There’s a reason I did not cover the season opening 51-0 Sooner win over UTEP, and as we witnessed in this game at Ann Arbor… why I don’t cover games like that one or draw early season conclusions from a potentially good team playing a grossly inferior team showed itself this past Saturday.
Here’s what I think I know about the Sooners moving forward after their tough 17-10 loss at Michigan:
1 I think OU has a top ten defense. OU played most of the game without their best defensive player in Kip Lewis and basically shut Michigan down in the second half. The Wolverines had 75 yards of offense after intermission and if not for what in essence was a Pick Six in the fourth period…I feel pretty confident OU’s defense wou,ld have continued to contain Michigan.
2 It’s a cliche, but OU turned over the ball twice…one led to a Pick Six of sorts, and the other kept OU’s Lou Groza Award placekicker, Tate Sandel, from kicking for what for him would have been a modest field goal. That’s a net -10 result on turnovers. There’s little chance you win on the road in the Big House with that singular dynamic in play. Michigan did not have a turnover.
3 John Mateer…I’m not going to blame John Mateer for this loss even though the Pick Six was an egregiously bad play for the Sooners. If I write this once …..I’ll probably write it more than a dozen times this college football season. Blocking creates space and time for the playmakers…OU to become a dramtically better blocking team across the field.
4 OU’s offensive line gets a C- or D+ from me, they couldn’t control the line of scrimmage to establish a running game. OU’s running game cannot singularly be John Mateer throwing his body into harm’s way. There was much pre-season talk about OU’s O-Line being much improved. Enough of that talk…let’s see it on the field.
We saw no such improvement on Saturday. OU’s left tackle was literally eaten alive for most of the game off the edge pass rush. That’s why Michael Lewis wrote the Blind Side…that’s why for a right-handed QB your left tackle has to be special. I’m not naming that player because he was an emergency fill-in for who should have been in that spot. Not an excuse. That second guy’s gotta be better. Bill Bedenbaugh has to pull this group together…in a HURRY.
5 Offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle…I don’t nitpick generally on offensive play-calling. I’ll just write this though… Bill Bedenbaugh and Ben Arbuckle to strongly get the message across to the offense they aren’t in any way pulling their weight.
6 I thought OU’s special teams we’re solid. Satenga couldn’t get loose on a punt return, but otherwise the place-kicking and puntingwere excellent. OU’s special teams are Top Ten as well as the defense.
My helmet stickers go 1 Taylor Wein, 2 Grayson Miller-punter, 3 Rocky Beers, 4 Owen Heineke, and 5 Reggie Powers. Reggie is going to need to be special on the edge pass rush if Kip Lewis is significantly hampered by his knee injury. So…one offensive Sooner made my top five and he’s a transfer player.
See what I’m implying above about the offensive side of the ball and leadership…so to speak. If I’d picked another offensive player it would have been RB Lloyd Avant from Colorado State.
MJ may need to give the OU offensive returners the Al Pacino pep talk some time soon.
Actually…how about right now because New Mexico isn’t horrible…then there’s Texas and Georgia. Just saying.
I don’t feel like a Divine Love Guru on here after that type of offensive performance. Help me out here a little guys.
Mike J