Game Plan
It was clear in the game this past weekend that we had a game plan that we were committed to. Control the ball and shorten the game. The rationale was twofold.
One, we were trying to minimize what OU's offense was capable of doing. Through four games, OU is averaging 10.36 yard per play. Don't gloss over that statement. OU is averaging over 10 yards per play. They are averaging a first down every time they snap the ball. If that isn't the definition of unstoppable, then I don't know what is.
Two, being aware of Jett Duffey's tendency to be careless with the football, we were attempting to limit his touches with a desired result to minimize the risk of turning the ball over.
Results on the first point are mixed. While we did slow tempo and run time off the play clock, we were unable to sustain drives. It is difficult to control the ball when your team's punter is on the field a lot.
I do feel like the second point was successful. Duffey did a very nice job of not putting the ball in danger of being taken away, until a run late in the game when he was trying to do a bit too much. Had our offense converted some third downs, we would have been able to take more air out of the ball. I still don't think we'd have been able to win, but perhaps we'd have at least had a chance to keep it a game going into the 4th quarter.
Defensively, I thought we had a really well-called game. On almost every snap, our players were put in position to make a play, but almost without fail, their players out-executed ours. The play that sticks out to me was the long pass to Rambo on a 3rd and long in the first quarter. I don't remember the pre-snap look, but it appeared to be something similar to a Tampa 2 coverage. It looked like either 3 or 4 deep with support underneath from the LB position, in this case Leggett. Leggett was trailing the play and was actually in very good position, as were the safeties over him. But his angle toward the receiver while the ball was in the air was hideous. His eyes weren't on the ball (rightfully), but it should have been easy to track where the receiver was heading. Had Leggett run to where the receiver was going, it would have been an easy pass break up at least, and could have been a turnover at best. Throw in the virus of bad tackling our team caught, and things ended up being disastrous.
Offensive Questions
I am still struggling to understand Yost's offensive sets. Maybe my observations are not keen enough, but I don't see many, if any, air raid concepts being employed. And I have no problem if we are moving away from the Air Raid (technically, Kliff didn't run the Air Raid the past three seasons or so), but the players we have in our system are geared for it.
But beyond that, I don't understand the insistence of the 11 personnel. Perhaps someone with the data can back this up, but I don't think we've deviated from that at all the entire season. Even NFL teams take the TE off the field from time to time. I just feel like there are match ups we can take advantage of if we were to go with 10, 20, or even empty.
Also, I addressed this in another thread over the weekend, but perhaps there are some football coaches on the board that can explain what Yost is trying to do with the following formation:
I could understand if this was on 3rd and 2, but the fact that it's being utilized on 3rd and 9 is mind-blowing to me.
Now What?
I think we can sill have some success in the Big 12 this season, but it is predicated on these issues:
1) Will Wells and Yost trust Jett to make plays for us. At some point we absolutely have to stretch the field. I know we are trying to mitigate risk with him, but if he's our guy, we absolutely have to see if he can grow up on the field as far as making reads and decisions, and taking care of the ball. It's a case of a high ceiling paired with a low floor with him. That has to keep his coaches up at night.
2) Was our tackling issue a one-off problem that was exacerbated by OU's talent? As abysmal as our defense has been the last two years, our tackling had improved a lot. Even through our first three games this season, I felt like we were tackling pretty well in space. I feel like we can still be disruptive defensively within the rest of our Big 12 schedule. If not, it will be a long season.
We continue our quest to be undefeated at home this weekend. Let's hope Coach Beard has to make good on his Broadway party promise! Guns Up!
It was clear in the game this past weekend that we had a game plan that we were committed to. Control the ball and shorten the game. The rationale was twofold.
One, we were trying to minimize what OU's offense was capable of doing. Through four games, OU is averaging 10.36 yard per play. Don't gloss over that statement. OU is averaging over 10 yards per play. They are averaging a first down every time they snap the ball. If that isn't the definition of unstoppable, then I don't know what is.
Two, being aware of Jett Duffey's tendency to be careless with the football, we were attempting to limit his touches with a desired result to minimize the risk of turning the ball over.
Results on the first point are mixed. While we did slow tempo and run time off the play clock, we were unable to sustain drives. It is difficult to control the ball when your team's punter is on the field a lot.
I do feel like the second point was successful. Duffey did a very nice job of not putting the ball in danger of being taken away, until a run late in the game when he was trying to do a bit too much. Had our offense converted some third downs, we would have been able to take more air out of the ball. I still don't think we'd have been able to win, but perhaps we'd have at least had a chance to keep it a game going into the 4th quarter.
Defensively, I thought we had a really well-called game. On almost every snap, our players were put in position to make a play, but almost without fail, their players out-executed ours. The play that sticks out to me was the long pass to Rambo on a 3rd and long in the first quarter. I don't remember the pre-snap look, but it appeared to be something similar to a Tampa 2 coverage. It looked like either 3 or 4 deep with support underneath from the LB position, in this case Leggett. Leggett was trailing the play and was actually in very good position, as were the safeties over him. But his angle toward the receiver while the ball was in the air was hideous. His eyes weren't on the ball (rightfully), but it should have been easy to track where the receiver was heading. Had Leggett run to where the receiver was going, it would have been an easy pass break up at least, and could have been a turnover at best. Throw in the virus of bad tackling our team caught, and things ended up being disastrous.
Offensive Questions
I am still struggling to understand Yost's offensive sets. Maybe my observations are not keen enough, but I don't see many, if any, air raid concepts being employed. And I have no problem if we are moving away from the Air Raid (technically, Kliff didn't run the Air Raid the past three seasons or so), but the players we have in our system are geared for it.
But beyond that, I don't understand the insistence of the 11 personnel. Perhaps someone with the data can back this up, but I don't think we've deviated from that at all the entire season. Even NFL teams take the TE off the field from time to time. I just feel like there are match ups we can take advantage of if we were to go with 10, 20, or even empty.
Also, I addressed this in another thread over the weekend, but perhaps there are some football coaches on the board that can explain what Yost is trying to do with the following formation:
I could understand if this was on 3rd and 2, but the fact that it's being utilized on 3rd and 9 is mind-blowing to me.
Now What?
I think we can sill have some success in the Big 12 this season, but it is predicated on these issues:
1) Will Wells and Yost trust Jett to make plays for us. At some point we absolutely have to stretch the field. I know we are trying to mitigate risk with him, but if he's our guy, we absolutely have to see if he can grow up on the field as far as making reads and decisions, and taking care of the ball. It's a case of a high ceiling paired with a low floor with him. That has to keep his coaches up at night.
2) Was our tackling issue a one-off problem that was exacerbated by OU's talent? As abysmal as our defense has been the last two years, our tackling had improved a lot. Even through our first three games this season, I felt like we were tackling pretty well in space. I feel like we can still be disruptive defensively within the rest of our Big 12 schedule. If not, it will be a long season.
We continue our quest to be undefeated at home this weekend. Let's hope Coach Beard has to make good on his Broadway party promise! Guns Up!
