The 2015 Oklahoma Sooners Defensive Preview

The 2015 season is nigh upon us and the defense will very likely be what determines if the Sooners can make a run to the playoff, or idle by as also-rans yet again.

When examining the Sooners roster on defense, it's hard not to notice that they are pretty young as a whole. There are only 4 seniors in the two deep, 2 of them start, while no freshman are starting, that unit doesn't scream seasoned vet. There are absolutely some talented guys there, including guys like Dominique Alexander who, though not a senior, has more experience as a junior than most older guys. It's not all doom and gloom, but there needs to be a significant improvement over last season when the Sooner D singlehandedly bought the local Tums salesman's pool.

The defensive backfield was abysmal. These weren't lapses either, though I guess the entire months of September, October, and November are a lapse relative to the age of the Sun. Zack Sanchez looked like he might be the real deal, and as it stands now, is easily our best guy back there. Steven Parker looked very promising as a true frosh last season, he stands to start at NB. Jordan Thomas was truly awful, and completely unprepared to play last season. Let's hope a year of reflection on last season has motivated him to be more prepared to run, tackle, etc this year. I think Hatari "2000" Byrd and Ahmad Thomas showed promise as well. If we squint just right, this could be the most improved group on the team. They damn sure need to be.

The LB spot is pretty solid, I think. Jordan Evans beat out Frank Shannon for one of the starting spots. Both are salty, and I suspect Big Frank will get plenty of reps. It won't shock me a bit to see him starting at some point, but don't sleep on Jordan Evans either. Dominique Alexander is also extremely solid. A tackles machine, he seems to be in the right place on most downs. The entire unit desperately needs to improve in the passing game, however.

Defensive Line has some question marks as well. The DE spots are locked down hard by Eric Motherfuckin Striker and Charles "Ass" Tapper. Both can get to the QB and fly around the field, but the depth behind them is firmly in the "question mark" category. Speaking of, the middle of the line could be trouble. Dimon, Romar, and Wade comprise the most known commodities. Though the Big 12 is pretty pass-happy these days, getting a push from these guys will be crucial in minimizing our DB's exposure. This is starting to feel like a lot of "ifs."

Last season, the defense finished 114 in the nation vs the pass. Some changes have been made, moving full-time to the 4-2-5, or at least as a base package could help. I also read that last season they had two different coaches for the secondary, one for the safeties and one for the corners!? One player said that this season communication has been so much better now that they're all in the same meetings together. Why not have the QB and receivers meet separately and then just figure it out on gameday? (I can't confidently say that didn't happen last year as well.) I'm not even a reasonable facsimile of a pee-wee football coach, but this seems like a pretty damn obvious way to set things up.

There is a lot that has to go right for this defense to push the Sooners to the playoff. Pretty much every unit has to improve...a lot. They aren't going to be the '85 Bears, but maybe they can do enough to get wins. I hope Mitch is right about that 45-55 point per game average. Not only would it be fun, it might be the only way to win.


Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner.

The 2015 Oklahoma Sooners Offensive Preview

Josh Heupel is gone.

The Heupel era was marked by painfully conservative play calling. It was like watching a fireworks celebration and looking forward to the big finale and then it never coming because, “a little bit of fireworks is better than too many fireworks at once”. Heupel routinely out-smarted himself by doing such forward thinking things as “don’t call a run play for three straight series to start a game with a sub-optimal passing QB on the road” and “Don’t start Semarje Perine until forced at knife point by my boss”. He also played as if any lead was safe thus putting a heavy burden on a below average, at best, defense. He was so bad I would not have been surprised if his play sheet was a Shoney’s children’s menu.

To put it a little more bluntly, I was considering giving up my season tickets if Josh Heupel wasn’t fired after last season. I have never been so underwhelmed by any coach of the Stoops era.

So, in with wunderkind 31 year old Lincoln Riley and the magic elixir to cure all that ails.

Everyone is asking, “Can Lincoln Riley adapt his ‘Air Raid’ offense to include the immense talents of Perine and Joe Mixon”? Look, I love the forward pass and I’ve never played or coached a down of tackle football on any organized level. But even I could figure out a way to take advantage of what is the glaring strength of the offensive side of this football team. And if I stubbornly ignored those strengths in favor of my philosophy then I never should have been hired in the first place and should be replaced forthwith in the second. What I am saying here is if you are seriously asking that question then you are a Grade A Fuckwit. Only Josh Heupel, a Grade A Fuckwit, would overthink this and “outsmart” the defense by not using the run game to his advantage and he’s back in Utah. No, I am not worried about Riley’s having a “run package” in this offense.

I am intrigued to see how much faster the offense operates over the Heupel years and what degree of autonomy the QB’s have to make reads and calls without having to consult the press box.

Baker Mayfield is going to be an improvement over Trevor Knight at Quarterback. This is not optimism. This is a low bar. Trevor Knight has played one brilliant game in his career and that was two years ago. Since, he’s been ineffective enough (14 TD - 12 INT) he got the Landry Jones Apologists all foamy-mouthed with their, “I told you so’s” and “careful what you wish for’s”.

In Mayfield the Sooners have some swagger, a guy who plays with the proverbial chip on his shoulder, and a guy who can keep the team fired up. He seems to have “it”. Nobody is asking him to score all the points and win by himself. In this offense there should be an easy (easier) play somewhere. He just needs to be smart enough to find it.

This is an offense playing in a league where it could average 50 points a game. There are playmakers everywhere. Semaje Perine, Sterling Shepard, Dede Westbrook, Joe Mixon.

Perine was a man among boys last year. He won’t be sneaking up on anyone this year but that didn’t seem to matter much last year either. Everyone and their dog knew where the ball was going and still teams had to tackle him. That’s where they ran into problems. Dude is beast mode after contact.

We didn’t get to see Mixon in the Red-White Game but fall practice reviews have done nothing but raise already lofty expectations. Someone compared him to Adrian Peterson for chrissakes. There is also a rumor floating around he might return punts which sounds hazardous (later debunked, as of this writing, by the release of the depth chart). But, if true, then he is clearly versatile. So, if we’re going to set lofty goals I’d be happy with a homeless man’s DeMarco Murray.

It seems ludicrous but Sheperd might actually be flying under the radar a little bit. With the rise of Perine, the expectations around Mixon and Sheperd's own injuries last year, people might be forgetting that Sheperd could be the love child of Mark Clayton and Ryan Broyles. Health permitting, he’s poised to thrive in this new offense. He’s important enough and injury prone enough that I cannot fathom why he’ll be the starting punt returner but, alas, I’m not the highest paid state employee either so such decisions are clearly above my pay grade.

Dede Westbrook was the fastest guy on the whole field during the Red-White game. Looking at this two ways, either the Sooners are collectively a slow football team or Westbrook is a burner. I am giddy about this young man’s future and cannot wait to see this guy catching slants in the middle of the football field.

Another player who caught my eye during the Red-White game was Mark Andrews. He’s a huge target who can get up the field in a hurry. He was able to catch balls in traffic by virtue of his size. I see many opportunities for him. The only downer is he was recruited as a TE, a position which doesn’t exist in Riley’s system. There’s a place for this guy though because of his speed. He starts off the season as Sterling Sheperd’s backup which is odd to me simply because of the differences in height between the two (5’10” vs. 6’5”).

Of course the line has to do its part to make this whole thing go. On paper, it looks decent though it seems devoid of established stars. There are three seniors in Josiah St. John, Ty Darlington and Nila Kasitati. Freshman Brick Shit House Orlando Brown starts off as the No. 1 Left Tackle. Brown goes 6’8” 340 making him the early favorite for my father in law to spend his time focusing on during pre-game stretch.

I really think this offense might average 45 to 55 points and be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. There’s enough here to not only offer a glimmer of hope but to get excited about watching even if you’re only a casual fan. These guys are going to have some fun.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner.

Russell Athletic Bowl: Venables Returns (and no one cares)

Well Sooner fans, here we are at the closing act of another Sooner football campaign. This season was one of the more disappointing and underwhelming efforts I can remember. That OSU game might be the nadir of my sooner football fandom. I just hope the team can end on a high note. Maybe not as high as last seasons crushing-expectation-creating performance in the cotton bowl, but that seems unlikely in light of the bowl and opponent. Venables of course makes his return after being scape-goated for the poor defense a few years ago. Naturally the savior in Mike Stoops (who I fully admit I wanted as badly as everyone else at that point) hasn't realy changed much as far as results, and Clemson has the top defense by some metric. It will be interesting to see if they just stomp on the collective nuts of the sooner offense. I imagine that would be pretty sweet for ole Brent.

Offense

The Sooners expect back weapons (?) Trevor Knight and (!) Sterling Shepard. Though I heard Shepard is still nursing the hammy that must have been torn completely in two in the ISU game. This I think is good as the forward pass has been advanced calculus for the offense since that time. That said, the emergence of Samaje Perine as a man amongst pre-menarchal girls has proven to be quite a boon for an otherwise sad, unimaginative offense. This is why I'm going with Perine, I just don't think there is anyone else to pick. I think he makes little orange feces out of Clemson.

Defense

As I alluded to in the "intro", the defense sucks. Almost universally, in fact. In spite of that, I'm obliged to pick someone to be player of the game and I'm going to be just as creative as I was on offense. Eric Motherfuckin Striker went absolutely ape-shit the last time he played a bowl game. The fact that Clemson is playing its (far more stationary) back-up QB bodes well for the Sooners getting to the QB. Nobody does that better than MF Striker.

Score

I think the Sooners will have a tough time in this one, if for no other reason than they have a tough time with everyone that doesn't have Eastern, Technical, Dudes name, and State in their name. Clemson plays defense well, we don't play offense really at all. That said, I think OU has a little magic and paradoxically puts up decent points today. Sooners win 34-31.

Until next season,

Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner 

Sooners vs. Clemson - Russell Athletic Bowl

The first College Football Championship Game will be played Monday January 12th. Our beloved Sooners were picked by many to be playing in that game. High highs have given way to low lows and an unranked, four times beaten Sooner squad instead finds itself playing at 4PM on Monday December 29th in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

There are many reasons to be the grousing wah-wah Sooner fan about this season and this game. I will try to poke holes in my clouds of doom and let the sunshine pour through.

Let's start on offense where, for a second straight season, nobody has any idea what the offense will look like 17 weeks into the season. Year two of the Trevor Knight roller coaster was only marginally more fun than last year's version. Each was marked by inconsistency mixed with a dash of brilliance only to be cut short by injury then (hopefully) redeemed in the bowl game.

Meanwhile, the loss of Sterling Sheperd has taken away the threat of the forward pass. Not one player has stepped up in Sheperd's absence to give hope for the future of the wide receiving corp. Blake Bell has probably been the most consistent all year and this is his last game. In fairness Cody Thomas has been abysmal in Knight's absence.

You could argue that football in Oklahoma has been set back 30 years if not for the emergence of Samaje Perine. Good Lord what a beast. It took 10 weeks and an historic performance against Kansas to convince Josh Heupel and co. that he deserved 25 carries and the starting job but he did it. This dude is a fucking train and it's a fact that if Joe Mixon didn't beat a gal on his 18th birthday Perine is redshirting right now and is the guy you hear about tearing it up in practice leading up to the bowl game (a la Knight two years ago).

Defensively, the Sooners have been so average to below average that this matchup against Clemson has Sooner nation jealously lusting for the glory days of Brent Venables again. How times change. Three years ago he was paraded out of town and a return to the baby eating days of yore was a foregone conclusion with the triumphant return of Brother Mike. Now people are wondering how Bob is going to get rid of him without making future holidays awkward at Che' Stoops. The 2014 Sooners defense has gotten worse as the year has gone on. They have played better opponents for sure but first tier programs adjust, grow and round into championship form. This team is not first tier. Eric Stiker has been neutralized, the defensive line has been consistently below average to decent. The safeties have been the worst of the Bob Stoops era.

There have been some of the dumbest coaching calls you will ever see made by this staff this year which is saying something. Josh Heupel coaches the quarterbacks and they are the weak point of the offense. Brother Mike coaches the weak spot of the defense, the secondary. This season has been a disappointment of historic proportions because of coaching, period.

Who's ready for some football?

OFFENSE

Doom and gloom aside this marks the first time in months where the offense will have an opportunity to have its best eligible players on the field. If Trevor Knight can make good decisions and complete the occasional forward pass and if Sterling Sheperd is indeed back to full strength then maybe some holes can open up for Perine. Sooner Nation and all of America want to see this. Obviously I'm wrapping my arms around my chips and shoving my stack onto Perine's square.

It might take Heupel three series before Perine gets a touch but he's running downhill from there.

DEFENSE

My gut tells me that the aggressive, ears pinned back brand of defense that everyone thought would get trotted out against the Baylor's of the world makes a return today. Nothing to lose except a job, right? That said I'm going Eric Motherfuckin Striker here. There is literally no one behind him you could take and anyone else feels too much like a crapshoot.

SCORE

I think we get a bit of a slugfest today. The Sooners look better than people expect and the D brings the heat.

Sooners 27, Clemson 14

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

OU vs. Texas Tech

OU vs. Baylor

Sooners vs. Iowa State

The Sooners had an extra week to stew on the juices of the devastating K-State loss. They not only wasted the best called game of the season by Jabba the Heupel (that final goal line opportunity excepted) and the best game by far for Trevor Knight, our boys also completely shit on any and all chance to get in the four team playoff.

Having now come to this realization will the Sooners respond by whipping the shit out of the below average Cyclones? Or will they sulk around with their bottom lips stuck out feeling sorry for themselves. It had damn sure better be the former.

OFFENSE

As mentioned, the Sooners are coming off their most "dynamic" performance of the season. They racked up 500 yards, Trevor Knight hit about 80% of his passes and, at times, they were able to move quickly and easily down the field.

This group is still deeply flawed.

For instance, the no huddle does more harm than good when you have no clue what you are running when you get to the line of scrimmage. The only thing that meets the definition of  hurry up is the last 6 seconds of the play clock. Nobody outside of Sterling Sheperd and Blake Bell seem capable of catching a forward pass on the reg.

Still, they should be able to overcome these flaws against Iowa State. I look for Trevor Knight to have another good game. I think the staff feels comfortable again in cutting him loose a little. Cody Thomas showed he can step in and command the offense if need be. And, lest we forget, no title shot this year means you can throw caution to the wind with Knight's health. The real exciting news for me is the presumed return of Keith Ford.

I'm going to throw a little audible here with my OPOG prediction and go Blake Bell. If the Sooners needed to learn anything from K-State it's that you have to score TD's in the red zone. Hopefully they spent the last two weeks figuring out how to do that without handing the ball off and running straight up the middle. That's why I'm taking Bell. I want to see that play action bootleg action with Bell running to the boundary. It works in the NFL about 95% of the time and it, gasp, plays to the strength of your players.

DEFENSE

Lost in the unbelievable Honeycut pant-shitting was the fact that had he made his chip shot field goal the Wildcats still would have had four minutes to try to score and win. And if you need evidence to believe they would have done it just look at how they spent their time killing the clock stomping on the collective dicks of Sooner Nation. They ran seven plays, went 22 yards and killed the whole fricking clock.

They toyed with the defense. It was a cat playing with a yarn ball. Oh the 'Cats need 6 yards on 3rd? They get seven and make it look easy. The Sooners are playing the option read? OK. How about faking that then stepping back into a drop back pass and hitting someone wide open down the middle for 60?

And it was like that all day. This defense has serious problems. Notably, they don't seem to have much idea what's coming at them and their best option, blitzing, is backfiring so badly they are now apparently afraid to try it. However, they are not afraid at all to burn a timeout. Two on the same play if need be. If it's the first drive of the third quarter, so be it. That's the cost of doing business.

Yikes. The Sooners need to get something resembling MOJO back today. Again, I'll pick someone off the standard play sheet. I'm going Jordan Evans here. He occasionally shows flashes. Maybe he forces and/or scoops a fumble and takes it to the house.

SCORE

Well, in spite of my doom and gloom I think the Sooners do come out and make a statement today and start mopping up their soilings from two weeks ago. I think they kick the shit out of the Cyclones and win this one going away, 42-14.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner.