| 19 September 2010
Air Force Recap
The Good
Demarco Murray - 3 TDs and Demarco is stalking the all time touchdown record in OU history of OU great Steve Owens. Demarco did a good job running the ball again, and is always a threat in the passing game. He's having a good senior. Also, had a very nice kickoff return to start the game.
Kenny Stills - Clutch 3rd down catch to seal the game. Great RAC plays during the game. Stills was also open down field quite a bit if Landry could have found him (more on that later). Stills is close to the breakout game where his star status is established.
Ryan Broyles - Just hand him the Bilnetikoff already.
The Encouraging
The OL - OU again was able to get yardage on 3rd and short, and was able to get key running yards in the red zone. OU was also able to run the ball at key times, and Landry had plenty of time to throw the ball. OU used a lot of OL combinations, and OU was able to generate 1st downs to ice the football game.
Jeremy Stevens - TaW has been extremely critical of Stevens. Stevens' kicks won this game. His PATs and FG attempts were the best looking kicks of his career. Give the kid credit.
The Bi Polar
Landry Jones - So giving out grades for our QB so far shows the inconsistent nature of what OU is getting at QB.
USU game D
FSU game A
AFA game C+ (1st and 3rd Qtrs A, 2nd and part of 4th Qtr F)
Now, the real problem yesterday was when Landry did appear to be on, OU had drops (at least 4 critical ones, Madu's 4th Qtr one was a killer), occasional penalties (Millard not getting set for instance), or a botched center snap. OU settled for FGs or got no points at all in some cases. So Landry had help killing drives when he appeared to be "on". Now, the biggest positive is that Landry did play a clean game from a turnovers standpoint.
However, he's still throwing the ball too soon, not stepping up into the pocket, stumbling into sacks, and he's not finding open receivers in the mid to long range passing game.
Air Force is a pretty good defense (they intercepted Houston 6 times, while holding them to 20 points in the bowl game), and played a pretty conservative scheme. Still there were plays downfield that would have led to more points. Trying to drive the field in 6 yard chunks requires perfect execution, and then sometimes the AFA defense made plays (pass deflection denying Broyles a TD that led to the second Stevens FG or open field tackles on Broyles in the 4th Qtr). You could tell AFA was scared of OU's speed by their bizarre special teams approach, but Landry never tested the AFA secondary deep with that speed.
The Completely Meaningless
I'm not even going to bother assessing the defense from this game.
It's pointless. Burn the film, move on. OU won't see an offense remotely near this scheme and not one of our opponents can really implement anything that they saw OU struggle to defend.
The Stupid
Joe C -What the F**k was OU doing playing this game? FSU just played in Norman. We're heading to two time Big East champ Cincinnati this week. Why are we playing a team that does nothing to help prepare for Big 12 play?
It's a wasted week of player development, it's a wasted week of practice. This game should have been bought out, and replaced with a cupcake. Or at least someone who you know does not play a goofy option attack.
This kind of over- scheduling is dangerous.
The Concerns for the UT game.
Consistent Running Game
OU hasn't had a meaningful running game against UT since 2007 which is also OU's last win. Coincidence or not? While OU has been able to run the ball for short yardage at times, and able to generate some running game at times, it's still been inconsistent enough not to be there when Landry is struggling. When OU gets nothing in the running game, Landry seems to struggle as well. When Landry is clicking in passing game, the running game is working. Although, the final series against Air Force was an encouraging sign since everyone knew what OU was trying to do. It just doesn't seem that OU will be able to run their way out of the "bad" Landry against UT's defense.
No vertical passing game
To date even during the FSU game, OU's passing attack is dependent on a lot of bubble screens, slants, and screen passes. The longest completed pass (ignoring run after catch is about 35 yards). Now, while this attack has been successful and it's been getting the ball into the hands of Ryan Broyles as much as possible, it's not likely to be as effective against UT's fast secondary. UT might be able to stuff the run and press OU's WRs at the line of scrimmage (to date no OU opponent has been able to do this). If this strategy works, then Landry is going to have attack the UT secondary down the field and attack the DBs/LBs in the seams down the middle. Sam did this in 2008 and 2007. And unfortunately, this is the weakest part of Landry's QB game to date, staying in the pocket and accurately hitting those spots when they open up (no clearer example of this than the 4th down pass to Broyles in the AFA game on OU's second to last position).
