So I am just beginning to come down from the incredible high and questioning what happened on D in the final quarter? Serious question to those football junkies on this board. I am out of town so can’t review myself, given I may not be studious enough to give a good analysis anyway, so I’m asking, what the heck happened to our D on those three drives? It looked like we simply were not even ready when OU ran the plays. Don’t think I’ve ever seen such consecutive melt downs, ever. Can you share your thoughts on what happened? I would sure love to hear Orlando’s explanation to Herman. And fwiw, as I said on earlier thread about Sam beating Ok, I am solidly behind him. Hope Shane is ready if injury occurs but Sam in the MAN.
You are correct about 'not ready' on at least one play...ESPN this morning pointed out that one of the 4th quarter passes down the left sideline came while the DB was still jacking with his chinstrap...and THEN ran into his teammate. I believe they said it was Locke but I was not paying enough attention. Hopefully they realize they have to batten down the hatches and play for four FULL quarters. And that we somehow can find a punter...38 yards a punt simply does not get the job done except maybe at PopWarner.
I think the coaches & players went into “prevent” mode at start of Q4. We had the ball early in that quarter with a 21 pt lead. But, we were trapped inside our 20 yd line. Because of said field position, Herman got conservative & the offense went into “defense” mode, hoping they could grind out a few 1st downs and punt to flip the field position. I don’t think the coaches even considered trying to score from that point. Then, we regressed back to our old MO....penalties, poor play calling, poor execution, & mental breakdowns. We had 3 drives that resulted in 9 plays for 18 yds, while OU went into “2 minute” offense mode & scored 3 TD’s. It was a complete meltdown for the whole team. This is a very classic college football scenario and all too common (it seems) with UT. How many of you shut it down as fans? I know I did to an extent. But, I was concerned that our FP early Q4 could lead to an OU TD....NEVER imagined we would give up 3 TD’s. I believe if we got 2 FD’s & a good punt on that drive, we probably win by 14. So, it was simply a case of “running out the clock” mode....coaching & playing as if there was NO WAY OU could score 3 TD’s. But, to our credit, we manned up & made a real statement with that last drive. I just hope the team will learn from this.....NEVER EVER let your foot off the gas pedal.
The biggest issue was letting Murray run for a 65+ yard TD in an 11 second drive. We should have had him behind the LOS or shortly thereafter. I couldn't believe he outran the corners to the end zone. I know he's fast, but not that fast. Those look like Strong Era angles they took. If we stop this play at the line, we win by at least a TD and the field goal is not necessary. - Mike
So I'm not going to criticize play calling. We had been effective running the ball all game. And running the clock down when ou needed 3 touchdowns is a good thing. I want our coach to look at our OL and running backs and say, "being it home." Those penalties were the issue. The criticism should be about execution, maybe conditioning. But without those offensive penalties, ou wouldn't have even been able to sniff our poop emoji in the 4th quarter. Our defense did give up half of the points in the 4th quarter. But it was the chinstrap pass play and the Murray run for 68 yards or whatever. One mental breakdown and a superb athletic play. And then we held on. I'm ok with that. 2 penalties and a chinstrap brainfart are the causes of the 4th quarter angst, not the coaches. I can live with that.
I feel like there may have been 3 holding penalties. Two in a row on one drive and one on another. This just CANNOT happen. Incredible game and a super win though. BTW, Kyler Murray appears to be an crybaby sore loser.
This line of reasoning is just incorrect as far as play calling. OU could not stop us at that point and were gassed. We got major chunks of yardage on both drives on 1st down only to be called back on holding. We don't hold, we win by 2 scores. You can't blame the play calling when you get 12 and 7 yds on the two drives on 1st down only to be called back by holding calls. I know on the Ingram run, Ingram had already cleared the LOS when Shak holds his man. Put the blame where it belongs on the offensive line making stupid mistakes. No reason to ever hold on a running play. We called safe plays and got the results we wanted if we just don't hold.
-Too much prevent D. Lack of pressure on q-back. -No 11 playing with his chin strap and not looking while the play began. Then he collided with his own man while the receiver ran free. -Bad angles on tackling and defender not using the sideline as a defender. -Defenders trying to block runners down and not wrapping up. -Badly blown coverage. -Poor reads by safeties. -And although this game was very well officiated, there was some very creative holding by OU late in the game. Some of it in the open field. Don’t agree? Go back and slow the dvr. The good news! Texas has an excellent DC and true freshmen safeties. This game is an exellent teaching moment and I have total confidence in Orlando correcting a lot of this. He might even disagree with me and I will defer to his football iq. He will have an improved defense going forward.
The o-line has to understand the situation. You simply cannot hold on a running play on 1st and 10 from your own 20 even if you are beat and your defender will stop the play. 2nd and 9-11 is preferable to 1st and twenty from your own 10 in that situation, the third down call where same had to throw it away was a terrible play call in that situation. They hadn’t stopped Sam on the qb run ( see his td’s) all day. Even if they stop it on that play you run off at least another minute or so. At that time that would have been the smart play.
I'm sorry but that's just wrong. We had back to back holding penalties and ended up first and 23 inside our own 10. Drive over. That's not the team getting conservative or playing scared. That's playing a game based on the situation at hand. If Sam throws a pick or gets hit and fumbles, NO ONE on this board is saying "well, at least we didn't stop trying to score." Everyone would be saying, and rightly so, that you do not put your defense in jeopardy with a 21-point lead. At some point, you have to trust that the defense can hold a three-touchdown lead. I already read someone on another thread complaining that Texas gave up on the run in the fourth quarter. So which was it? Did we go into a shell and try not to score points? Or did we give up on the run and just start throwing the ball too much? Can't be both. Bottom line is if the team executes and doesn't make stupid holding penalties, we're not having this conversation about the offense being conservative. I was as frustrated as anyone when things started rolling for OU, but you're playing a fantastic offense, and the defense lapsed and let things happen too easily, and all of a sudden the team starts playing tight. Tom Herman did not say "OK guys, we need to stop trying to score now!"
If I meet a person in a bar that repeats we got conservative on offense I just might hit them. We DID NOT get conservative, we did get grabby, but were doing exactly what we should have been doing. The only thing that stopped the Texas run game was Texas, but 23 is still too much to pick up. The one bad call was passing and stopping the clock on 3rd and 3 when ou couldn't stop the run. On the Murry run, we had been playing containment all game. But with the time remaining I guess Tony thought we should blitz in hopes of getting a sack and ending any possible comeback thus leaving a gap wide open and Murry exploited it big time, it's as simple as that.
I'm watching the game again, and I had to stop to write this note before I keep going. The defense was not just bad during the OU comeback. It was egregiously bad. After the busted assignment where PJ seems more concerned about his chinstrap than getting lined up to play, we give up an easy pitch and catch, but the defense then gets it back together, plays well enough, and we build the 21-point lead. And then.... Missed tackles. LOTS of missed tackles. We brought the backup DL in (I mean, we had a Christmas-Giles siting!! And BTW, apparently the hyphen-Giles is back, no longer just Christmas.) Bimage and Graham in with him, and the front was really really soft against the run. Two-yarder turns to 8 due to missed tackle. Anthony Wheeler is either completely being left out to dry by someone, or he's completely lost, because he turns a TE flat-out loose for a nice gain, seems to be constantly running away from the ball action or running into a pile at the line and leaving a gap open. And then on the first "comeback" TD, BJ inexplicably decides to follow PJ into the flat to cover a running back, turns the slot receiver wide open up the middle and it's a second EASY touchdown.
We get it back with 8:28 to play, up 14 at the 25. Ehlinger for 9. Ingram for no gain. OU sells out on third and 1 and Ehlinger with the perfect read and hits Beck for a 1D. We're at 6:35 now. Ehlinger keeps for 3. Ingram for 4 and another third and manageable. Out of the time out, blitz coming, Sam checks out, they send the house and we have to go into scramble mode. Sam has to throw it away... should have taken the sack there, and I suspect Herman's irritated grin is saying exactly that. So far, not seeing the issue with conservative play calling. Shank punt and OU's in business with 5:22 to play at the 33. One play, BIG TIME HOLD GETS IGNORED and Murray scores. (BTW we blitz and leave a hole the size of a truck for him to run through. Really, really poor discipline, combined with a textbook OU "pass block." (Hold probably wouldn't have mattered, but still.)
Our ball, 5:11 to play, should be about 4 or less if not for the botched screen and the stupid scramble. Ingram for about 15 before ANOTHER HOLD gets called. First and 20 now. Ehlinger throws short gain, safe pass. Joel Klatt momentarily forgets that stepping out doesn't stop the clock, which is funny Second and 13, roll out and throw deep to Humphrey. Incomplete. Man... Herman JUST DOESN'T WANT TO SCORE POINTS!!! Third and 13, Ehlinger throws jump ball down the sidelines and it's broken up. Man... WHY ARE WE PLAYING TO LOSE!!! The real question is why are we throwing low-percentage passes on back to back drives, when the pattern that worked early was to cut the yardage in half and then let the wideout make a play in space on third down. Ironically the lack of time off the clock ends up getting us the win.
OU's last drive at the OU 43, Omenihu misplays the pass to the back, Davonte Davis gets clipped at midfield and Sermon's out the gate for 35. Now the front's just gassed, Wheeler decides to offer himself up to a lineman and Sermon gets a huge hole up the middle, while our safeties are still convinced that a one-receiver route might turn into a deep pass. Right now this defense is looking Manny Diaz bad. Sterns whiffs on a half-hearted tackle attempt and we're tied. It ain't OU. It's us.
And all of a sudden, OU isn't playing defense with nothing to lose, and it's a whole new ballgame. Right back to the mismatch for an interference call (which I'd rather he had gone to LJ who was open on a slant.) But it's 15 yards. OU forgets that Sam's figured out the three-man rush strategy and gives up a big gainer to Duverney who is quietly turning into an outstanding third option in the passing game. We try another deep shot against the blitz (again... how is Herman playing conservative at this point?), and Ehlinger again roasts the three-man rush for 8 yards to Beck, then student body left for the first down. *Time out, and Dicker gives the "I'm definitely getting laid after this game" grin. That dude has ice water in the veins. Throwing to Johnson on first down (we may be getting a little greedy with those at this point.) But it sets up the QB draw for 8. *Time out OU. Dicker now has the "I wonder what they're serving on the plane" look. Student body left gets about 2, and it's time to go win the game. So no... I don't see an issue with the play calling. If anything, we got a little too in love with the downfield shots and could have worked the middle and underneath for some easy yards. The story of the fourth quarter was an epic breakdown in defensive focus probably combined with some collar tightening and limited playmaking ability at key defensive spots. But it wasn't the play calling.
Thanks all. I’m anxious to watch game again when I get back to Katy Fri evening. It still feels sooooo good to beat the goomer Sooners.
