10 Comments

  1. System Poster

    For Texas Tech, it was obvious looking at the roster after the 2018 season that 2020 was going to be a rough year. For that reason, Wells needed to come in and make an immediate splash in year one to be able to build up some good will to get him through the 2020 rough patch. Instead, he squandered a down year in the Big 12 and lost to two of the worst FBS teams in the country in Kansas and Arizona.

    You correctly identify the problems we’re going to have on offense replacing our tackles. Wells went hard after some juco tackles, and after missing on his first and second choices, settled on a guy who doesn’t appear to be athletic enough to play Big 12 ball. But the fact that they took a chance on him tells you what he thinks of what he has on the current roster. Bowman won’t last behind that line and McIvor hasn’t played football in a few years. The only other quarterback is a coach’s kid who got a scholarship as a courtesy. Defense will take a step back or stay roughly the same. Should be better on the back end, but still won’t be good by any means. Eli Howard is back and Jaylon Hutchings looked promising. Those are probably the only two bright spots on the defense.

    The writing is on the wall. The Wells tenure is dead before it ever had a chance to get off the ground. Now it’s just a matter of the inevitable coordinator purge in a year or two and then firing Wells a year after that. Maybe by the time that happens, Dykes will still be hanging around SMU or Harrell will have been fired from USC. Or maybe Lincoln Riley will be getting fired from an NFL job and looking to get back in the college game. A man can dream, right?

  2. quigley

    OU’s offense
    OU’s offense has a very high floor, but lots of questions next year.

    OL: the 2019 OL was probably the worst Sooner OL since beginning of the season 2015 OL (the 2015 OL really gelled so it was better than the 2019 OL at season’s end). The ceiling for the OL will be based on the growth for both OT positions. There is quite a bit of depth throughout.

    WR: OU WR group is sneaky weak in terms of numbers and experience. They have only 9 – 10 WR next year because of graduation, injuries, portaling. Only Rambo has a lot of reps. Haselwood and Wease will be counted on a lot, and the rest of the experience is on the HB/TE spectrum. 2020 WR was surprisingly weak, unless the Sooners have some under the radar info on their three recruits. Their grad transfer apparently is one Achilles short as of yesterday, so that sucks. Injuries to Rambo, Haselwood, or Wease could cripple the OU passing game. Another grad transfer may be an option.

    The QB, RB, and HB/TE groups are probably the best and deepest in the conference (yes Rattler > Erlinger, and the combined OU RB > Chuba).

    OU’s defense
    The Sooner defense in 2019 was obviously better than the prior two years, but how much is a question. Big 12 offense in 2019 weren’t the nearly as good as previous years. In addition, the Sooners offense really slowed down and limited opponent possessions. This means that per possession metrics saw the Sooners jump from ranking in the 110’s to the 60 – 70 (Fremeau’s numbers) range while other advanced metrics saw bigger gains (SP+).

    Going into 2020, OU loses their best players at each leve (Gallimore, Murray, and Motley) and a lot of flotsam to the portal. The DL will be largely new, and the LB have a new coach. The secondary will be really thin in depth and small (by 2020 football standards). It’s possible that all five DB starters will be sub 6′ and below 190 lb.

    Tactically, will year two of the Grinch defense be defined by opponents figuring out his strategies? Or will his players have better technique, a better grasp of their responsibilities, and another year removed from the PTSD-inducing performances that lead to demise of Mike Stoops.

    DL: The interior of the DL lost its best player (Gallimore) and will be relying on three new faces, two JUCOs and a player who’s played only a handful of snaps in his two years on campus (Kelly). I bet they bump Redmond out to DE (if there is a viable DT on campus) until Perkins comes back at game six. There are a bunch of redshirt guys and guys who haven’t really played who are going to be counted on. The development of this group will be key.

    LB: This position group lost it’s best player (Murray, a likely day one or two draft pick). The position group doesn’t have anyone with that talent on campus right now, but it is deep and somewhat experienced so that means it’s got a higher floor than either the DLs or DBs. There are three guys for two interior spots (White, Asamoah, Kelly) and three for the rush LB (Terry, Bonitto, Ugwoegbu). They’re also spinning down a RS Fr safety to LB (Morris). Hopefully, this process for Morris allows OU to keep three viable LBs on the field and versus teams that pass well especially out of 10 and 11 personnel.

    DB: Motley had a great Sr year and will probably be drafted. There is talent in the secondary, and they played better last year. However, they are TINY. CB will be 5’9″ Davis, 5’10” Brown, and 165 lb Norwood. Bookie (5’9″ 160) is not a viable NB. It’s amazing that OU got away with playing him so much last year. I bet (hope) he’s supplanted by Washington (RS Fr, encouraging play in place of Bookie the playoffs). Washington is bigger and looks faster. The safety play improved as the season progressed, but the depth behind Fields and Turner-Yell was exposed vs LSU. OU’s got some young guys behind them that will hopefully be able to let them get some snaps off (Criddell and incoming Fr Washington and JUCO Harrington–who’s matriculation is already delayed).

  3. Mike in Dallas

    Good stuff as always Ian. I don’t see Texas where you do because despite their talent, Mensa hasn’t been able to get them to respond (huge injuries last year understood).
    I doubt that the players will be highly skilled on the Offense or Defense, given the new Coordinators this year.
    But truth be told, you’re better at this stuff than I am, so I should anticipate looking stupid!

  4. […] Is Spencer Sanders ready to make the most of this supporting cast of skill players? He spent a fair chunk of 2019 playing with reads like, “throw to Tylan Wallace executing a double move or scramble” and “read the DE for hand-off to Chuba Hubbard or keep.” Don’t get me wrong, that was pretty effective because of the athleticism and arm talent involved in those transactions, but OSU becomes overpowering if Sanders gets closer to Taylor Cornelius in his understanding of the offense. [Sports Treatise] […]

  5. Will

    You nail the big questions facing WVU. I think it will take a year to get those positions figured out and then in 2021, WVU will have a senior QB and a very experienced depth chart. I still expect an improved record, even in a stronger Big 12.

    There is one other thing to keep an eye on and that is scholarship count. They are way low right now but that should also be much better in 2021.

    I’m very interested to see what Gundy can accomplish this year.

    I am not on Twitter but I follow your account. Dude, you gotta give Clone Wars a try. The first season is kinda meh, but by the time it gets to mid-season 2 it starts to starts to really elevate. I also loved the Mandalorian and Clone Wars, while animated, is of similar quality (although a very different vibe) and is 120+ episodes deep with more coming this month. My five year old is starting to take an interest as well, which is always fun.

    • ianaboyd

      I might, it’s kinda daunting becomes of the scope and I doubt the wife would be in. Maybe when the little boy is ready I’ll watch it with him, that’s probably 2-3 years away.

      • Jason Boa

        One of the best things about Clone Wars is that since it’s an anthology series if you start an episode and don’t like where it’s going, you can skip it and whatever arc it’s part of without major consequence. Seasons 3-6 are peak star wars though and it’s part of my holy trinity along with Empire and KOTOR

  6. Brandon

    It looks like OSU picked up a grad transfer CB from Missouri. That’s huge news.

    I don’t know how good he was but… man that’s a ton of experience on defense. We have to capitalize next season.

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