Every now and again I see Oklahoma write-ups for 2020 that have caveats for their offense like, “hey, we haven’t see Spencer Rattler yet…” or, “there’s not many scholarship wide receivers left on OU’s campus…” Smart prognostication for the 2020 Sooners should largely ignore all that. Last year we saw Lincoln Riley evolve the OU … [Read more…]
Alex Grinch is the newest coordinator to venture into the DC graveyard that is the Big 12. The number of top line DCs that came to the Big 12 with fanfare only to find themselves on the receiving end of some knockout punches is extensive. Todd Orlando at Texas is one of the most recent … [Read more…]
I caught a few words with Lincoln Riley during B12 media days, transcribed here. Coach what went into the decision to move Caleb Kelly inside? Just thought it was the right time, kinda had an opening there with Emmanuel Beal graduating. It’s gonna allow us to keep Caleb on the field a little bit more … [Read more…]
Oklahoma was abjectly terrible on defense in 2017. I recently had a fun debate with Allen Kenney and Rufus Alexander over what went wrong and why but there wasn’t any debate over whether the defense played at an acceptable level. The 2015 Oklahoma defense was one of the better units they’ve had of late, which … [Read more…]
While I’ve been busy elsewhere this season, I’ve still kept up regularly with the Big 12. Much of the criticism of the conference or explanations for why it’s on shaky ground for the future are all valid and true but that doesn’t mean it can’t be the most entertaining league from year to year. One … [Read more…]
My chronicling of the Sooner defense over the offseason was fairly detailed as it seemed to me likely that Lincoln Riley would figure out how to build another top offense around Baker Mayfield and a loaded OL, but the defense was very much in question. The spring game showed a team that was very young … [Read more…]
That was surely the number one concern in the back of every Oklahoma fan’s mind when Lincoln Riley was promoted to head coach. “Will this Air Raid guy make us go soft???” I’ve been disinclined to think that was a likely issue given Riley’s background with Ruffin McNeil and his deep embrace of the Sooners’ … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall I talked about their return to the 4-3 Under defense which they showed in the spring. As I noted there, the biggest key to a successful transition is the play of 3-technique Neville Gallimore. They don’t have a ton behind him since they’ve been recruiting 3-4 DEs for a few … [Read more…]
Later tonight I’m going to go on the Blatant Homerism podcast to talk the Sooner spring game with Allen Kenney but I figured I would offer some notes here. I’ll also do some notes on any other B12 spring games I can get my hands on over the next few weeks. Even Texas Tech…I guess. … [Read more…]