There's a wispy tuft of smoke coming out of the hole that was once the site of the Oklahoma Sooners 2010 football season. The title hopes, the expectations, the dreams of number eight are all obliterated. Evaporated also, if it wasn't already, is the Legend of Big Game Bob.
I'm just trying to pick up the pieces from this one. Is it all Bob's fault? Possibly not, probably so. All roads lead back to him. He's ultimately responsible for allowing Kevin Wilson to call no less than 12 plays inside the 5 yard line, all runs up the gut, without scoring a touchdown. I have no idea if stats are kept on situations such as, "timeouts called on special teams situations" but the Sooners surely lead the nation.
Of course there are dropped INT's. The right play being called with a player being just out of position (this happens a lot according to Bobby) or just poor execution. The fake field goal was a beautiful pass and an inexcusable drop.
But the clock management (or lack thereof), the play calling, the shuffling of four scholarship kickers (four!), the timeouts spent on punts, the terrible play on the road or in bowl games (outside of the Big 12 Championship which proves the point). The evidence is starting to pile up.
Our buddy Travis raises an interesting point. You know how alcoholics or anyone else facing addiction can never get help until they take ownership of the problem? Well, this team has a problem. And until the coaching staff, most notably Coach Stoops, takes ownership of the problem (real ownership, not coach-speak) this is going to get worse and worse. An impeccable home record has long placated Sooner Nation and made it easy to ignore the fact that the Sooners are barely over .500 on the road since 2006. OU will pistol-whip Texas Tech next week and all could be forgiven.
The bottom line is that this OU-A&M game was the worst combination of clock management and play calling at the end of a ball game that I have seen in the Stoops era. The mistakes in the fourth quarter and the slow starts on the road are becoming epidemic. If not an epidemic, at least the trademark of this football team.
This coaching staff needs to really take a look at itself. Bob might need to make some tough decisions. There are a lot of things going on that point towards coaching.
That said, Lonnie is a Grade-A pant-shitter on the road. This is a major problem. The offensive line is terrible and he does them no favors by running out of the pocket and into the pass rush. Also, why the hell does a progression not exist? Is it because the O-Line can't protect, Lonnie is too dumb to do it, or there is only 1 eligible receiver per play? I need to know dammit. Why is the defense god-fucking-awful on 3rd down? Why is a collection of clearly talented players, who are intelligent (they really don't do scratch-your-head dumb things on defense), always leaving the middle of the field wide open?
I wish there was a bright spot to this game. There wasn't. That was a terrible loss in all phases. 27 first downs, 3 failed fourth and goals. There were probably no less than 20 plays run in the red zone with no points scored. Yet another kickoff return given up for touchdown (keep in mind Stoops coaches special teams). There was a period in the 3rd where the Sooners scored 17 unanswered and the momentum shifted, players had some swagger and guys were making plays. The missed fake killed it. But for a brief moment in time, the "12th" man were creaming their collective shorts.
Credit A&M for making plays and for a spirited defensive effort (although it's bullshit the same guy can go down injured 5 times and basically give a tired Aggie defense a rest). But the Sooners are their own worst nightmare. The coaches were a nightmare in this game. Until they recognize this get used to it. OU will win at home, have a .500 shot on the road. They'll backdoor their way into the Big 12 Championship, probably do well and complete barf on themselves if the bowl game is played after January 1st.
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