GS, greetings and salutations from the TarHeel state. Saw Bobby on ESPN's First Take a few weeks ago, Skip Bayless was borderline merciless. Actually asked him if it was time for a venue change, LOL. You're there, I'm no longer. How damn bad is the D going to be this year? Because in my mind, and again, I'm now half a country away, they should easily have the best running game in the Big 12, if frankly, not the country, and Knight I would hope/imagine will improve over last year. Don't know about receivers, you do I'm sure, but the O should be as good as it gets in the conference, no? Looking forward to getting away from the MLB and into college football.
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I'm going to play a wait and see with OU before I put any real money on them. By all rights their offense should be better. Mainly because it couldn't have been any worse last year than it was against Baylor and Clemson. I have to see a few things first. I think there is widespread assumption that Riley will be able to seamlessly integrate all of his pieces together right out of the gate. But OU is a big step from ECU. Even though Riley has some experience as an OC, it usually takes awhile for even the best OC's to fully develop their identites. Riley has a lot of potential, but there seems to be an expectation that it will be fully realized this season. But it doesn't always work that way. We have no idea what kind of OL he's going to have or the quality of QB play he'll get. Is there reason for optimism? Sure. I think we'll see progress this year. But I've been telling people that it could be more gradual than many fans are setting themselves up for. We just need to keep in mind that TCU-style one year offensive turnarounds are the exception, not the norm...
Oh yeah, and the OU front 7 is the best that I've seen from the Sooners in the last few years. It's that darn secondary and Mike Stoops that is the biggest question. They should be improved on defense. But again, I couldn't tell you how much until they actually play somebody with a heartbeat and a complicated scheme... cough.. cough.. Baylor.
Excuse me for any ignorance here, again, admittedly, I'm a long way from home, LOL, but Riley was brought in to help the passing game, right? With Perine and Mixon as the RB's, I'd think there'd be little pressure here. I'm assuming the O-line is good, you'd know far better than I. Yeah, secondary was the thorn on D last year, it won't be better this year? I was just gandering at the preseason polls, and noticed, My God, OU not even second! WOW! Maybe there'll be some good opportunities for us this season. Best of luck and good fortune to ya.
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I think the defense will be better. How much better I don't know. I'm not assuming the OL will be good until I actually see them play a game against a defense with a pulse. The question is how much is Riley going to utilize the RB's? Is it going to be a 70/30 split for the pass/run ratio or closer to 60/40? Lots of questions, hopefully some of them will be answered in a definitive way before the season starts. But OU isn't going to show us all of their cards for the Akron game.
"But OU isn't going to show all of their cards for the Akron game." LMAO! Yeah, I wouldn't think so. Bob did say during that First Take interview they were going to "open it up," this season, obviously having brought Riley in. But ya got two extremely good backs, Mixon yet to prove himself, and it'd be a shame not to hammer the opposition with them every damn game, then pass after opening things up. I watched a lot of ECU ball last season being here in Charlotte, and they don't run the ball.
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Everything you bring up are the same questions I have. I don't ever recall seeing a dink and dunk offensive coordinator with this much talent at RB. So it will be interesting to see how he utilizes them. My guess is Perrine will be their main ground guy, and Riley will utilize Mixon more for catching passes out of the backfield.
You can look at how Saban kept the reigns on Lane Kiffin for too long. I don't see Stoops doing that. As far as Riley goes it is a step up in one sense but the quality of skilled players at his disposal far exceeds anything he has been around before. I think it will work out fine. I also think Riley will feature the running attack and that will lead to some big passing plays.
The main thing with me is being able to make in-game decisions. Huepel was completely lost against teams who had speed and talent on defense. He barely ran Perrine when OU played Baylor. The aim is to keep it away from Baylor, not give it right back to them. OU got away from their strengths on numerous occasions last year, not just that Baylor game. I just hope Riley is up to the task for some big boy football. I think he is, but you never know until they tee it up..
OU had better stick to the run game for two very obvious reasons. First, their passing game is in a word, pathetic, compared to other Big 12 teams. More importantly, by controlling the ball on the ground, they use up the clock, something they must do if they have any hopes of defeating Baylor, who has basically owned OU recently. Show me TD drives that last 5-7 minutes and I will show you success at OU. Like it or not, the fact is that the OU defense has given up 41 or more points to Baylor in three of their past 4 games, all resulting in losses. The one game OU won was a 42-34 game when OU was a 21 point favorite. They also go to Baylor this season.
Now TCU is a different story. They barely got by OU at home last season, and go to Norman 6 days before their season closer at home against Baylor. We noticed how the future line had TCU -5 at OU, and were waiting to get more points, but the line drifted the other way, and now TCU is down to -3.5. While Baylor has been consistent for several years now, TCU has not. Their record was 11-14 the two years previous to last year. The obvious question is this: Was last year's TCU team a fluke? I think so, or at least enough to make Baylor my pick in the Big 12.
I think OU loses two conference games and possibly to Tennessee, depending on how close to the vest Stoops wants to play things in a non-con game. I read about OU having to do this and do that, but no one seems to see the biggest thing OU must do. Stoops has to get of his dead arse and get this team motivated for 12 games. There is no excuse for 3 hoe losses like they had last season. In 2012 they lost to K-State at home and were destroyed by Notre Dame at home. In 2011 OU lost to a 5 win Texas Tech team at home. Those losses are on the HC and his staff. There are way too many home losses on their record. In the past 4 years, not counting post season games, OU has lost 10 games, and 6 of those were at home. There was a neutral site loss to Texas, and only 3 losses on the road.
Now TCU is a different story. They barely got by OU at home last season, and go to Norman 6 days before their season closer at home against Baylor. We noticed how the future line had TCU -5 at OU, and were waiting to get more points, but the line drifted the other way, and now TCU is down to -3.5. While Baylor has been consistent for several years now, TCU has not. Their record was 11-14 the two years previous to last year. The obvious question is this: Was last year's TCU team a fluke? I think so, or at least enough to make Baylor my pick in the Big 12.
I think OU loses two conference games and possibly to Tennessee, depending on how close to the vest Stoops wants to play things in a non-con game. I read about OU having to do this and do that, but no one seems to see the biggest thing OU must do. Stoops has to get of his dead arse and get this team motivated for 12 games. There is no excuse for 3 hoe losses like they had last season. In 2012 they lost to K-State at home and were destroyed by Notre Dame at home. In 2011 OU lost to a 5 win Texas Tech team at home. Those losses are on the HC and his staff. There are way too many home losses on their record. In the past 4 years, not counting post season games, OU has lost 10 games, and 6 of those were at home. There was a neutral site loss to Texas, and only 3 losses on the road.
