Gandalf
The Orange/White Wizard
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2012
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Guys, there is no excuse for the loss tonight, though we all thought it might be a squeaker. The way I see it though is the primary reason we dominated the first half and held the 3rd quarter is talent. In the fourth we melted on defense because the guys were gassed and our depth simply wasnt there.
Think about all the players we have lost on defense and that defensive line and then, who goes out just before the half? Maggitt - and that left a gaping hole in our defense. We simply dont have the talent in the third and forth string to keep the jets on in the 4th quarter against a well stacked program.
Guys were missing tackles left and right and not moving nearly so fast because we dont have the depth to rotate. Granted, their QB was able to bullet some passes but once our Oline got gassed and minus Maggitt they started letting Striker and OU's pass rush through, our running game suffered and so did our offense production. Yes Dobbs seemed lackluster later in the game but he had a lot more defenders in his face than in the first half. Hard to swallow all those dropped balls by receivers tho.
None of that excuses too conservative play calling and some glaring errors - but maybe those decisions and mistakes were made because of gassed players and coaches knowing they were gassed. Genius play calling doesnt work when players are too tired to execute.
On the one hand, I am super pissed and disappointing we collapsed when we needed that win. Yet I do remember that this OU team crushed us at will last year and most everyone thinks OU is far better this year than last year, so we have improved a LOT. What does this mean going forward? I think it says that we have the talent to compete and win against all but the elite teams in the SEC this year. However, against teams with deep stacked talent, we do not have the depth to keep it going all 4 quarters. That means a likely 8-4 or maybe 9-3 regular season. Not what we want but nothing to be ashamed about.
Think about all the players we have lost on defense and that defensive line and then, who goes out just before the half? Maggitt - and that left a gaping hole in our defense. We simply dont have the talent in the third and forth string to keep the jets on in the 4th quarter against a well stacked program.
Guys were missing tackles left and right and not moving nearly so fast because we dont have the depth to rotate. Granted, their QB was able to bullet some passes but once our Oline got gassed and minus Maggitt they started letting Striker and OU's pass rush through, our running game suffered and so did our offense production. Yes Dobbs seemed lackluster later in the game but he had a lot more defenders in his face than in the first half. Hard to swallow all those dropped balls by receivers tho.
None of that excuses too conservative play calling and some glaring errors - but maybe those decisions and mistakes were made because of gassed players and coaches knowing they were gassed. Genius play calling doesnt work when players are too tired to execute.
On the one hand, I am super pissed and disappointing we collapsed when we needed that win. Yet I do remember that this OU team crushed us at will last year and most everyone thinks OU is far better this year than last year, so we have improved a LOT. What does this mean going forward? I think it says that we have the talent to compete and win against all but the elite teams in the SEC this year. However, against teams with deep stacked talent, we do not have the depth to keep it going all 4 quarters. That means a likely 8-4 or maybe 9-3 regular season. Not what we want but nothing to be ashamed about.
