. If OU can get this group healthy, there's all kinds of upside.


With so many injuries on D vs Texas, the fact that so many kids stepped up and *made plays when they had to* is a huge leading factor for the program. Players making plays is sometimes something you just can't teach, but when one or two guys start doing it, good things usually happen.

I suspect KSU will be a tough out this week, despite the fact they have one of the least potent offenses in the Big 12. The risk of a post-Texas letdown is always there, but I also think KSU's offense is the least-well-prepared to leverage OU's defensive weaknesses. KSU has beaten OU in Norman two consecutive times, and I sure suspect Bob would like to get that blemish off his head.

My real concern (well, with this D, every week is a potential concern), is Texas Tech in two weeks. I believe they'll be gunning for Mayfield, and I don't mean that in a good way. I think that sticks in Tech's craw in general and Kingsberry's in particular, and if something "happens" to Mayfield in that game, it won't surprise me a bit. That game is a land mine waiting to blow up in OU's face.

[/INDENT]

dankrutka
10-10-2016, 09:09 AM
Corey Wren is becoming a *force* at C as a *freshman*, and in general this line simply dominated UT's front.

Great points all around, but Erick Wren is actually a senior.

There are certainly reasons for optimism, but one other concern I saw is that the young secondary guys were toatlly out of position repeatedly. There were quite a few times they had no clue where to line up and some of those resulted in time outs. Buechelle missed wide open, uncovered wide receivers on several occassions in the second half. Hopefully, that gets shored up this week. The offense certainly seems to have turned a corner.

SoonerDave
10-10-2016, 09:59 AM
Great points all around, but Erick Wren is actually a senior.

Gosh, don't I feel stupid. You are absolutely right on both counts. I thought sure I had read he was a freshman. I obviously was confusing him with someone else. And my brain was kicking back to the 80's when I think OU had a DB named Corey Wren. Yeah, I'm getting old. But the kid has just played fantastic nonetheless.



There are certainly reasons for optimism, but one other concern I saw is that the young secondary guys were toatlly out of position repeatedly. There were quite a few times they had no clue where to line up and some of those resulted in time outs. Buechelle missed wide open, uncovered wide receivers on several occassions in the second half. Hopefully, that gets shored up this week. The offense certainly seems to have turned a corner.

The constant alignment issues are *obviously* of concern, and I won't pretend I understand how someone doesn't remember that if you see "X", you line up there. I don't think UT was throwing out some complex offense at us. KSU won't make those mistakes.

I also think OU discovered perhaps via film study that Buchele is not accurate when pressured even a little. His two best deep throws in the 3rd quarter were only after he could set up in the pocket and plant. Those two throws for TD's were spot-on. However, if he encountered *any* pressure, he just didn't see the field very well and just seemed to "shot-put" the ball out. He short-armed out-routes and OU was able to get hands in the air to deflect some of them.

KSU only threw for 104 yards against Tech, and if OU gets even one or two DL guys back they ought to be able to set up in what looked like a base 4-2 set and just commit to not letting KSU run the ball. None of this 3-3-5 nonsense they tossed out there late and our LB's lined up incorrectly and let D'Onta Foreman run wild those last two drives.