I imagine all of Sooner Nation, feels just like this young lady did the night Oklahoma demolished Alabama. I know I do.
Congratulations to Texas Christian. They played a hell of a game and made plays. The defense kept us in it much more than the offense did today. Honestly, I don’t know where to even begin. Trevor Knight had one of his worst performances since he became a starter. The last clunker, Oklahoma beat West Virginia 16-7. Actually, this performance, arguably, trumps that West Virginia game. In that game, Trevor Knight went 10/20 119 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT.
I don’t even want to type out the stats tonight’s game, but I am a semi journalist, and I gotta. Sorry. 14/35, 309 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT, including a pick six. Very, very similar to that West Virginia game in terms of, it was just a bad performance. Knight does have one thing going for him, he completed only 40 percent of his passes, but he threw for 309 yards. That sounds impressive for such a dismal completion percentage. But he threw the Pick Six. That was the back breaker it turns out.
But that wasn’t just the only thing. Oklahoma, just seemed maline on both sides of the ball. Both units never got into sync. If the defense was playing lights out, the offense couldn’t capitalize. If the offense was actually doing something for once in the game. The defense was just non-existent. There was a lot wrong with the Sooners on yesterday.
The predictable playing calling on offense drove me up the blanking wall. I don’t get paid the big bucks, and I could guess what Heupel was calling. They abandoned the run, relying on Knight, who was having trouble completing passes partly because of the inaccurate throws he was commiting. A good chunk of the incompletions, however, due to the wide outs, not named Sterling Shepard, dropping passes left and right. Perine didn’t near have the performance that he had against West Virginia, but he was moving the ball during some of the critical plays.
I wrote an article about why I felt like Perine should be moved up in the depth chart to number two. Some disagreed with my stance. However, to expand on that point I was making, this game shows it, we missed Keith Ford. Ford appears to be the number two receiver right now. Neal did a few nice things, but he and the other receivers were dropping a ton of passes. Some of the passes, were not easy catches to make. Credit goes to TCU’s secondary. Others though, were like, ‘really, you dropped that’? The fact Ford is also a receiving threat in this offense, is why he should still continue to be number one on the depth chart. Ford could have very well made the difference in today’s game. The wide receivers, are definitely a weakness for this team. Norvell is going to have to change some things up with that group. The Sooners can’t just rely on Sterling Shepard every game. Also, Oklahoma shouldn’t lose when Shepard has 215 yards in receiving.
The defense had trouble stopping TCU’s what ever the hell you call it option offense when it was needed. It makes you wonder how often they use that spread lineman formation going forward. I don’t know of a Big 12, or even an SEC defense that could stop it. Props to TCU’s coaching staff putting in that wrinkle. You look at the stats, they literally are even. And the four point deficit, just reiterates, how close this game was from start to finish.
Oklahoma now has a tough hill to climb now. The Sooners, had one of the worst rank discrepancies in today’s loss. Alabama who also lost, was ranked third. Ole Miss, was just outside of the top 10 at eleven. Texas A&M lost to Mississippi State, again, a sixth ranked team lost to a team ranked twelve. TCU had just entered the top 25, ranked at 25 last week. It wasn’t Oregon, or Wisconsin bad, but its still bad. For Oklahoma, we all will need to root for TCU to do well in the conference this year. Especially for Oklahoma to have a shot, a strong TCU going forward, will go along way for the Strength of Schedule requirement to make the playoff.
Maybe the Sooners get lucky and there is a three way tie scenario between Oklahoma, Baylor and TCU with Oklahoma some how winning the tie breaker. However, Oklahoma would still need some loses from those teams ahead of them moving forward. Given the loss, Oklahoma could end up on the wrong side of the top ten. In fact I am counting on it. I feel like most of the SEC West teams are at least 1 loss teams, if not 2 loss teams, which can help. Florida State losing a game or two helps. If Oklahoma is ranked 11-15, they will need all that, even if the Sooners win out. The lack of a Big 12 championship game could be a nail in the coffin for any possible one loss Big 12 team to make it in the group of four.
I still have faith that this team can make the playoff despite the loss. But I am also not blind to the fact that Oklahoma needs a lot of help, and needs its players, including and especially Knight, to step up from here on out. Heupel needs to be a better play caller. Offensive play calling was a weakness last season against Texas and Baylor.
Another performance like this, I wouldn’t blame the masses for wanting Jay Norvell to start calling the plays this season. It’s already started today. And, as pissed off as I am right now for the way Oklahoma lost. I can’t say I can blame them for calling for a change now. Another performance or two like this, and I believe that it could set up for a potential change at OC in 2015. I also believe, in 2015, that Mayfield could be the starting quarterback, and not Knight.