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Late response to Bruthaman and other OU trolls...

  • Mitch Connor said...

    Like what you said, I just don't see how you can predict what round Brandon Moore will go in though when nobody has seen him play. He could go higher if he is the run stopper we have been hearing about.

    Mitch,

    My son is a Patriots fan, therefore I've come to see a lot of their games. They have a guy name Vince Wilfork. He is a game changer. Brandon Moore has the same "m.o.". Early reports on him in practice have been one of two categories: "immovable, dominant, unstoppable" and "needs conditioning, gets too high when tired, a JAG when tired".

    All he needs is a serious conditioning program, and it so happens that we have one. I'm definitely speaking with some faith that BM will engage and participate well in Wylie's program. I could be wrong, of course.

    But he is 6'5", 330 lbs, and can play. That kind of size with athleticism does not grow on trees.

    All of my forecasts should, of course, be taken with a grain, or block of salt. Just add this phrase in your mind to anything you read from me: "unless anything self-destructive or really bad luck should happen."

    This post has been edited 3 times, most recently by jjloehr on 3/18/2012 at 1:22 PM

    jjloehr

  • mstrat said...

    Alright,

    This rally against the OU troll is going too far.

    Flowers barely saw the field so it's too early to rate him NFL good. He's not even a starter as of right now.

    Goodwin will be a late round or FA if he even goes the NFL route.

    mstrat,

    It is a total crapshoot to forecast players at all until their Jr. or Sr. year, and iffy for most even then.

    That said, it is still fun to do.

    Lastly, my main point was we have crapload of NFL talent on our Defense and even Offsense right now. More than I've seen since VY days. Do you really disagree? If so, list the starters on D and O that you feel have no real shot at being drafted in rounds 1-4 iin the NFL. I see only 2 or 3 on each squad respectively.

    jjloehr

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    DaytrippingHorn

  • Longhorn in OK said...

    They still suck.

    Three hours later and OU still sucks!

    signature image signature image signature image

    BigD4UT

  • jjloehr said...

    Bruthaman,

    I saw your post somewhat late (link below), and thought it deserved a more thorough treatment, as you seemed to have put some thought into your statements. I post here in a new thread in hopes of catching your attention. For those who didn't see it, there was a discussion related to CBS' forecasted ranking of UT as the #6 team in Big 12 for 2012, and Bruthaman raised the question as to why there should be any "optimism" regarding UT's improvement over '11. Here are a few thoughts for you to consider:

    * At DT, Dorsey was a good last year as Randall was his junior year. At times, he was just dominant. D. Jackson, a true freshmen last year, caught everyone's eye, and has already taken another step up in spring ball winning the starting role due to his incredible first step and high motor. Whaley is perhaps the best big athelete in the Big 12, and he'll be coming at you from anywhere on the DL, and finally, our JUCO Brandon Moore, 6'5" 335, is going to be a total run stopper up the middle, our first like this since Roy Miller. Only his conditioning will slow him. (see comments on conditioning below). Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we've got a guy from Brenham named Malcom Brown, #4 in Texas overall and #1 DT in Texas, #5 DT in nation. He'll be our true freshmen OU will see on a few plays as well. So there is a 5 man rotation of pure studs at DT. All 5 of those guys will be 3rd/4th round NFL picks, with 2 of them possible 1/2 rounders.

    * DE: we have the best tandem in the Big 12, probably in the nation with Okafor and Jeffcoat. Okafor will go 1 or 2 to NFL in April '13, and Jeffcoat could go 3rd then as well, or wait to play his Sr. year.

    * MLB, I'd like to introduce you to one Mr. Steve Edmond. Steve is quiet fellow they say, but has uncanny anticipation/intuition. He is the second fastest big man we have, after Whaley. Did I mention he is big too? 6'3" 260. This guy is an NFL 1st rounder after his Jr. year.

    * OLB: you may recognize Jordan Hicks. #1 LB in the country in class of 2010. He had some injuries last year, but is at full speed again and looking forward to Dallas. And another guy you may recognize, DeMarro Cobbs. He was the #1 LB in Oklahoma, and #3 overall recruit in OK in 2010. He's been waiting for Acho to leave to get on the field.

    * Saftey: we've got a guy named Vacarro who could have gone 3rd round NFL this year. He'll be first round after '12. Adrian Phillips will be a large upgrade athletically over our prior Sr. safety Gideon.

    * CB: we have the 2 best CB's in the Big 12. Period.

    All this is to say you will face a defense at a level better than what you saw last year.

    You say "we put 55 on you last year, so it ain't saying much". Yes, it's true. But let's look a little closer:

    * 31 points of the 55 were scored directly off of 4 of our 5 turnovers and a punt return, not against our defense. That leaves 24 points to be answered for. (please note your Off scored less than Def/ST's).

    * Broyles was unstoppable: 9 catches, 122 yds, 1 TD, before injury. He is there no more. Our true freshmen Diggs at CB received an education that day. He is now one of the best CB's in the Big 12.

    So, if not for our offensive and special teams ineptitude last October, you get 24 against us. Moreover, due to all the momentum losses and eventual fatigue of our defense, as you rightly point out, we'd have likely held OU to 3 TD's or less in that game, with the 2011 defense, had our offense been simply "decent". The '12 defense is better.

    The real issue for UT, as you point out, is our Offense. QB, WR, and OL all had questions. Although our TE was productive against OU, the overall season was not good either. Only RB seemed to be good, and even it was wiped out with injuries sidelining our top 3 RB's by the last few games. So let's look at your legit questions, as we all have them too:

    1) QB - by sheer passage of time with game repetitions, Ash will improve. No reason to think he'll improve any less than your recruit from Artesia, NM, Jones, did between his fresh and sophomore years. Additionally, Ash was actually our 3rd team QB going into opening season, receiving no starter reps in practice until he was promoted to starter after the 3rd game of the season. So he has just received his first spring practices as a starter, with all the 1st team reps. This will make a second significant impact on his improvement. It would be unreasonable to expect anything other than a significant upgrade at QB, and all insider reports concur so far.

    2) WR - Our #1 receiver injured his knee midway through the season. Our other #1 receiver, Davis, simply had a "sophomore slump" as many do. Both of these receivers are capable of NFL round 2 or 3 based on their current trajectory. If injury is avoided, you will soon see this. After those top 2, we have a guy named Marquise Goodwin. You may remember him from OU's last game vs. Colt McCoy. He's pretty good too. After these 3, we've got guys who've yet to prove anything (Harris, Hales), along with the #1 WR in Texas, #5 WR in the nation coming in as a true freshmen to help out. All in all a pretty stout group, which if injuries are avoided, could be quite effective.

    3) OL - Our OL was weak in 2 out of 5 positions last year. Our SEC coach Searles has been quite busy working on this issue, and for the first time since 2009, we have 5 likely NFL draftees in the lineup. Our only issue here will be depth and injuries. Fortunately, we'll get OU before injuries likely start to add up.

    4) Other - Our TE is still inconsistent in that our good receiving TE's can't block well, and our good blocking TE's can't catch well. This is our second vulnerability after OL depth. Also, at RB, although Fozzy is gone, we'll be introducing Mr. Gray, the #1 RB and #5 overall in the Nation, as our 3rd back. Hopefully, he'll hold his own.

    5) Injuries - you may think I've leaned too heavily on injuries to explain 2011, so a comment is deserved. First off, they are unpredictable and can be devastating to any team. See your comment re OU's offense after losing Broyles. They are the "good luck" and "bad luck" of sports. You can expect to lose a starter at a position about 25% of the time. To lose a starter and a backup is about 5%. To lose a starter, the 1st backup, and the 2nd backup, happens about 1% of the time. That's some bad luck, and that's what happened to our offense at RB. We were heading for a very possible 10-2 finish before that.

    Secondly, the one thing you can do to minimize injuries is to improve the strength and conditioning of your athletes. To that end, we probably have one of the absolute best in a guy named Bennie Wylie. He has just completed his first year around and begun his second year of off-season responsibilities. This guy has already created a significant improvement for us, and will continue to do so. Gone are the years of us being the 2nd best conditioned team on the field. Anyone doubting this need only inquire as to the details of his "County Fair" days.

    So, overall, there is no doubt our offense is significantly better. It is not without vulnerabilities for sure, but it is better. I'd suggest you will not be able to count on 24 points coming directly from offensive miscues. Moreover, you will meet, with an Okafor/Edmond/Vacarro-led defense, a defense that will not so easily be worn out and moved down the field. In fact, this particular defense has the talent to inflict some real hurt on anyone who wants to test the middle, run or pass. We've only got 2 Sr's on D, so get used to it.

    With UT's improvement being clarified, the next question would be: has OU gotten better or worse on O and on D?

    [sorry for the length, but it's a good question, and frankly enjoyable to ponder]

    Very good post.

    DEFENSE

    1. I will be ready to see your DTs in action, but Randall was a beast. Outside of him, I wasnt too worried. Against us, they must have been all pro because we didnt make a real effort to run at them. I will watch closely to see how they are withouth Randall.

    2. You have some highly rated DEs for sure, but IMO, they just arent playing as well as rated. Perhaps that will change this year but against us, they were MIA.

    3. We will see about Mr. Edmond. With that size and as mobile as he is said to be, he just may be all that a a bowl a grits. That being said, he better be ready to cover too.

    4. I didnt think Cobbs was a LB in high school. We will see they do when the lights come on. Not much gametime experience.

    5. Ive seen Vacarro play for a couple of years now. Big hitter, but struggles in coverage. With Gideon on the field last year and some of the things he did, Phillips should have gotten the call ASAP. So, we will see if that was a mistake or not this year. If he isnt good enough to move Gideon, I have my doubts.

    6. CB? We will see. We have an entire spring and fall to get used to life without Broyles. We will see what your CBs are all about early and often.

    Overall, your defense wasnt good enough to win against us last year. You think they will be better, I am taking a wait and see attitude. Your OOC wont tell us much.

    OFFENSE

    1. Ash is going to have to improve a ton. He should do that if he is getting the Lions share of the snaps, but will it be enough? Jones was a RS-Freshman so he had some good snaps under his belt before being called on. That being said, he was thrown in the fire and performed well for his first year behind an absolute horrible OL with 3 TEs playing OL spots....LOL. That was fun to watch. So, we will see with Ash. If your running game is for real, he wont have to do much, but thats a big if.

    2. No disrespect, but I am not concerned about the WRs at texas. Maybe they will prove me wrong, but other than Goodwins world class speed, I am not concerned. Their inability to get open coupled with Ash not being able to find them or hit them when they do get open doenst bother me too much. You say they are improved and they just might be, but we will see soon enough.

    3. I havent been worried about your OL in forever. Not even when you had VY but he could make them look great because nobody could tackle him even when pressure got to him. In the Mack Brown era, this has easily been the biggest fail in. Not QB, not RB, not WR, the OL. You say you now have 5 NFL draft picks. Thats good. I will believe it when the lights come on and they perform.

    4. Harsis will make the TEs a threat, so if they are at least servicable, they will see passes their way. In a play-action offense, they are huge playmakers. Youre not high on them and perhaps youre right. Your RBs are very highly rated. We will see if those stars are warranted. .

    5. Injuries hurt us pretty good last year. Its killing our WR corps right now, but that has allowed Metoyer to show what he can do and he has done just that. Im not worried about depth right now. LB is a bit thin, but after that, were pretty good. Especially on the OL with many that are game ready.

    S&C - Our S&C is as good as any in the country.

    So, will our offense be better? No. Not after spring ball it wont be.. Too many WRs out to run a truly balanced offense. I would say I cant tell until fall, but thats not a yes or no. So, its no until the fall.

    Will our defense be better? Yep, it sure will. Mike Stoops has already started to make moves in places to get things going in the right direction.

    Lots of time before our game in OCT, but I like our chances. Stoops has never let texas line up and run us over. I dont think that will happen this year either and Ash wont be able to carry the load alone IMO. But, thats a long way off from now. Lots of things can change between then and now.

    BOOMER SOONER

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • bruthaman said...

    2. You have some highly rated DEs for sure, but IMO, they just arent playing as well as rated.

    bman must have been delivering pizzas during the Cal game.

    BuckHorn

  • BuckHorn said...

    bman must have been delivering pizzas during the Cal game.

    Dude, it was Cal.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • Brutha,

    Thought we'd lost ya. Thanks for coming back with a high quality response. I give you a few shorter ones, as I think you and I have addressed most things that can be addressed prior to taking the field.

    1) On Dorsey, you may not have watched our later games last season, but Dorsey went ape. He was living in the backfield. Unfortunatly, our offense could not score, so it didn't much matter. Our DT's tend to follow pretty predictable progression. Once they start, they have a year of just holding their own. Then the 2nd year, they typically blossom. Looking for that out of Dorsey for sure. The other 4 guys will be used depending on the situation, but each could go NFL. We were strong vs OU at DT, but our LB'ing was quite weak. For some reason, our MLB decided to wait until game 8 to start shucking blocks.

    2) I think you are basically right about DE last year. Jeffcoat and Okafor had 8 and 7 sacks respectively. I certainly expect another level from them this year, and spring practice reports indicate this has happened for Okafor for sure. Jeffcoat hasn't returned from his shoulder rehab yet, so we have to see on that one. But I believe you will find Okafor to be quite disruptive at a minimum. This will be magnified by us having stronger pass rushing skills out of both our DT's and MLB.

    3) Everyone has the same concern about Edmond. Practice reports so far say he was doing very well in pass coverage so far. The thing that is different about Edmond is that when he hits your guys, it's going to have an effect. Our own Cody Johnson was just quoted saying that Edmond was the one guy on UT that you always knew had hit you in practice. CJ was our toughest short yardage guy. I kid you not, Edmond is a different LB than we've had, even since Derrick Johnson. DJ was truly great, but he didn't knock people out. Here is a link to a pretty interesting background piece on him from OB. I think it is pay, so not sure you can access: http://texas.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=500&tid=171842774&mid=171842774&sid=902&style=2

    4) You're right on Cobbs, he came out as an "athlete", but had starred on offense in high school. He was the top "athlete" in Ok, and it was appropriate that I rib you about not landing him. He'll be helping out in pass coverage if Mr. Edmond has any struggles.

    5) I believe you are simply mistaken about Vacarro in coverage. That is something he is known to be quite good at. Gideon, yes, you can take a lot of shots at us about that. The truth is that at one point he actually was our best available S, then after a couple of seasons starting, we didn't have the guts to take him out for the better talents that had arrived. It's a peculiar weakness historically at UT known as "spilt blood", but it seems to be dimenishing with the new staff, starting with Gilbert last season. We may just have to wait for the game, but I believe you'll see Vacarro knock out at least one of OU's players. I am not kidding. He's been a problem for UT in practice... they had to put some serious hand-cuffs on him. Last time I saw anyone close to this was several years ago we had a Safety named Giffin who made brutal hits. Vaccaro is a better coverage guy though.

    6) I expect you'll be testing our CB's as well. The middle is going to be off limits due to our DT's, Mr. Edmond, and Vacarro.

    Overall, I think I illustrated that our defense was good enough to hold OU last year to 3 TD's. That was indeed enough to win, had we had any real offense. We did not, and the game got out of hand with our 7 turnovers, 5 lost. The only good part is the extra motivation that loss will provide to some this year.

    1) Our running game is for real, as long as our OL avoids injuries. We are 5 deep, maybe 6, plus a couple of promising true freshmen. That's a real vulnerability. But you will see in MB, JB, and JG et al, a set of backs the likes of which OU has never faced from UT, at least not since I've watched (17 years).

    2) I can't blame you for your comments on WR. I can tell you it appears quite likely you will face 3 fully functioning WR's this year, rather than 1.5 like '11. As you say, we'll see.

    3) You are factually mistaken about our history at OL. We disentegrated at OL recruiting and development in 2006 class for 4 years. I may post some charts for you on this later if you want to press it. That said, we've only got 5 or 6 playing well this year, so no depth yet, and injuries would expose us.

    4) Re TE's: I'm high on their ability to catch that ball, and that has been missing for 4 years. My only concern is no one can do both catch and block, so it may be a little predictable based on substitutions. All insiders are watching this issue like hawks.

    5) I'd put our Bennie Wylie up vs. your S&C guy any day. Have you heard BW actually does the workouts with the guys? Sometime more than once/day for different groups? The guy is navy seal'ish... Our guys seem to be relieved to only have to practice...

    Mike Stoops as a new DC will always have some changeover issues in year 1. True of all new DC's. You're being quite optimistic to think not. How many guys do you expect are legit NFL round 1-4 guys on your defense? We are looking like 8-9. Manny Diaz is going to have fun in '12-'13.

    Yes, it's true, we've not run up the points vs. Stoops quite like he has. It is one of my future hopes for sure. We've had to settle for the overall series lead, more BCS wins and the most recent MNC. :)

    I actually appreciate the thoughtful/respectful discourse, in spite of your obvious and perhaps incurable bias. Thanks for taking the time.

    JL

    This post has been edited 7 times, most recently by jjloehr on 3/19/2012 at 12:24 AM

    jjloehr

  • Btw, Landry Jones' head coach at Artesia High School was my WR coach in High School. His name is the one legend in New Mexico coaching. After coaching WR's at my school, he (Coach Henderson) went to Texas, then returned to Artesia, where his own father had dominated for decades, as he now does... We did kick their butts en route to our state title my soph and sr. yr... :)

    This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by jjloehr on 3/19/2012 at 12:25 AM

    jjloehr

  • Overall series you got it. More BCS wins? I guess. We have three. You guys have A rose, an MNC, a Fiesta, I forget the others.

    Stoops says that he isnt changing much at all on defense. Probably simplify the back end, but thats it. That being said, Im not saying our defense will be better based on him alone. I love what we have up front this year. In fact, I am pretty confident in pretty much everything we have minus one safety position. We have hitters, speed and good leverage up front and Stoops didnt have that at Arizona. Again, Mack hasnt been able to line up and run Stoops over since he has been here and I dont expect to see that this year with what we have up front and the way our staff prepares our team.

    NLF players? We have Jeffereson, Colvin, Nelson, Macfarland at the NFL level in my opinion on defense, throw Walker in there too. On offense, we have Jones, Stills, Williams (OT), Shead (OG), Nasakita (OG), Irwin (OG) and Latu (OT) when he arrives. Up front on both sides of the ball, we will be tough. We have talent there and we are deep.

    Most posters here have a pie in the sky view of things. Im more wait and see. We have lots of parts that have not arrived yet, especially power at the RB position and depth at WR. Lots of youth coming in at WR and we will see what they are made of really early in the fall. RB is in good shape, but we need a power back. Millard will handle that in the spring, but we need more than one big back. Then we are also expanding Bells package too so that will help. We usually find a way to make a good fight of the season and I expect this year to be no different.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • bruthaman said...

    Lots of time before our game in OCT, but I like our chances. Stoops has never let texas line up and run us over.

    Overall a good post, but you must not remember the 05 game.

    njohnson12 ●

  • bruthaman said...

    Overall series you got it. More BCS wins? I guess. We have three. You guys have A rose, an MNC, a Fiesta, I forget the others.

    Stoops says that he isnt changing much at all on defense. Probably simplify the back end, but thats it. That being said, Im not saying our defense will be better based on him alone. I love what we have up front this year. In fact, I am pretty confident in pretty much everything we have minus one safety position. We have hitters, speed and good leverage up front and Stoops didnt have that at Arizona. Again, Mack hasnt been able to line up and run Stoops over since he has been here and I dont expect to see that this year with what we have up front and the way our staff prepares our team.

    NLF players? We have Jeffereson, Colvin, Nelson, Macfarland at the NFL level in my opinion on defense, throw Walker in there too. On offense, we have Jones, Stills, Williams (OT), Shead (OG), Nasakita (OG), Irwin (OG) and Latu (OT) when he arrives. Up front on both sides of the ball, we will be tough. We have talent there and we are deep.

    Most posters here have a pie in the sky view of things. Im more wait and see. We have lots of parts that have not arrived yet, especially power at the RB position and depth at WR. Lots of youth coming in at WR and we will see what they are made of really early in the fall. RB is in good shape, but we need a power back. Millard will handle that in the spring, but we need more than one big back. Then we are also expanding Bells package too so that will help. We usually find a way to make a good fight of the season and I expect this year to be no different.

    What's your take on why OU seems to have backed away quite a bit on recruiting in Texas?

    jjloehr

  • jjloehr said...

    What's your take on why OU seems to have backed away quite a bit on recruiting in Texas?

    Your guess is as good as mine. We land good talent anyway, but it is noticable that we arent as heavy in texas as much. We offer nation wide every year anyway, so that not new and the texas offers show up later in the year. Mike Stoops knows whats out west having just coming from there, so expect to see lots of DBs from that way. You guys get your commits early and that makes it easier to come to texas and get whats left. I would call them leftovers, but when they come to OU, they usually win despite having fewer stars, so perhaps its poor rating practice.

    To build on our offensive performance this upcoming year, I was totally not sold on Huepul. I hope he does a better job as keeping us physical and aggressive. He turned us into a pass first team last year and that costs us a couple of games IMO. The OL is stacked this year so I hope we do some pounding using some of the big backs we have coming in and Millard.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • njohnson12 said...

    Overall a good post, but you must not remember the 05 game.

    Did you guys run for a lot that game? Not scrambles, but turn and give to the RB and run roughshod over us? You may have, I just dont remember. We werent that good in 05, so it didnt take much.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • bruthaman said...

    Did you guys run for a lot that game? Not scrambles, but turn and give to the RB and run roughshod over us? You may have, I just dont remember. We werent that good in 05, so it didnt take much.

    Ran for 200+ yards and Vince only had 45.

    njohnson12 ●

  • Good posts and information from both bruthaman and jj. No doubt in my mind but that OU will be well prepared when we play, stoops can coach, IMO. I wouldn't venture a guess as to the outcome of the game at this point, need to see how we do in earlier games and agree with bruthaman that our OOC schedule won't tell us anything. jj, I hope you are right and agree we have talent on defense and should be very good because the coaching is there too. With the exception of RB, in my mind there are questions at all positions on offense and it would be hard to predict how good we might be and really hard to predict how we will do against a stoops/stoops prepared OU team. This is Harsin's 2nd year so that's a plus. Our OL line can't help but be better and I hope we are improved at the other offensive positions. offensively, we should be better but that's not not saying much. If OU is as good as bruthaman indicates we need to be much improved to win.

    utxX3 ●

  • 81horn said...

    +1 to the OP and +1 to you, Bevo...I had not noticed the Malcom X in the avatar...Malcom X was not a good dude...in my opinion, he was the opposite of MLK, who I think was one of our greatest Americans (I know that belongs in the OT but it does say something about our boy bruthaman and the fact he should never have credibility on this board, ever, blowu troll or no, imo...). Thanks for pointing that out.

    We should really stick to sports talk! Every man is entitled to their opinion i know. But i am an African-American who takes insult to anyone that attempts to down-grade anyone that had anything to do with the civil rights movement! So please lets stick to sports talk!

    But on topic....Good post! Really! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I, however, would like to point out that ASH is seeing these future NFL'ers in practice everyday. That should make him stellar! He wont see corners during the game like he seeing in practice. Atleast not on both sides! Our offense will be better because of our defense. Thats a promise!

    This post has been edited 2 times, most recently by texassborn on 3/19/2012 at 9:35 PM

    texassborn

  • stilltrying said...

    Good posts and information from both bruthaman and jj. No doubt in my mind but that OU will be well prepared when we play, stoops can coach, IMO. I wouldn't venture a guess as to the outcome of the game at this point, need to see how we do in earlier games and agree with bruthaman that our OOC schedule won't tell us anything. jj, I hope you are right and agree we have talent on defense and should be very good because the coaching is there too. With the exception of RB, in my mind there are questions at all positions on offense and it would be hard to predict how good we might be and really hard to predict how we will do against a stoops/stoops prepared OU team. This is Harsin's 2nd year so that's a plus. Our OL line can't help but be better and I hope we are improved at the other offensive positions. offensively, we should be better but that's not not saying much. If OU is as good as bruthaman indicates we need to be much improved to win.

    In '11 vs. OU, we fumbled 5 times, losing 3, of which 2 led directly to TD runbacks. I think the other led to a field goal.

    We were intercepted 2 times, one again leading directly to a TD runback, the 2nd to a 33 yd drive and TD.

    All those quick turnovers lead to some fatigue and careless mistakes on defense. Can you say personal foul on Jeffcoat extending their drive to a TD after having stopped them on 3rd down? Really stupid stuff...

    Just don't turn the ball over more than once or none, and we likely eliminate 31 points or more.

    That would be all on the offense.

    How much does Ash have to improve, along with the OL, WR, and RB's to go from 5 lost turnover to 1 or 0? He needs to go from "deer in headlights" to smart conservative game manager.

    Seems like a reasonable hope given what we've been hearing. The sacks in practice that've been reported so far are the kind of thing that will keep turnovers up.

    After all this reviewing, I'm now convinced the whole season rides on our OL.

    And our OL rides on 2 swing positions: C and LT.

    1) Can Espinosa grow strong, or does Walters/Hopkins slide in to C and Flowers into G?

    2) Can Hawkins become consistent, protecting Ash from blind backside hits and pressure, or will Searles keep Paden Kelley by his side at all times?

    If these two questions can be answered positively by Spring Game, everything else is going to fall into place.

    This post has been edited 4 times, most recently by jjloehr on 3/19/2012 at 11:17 PM

    jjloehr

  • jjloehr said...

    In '11 vs. OU, we fumbled 5 times, losing 3, of which 2 led directly to TD runbacks. I think the other led to a field goal.

    We were intercepted 2 times, one again leading directly to a TD runback, the 2nd to a 33 yd drive and TD.

    All those quick turnovers lead to some fatigue and careless mistakes on defense. Can you say personal foul on Jeffcoat extending their drive to a TD after having stopped them on 3rd down? Really stupid stuff...

    Just don't turn the ball over more than once or none, and we likely eliminate 31 points or more.

    That would be all on the offense.

    How much does Ash have to improve, along with the OL, WR, and RB's to go from 5 lost turnover to 1 or 0? He needs to go from "deer in headlights" to smart conservative game manager.

    Seems like a reasonable hope given what we've been hearing. The sacks in practice that've been reported so far are the kind of thing that will keep turnovers up.

    After all this reviewing, I'm now convinced the whole season rides on our OL.

    And our OL rides on 2 swing positions: C and LT.

    1) Can Espinosa grow strong, or does Walters/Hopkins slide in to C and Flowers into G?

    2) Can Hawkins become consistent, protecting Ash from blind backside hits and pressure, or will Searles keep Paden Kelley by his side at all times?

    If these two questions can be answered positively by Spring Game, everything else is going to fall into place.

    Perhaps, but spring game performances are overrated. If your team is indeed going to run downhill at people and only want the QB to manage the game, the OL is without a doubt the key to the season. One thing Ash does have is mobility and I am sure it will be used. If the defense is truly as nasty as you say it is and the OL can get some push in practice, then perhaps they are turning the corner.

    So, to continue with the great sports talk, lets look at each teams schedules, both OOC and in conference. This CBS guy picks you guys sixth. Got a lot of you gus ticked off for sure. What say you sir? Record coming out of the OOC and record in conference and why? Of course we are judging this on a snapshot in the spring, but hey, its the offseason.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • 81horn said...

    +1 to the OP and +1 to you, Bevo...I had not noticed the Malcom X in the avatar...Malcom X was not a good dude...in my opinion, he was the opposite of MLK, who I think was one of our greatest Americans (I know that belongs in the OT but it does say something about our boy bruthaman and the fact he should never have credibility on this board, ever, blowu troll or no, imo...). Thanks for pointing that out.

    81, you have listened to the wrong people about Malcolm X. If you want to know the truth, PM me and I will give it to you. Its a great story.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

  • jjloehr said...

    In '11 vs. OU, we fumbled 5 times, losing 3, of which 2 led directly to TD runbacks. I think the other led to a field goal.

    We were intercepted 2 times, one again leading directly to a TD runback, the 2nd to a 33 yd drive and TD.

    All those quick turnovers lead to some fatigue and careless mistakes on defense. Can you say personal foul on Jeffcoat extending their drive to a TD after having stopped them on 3rd down? Really stupid stuff...

    Just don't turn the ball over more than once or none, and we likely eliminate 31 points or more.

    That would be all on the offense.

    How much does Ash have to improve, along with the OL, WR, and RB's to go from 5 lost turnover to 1 or 0? He needs to go from "deer in headlights" to smart conservative game manager.

    Seems like a reasonable hope given what we've been hearing. The sacks in practice that've been reported so far are the kind of thing that will keep turnovers up.

    After all this reviewing, I'm now convinced the whole season rides on our OL.

    And our OL rides on 2 swing positions: C and LT.

    1) Can Espinosa grow strong, or does Walters/Hopkins slide in to C and Flowers into G?

    2) Can Hawkins become consistent, protecting Ash from blind backside hits and pressure, or will Searles keep Paden Kelley by his side at all times?

    If these two questions can be answered positively by Spring Game, everything else is going to fall into place.

    Agree turnovers played a huge role in the game last year. Also agree the season, good or average, depends on our OL and I'll throw in QB play. OU can sell out against the run but can Ash and receivers take advantage of that. Is Harsin's system going to be more effective in his second year? I think there are alot of reasons to be optimistic, our offense should be improved. I don't think we know much until we get in conference play.

    utxX3 ●

  • jjloehr said...

    It is a total crapshoot to forecast players at all until their Jr. or Sr. year, and iffy for most even then.

    Couldn't agree more.

    You got a +1 for that.

    BuckHorn

  • bruthaman said...

    81, you have listened to the wrong people about Malcolm X. If you want to know the truth, PM me and I will give it to you. Its a great story.

    Bruthaman
    You have not only brought ou foootball here, you from what it appears are a man of religious relection. I found your avatar and why you wish to bring a civil rights activist and religion to a football board is somewhat puzzling. It's your right to have opinions about whatever you wish but I think this is not the right place.
    It would be hard for anyone here who think B. Switzer is a good guy, but like Mr. Little he was a product of his time. Switzer had a tough, tough life and learned to win; rules meant little to him, only winning. Mr. Little too had a tough upbringing and did what he thought was right. I judge not either man. This is a football site not a civics class, so don't try and spread the truth, your truth about ou football or Malcom X, it is the wrong place. And like I said earlier, Texas is spelled with a capital T. Didn't they teach ya'll how to spell at the University of Oklahoma?
    Salom Alikom

    Bevostevo

  • Bevostevo said...

    Bruthaman You have not only brought ou foootball here, you from what it appears are a man of religious relection. I found your avatar and why you wish to bring a civil rights activist and religion to a football board is somewhat puzzling. It's your right to have opinions about whatever you wish but I think this is not the right place. It would be hard for anyone here who think B. Switzer is a good guy, but like Mr. Little he was a product of his time. Switzer had a tough, tough life and learned to win; rules meant little to him, only winning. Mr. Little too had a tough upbringing and did what he thought was right. I judge not either man. This is a football site not a civics class, so don't try and spread the truth, your truth about ou football or Malcom X, it is the wrong place. And like I said earlier, Texas is spelled with a capital T. Didn't they teach ya'll how to spell at the University of Oklahoma? Salom Alikom

    Im not talking about my avatar, you guys are. As for OU football, the discussion between a couple of people here is going great. Why are you trying to ruin it? If you want to discuss my avatar, send me a PM, if not, then lets talk football.

    There is nothing more dangerous in this world than a man with nothing to lose.

    bruthaman ●

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