Let's talk matchups vs. OU

[novasooner 29]

2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I like a lot of our match-ups, having seen OU 3 times this season. The okie above is correct - the OU defense sucks. It's not average, it is bad. The secondary is really fucking bad. 

That considered, I worry about two key match-ups. 

1) Brown vs Locke - Locke is basically incompetent when isolated in coverage in the passing game. Brown is about as electric as we'll see this year. I expect him to score at least once if Locke winds up having to deal with him.

2) Lamb vs Boyd - We all know that Boyd will shit himself with stupidity on at least one play in each game, and Lamb is an elite talent. I expect Lamb to score at least once as well. 

I'm not worried about the Kyler Murray, dual-threat aspect in this game. Orlando seems to prepare his plans to account for specific QB capabilities, whatever they may be. We run into trouble when the QB the defense has prepared for goes down or gets subbed. We've seen this with Maryland and both years with KSU. We clearly prepared for Delton, and then had trouble accounting for Thompson last week. In 2017, we witnessed the opposite. 

Herman and crew need to come out expecting to score more than 30. You guys can talk ball control, and I get it up to a point, but thinking that OU isn't going to put up somewhere between 28 and 42 seems silly. Texas can't turtle on the game if we get the lead. 

We need Ehlinger to play an excellent game. If he's accurate and mentally competent, that will be huge. If he shows up as though this is the first time he's seen a football field, it really doesn't matter what everyone else does, we're struggling to win in that event. 

Spot on.  Against Baylor, the OU front seven actually got lots of pressure; there's some athleticism there.  The secondary is a fucking disaster, though.  And Mike Stoops is our very own Tim Beck. 

[Bobby_Batronic 1,994]

I’d pick on Wheeler in coverage. He’s not a natural dropper, and doesn’t have great feel when we ask him to play the rat. 

Hager needs to be used situationally. Honestly, it wouldn’t be a bad time to play a lot of lightening defense to get speed on the field if Foster is ready. I don’t know if we try to bring too much pressure seeing as we can’t really push the pocket anyway, and we don’t want to give Murray a crease to  house it. 

They’re still running the PA counter pass with the TE/H lining up weak and sneaking behind the backers attacking downhill. I expect that to burn is. 

It would also be a good time to unvail any kind of QB lead jump pass or play of that variety as quality PA is always the bane of a Mike Stoops defense. 

[Yesh 913]

Last year the defense held them to 29.  If we do that again, do we win?

[kingkoopa6 8,347]

Who the fuck is gonna stop Gary Johnson from killing a sooner fuck?

 

[Braff Zacklin 13,558]

1 minute ago, kingkoopa6 said:

Who the fuck is gonna stop Gary Johnson from killing a sooner fuck?

 

[Mikey4 2,476]

Last year the defense held them to 29.  If we do that again, do we win?

50/50. We need to hold them to under 30, show up on offense, AND have a ST or defensive score (or at least turnover in the rz).

 

[Jkwellborn 6,697]

Who the fuck is gonna stop Gary Johnson from killing a sooner fuck?
 

[XYZ 2,154]

Sucks that OU is vulnerable to the long ball, and Texas is not good with the long ball. Like Herman said, you can’t beat good teams four yards a pop.

[EuroHorn 3,260]

8 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Sucks that OU is vulnerable to the long ball, and Texas is not good with the long ball. Like Herman said, you can’t beat good teams four yards a pop.

          We're going inside of ‘em, we're going outside of ‘em -- inside of ‘em! outside of ‘em! -- and when we get them on the run once, we're going to keep ‘em on the run. And we're not going to pass unless their secondary comes up too close. But don't forget, men -- we're gonna get ‘em on the run, we're gonna go, go, go, go! -- and we aren't going to stop until we go over that goal line! And don't forget, men -- today is the day we're gonna win. They can't lick us -- and that's how it goes... The first platoon men -- go in there and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! What do you say, men!

[Valmy77 13,226]

3 hours ago, Mikey4 said:

OU will score. They will abuse Boyd and Locke. And Ewok will get free and pick up yards, probably score, too. So they key is to limit their production by keeping their offense off the field. We do that in 2 ways:

1. Do what army did. Run. The. Ball. Over. And. Over. And. Over. If we can consistently get a push up front and pick up 2-5 ypc, then we win.

2. Win the turnover battle. On offense, we don't need Sam to air out the ball. We need him to manage the game and use his feet. On defense, we need Sterns to bail out our corners and get the ball.

If this is the strategy then I worry about our tendency to rack up penalty yards.

[Longboard Horn 40,301]

12 hours ago, novasooner said:

As somebody from the enemy side, I agree completely that the key for UT is to play ball control.  Army almost beat us with that approach (and should have won, honestly) and Baylor did it well, too.  Baylor's problem was that OU"s offense demolished them, but Texas has a far superior D.  I know some of you have mixed feelings about Sam, but he's very capable of dinking and dunking down the field against OU"s atrocious defense (both passing and running), which can't get anybody off the field.  That's the major worry from the OU side.  The ewok as you call him (yeah, he looks like one) is electrifying, but even great offenses can be slowed down, as UT has shown against OU more than a few times recently. 

I would argue that UT's biggest worry is OU jumping out to a fast lead.  It happened last year and UT clawed back, but it wouldn't be smart to repeat that pattern.

Other thoughts:

--OU's offensive line isn't as good as last year; in fact, it's only so-so in general.

--OU's receivers are really fucking fast, but they're small.  UT will want to leverage the size advantage against the QB and WRs.  OU killed Baylor by getting Hollywood and CeeDee into open spaces.  Watch for the tunnel screen to Hollywood--if he gets space he'll shoot into the open field. 

--The loss of Rodney Anderson has been huge.  Sermon is a force, but he needs space to get going.  He's a good receiver, though.  Kennedy Brooks emerged last week, but he has virtually no PT under his belt. 

--OU's defense is exactly as bad as you imagine, worse probably.  Ronnie Perkins is legit, but he's a freshman.  Bookie hasn't been as good as Stearns.  Motley is feast or famine (usually famine).  DTs are meh.  Kenneth Murray is physically gifted, but still sometimes misses assignments. Big receivers have killed OU, so if Johnson is serious on Saturday he could be in for a huge day. 

I wish everybody a safe trip this weekend. 

Good analysis of pointing out your team's weaknesses. I like our chances. The ewok will choke on more dicks than Bob this Saturday. 

Hook em \m/

[Longboard Horn 40,301]

4 hours ago, Mikey4 said:

OU will score. They will abuse Boyd and Locke. And Ewok will get free and pick up yards, probably score, too. So they key is to limit their production by keeping their offense off the field. We do that in 2 ways:

1. Do what army did. Run. The. Ball. Over. And. Over. And. Over. If we can consistently get a push up front and pick up 2-5 ypc, then we win.

2. Win the turnover battle. On offense, we don't need Sam to air out the ball. We need him to manage the game and use his feet. On defense, we need Sterns to bail out our corners and get the ball.

I re-watched that game and Army did a great job of establishing a decent run game early and never looked back. 

[LTtxfan 49,170]

Anybody studied how Iowa State defended the BlowU Offense??  Have a lot of respect for that Coaching Staff and  that game was closer than predicted.......  Final score was 37-27

I remember at least one tall Iowa State WR giving the sooner secondary trouble during that game as well.

Texas DL and LBs need to stay disciplined..... I hope Orlando disguises and mixes the coverages well in the secondary.  Oklahoma will run crossing routes, double moves and feature both their TE and RBs in their passing game so better spend extra time prepping with lots of film review.

Found these Comments:   Junior safety Brandon Jones, who was supposed to take the TE Andrews on the switch route, said he expects OU try to more switch routes and double moves to see if Texas can be fooled again.

“I’m sure we’ll see it all — trick plays, double moves, switch routes,” Jones said. “Their receivers can go, and Kyler (Murray) can put it on ‘em.”  

Personally, I expect BlowU to run the ball early so they can try to wear down the Texas Defense..... thereby planning to use ball control in the 2nd Half to protect their suspect defense......

Edited October 3, 2018 by LTtxfan

[Jack Wilson 313]

On 10/1/2018 at 4:32 PM, this said:

Given that OU lost Rodney Anderson, I feel like Texas may have an advantage here against a slow Trey Sermon or their other new running backs. What do other posters think about this matchup?

What other areas, do you think Texas may have an advantage or a disadvantage?

I'm not sure I'd even think about referring to blow-u as slow. Murray's a burner and we've always had trouble with running QB's. WR Marquise Brown can fly and they get him as many touches as they can on jet sweeps, flat passes, tunnel screens etc. 

Sustained drives that keep the ball out of the hands of the blow-u offense is obviously one of the keys--that and winning the turnover battle, punshing or eliminating the midget, shoring up our punt protection. .  . Shit, I'm tired of typing keys; they're casual to the obvious observer, even posters on here. 

[Hamttx 419]

Turnovers and big plays. Whomever makes less of the former, and more of the latter wins......Been that way more often than not in my 60 years of watching it.

All the match up analysis gets skewed in this game. From that shitty Blake team knocking out a far better Texas team, to Herp-a-Derp kicking ou’s ass when they had a far better team. Match ups are deceiving in this one particular game. And most of the time the winning team has a signature play.

[KYHorn 17,029]

21 hours ago, thrillhammer said:

i predict this will be hager's best game.

True. He wants to cut his hair so bad he'll murder someone at this point

[thrillhammer 683]

i like our matchups a lot, on both sides of the ball.  we have a good shot at winning this.  ou has not played anyone worth a shit.  we need for our coaches to scheme a little on d, and come up with a few creative plays on o.   it may involve ehlinger running but i hope not, as i dont want to see him get hurt.  he needs to keep that threat alive, so that they worry about it, but not do it too often.   against usc we went deep a shit ton.  i'd like to try that and see how it works against these goobers.  then you always got dinks, dunks, and ingram to bail you out if you've blown a down.

[XYZ 2,154]

6 hours ago, Jack Wilson said:

Shit, I'm tired of typing keys; they're casual to the obvious observer, even posters on here. 

Funny!

[Bill Lumbergh 7,171]

Although Murray is very good, at qb I still think they come up a little short in this match up. 

[JBJ 3,654]

8 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Anybody studied how Iowa State defended the BlowU Offense??  Have a lot of respect for that Coaching Staff and  that game was closer than predicted.......  Final score was 37-27

I remember at least one tall Iowa State WR giving the sooner secondary trouble during that game as well.

3-2-6.  Two-gap 50 front.  2 high safeties that came fast against the run.  ISU's problem was giving up big PA passes.

......

OU's secondary sucks, and they can't tackle anyone over 200 lbs.  We need our WRs to have career days.  Their LBs fill inside gaps well, but also tend to also get lost inside.  If we work our inside zone and zone read, stretch and dart will befuddle them.  But their real weakness on defense is that secondary.

Their OLine is good but not gelling.  Instead of slide protection against ISU, they were doubling the nose and pulling the opposite guard to the zone side.  I don't remember ISU ever exploiting this, but they didn't bring a lot of pressure in general.  I don't think OU can afford to do this against our front.   They also rolled out a few times, which works better against what we do, so I bet we'll see more.

Sermon is good.  He'll get yards that he shouldn't and break our hearts on a key third down. The running game is what Riley has tinkered with the most.  A lot more power than zone.  This works more towards their OLine strengths, and they are a better unit in the running game.

Murray is overrated.  He'll get you a couple times with his feet, but he's not a dropback passer.  They don't ask him to very often, though - it's all quick passes, screens, and PA over the top.  We'll see more screens and draws on third downs than passes.  Gotta be sound.

QB Draw/ Power/ Iso is a strength of theirs, and there's really no good way to scheme against it.  LBs have to recognize, shed a block, and make a tackle.  Sermon is a good blocker.

[Longhorn Fever 267]

13 hours ago, EuroHorn said:

          We're going inside of ‘em, we're going outside of ‘em -- inside of ‘em! outside of ‘em! -- and when we get them on the run once, we're going to keep ‘em on the run. And we're not going to pass unless their secondary comes up too close. But don't forget, men -- we're gonna get ‘em on the run, we're gonna go, go, go, go! -- and we aren't going to stop until we go over that goal line! And don't forget, men -- today is the day we're gonna win. They can't lick us -- and that's how it goes... The first platoon men -- go in there and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! What do you say, men!

Take that Domer crap back to Indiana

[MrPhlegm 3,413]

Yep. Growing up in Oklahoma every neighborhood has a "Trail Boss". The Boss makes sure every little Okie has 2 meals a day - morning and night - and gets half an hour before bed to play in the community "pig pen" (usually a shallow hole dug out in the sun-baked dust).
In exchange, the Boss must be provided with a retainer of 2 cans of copenhagen long cut, a 6 pack of schlitz, and 2 "Sooner" pounds of meat jerky (preferably squirrel but anything will do in a pinch).
 
It's a hard life -  but an honest one. 

Sooner honest?

[Machinator 32,099]

Scipio Tex: Texas-Oklahoma Football Preview Part I

The Red River Shootout is the defining college football rivalry game where anything can truly happen and the underdog beats the favorite with surprising frequency. Improbable upsets and shocking results define the series. Either team is capable of playing way over its head (or conversely, folding) in October when they smell fried Snickers and hear Okies waddling through the fair, excusing their latest star player's arrest record and various depredations against society. I witnessed a lot of improbable Texas wins in person while in high school and college, so the idea that anything can happen in this game has always been hardwired into my memory.

For a more recent memory to prove the improbabilities of this contest, look to 2015, where a terrible 1-4 Charlie Strong coached Texas team whipped Top 5 Oklahoma 24-17. OU went 11-2, won the Big 12, and advanced to the college football playoff. Texas went 5-7, was shut out 24-0 by 3-9 Iowa State two weeks later and lost by 43 points to TCU. 

Unfortunately, the upset shoe has been on the other foot. And if it's an Okie shoe, you know it's a Croc. Texas hasn't suffered as many dramatic betting line upsets as the Sooners, but I don't think anyone needs reminding of what happened too many times in the 2000s when the teams met as seeming equals and Texas staggered out with a 40+ point loss. Many of us know what that silent post-Cotton Bowl walk outside the stadium feels like. 

Everyone tries to pretend all rivalries are like this, but they're almost all chalk. If you don't buy my anecdotal evidence of Texas-OU weirdness, the statistical evidence is irrefutable. Only Florida-Georgia can compare for upsets and while that's a fun little cocktail party and all, no one with an opinion worth listening to ranks that contest as comparable in passion, intensity, or history. 

The unpredictability of the game isn't easily explained. Some credit the neutral site. Others the unique half-50/50 fan configuration. Perhaps it's the unforgiving stakes of Texas recruiting, bragging rights, and coaches knowing that too many losses in this rivalry will mean a pink slip. I've seen both Texas and Oklahoma coaches steer right into a loss and succumb to the pressure before their team even takes the field (Mack Brown and Gary Gibbs had a particular gift for this) and I've watched ordinary players elevate for just one Saturday into demigods. 

The Texas defense is going to need a bit of that to deal with the Sooner offense. 

OFFENSE

The Sooners have been dominant on offense with video game execution of the passing game and an explosive running game. They've only played one defense with a pulse (Iowa State), but they're averaging 8.9 freaking yards per play and 49 points per game. A point output held down artificially by their lack of possessions in the Army game (OU only ran 40 plays and scored 28 points). Lincoln Riley is one of the best and most innovative offensive minds in football and the Sooners are loaded with talent, experience and playmaking. NFL teams weren't visiting Norman all offseason to ask Mike Stoops questions. 

In 45 games since the start of 2015, the Sooner offense has registered at least 500 yards in 32 of them. Is that good? 

QB

My hope for OU faltering this year given their obvious assets on offense was centered mainly on Kyler Murray looking like the guy who played at Texas A&M rather than the baller who dominated Texas HS Football at Allen. Unfortunately, the Sooners have the five star from Allen and the Aggie Kyler is long forgotten. Murray's attributes are pretty easy to spot right away: he's incredibly elusive in the pocket, throws a terrific, accurate deep ball (through five games, he has connected on ELEVEN throws of 40+ yards), has more arm than his frame suggests, and makes poised, quick decisions. He can hurt a D with his legs and will erase a perfectly defended pass play with a 20 yard run if only one defender loses containment. He's averaging an incredible 13.5 yards per pass attempt and 19 yards per completion while completing over 70% of his passes. His TD/INT ratio is 17/2 so far this year. Murray is 5-10 and listed at an optimistic 195 pounds and hasn't experienced much punishment. How he'll hold up if Texas can bring the pain is a mystery, but he doesn't take many square hits given his agility. 

OL

The Big 12's best OL features three All Big 12 OL in Sooner tackle Bobby Evans and guards Dru Samia and Ben Powers. They're big, physical and smart. Powers missed the Baylor game and that bears watching. If he can't go, they'll start 5th year senior Jonathan Alvarez, who has 15 career starts under his belt. That makes him a relative newbie in Norman - Powers, Evans and Samia have a combined 96 starts between them. Creed Humphery is the center and their "weak link." That's a relative statement - he's actually physically talented (and a huge 6-5, 320) and beat out Alvarez for the starting center gig. He's just inexperienced. RT Cody Ford goes 340 and is a factor in the running game, but lacks Evans' athletic ability as a pass protector. They will need to help him at times. 

The Sooners have real talent on the OL, but it's their continuity, cohesion, experience and schemes are what makes them so effective. The Sooners continuously put them at advantage by alignment and play call. If we see anything like the telegraphed blitzing that characterized our second half defense against KSU, it won't be pretty. For our part, they've not seen any DL so far this year like what Texas can bring. 

WR/TE 

Grant Calcaterra is the Sooner TE (6-4, 220) and he's the best receiving TE in the league but not much use blocking bigs. He suffered an injury against Baylor and had to leave the game. The Sooners are mum about his availability in Dallas. 

Ceedee Lamb (19-348-5 TD) and Marquise Brown (24-544-5 TD over 22 yards a catch) make the Sooner receiver corps go. They're responsible for half of Murray's completions and have already totaled 10 TDs between them. Brown is tiny, but Riley does a great job of protecting the Big 12's scariest deep threat from jams and finding him clean releases. Lamb is a stud and the more complete WR overall, but Brown's quick score ability paired with Murray's deep touch assures him of the gaudier numbers. If Calcaterra is indeed hobbled, Texas needs to laser focus on these two receivers and force OU to beat UT with 1 on 1 match-ups featuring their lesser lights. Make players like Lee Morris and A.D. Miller carry the day for the Sooners. If they can, tip your hat. 

RB

Injured RB Rodney Anderson was a good player who played outstanding football for the Sooners over the backstretch of 2017 and early 2018, but OU hasn't missed him much yet. Hopefully, this will be the first game where they miss his no-nonsense power running, vision and chain moving. Trey Sermon is a big, talented runner who has yet to break a big run this year but he's averaging over 5 yards per tote and reserve Kennedy Brooks blew up Baylor for 107 yards on only 8 carries with scoring runs of 34 and 49 yards. Hampering the Sooner runners with light boxes from the dime is absolutely key if Texas hopes to win on Saturday. Tackling 1 on 1 is at a premium for Texas safeties and linebackers.

Stopping OU

Easier written than done. 

I've seen the idea advanced that UT's best defense will be keeping OU off of the field with the Texas offense and our running game. Sure. We would all love 12 play 75 yard scoring drives that takes 7 minutes on repeat. When has Texas shown themselves capable of the execution required to do this except in the late 4th quarter against a tired defense? Texas will score and win by running good offense, not trying to artificially constrain the game script into some fantasy of a circa 1975 football game where "we establish the running game" against a loaded Sooner box while Ehlinger only throws when it's 3rd and 7. That's the best path to getting blown out and going down 21-0 by the mid 2nd quarter. Texas should focus on attacking the Sooner personnel and scheme and setting up Sam Ehlinger for success so that Keaontay Ingram and Tre Watson can feast when Mike Stoops does his classic oversteer. I'll get into that in Part II. 

Back to the defense...

The Dirty Dime. Texas needs to sneak as many DBs on the field as possible without getting blown up by the Sooner running game. That will allow Texas the flexibility of multiple looks, feature some of our most instinctive athletes capable of turning the Sooner offense over, get recovery speed on the field, and give the Texas corners some security on the back end. Murray can't be allowed to identify single read deep routes before the snap - particularly if it's Kris Boyd on an island. While STOP THE RUN AT ALL COSTS cliches are great for the platitude crowd, this game is over if the Horns can't get a grip on the Sooner passing game. Once that happens, Orlando can hone in on the run situationally. Meanwhile, Texas will have to weather some rough moments and be willing to concede yardage and stiffen in the red zone until they can find coverage combinations or get some hits on the signal caller that force Murray into uncomfortable throws. Unfortunately, Riley's creativity, Murray's mobility and OU OL quality gives them a lot of options even as the field constricts near the end zone. 

Containment on Murray. The biggest concern in the passing game is containing Murray in the pocket and preventing extended scrambles that free Lamb and Brown downfield or allow Murray to bail OU out of 3rd and 9 with his legs. While assigning a spy makes sense, it also telegraphs aspects of coverage. So changing the spy up is helpful. Gary Johnson and BJ Foster fit that bill. Texas can also zone up and keep eyes on the QB. A spy is useless if the QB is breaking the pocket whenever he wants because the DL are doing flybys - he's just one less guy in coverage. Spies work best against a narrow running window. The big guys have to do their work up front and blitzes have to be judicious, disciplined and well-disguised. Key coaching point for the DL and blitzers - don't jump to tip Murray's throws when he's in the pocket. He pump fakes to buy time and scoot around. Close the distance with arms up. 

Conditioning and Playing 4 Quarters. The Texas DL will have a tall order. They'll be asked to beat the league's best OL in an outnumbered box, contain one of the most mobile QBs in college football with a knack for extending plays, and handle the conditioning test of tempo offense and no-huddle football. Orlando can't use up Omenihu and Hager early so it's crucial that Bimage, Graham, McCulloch and any Longhorn pass rusher we can muster gives a lot of inspired snaps. Nelson and Wilbon have to be absolute difference makers against the run if we're going to accept their deficits against the pass. It's also important psychologically for Texas to keep bringing effort even if the game goes bad early. OU's offense hasn't played four quarters of football against a real defense. Can't fret the scoreboard two quarters in. If the Texas offense does its job against Mike Stoops, Texas can get right back in it and turn the game late. 

Hook 'em.
 

[Machinator 32,099]

Scipio Tex: Texas-Oklahoma Football Preview Part II

Now that everyone is scared by the prospect of the Sooner offense, it's time to talk about where the real opportunities rests for Texas: The Sooner defense. Mike Stoops is on the headset and that always gives Texas a chance to win. But first, the Sooner special teams...

Special Teams

Oklahoma has exhibited very good kick return and coverage teams to date. They're 6th nationally in kickoff returns and Tre Brown brought back one 86 yards against UCLA. CeeDee Lamb is their punt returner and he's averaging over 12 yards per return, including a 66 yard return against...you guessed it, UCLA.

My takeaway is not that OU's return game is dominant so much as UCLA stinks and that Chip Kelly has been committing coaching malpractice four games into his career in Westwood. I believe opponent quality has played a role here but they did block a punt against Florida Atlantic. Given Buj's punting shakiness, the nerve-inducing environment of the game and our shoddy punt protection to date, you can bet on at least a couple of Sooner jailbreak punt block attempts. 

Austin Seibert is a very experienced senior kicker having started 45 games for the Sooners and he handles both FG (50 of 66 lifetimes, 76% accuracy) and punting duties (42 yard average). He's a hang time and placement punter and the Sooners punt primarily to disallow the return. 

Sooner Defense 

Their defense is questionable (particularly given opponent quality), but they've been so overwhelmingly good on offense that the opponent finds themselves in perpetual catch-up mode against a scoreboard that won't stop lighting up. That puts the Sooner's blitzing defense into an enviable position to close out games (they had six sacks against Baylor despite giving up 400+ passing to Charlie Brewer and surrendering 24 second half points). But when the Sooner offense hangs 66 points on them, who cares? 

Many contend that we should go for a ball control approach based on the Army game. Which is basically arguing for a result instead of a tactic. You can't control the ball without generating yardage and first downs. We should go for a score points however we can approach based on how OU defends us. Including Sam throwing it every down if OU mans up outside, blitzes and loads up the box. Until they stop doing it. The fact is that UCLA, Iowa State and Baylor all had good success throwing the ball on OU, averaging a combined 8.2 yards per attempt. The Sooner secondary only had one interception in those three opponents 125 passing attempts. That's a giant LOOK HERE TEXAS STAFF data point. That doesn't mean we chuck it 55 times. It means Texas takes shots that the defense offers, not stubbornly adhere to some notion of how we'd like the game to play out. 

We're not capable of duplicating what Army does. They attacked some very specific issues to OU's scheme and their lack of fundamentals in ways that we cannot. Service academy football isn't duplicable in a week. Nor is it duplicable in a year. Trying to maul OU up front with our base offense and running some low rent version of option football against an outnumbered box is what Mike Stoops wants and probably the surest way to trail by three touchdowns before you've downed your second alcoholic beverage. 

The useful takeaway from the Army game is that we can and should use Ehlinger liberally as a runner on key downs and that OU's secondary isn't aways that eager for open field contact. Wildcat could also be intriguing if we'll do it from hurry-up. 

Iowa State tried to do the ball control thing with RB David Montgomery, went down 24-10 as OU held Montgomery to sub 4 yards per carry for the game, despite the Cyclones racking up huge plays throwing over the top to a big WR downfield off of play action. Sound like something we could execute with Keontay playing the lure and LJH and CJ running downfield? Do that a few times and the running game will find its breathing room. 

DL

The Sooners have had great snaps out of true freshman DE Ronnie Perkins on passing downs and he leads the DL in sacks. He also is among the team leaders in pressures. Amani Bledose and Kenneth Mann are the primary DEs and they're OK against the run and pass. Big NT Neville Gallimore is a load inside (6-2, 330) but he picks his spots to play hard. Texas needs to get this front into deep water and wear them out. An OU defense with DL losing their pep that has to manufacture pressure late is one we want to face. 

LB

Stoops loves to stunt their most talented, versatile unit. Kenneth Murray is an excellent MLB who has 45 combined tackles in the last two weeks against Army and Baylor. He is also used frequently on blitzes and has notched 3 sacks on the season. Mark Jackson plays their outside rush LB role and he has 2.5 sacks and is 3rd on the team in tackles. WLB Curtis Bolton is small and fast and he beat out 5 star Caleb Kelly at LB, but was injured against Baylor. Status unknown. Kelly played the second half and had five tackles and two sacks, so the drop off isn't much, if at all. OU's LBs have seeming carte blanche to attack the football, run under blocks, effectively do what they like. That hurt them against Army on a lot of 3rd and 2s, but they're attacking style can be a real problem if Texas insists on staple 1st down runs out of base formations. 

This is the strength of the OU defense and if Texas can handle their quickness and frequent run blitzes, there are big plays available. If Texas can't handle their aggression - and I'm thinking specifically of the Texas interior OL and TE - Stoops will steal a bunch of stops early, let OU stake the lead and then hold on late as the Texas offense learns the hard way. 

DB

The most vulnerable part of the Sooner defense doesn't lack talent, but they lack cohesion and Mike Stoops has a knack for putting them into bad situations by oversteering from frenetic blitzing that exposes them deep to soft zone coverages that concede 10-12 yard completions on easy pre-snaps reads. Big WRs have given them fits all year, ranging from ISU's Hakeem Butler to Baylor's Jalen Hurd and Denzel Mims. The OU secondary is smallish and goes about 5-11, 184 on average and they can struggle with getting big guys on the ground and getting muscled on 50/50 balls. They do react very well to the horizontal passing game and have good quickness attacking screens. I hope the Texas staff will take note. Nickel Brendan Radley-Hiles received a lot of preseason hype, but his penchant for gambles could pay big dividends or set him up on a double move on a UT slot receiver. Tre Norwood, Tre Brown and Parnell Motley rotate at CB and redshirt freshman Justin Broiles is their SS. Their only really physical presence back there is FS Khalil Haughton. 

Final Thoughts

OU's defense has had the benefit of a no-mistake, prolific offense, early leads and lots of 80 yard fields to defend. While they haven't been bad (they surrender 5 yards per play and are good at forcing negative plays, Texas allows 4.8), the vulnerabilities that they have shown tend to reveal over time as offenses figure out that Stoops doesn't have a lot of counters once the offense starts attacking OU's scheme and personnel groupings out of certain formations that expose their assignments. So it's incumbent on the Texas staff to line up in different ways, use motion, bunch formations and all of the other things we've not done much to probe exactly how OU is coached to defend. That's how Georgia stumbled into multiple big runs last year on simple inside handoffs when they realized that OU's ILBs would simply vacate the middle of the field facing motion from certain looks. 

Hopefully, the Texas coaches will show some formational looks we've not shown, get the ball in the hands of CJ and LJH early against their smallish secondary, allow Ehlinger plenty of running opportunities when OU overreacts by playing light boxes, and find ways to get Watson and Ingram moving vertically. 

I believe OU's defense can be fooled and worn down. It's incumbent on the Texas offense to play well enough early to allow that process to matter late.

[BabaYaga 15,290]

17 hours ago, Valmy77 said:

. Do what army did. Run. The. Ball. Over. And. Over. And. Over. If we can consistently get a push up front and pick up 2-5 ypc, then we win.

We don't run the triple-option.  Big difference between that, and the generic request of "running the ball".  It's damn hard to prepare to stop a style of play you never see, executed by an un-ranked service academy virtually nobody takes seriously.  

Meaning, if I'm in charge, Texas runs PA out of the wishbone.  Just to fuk with everyone.  

[Slacks 6,819]

"We want the ball"

[Poolflood 845]

Hager and Sam have to be on point.  Neither can let emotion of the game get the best of them.  

Orlando's delayed blitz packages will get us lit.  Bring the house with GJ to convince the little fuck that shortstop is his best position.

Ingram and Tre need to pound the rock.

Hook'em

[LTtxfan 49,170]

Know it's Wednesday, but who has advantage in Dallas with 60% rain chance at 11:00am Kickoff??

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by LTtxfan

[Longhorn94 2,448]

I think Texas wins.

Texas offense is average. OU's defense is below average. Advantage: Texas

Texas defense is above average. OU's offense is above averege. Advantage: Push

Texas Coaches v OU Coaches. Herman and Orlando have shown they can out-coach the OU staff. Advantage: Texas

Everything else: Women, cities, culture, music, natural beauty, and percentage of population that still have their teeth. Advantage: Texas

Meth use. Advantage: OU.

Texas wins it, Texas 38, OU 23.

 

 

 

[Longhorn94 2,448]

7 minutes ago, Poolflood said:

Hager and Sam have to be on point.  Neither can let emotion of the game get the best of them.  

Orlando's delayed blitz packages will get us lit.  Bring the house with GJ to convince the little fuck that shortstop is his best position.

Ingram and Tre need to pound the rock.

Hook'em

I think we need to start the game with keeping the keebler elf in the pocket and confusing him with coverage. After we have him rattled, we can start going after him but need to balance our blitzes, blitzing from one side to force him to flush to the other where a delayed blitzer is waiting. 

[ChiTownDoc 21,151]

On 10/2/2018 at 10:25 AM, novasooner said:

As somebody from the enemy side, I agree completely that the key for UT is to play ball control.  Army almost beat us with that approach (and should have won, honestly) and Baylor did it well, too.  Baylor's problem was that OU"s offense demolished them, but Texas has a far superior D.  I know some of you have mixed feelings about Sam, but he's very capable of dinking and dunking down the field against OU"s atrocious defense (both passing and running), which can't get anybody off the field.  That's the major worry from the OU side.  The ewok as you call him (yeah, he looks like one) is electrifying, but even great offenses can be slowed down, as UT has shown against OU more than a few times recently. 

I would argue that UT's biggest worry is OU jumping out to a fast lead.  It happened last year and UT clawed back, but it wouldn't be smart to repeat that pattern.

Other thoughts:

--OU's offensive line isn't as good as last year; in fact, it's only so-so in general.

--OU's receivers are really fucking fast, but they're small.  UT will want to leverage the size advantage against the QB and WRs.  OU killed Baylor by getting Hollywood and CeeDee into open spaces.  Watch for the tunnel screen to Hollywood--if he gets space he'll shoot into the open field. 

--The loss of Rodney Anderson has been huge.  Sermon is a force, but he needs space to get going.  He's a good receiver, though.  Kennedy Brooks emerged last week, but he has virtually no PT under his belt. 

--OU's defense is exactly as bad as you imagine, worse probably.  Ronnie Perkins is legit, but he's a freshman.  Bookie hasn't been as good as Stearns.  Motley is feast or famine (usually famine).  DTs are meh.  Kenneth Murray is physically gifted, but still sometimes misses assignments. Big receivers have killed OU, so if Johnson is serious on Saturday he could be in for a huge day. 

I wish everybody a safe trip this weekend. 

Couldn't have said it any better.  I'll reiterate the importance of not getting down early.  If Tom and the Texas offense can stay patient and keep pounding the rock, they'll score on OU...it's only a matter of time.  And the more time it takes, the less you deal with the Ewok.  

Tom is usually great in big games and sticks to the script.  What Texas shouldn't do is get cute with fancy plays or try to match OU going bombs away.  Slow and steady.  Army provided the blueprint.  Baylor fucking blows and could easily have had 50 if not for a couple bounces not going their way.  Baylor's mistake (other than sucking dick) was refusing to try to build the run game and keep Murray off the field.  The more plays you have on offense the more opportunities for Mike and his merry band of idiots to mess up.  So take the 3-4 yards consistently and the dam is sure to break.  You'd think Mike would wise up and take some risks to force a TO but OU's D is incredibly bad at getting turnovers.  He will just take it in the ass all damn day long if you're willing to be patient on offense.  

[Poolflood 845]

Blow u had played a week ass schedule.  They have confidence.

Punch the little fuckers in the mouth, put our foot on their throat, profit!

[stork642 4,498]

14 hours ago, Jack Wilson said:

I'm not sure I'd even think about referring to blow-u as slow. Murray's a burner and we've always had trouble with running QB's. WR Marquise Brown can fly and they get him as many touches as they can on jet sweeps, flat passes, tunnel screens etc. 

Sustained drives that keep the ball out of the hands of the blow-u offense is obviously one of the keys--that and winning the turnover battle, punshing or eliminating the midget, shoring up our punt protection. .  . Shit, I'm tired of typing keys; they're casual to the obvious observer, even posters on here. 

Brown is going to have a short afternoon if Foster gets a clean shot on him.  

[victory88 5,663]

Luckily our secondary has played against some elite WRs in Amon Ra St Brown and Raegor.  If the DL doesn’t get pressure, Murray will pick apart the secondary with time.   We held both USCs offense and TCU’s in check.  Don’t discount how fast that TCU offense is.  They were shredding Ohio states defense.  I think playing them along with USC will have our boys ready.  Ou has played no one.  They’re likely to win this game but we’re going to punch them in the mouth and we’ll see if they fold or came prepared for a street fight.  If our offense can even be remotely decent and hit on on some deep throws, we will win this game.  Orlando has given ou fits for 2 years now dating back to Houston.  Just need the offense and special teams to show up.

[Billy Pilgrim 1,960]

Joel Klatt was on the ticket today talking about the game. He was talking about how Orlando has faired fairly well against OU the last couple of years and he made a good point about the way the Texas D plays: he said that OU likes to line up quickly at the LOS and see how defense sets up against their formation then they check the line sideline to see what play to run against that defensive set up. What Texas does differently is they either show a complex defensive set up that simplifies at the snap or a very nonspecific setup that becomes more complex at the snap. It’s harder for the sideline to switch into the correct play against our D before the snap.

[BabaYaga 15,290]

Just hit Murray.  Hit him again, and again, and again.  Easier said than done, sure.  He's a finesse player.  He's small.  Slight of build.  And we've seen him averse to injuries.  Blitz and contain with speed.  Hit him.  Fall on him.  Get him out of the pocket and make sure he's on his back after every play!

 

 

 

 

 

 

*works on your mom......

[ztejas 43,418]

55 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Know it's Wednesday, but who has advantage in Dallas with 60% rain chance at 11:00am Kickoff??

 

UT. 100%. 

[Ghost of Shag 2,608]

35 minutes ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Couldn't have said it any better.  I'll reiterate the importance of not getting down early.  If Tom and the Texas offense can stay patient and keep pounding the rock, they'll score on OU...it's only a matter of time.  And the more time it takes, the less you deal with the Ewok.  

Tom is usually great in big games and sticks to the script.  What Texas shouldn't do is get cute with fancy plays or try to match OU going bombs away.  Slow and steady.  Army provided the blueprint.  Baylor fucking blows and could easily have had 50 if not for a couple bounces not going their way.  Baylor's mistake (other than sucking dick) was refusing to try to build the run game and keep Murray off the field.  The more plays you have on offense the more opportunities for Mike and his merry band of idiots to mess up.  So take the 3-4 yards consistently and the dam is sure to break.  You'd think Mike would wise up and take some risks to force a TO but OU's D is incredibly bad at getting turnovers.  He will just take it in the ass all damn day long if you're willing to be patient on offense.  

Let's not minimize this as a mistake.  

[LTtxfan 49,170]

Any way any true freshmen that have not yet appeared in a game get some playing time against BlowU?? (They could still play in 4 games or less and Redshirt this Season.)

Seems like maybe  Ojomo & Coburn could help provide depth for the Dline.....stay fresher and hopefully slow down Kyler and the sooners run game.... 

Edited October 3, 2018 by LTtxfan

[XYZ 2,154]

1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

Any way any true freshmen that have not yet appeared in a game get some playing time against BlowU?? (They could still play in 4 games or less and Redshirt this Season.)

Seems like maybe  Ojomo & Coburn could help provide depth for the Dline.....stay fresher and hopefully slow down Kyler and the sooners run game.... 

No.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

Texas' red zone offense is ranked 124th. Pretty close to the bottom of FBS.

Oklahoma's red zone defense is ranked 129th. Dead last in FBS.

The resistable force is meeting the movable object. That right there is your storyline for this game.

[XYZ 2,154]

It's mind bottling that this thread, the only one with actual discussion of Texas-OUsucks, has barely 90 replies.

[Magus Ossis 2,797]

13 minutes ago, XYZ said:

It's mind bottling that this thread, the only one with actual discussion of Texas-OUsucks, has barely 90 replies.

Just about everything about the 2018 fighting Tom Hermans that can be said has been said. Same for OU and supermidget. Time to watch, time to let the team show what sort of swordsman it’s become.

[kingkoopa6 8,347]

Gary Johnson

Edited October 5, 2018 by kingkoopa6

[ztejas 43,418]

1 hour ago, XYZ said:

It's mind bottling that this thread, the only one with actual discussion of Texas-OUsucks, has barely 90 replies.

Because this game is pointless to discuss... All 90 of those replies you can throw out the window and then spin a roulette wheel.

We have seen very good Texas teams lose by 40. We have seen very good OU teams get mudholed against absolute dogshit UT teams (including, recently, one of the worst UT teams of all time).

You can play xs and os all day but once that ball kicks off it's 4 quarters of us vs. them.

[XYZ 2,154]

41 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Because this game is pointless to discuss... All 90 of those replies you can throw out the window and then spin a roulette wheel.

We have seen very good Texas teams lose by 40. We have seen very good OU teams get mudholed against absolute dogshit UT teams (including, recently, one of the worst UT teams of all time).

You can play xs and os all day but once that ball kicks off it's 4 quarters of us vs. them.

So...possibly not doomed?

[Valmy77 13,226]

3 minutes ago, XYZ said:

So...possibly not doomed?

Well, let's not go nuts. Definitely doomed.

[tonedeaf 56]

I've got it figured out.  Play man-to-man and let the other six key on the midget.    Simple solutions for simple problems.  Now......let the drinking begin.

[LTtxfan 49,170]

Questions:

1) First 11am kickoff for Horns since damn MD game...... what have folks heard on what TEXAS is doing differently to hopefully start better with an 11am start??

2) For this game, does Team fly to Dallas..... and any info on their prep schedule for today and tomorrow morning??

[ztejas 43,418]

28 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Questions:

1) First 11am kickoff for Horns since damn MD game...... what have folks heard on what TEXAS is doing differently to hopefully start better with an 11am start??

2) For this game, does Team fly to Dallas..... and any info on their prep schedule for today and tomorrow morning??

I want to know EXACTLY what Breckyn Hager ate for breakfast. Down to the last pat of butter on his flapjacks.