Is it because they've run up the score when possible? Their offense and defense look much improved over last year but haven't really had a quality statement as of yet.
Computer models favor gooners
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Texas might win, but it's going to be a street fight. This game will be nothing like last year's game. OU came into that game without a quarterback. Gabriel was injured and they had no viable backup after Williams and Rattler transferred out. Also, there was no depth on the roster, especially on defense. They had a bunch of Alex Grinch's leftovers, who struggled all year to adapt to Venables' overly complex schemes. This year, almost the entire 2-deep on defense are guys Venables either recruited or got through the transfer portal. Granted, they haven't played a tough schedule, but so far their defense has put up the best numbers after the first four games that OU has put up in 30 years. They've also been playing 25 players on defense now that they have solid depth.
I have no feel for this game, but I do have one big wish. That this is the first of two games Texas & Oklahoma will play this year. That would be perfect.
Imagine making Brett Yormark sit through a Big 12 Championship game where none of his 2024 schools are playing. The trophy presentation would be about as awkward (for him) as it gets.
Imagine making Brett Yormark sit through a Big 12 Championship game where none of his 2024 schools are playing. The trophy presentation would be about as awkward (for him) as it gets.
The computer models had us going 11-1 last year and we all know how that turned out. I'm not buying this OU team until I see them against a competent team with a competent offense. We haven't seen that yet.
Easy to do that when the teams you're playing aren't competent offenses. You'll find out a lot here in 2 weeks when we hang 40+ on that defense.
Almost all of the non-conference teams OU has played over the past decade don't have very competent offenses, yet those teams were regularly able to score upwards of 30+ points on numerous occasions. In Lincoln Riley's final season at OU, they gave up 35 points to a Tulane team that only won 2 games that year.
Certainly not impressed with the level of competition we've played so far though I do think SMU will be in it's conference title game and Tulsa may finish in the top half (or at least the middle) of that conference in Kevin Wilson's first year (they will have a decent offense with only some resistance on defense). SMU and Wyoming are probably a decent comparison and both games went pretty damn similarly. Still, no one we've played is on the level of Alabama and even if they're slightly down on offense this year, going into Tuscaloosa and winning is impressive as hell no matter how you look at it. That team is still going to be in the running for their conference championship game and I don't think they'll finish worse than 4th in the SEC, if they find stable QB play then all bets are off.
That said, even during years in which OU had a marquee opponent under Stoops and Riley over the last decade, they would give up a ton of points to the bad teams they shouldn't have. So far it's been a massive improvement this year, especially when it comes to run defense, creating turnovers, and roster depth. To beat Texas, the defense will need to play at the same level it has with the pass rush they had last weekend and the offense will have to be better, particularly on the ground. Having two QBs on the roster that can throw a forward pass this year should help. I think it will be a pretty close game.
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I'll be here on October 7th about 3 PM and we can re assess this.
So what? They havent played anybody in their non-con in a while and yet this is still the best effort we've seen in 30 years. You wouldnt have even guessed two starters were out on defense last week, but the 2022 team would have given up more than 3 touchdowns by game 4.
The big 12 in general is down so outside of tx OU will not have really played anyone all year. And while tx does look good, (so does OU) this is primarily based on beating an alabama team that seems to be trending away from great.
So they'll score 40 for the first time this season and it'll happen against the one team on their schedule giving up less than 1 td a game.
I rewatched the Baylor game this morning.
We only have two options moving forward if we are going to beat Kansas, OU, BYU, K State, & TCU, and that is to either start games faster than we have been, or clean up all the mistakes that have cost us tds in each of the last games.
We have not scored more than 1 TD in the first quarter of any game.
We absolutely cannot afford - moving forward to start slow AND leave tds on the field due to stupid little mistakes.
One of these two things HAS to improve.
As far as the OU game, since the game ended last year I've been saying that no matter how good Texas is, or how average OU is, it is going to be incredibly difficult for Texas to match the type of will/desire/motivation OU is going to have going end to this game.
All year long "redeeming" their University and that historically embarrassing loss has been on their mind.
That type of motivation is hard to create artificially. It will be incredibly interesting to see if Texas can match it.
With that said, I think this Kansas game is going to tell us everything we need to know about the rest of the season.
I do not believe our passing defense has been tested yet. Thompson has been down right atrocious at times, along with others in the secondary, we have been beat on multiple deep balls.
The one thing that does make me feel a little bit better is that we are getting to the QB this year, and seem to be able contain the QB in way we have not been able to previously.
If this defense doesn't get lit up the entire game by Daniels, can continue our RedZone dominance, and can get off the field on 3rd down, then there really won't be much more any of us need to see. Again, this passing defense (secondary) is the only remaining question in my mind.
Even with everything I said about, "if we look good defensively against Kansas, we should win out" etc... I still think OU is our most likely loss, due to what I mentioned above. That 49-0 stuff is all over their facilities and has been their motivation all winter, spring, and summer.
A major key to the OU game will be starting fast, something we havent done, and something they are really good at.
Jay Lee
We only have two options moving forward if we are going to beat Kansas, OU, BYU, K State, & TCU, and that is to either start games faster than we have been, or clean up all the mistakes that have cost us tds in each of the last games.
We have not scored more than 1 TD in the first quarter of any game.
We absolutely cannot afford - moving forward to start slow AND leave tds on the field due to stupid little mistakes.
One of these two things HAS to improve.
As far as the OU game, since the game ended last year I've been saying that no matter how good Texas is, or how average OU is, it is going to be incredibly difficult for Texas to match the type of will/desire/motivation OU is going to have going end to this game.
All year long "redeeming" their University and that historically embarrassing loss has been on their mind.
That type of motivation is hard to create artificially. It will be incredibly interesting to see if Texas can match it.
With that said, I think this Kansas game is going to tell us everything we need to know about the rest of the season.
I do not believe our passing defense has been tested yet. Thompson has been down right atrocious at times, along with others in the secondary, we have been beat on multiple deep balls.
The one thing that does make me feel a little bit better is that we are getting to the QB this year, and seem to be able contain the QB in way we have not been able to previously.
If this defense doesn't get lit up the entire game by Daniels, can continue our RedZone dominance, and can get off the field on 3rd down, then there really won't be much more any of us need to see. Again, this passing defense (secondary) is the only remaining question in my mind.
Even with everything I said about, "if we look good defensively against Kansas, we should win out" etc... I still think OU is our most likely loss, due to what I mentioned above. That 49-0 stuff is all over their facilities and has been their motivation all winter, spring, and summer.
A major key to the OU game will be starting fast, something we havent done, and something they are really good at.
Jay Lee
Do you think OU or Alabama has a better defense? Alabama has been great defensively... except against us. They shut down a Kiffin offense which is hard to do.
Our defense will give up an occasional deep ball, just like every other team in America. If we dominate the line of scrimmage like we have done against everyone else then it will be hard for any offense to consistently drive against us except for and occasional chunk play here and there. The good thing about that is once we are inside the 20 there is no more deep ball. Keep our safeties back and then tighten up in the red zone. Field goals won't sink us. Their QB is a wild card but PK will have a good game plan for them and we finally have the playmakers on defense that can execute it.
They are currently playing better than Alabama. Historically it's Alabama but Statistically lots of defense are currently better than alabama but that's how it is early in the season. I think this game will be lower scoring than when tx played alabama
I do think it’s funny that OB and Inside Texas both constantly have multiple OU threads going between the paid boards and the free ones comparing teams, talking about the RRS, and talking about what OU fans think. Occasionally OU insider and Soonerscoop have similar threads about Texas/Texas Fans but not all that often outside of RRS week. Ketch also always gives his weekly opinion on OU’s team and I haven’t seen the same out of most of the OU insiders other than speaking in relation to what we’ll need to do to beat Texas…ie. “Texas’ DL looks good, the running game is going to have to be better in two weeks…etc”
I say all that as an OU fan posting here who’s been to every game since 2005 (rough year to start)…I’m obviously guilty of getting too into the rivalry lol. Just have thought it was kinda funny that Ketch and OB are giving OU so much airtime here when y'all are having what so far looks to be your best season since probably 2009.
No matter what happens next week, I hope both teams stick it to the big 12 and rematch in Arlington…will be hilarious. My big 12 hate has surpassed my desire for Texas to lose every game on the schedule this season lol.
I say all that as an OU fan posting here who’s been to every game since 2005 (rough year to start)…I’m obviously guilty of getting too into the rivalry lol. Just have thought it was kinda funny that Ketch and OB are giving OU so much airtime here when y'all are having what so far looks to be your best season since probably 2009.
No matter what happens next week, I hope both teams stick it to the big 12 and rematch in Arlington…will be hilarious. My big 12 hate has surpassed my desire for Texas to lose every game on the schedule this season lol.
Like the 4th quarter you had against Cincy when you almost got beat?
ou hasn’t played a good team yet. Man, it’s a lot of extra work making sure those 2 letters are lower case. You must be exhausted.
ou hasn’t played a good team yet. Man, it’s a lot of extra work making sure those 2 letters are lower case. You must be exhausted.
Weren’t y'all tied with Wyoming at home in the 4th quarter two weeks ago?
And almost got beat? OU held Cincy scoreless in the 4th and they never made it inside the 40. It wasn’t ever closer than 17-6.
Cincy’s 4th Quarter Drive summery:
INT
TO on Downs
Time Expires
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tu has a problem with slow starts this year too. both teams have had their beatable moments. but defense travels better, this will likely be a lower scoring game
That’s what I think as well. Both offenses have looked like world beaters at times and extremely shaky at others while both defenses have been consistently good to very good.
To be fair, I think the jury is still out on both teams. We've struggled against lower competition at times and poured on the points at other. I really like our team progression from last year but still not sure how impressive the win at Bama really is at this point. I guess we'll see.
The guy is probably just reciting talking points he's heard from others. He obviously didn't watch the game. You are correct, OU took the 11 point lead with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. Cincinnati did not even score in the 4th quarter and OU was not in jeopardy of losing that game.
No one is reading this. But you guys are welcome to keep jerking each other off in this thread.
any comments about the content of my post?
Maybe something about slow starts, beatable moments, defensive travels better, it might be a low scoring game..?
Super models favor us gooners too it seems, at least they favor meIs it because they've run up the score when possible? Their offense and defense look much improved over last year but haven't really had a quality statement as of yet.
