The Oklahoma Sooners came into Saturday night’s test against the Tennessee Volunteers as an untested, unproven commodity. It remains to be seen how good of a test the Vols actually were, but the Sooners once again looked like title contenders against a team from the SEC.
It started with Oklahoma’s front seven, which proved to be far too powerful for Tennessee’s young and inexperienced OL. Jordan Phillips, Charles Tapper, Eric Striker, Chuka N’dulue, and Matthew Romar wreaked havoc on the Vols for 60 minutes, hardly ever letting Justin Worley feel comfortable in the pocket. It wasn’t much better when UT ran the ball, as Dominique Alexander and Jordan Evans were usually there to stop any run that happened to get past the line of scrimmage.
The Pass Rush
There are a number of words that could be used to describe Oklahoma’s pass rush on Saturday night, but I know what my favorite is: Nasty. The Oklahoma Sooners were nasty on Saturday night, especially when getting after the QB.
Oklahoma did a great job of pressuring Worley early on, but the defense didn’t record a sack until this safety blitz by Quentin Hayes knocked the ball out:
Chuka kept things going early with this fierce move on Tennessee’s RT:
Matthew Romar records a sack on this play, but Eric Striker gets the assist. It’s his pressure that forces Worley to step up into the pocket and right into Romar:
One more example: Geneo Grissom, who was quiet in this game for the most part, blows by the RT on a beautiful inside move. Grissom is arguably one of the best pass rushing linebackers in the country, and he was not one of Oklahoma’s most effective defenders against the Vols. That sort of depth, especially with the absence of Charles Walker, does not bode well for the Big 12 going forward.
Oklahoma once again proved that it could consistently get to the QB while only rushing three or four players. It’s important to note that Tennessee’s offensive line was freshman-laden and will not be the toughest test that Oklahoma faces this year. Still, it was a young, athletic group that OU manhandled the way that would be expected of an experienced DL vs a young OL.
Because of Oklahoma’s young secondary, it’s imperative that the front seven continues to rush the QB with consistency. This will be of even greater importance going forward against teams like West Virginia and Baylor.
Rush Defense
Not to beat a dead horse, but Oklahoma was nearly as good at stopping the run as they were at getting after the QB. Tennessee was still in the negative in rushing yards well into the third quarter before Jalen Hurd ripped off a couple big runs in the second half.
There’s not a ton to go over here, but I did want to highlight what a good job our inside linebackers did against the run:
This is a failed rushing attempt by Tennessee, but watch closely as Eric Striker makes the tackle. Striker is the Tennessee FB’s responsibility, but he is preoccupied with Oklahoma’s RE who didn’t have much trouble getting through the UT OL. Once Hurd loses his lead blocker, Striker is free to come over and make the tackle.
Here’s a great wrap up tackle from Dom Alexander:
Again, if Oklahoma can get away with only putting five or six guys in the box and still not have trouble stopping the run, it’s going to be very difficult for other teams to throw on them with any consistency. I expect there to be some more trouble going forward as OU faces tougher OL’s, but this is setting up to be Oklahoma’s best rush defense in Mike Stoops’ first stint in Norman.
The Offense – Play calling
Offensively, it was an up-and-down night for the Sooners. The play calling, while brilliant at times, was inconsistent for a good portion of the evening. It’s becoming more and more clear that this offense will go as Josh Heupel goes, rather than how Trevor Knight goes.
With that said, I want to go play-by-play on Oklahoma’s opening drive to illustrate examples of both good and bad play calling.
Tennessee loads the box with eight men on OU’s first play, but Keith Ford still manages to pick up a couple yards:
Very next play, UT loads the box again and Josh Heupel elects to go play action, which works to the tune of a Sooners first down. Excellent call by Heupel:
Tennessee only puts seven guys in the box on this play, and Keith Ford does Keith Ford things for another first down:
This play received some criticism, but I actually like the call after looking over it again. The Vols loaded the box once again, so Heupel responded with another play action. You can’t see it here, but I think TK9 actually could have hit Durron Neal in the end zone with a well-thrown ball. Instead, Knight goes for Bell, but credit the UT defender for having position on him and knocking the ball away:
Quick tangent: that’s true freshman S Todd Kelly making a play on the ball, which is another reason why OU fans should be worried when the Sooners visit Knoxville in 2015. The Vols, especially on defense, showed several flashes of potential greatness.
Knight does a good job here of standing the face of pressure just long enough to get the ball to Blake Bell. Ideally, Knight wouldn’t be falling away, but it didn’t have to be a perfect throw and Bell picked TK9 up by showing off some soft hands:
This is where things get rocky:
I thought Heupel did an excellent job of calling plays on this drive up until here. A pair of handoffs to Alex Ross, the speedster, just outside the 10 yard line? I thought OU could have been more creative here, to say the least. I also question whether or not that’s actually a zone read play, or if Knight is instructed to hand it off every time no matter what he sees. There were several instances where it didn’t look like he even considered keeping it.
On third and long, everyone in the country knew that Oklahoma would be passing the ball, which had to include Tennessee because they only stuck five guys in the box. With six men dropped back, UT easily halted Knight’s attempt at improv in the red zone and OU was forced to kick a field goal:
Instead of a zone read on second down, I would have liked to have seen a passing play, perhaps the one that they ran on third down. It would have almost certainly been more effective with Tennessee in man coverage.
Overall, I think Josh Heupel took a step back in this game. He showed great promise and willingness to try new things against Tulsa and La Tech, but things appeared to be stagnant against Tennessee. The offense got conservative in the third quarter and, frankly, it looked ugly at times.
Respect the Swing Pass
I will credit Josh Heupel again here, though: he’s playing mind games with opposing defenses, and he’s winning so far. We saw last week how Heupel used the swing pass as a decoy for Knight’s 31 yard touchdown run, and there was more of that against the Vols.
Here’s that exact same play, only it didn’t work quite as well this time:
The problem with this play is that instead of following Ross in man coverage, the ILB blitzed through the gap that Knight wanted to escape through. He still almost made it out, but Adam Shead wasn’t quite able to clear out the defender. Still, watch as the defense seems to shift towards Ross as he makes his way towards the sideline. If Knight gets through the hole, he’s going for a big gain because there’s no one to stop him until he gets to the secondary.
This is the curl route that Sterling Shepard nearly took for six:
There’s a couple things to watch on this play, so bear with me. First, you’ll see Keith Ford make his way to the sideline on a swing pass route, drawing an ILB with him. On the near side of the play, you’ll see Blake Bell run a little slant route (he’s lined up just outside the LT) and set a beautiful (probably illegal) pick on Tennessee’s other LB. That leaves the middle of the field vacated for Shepard once he beats his man, which he obviously did. Great play call and great execution.
Again, Tennessee respecting the swing pass leads to a positive play on an inside screen to Shepard:
This is a scheme that Oklahoma will continue to run and run well. It can be used as a decipher defensive coverages, as a decoy, or as a way to pick up 15 yards if executed properly.
GIF OF THE GAME
You knew this was coming:
PLAYS OF THE GAME
Zack Sanchez can’t tackle, but he sure can cover. Here’s a slo-mo replay of his INT on Saturday:
Another great play by an ILB, Jordan Evans, to get a hand on this ball and give Julian Wilson an opportunity to make a play:
Next up is West Virginia in Morgantown on Saturday night.