It’s another sad day and it’s another bad day. The Oklahoma Sooners offically lose the final Bedlam (for now) to little brother OSU in a heartbreaker. It’s our 2nd loss in a row now and 2nd in 3 years to OSU. I have many sad thoughts.
At first it seemed like this game was gonna feature a classic OU defense collapse. The Pokes marched right down the field for 7 just like Kansas last week. I already had several fraudulent texts written and sent out. Eventually they seemed to settle down though, as OSU only ended up with 27. At this point the OU defense is very “bend, don’t break” and turnover reliant. Teams can put up a lot of yards but we’ve managed to stiffen up on 4th downs and take advantage of errant throws. Counting on turnovers isn’t really the most reliable method of defense but it’s good to be opportunistic I guess. Easily the most concerning aspect is the COMPLETE lack of a pass rush. The only time it showed up this year was against Texas which makes 0 sense. Quarterbacks can sit back and write novels in the pocket before we lay a hand on them. I guess we’ll have to revamp our DLine in the portal again because a bunch of incoming freshman aren’t gonna do shit in the SEC.
Even with the defensive problems, the clear culprit of today’s loss was the offense. 24 points just isn’t fucking good enough in modern CFB, period. I know there were some awful calls by the Big 12’s blind officials like the Drake Stoops missed PI, but really that’s just an excuse. We had multiple opportunities to take or extend leads in today’s game and blew it every time. We had Nic Anderson drop a tuddy right before half, Javonte Barnes fumble a direct snap, and our center send the ball right into an unassuming Dillon Gabriel’s shins. Those are losing football plays, and there were way more than what I just listed off the dome. I’ve been a Jeff Lebby defender, but it’s hard to raise my shield today. He is obsessed with throwing lateral passes for no gain. It drives me insane how we refuse to attack over the middle despite how effective it is. I’ve heard rumors we don’t do that because DG can’t see over the line but I’m not sure how true that is. If he really hasn’t discovered a workaround for that handicap after playing the position for 10+ years then we’ve been truly fucked from the start.
Hilariously we really only got a good game from Drake Stoops. The problem is relying on a small white-guy who runs a 4.6 40 probably isn’t the best recipe for an explosive offense. He’s a good player and I give him credit for actually getting open but we all know what the ceiling is there. It sucks that our last play had to be an awful rollout into the boundary where he didn’t even run his route to the sticks. I guess that’s the kinda shit we practice in our 2 minute drills.
Brent Venables isn’t off the hook for his shitty game management either. It’s honestly been a problem since he got here and it needs to get cleaned up ASAP. Letting 40 seconds roll off the clock before half with a chance to get the ball back is cowardly and egregious. Then he blew one of our 3 timeouts at the end of the game because he couldn’t make up his mind whether to go for the 4th or kick the FG. Just take the fucking delay of game man if you’re gonna end up kicking it anyway- that’s some elementary shit and it’s concerning. I also don’t trust his 4th down decision making. We’ve been semi-aggressive recently but I honestly think it’s only cuz our kicker is complete dogshit and he doesn’t have a choice. I’m worried he has a very old-school mentality for several critical decision-making processes that just don’t fly anymore. New age coaches that know what they’re doing will take our lunch money if it keeps up.
We now no longer control our own destiny in the big 12. We set ourselves up perfectly after the Red River Shootout but haven’t looked good at all since. It was great to celebrate that win but we’ve overdone it and that’s why you don’t raise the banner after 6 fucking weeks. A lot of the same issues we faced last year are rearing their ugly heads and it’s fucking disgusting. I’m sick of losing 1 score games and sick of even being in 1 score games in the first place. We have more talent than all these cats (I think) and there’s no excuse for it. It would’ve been sweet to leave the Big 12 with the trophy in Norman where it belongs but that’s looking less and less likely. Even with Texas begging to lose every weekend we can’t take care of our own shit. It’s still Boomer Sooner for life but today this shit sucks.
The Armchair Experts 
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