Call me crazy, but I thought the Tulsa game was exciting. Not just in the "I want to win every game by at least 50 points" sort of way either. I'll admit it. I love Tulsa and their brand of ball. Any Tulsa fans who happen upon this meaningless blurb can re-read that if you need, but I mean it.
Don't get me wrong. I'd rather OU have the offense we have, but for where Tulsa's at, their scheme works well for them. And there will probably be aspects of that scheme that find their way into gameplans at bigger schools. It also needs to be said, that crazy stuff is good for the sport. It's refreshing to see excessive creativity and "out of the box" thinking. It's hard to know what's coming next and it's fun to watch.
The Sooner offense cranked out the production we expected, lots of yards and lots of points. There seemed to be a little more emphasis on basic plays than in the first three games. I'm fine with that. Opponents have seen a variety of things for which to prepare. Some fundamentals in base run plays needed to be polished. An opportunity to wear down Tulsa's front seven needed to be seized.
OU QB Sam Bradford continues to impress, though he had an errant throw picked. I'm sort of glad he had a chance to experience that for the first time now instead of later. The RB's continue to impress and Patrick showed he's got his stride back. We're STILL throwing to the TE [YES!] and JI showed defenses why they'd better think twice before they key completely on Kelly.
I can't shake the feeling we're going to see much more from this o-line that's already quite good. I'm talking about some key game down the line where these guys just take the thing over and drive somebody off the ball when we need it the most.
I guess we could sit here and gripe that the defense gave up over 350 yards in the air and 21 points. Maybe there's some room for that, but I suspect Tulsa's offense is harder to stop than we might think. It's like every play is a trick play or something you really don't expect. In spite of giving up a lot of yards, much of those yards were between the 20's. Think back to some Tech games and you'll remember the defense gave up some yards, but held down the points. In fact, think of some Switzer defenses against early spread offenses in the days of yore. Similar story Saturday.
The front seven continue to play well. The DE's are solid and we're seeing good push from the DT's. Our LB's are amazing compared to what I was hoping for at the beginning of the season.
Some folks are disappointed at the DB's, but I'm not sure they performed that badly. Some schemes will yield an open receiver frequently if the play has just a moment to develop. And I'm a little slow to blame a specific DB because it's hard for fans to have a handle on exactly which coverage busted. Whatever questions we may have about coverage, it needs to be said the tackling is good.
Special teams still show flashes of greatness and flashes of question marks. Did we have one missed FG and one missed PAT? I think that's right. That really needs to tighten up. But we also need to remember our guy can kick the long FG, consistently buries the KO, and coverage is good.
OU is not playing the tough games some teams are playing, but different aspects of the team are being tested each week. I hear from friends, fans of other schools, that this team looks more like the real deal all the time. That gets easier to believe with each passing week and I like me some of that! On to boulder, Boomer Sooner!
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