I’m beat after this weekend, so I’ll make this review of the Oklahoma Sooners’ 33-19 loss to the Texas A&M Aggies quick:
Ridiculously Ridiculous
Goal-Line Offense
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson stepped up to take the blame for the Sooners’ three empty trips inside Texas A&M’s 3-yard line. Wilson makes for an easy scapegoat and knows he has built up more than enough goodwill with head coach Bob Stoops to serve as the lightning rod for all the criticism from the Monday morning quarterbacks. In reality, just as much blame should go to Oklahoma’s weak offensive line.
Roy Finch
Finch didn’t do much Saturday night, but he didn’t get many chances: 6 yards on 5 carries.
The freshman speedster seemed to disappear out of sight against Missouri as well. He has looked electric with the ball in his hands this year, which makes his lack of touches somewhat confusing.
Run Game
Excluding sacks, OU averaged 2.1 yards per carry on Saturday night. Need I say more?
First Half
Probably as bad of a half as OU has played since the second half of last year’s Texas Tech game. Awful.
Defense Against the Zone Read
You could say this just about any week.
Ridiculous
Special Teams
A true mixed bag here. Patrick O’Hara drilled one long field goal and flubbed a relative chip shot. Tress Way’s punting was disturbingly inconsistent. The Sooners got big plays on returns from Ryan Broyles and DeMarco Murray. Probably the worst moment of all: allowing yet another kickoff return for a touchdown to open the second half.
Von Miller’s Injuries
Four times in the second half, play was stopped to tend to injuries to the Aggies’ standout linebacker Von Miller. I doubt Miller was faking – if A&M was faking to break up OU’s momentum with the no-huddle offense, why use your best defender? Still, that shouldn’t be allowed.
Wilson’s “Game Managment”
I realize the running game was impotent, but Wilson came out throwing on first down far too often. Considering the Sooners ran 104 offensive plays, a total of 44 rushing attempts seems too low.
Sublime
Trey Franks
Franks’s speed generated plenty of excitement in Sooner Nation. However, he’s quickly proving he’s more than an Oklahoma version of James Jett. Eight catches for 66 yards and a score in your first appearance as a starter isn’t bad.
Landry Jones
With the benefit of a little distance, I don’t think Jones played particularly badly. His only interception essentially served as a punt late in the first half. He methodically drove OU down the field in the third and fourth quarters. He wasn’t to blame for any of the red-zone issues, in my opinion, and he got little help from the run game.
Of course, Jones had some near misses in terms of turnovers. Also, his pocket presence was underwhelming.
Maybe I’m grading Jones on a curve…
Sublimely Sublime
Uptempo Offense
The only times the Sooners really moved the ball came when they were running at its highest tempo. Jones was snapping the ball almost as soon as the line was set, rather than waiting for checks from the sidelines.
It’s too bad that OU typically shuns the “NASCAR” pace until it’s behind.