I had a great week-end. I think I watched parts of eight different games after watching the entirety of OU’s solid 20-6 road win over a decent Cincinnati Bearcat ball club.
It was a good day. Maybe not so good for Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, but, you know…shit happens.
From my view…OU is coming along very nicely and getting better every week. That’s what you want as a coach. To win…and incrementally get better every week with greater attention to cleaning up the parts of your game which are holding you back a bit.
I think in OU’s case right now…that’s primarily the offensive line coming of age each week as a collective unit. As an OU fan/blogger…I don’t worry about this because I believe OU has the best offensive line coach in the nation in Bill Bedenbaugh.
I’m loving what I’m seeing from OU’s defense. The tackling is night and day more efficient over what it was last season. Yards after point of intial contact is much improved as well. The third down problems on getting off the field is much better.
OU’s defense is better, bigger, faster, and smarter than it was a year ago. In four games…the Sooners have given up 34 points…total. This is what Brent Venables wants…..complimentary football where OU doesn’t have to go out there and score 45 points every week like it was during the Lincoln Riley era at OU.
Now…OU may need to score a bunch to run with Texas in two weeks, but you shouldn’t have to score that many points every week.
Iowa State comes to Norman this week-end and in the Matt Campbell era they always play OU tough to the end. In the last three games in Norman, OU has gone 2-1 versus Iowa State…but collectively been outscored 104-101 by the Cyclones. These guys aren’t like O State…they come to Norman expecting to win the game and that’s a credit to their coach and players.
I mean…they’ll play that funky 3-5-3 defense and try to make OU make a mistake in front of them. If OU wants to win this game with a ‘comfort level’ they better be prepared this Saturday is all I’m going write.
My OU players of the Game last Saturday were Dillion Gabriel and the immensely improved Danny Stutsman.
So…OU needs to have a great week of practice and get locked in for what should be a tough football game and not just a walk thru before the Red River Rivalry.
I think I’ll blog about the second GOP presidential debate tomorrow night.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.
MJ