As many of you know, the Big 12 preseason rankings had Kansas and Texas 1-2 respectively, but who was given the 3rd place ranking aka "the darkhorse"? The Oklahoma Sooners, with a very capable coach in Jeff Capel, a Naisman watchlist guy in Willie Warren, a senior glue guy in Tony Crocker, and a very good recruiting class. I haven't watched them -- maybe it's chemistry issues -- but through the very early going OU has come out of the gates with a 2-3 record against very suspect competition.

After cruising in two home games against cupcakes (most teams do this, so can't rag on them there), they traveled to VA to face a VCU team formerly coached by Capel and most recently in the national spotlight from Eric Maynor's Duke Dagger. But this team didn't have Maynor. VCU hit a barrage of 3's, went on a HUGE run, and OU never got closer than 10. Capel sounded relieved in his postgame remarks, glad that the country saw that his team isn't as good as everyone said they were -- paraphrasing.

OK, a road test under the belt and some things to work on (like guarding 3 pt shooters), they travel up to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout as arguably the marquee team (argument could be made for Wazzu). The tournament has really dropped off the radar since the turn of the century, and the list of teams is not exactly a whos-who in college basketball. 

First up...the Sombreros, I mean Toreros of San Diego (can't think of San Diego without thinking of Anchorman, thanks Ron Burgundy!) Give them credit, they beat Stanford, and they come from a pretty darn good west coast conference with the likes of Gonzaga, Portland (just creamed UCLA), and Saint Marys. OU seems to have a knack for giving up big runs, usually a sign of a poor defensive team. 290-lb Tiny Gallon has been averaging double figures in rebounds, yet OU has been getting out rebounded. Capel once again was brutally honest about his squad, saying, "we're not a very good team right now." 

OK rough first game, who's up next? UH Cougars, who had to travel even farther, coached by none other than our old friend Tom Penders and led by "fire and ice" -- Aubrey Coleman (30 pts/game and Kelvin Lewis 18 pts/game). Good offensive team averaging over 90 pts per game vs. a poor defensive team? Recipe for disaster for OU -- they let UH put a hundo on the scoreboard. OU actually went on a little run of their own to give them a comfy lead, but alas they showed their true colors, and let UH go on runs of 11-0 and 19-4 to seal the deal.

The good news? Well, not sure there is much. Warren and Gallon are putting up the numbers we thought they would, so thats not the issue. They have a pretty good coach? That's all I got.

The bad news? That was the easy part of the non-con schedule, with games against arkansas, zona, and the zags up coming. They play in the Big 12. They are young, not very deep, and not defensively tough. Capel: "Houston, we have a problem"......... Penders: "apparently"

The way I see it, we won largely on the basis of young talent: Earl Thomas, A. Williams, Fozzy Whitaker, and Marquise Goodwin, Ben Alexander are ALL underclassmen...and OU?? where is their young talent?? Mr February is turning his stellar recruiting exploits into becoming Mr. October...out-recruiting OU is paying off

The above named players had great individual plays but our veteran O-line and front 7 on D sure helped. All I'm saying is there seemed to be a nice (and very reassuring) mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen. Very surprising that a team that recruits like OU does that they didn't make sure to reload the o-line.

And although our offense is anemic...bewildered...use whatever adjective you'd like...look at the point totals allowed by the OU defense this year...14, 0, 0, 21, 7, 16...their D is stout and has future draft picks like McCoy, Reynolds, and the CB Jackson, so we should be somewhat proud

Really like our chances with Jordan Hicks after a strong defensive performance and a W combined with an Ohio State loss...just gotta hope Florida doesn't sneak up on us and snatch him...hopefully Jeffcoat is too leaning our way if he wasn't already

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Also:

-- Great schemes by Muschamp...I'd like to see SK on more of a delayed blitz or stunt him inside but all in all some good wrinkles...and you just cant understate what a difference a year makes...he knows the players, the players know him, and it's all coming together masterfully...and back to my earlier point, there is a lot of youth and even more on the way

-- Favorite play of the game was the rollout by McCoy and Greg Smith releasing and getting lost on the weakside of the field for a great gain, I believe on a 3rd down...lets be clear, i DO NOT LIKE the EBS packages (either him or ulatowski really blew it on the missed assignment that led to Colts fumble), but would that play have worked as well with Buckner in the TE position? would Dan have gone as unnoticed? Speaking of Buckner, I guess he didn't hear my screams of "WHERE THE %@#*(% IS BUCKNER????" ...top receiver? Goodwin with 4 catches for 36 yds...wow

-- 2nd favorite play of the game: calling the QB draw in the redzone...Colt seems really hungry down there on his runs -- just need to wrap that ball up tighter

-- Took some shots down the field, had a Malcolm Williams sighting (seems to be used almost exclusively on special teams though), and glad to see Fozzy getting the bulk of the carries (scared me when McGee was put in there, but I'm guessing Fozzy needed a breather)

OK I'm done rambling...not worried about the polls or the pundits...we win out we WILL be playing for the crystal ball and we will have our shot at the best SEC team...eeeexxxxxcellent

Hook Em

OK so I've had a chance to read all the posts on how bad the offense is, and I've done my fair share of bitching, so rather than continuing to disect and analyze I thought why not try to DO something, so for my homeboy GD, this post is for you!

So this package is called the Colt 45 package...A quick draw (not in the football sense, but in a western gun dual sense) with rapid fire throwing action from Colt...(if GG can change his name to Harry Gilbert or Garrett Harry we can change the name of the package to the Dirty Harry, when we reach that juncture) Not sure what the NCAA rules are (didn't want to pay $7.50 to download the rulebook) but what about only two guards and a center, then colt in the shotgun, and.. 7 wideouts...could you imagine!! then shipley, chiles, kirkendoll, buckner, m williams, dj monroe, goodwin could ALL be on the field AT THE SAME TIME! nuts, right?? Talk about stretching out the defense, and what defense has 7 decent secondary players? If they load the box and blitz, colt just takes his pick of WRs and gets rid of the ball ala a western pistol quick draw...if the D tries to cover 7 routes, either man or zone, it would be chaos and although seems like it would be crowded I bet colt could find someone open...plus you could run some bubble/flanker screens with all of those big receivers blocking smaller DBs, or do a lot of crossing routes and confuse the hell out of the defense, basically getting DBs to run into each other

You could have varying formations, like the Tres Amigos, which would have Newton and Fozzy, one on each side of colt in the shotgun formation, either for more pass protection or have one or both of them run circle/wheel/flat routes

Again the key is rapid fire action, so ideally needs to be a hurry up offense, but since the O-line is pretty pedestrian (shocking based on the experience/talent on the line) just pick the best 3 lineman and let them play (maybe have an A team for the 1st drive of the game, then a B team of the next best 3 lineman, and those teams alternate drives, that way they stay fresh) and you get all of our amazing WR talent and athletes at RB on the field

Is this legal? I dont know

Would it work? probably not

Is it a good idea to implement something as complex and different as this midseason? Hell no

...just trying to provide a bit of a distraction and really I'm just passing time because Saturday can't get here soon enough

Hook 'em aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand OU still sucks

-- Broyles might be back for the RRS...Stoops getting nervous and rushing him back or is he really healthy? Bradford sure could use him...he threw almost 49 times, was barely above 50% comp %, and OU scored below 40 pts on a below avg team AT HOME

-- DeAndrew White verbally commits to Bama...Texas state products continuing to make the SEC look good

-- No word yet on what Hicks thought on his visit this past weekend? I can't find anything

-- Bohls has Shipley on top of his Heisman list...he's got an uphill battle with Tebow and just the QB position in general, but he deserves to be on the short list half way thru the season

Even though Texas and OU aren't BOTH up there in the polls like they usually are, Gameday feels like it's still the marquee game come Saturday. 

USC/ND is looking decent, but NBC covers it

Cocks/Tide will be a blowout even though south carolina is ranked...and the game will be on CBS

Upset alert on Va Tech vs. Ga Tech IN hotlanta...night games are always good there, but they don't serve fried butter outside the gates like they will in Dallas

AND with the noon EST start time, this means one thing:

Although Musberger won't have as long as he normally does to get sauced for the broadcast, my tv will still be on mute...can ESPN please give Tirico these games or buy out Gus Johnson from CBS

I'm talking about his recent article "where is sergio kindle". Another typical Bohls article with the insertion of one "pop culture" joke that isn't funny (bad reference to the VMA debacle). What's disconcerting is I know he was watching the game, so it's not like he is trying to BS about something that he didn't see firsthand. But when you watch the game without REALLY watching the game (i.e. only looking up at the tv on every other play, basing your knowledge on the "1st half stats" graphic shown before the start of the 2nd half, or flipping channels while texas is on defense) you miss nuances.

On every defensive series, before the snap I would search for #2, and every play I would keep my eyes glued on S.K. throughout the duration of the play  both to see how he lined up beforehand and to see what kind of impact if any he had on the play. I gotta say, he went hard on every play (despite the altitude), so you can't knock his effort, and when you're so myopically focused on stats, like our dear friend Mr. Bohls, you aren't seeing the entire game. 

Firstly, SK was impacting the game, hurrying throws, getting VERY close to the wyoming QB several times. One play he did get a good pop on him after the ball was thrown. No disrespect to Houston or Acho, but the attention and double teams (and unlike Kirk I DID see wyoming's right guard frequently back up to help the right tackle, rather than taking on a d-lineman) has allowed them to have the great season they are having so far. 

Secondly, I fully believe Muschamp (wisely) has not fully shown all of the defensive schemes. On just about every play I can remember, #2 has set up on the outside and runs full steam into the right tackle. No counters on the d-line, no falling back into coverage, just plain vanilla down rushing. I have full faith that Muschamp will find a way to gameplan to use SK even better.

I think SK was at his best when he could line up with the linebackers, allow the d-lineman to make the initial surge, and then sergio could come off the edge or bust through a seam.  

A little early to criticize someone after only two games and a little harsh to criticize someone that is trying to soar as high as possible on the draft board. If Bohls is trying to light a fire under him (not that SK gives a damn what a hack of a writer thinks) leave that to his dad, Coach Brown, and Coach Muschamp.

Jackson Jeffcoat will be in attendance Saturday night...good news? I'd say so. This is his first visit with USC and OU being the other frontrunners for the #1 prospect in the nation according to ESPN recruiting. This guy is sick. I think his reasoning to visit Texas first is trifold:

1) Texas is 2-0; OU is 1-1

2) Primetime game w/ gameday there

3) That gameday commercial is freakin awesome. Mack just got mad props for that. 

I like our secondary, I like the 2nd half of the Wyoming game, I like the game being in Austin, I like the true playmakers emerging from the hyped ...texas 45 tech 14

hook em

bgood