Ou Game Thoughts

[Zeke]

Just woke up and I still hear Boomer Sooner being played. Don't they know another song?

First off, I want to mention the Exes bus trip. I know we have all verbally smacked the exes before on this board. In this case, however, they deserve a high five. A great trip to hang with some friends and just have a good time. At one point I felt we were all sitting around the campfire as a former players parent told us of how their son came to North Texas. The exes handed out paper bags of snacks to each bus passenger as well. Voertmans had printed signs for us to hold up -- and I am appreciative of that, they were great. On one side they side "DEFENSE" (yay!), on the other side "OFFENSE" (what?). Overall a great way to travel to a regional game. Thank you Exes.

The pregame tailgating was well put on by the AD. RV spoke to the crowd. Dr. B did too. Everyone was pumped and mentions of Appy State were made though out the afternoon.

For the most part OU fans were very polite during the whole trip. On the way out of the stadium to the bus there were a few rude students - but that is the nature of alcohol and inbreeding.

The game...........

SilverEagle was correct, OU has some pageantry to the pregame and it is what we need. There was defiantly something the keep me entertained. The flyover was really really cool. Can't wait to see that at Fouts later this year.

It took OU 4 plays to score and I think they ran 2 different plays. The straight up man coverage on their 9-star wideouts was a small small mismatch. OU made it look easy. Just throw it to the WR, use your true 4.4 speed and blow past your guy reported to have 4.4 speed. Easy.

I think from that first drive it was apparent we were outmatched. Gosh Evyn Roman is undersized. That may be about as picked on as I have seen a Dback be. Some sort of changes need to be made there no matter if it is personnel or strategy.

I don't really know what to say about Jamario. He just didn't get the snaps you would think he might, so I can't say with confidence where him and his fragile hamstring stand.

QB play:

Meager - Well, you guys saw it, you know already. We have seen it for years. OU's DE's where putting in some pretty good pressure all night (as you would expect), but it seemed when they would get anywhere near, Meager would scramble haphazardly. This would make blocking a mess and seemed to pretty much cause a total breakdown of plays. I know we were all excited that Dodge was going to turn Meager into this great QB that we have heard about him being for a long time, but I just don't think it will happen. He seems to play with passion and really wants to do well - but so would I if I were in his situation, and I can't even begin to imagine the mess that would be.

Overall I think his time as a starter is short. I think he will start next week. Dodge is a man of his word but real soon he will have to decide what is more important - having the starting QB look over his shoulder or winning.

Vizza - I cheered loudly when Vizza came in because it was obvious it was time for us to throw the change up. Where we saw Meager start running around and bailing on the pocket so quickly, Vizza stepped up, buying an extra second to find the open man. Here we saw down field throws. Much less "Ohh crap" throws for little to no to negative yards. It was Vizza time and it was time to move the ball. By the time the first pick was thrown, I had seen enough out of Vizza to know that the man that was planning for Prom just a few months ago had more talent than the man that has been in college football the last 3 years. Make no mistake, Vizza's 2 picks were awful. They were right to the defender who was probably surprised it was that bad of a pass. The safety was horrendous as well. That could have been avoided.

The mistakes by Vizza I saw were fixable/coachable mistakes. The play I saw from Meager wasn't really mistakes though, I suppose that is a compliment - he played mistake free. Meager's problem isn't mistakes, it is execution and talent. Meager is Mean Green and therefore I have a spot in my heart for him, but this team can't progress any further with him at QB.

By the time it was over I felt amazingly bad. My only glimmer of hope was Vizza. If you say Vizza's picks washout his points he put on the board, so be it: He was neutral tonight. What was Meager?

We got in around 2:00 AM in a bus so cold you could preserve meat.

See yall at SMU.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

QB play:

Meager - Well, you guys saw it, you know already. We have seen it for years. OU's DE's where putting in some pretty good pressure all night (as you would expect), but it seemed when they would get anywhere near, Meager would scramble haphazardly. This would make blocking a mess and seemed to pretty much cause a total breakdown of plays. I know we were all excited that Dodge was going to turn Meager into this great QB that we have heard about him being for a long time, but I just don't think it will happen. He seems to play with passion and really wants to do well - but so would I if I were in his situation, and I can't even begin to imagine the mess that would be.

Overall I think his time as a starter is short. I think he will start next week. Dodge is a man of his word but real soon he will have to decide what is more important - having the starting QB look over his shoulder or winning.

Vizza - I cheered loudly when Vizza came in because it was obvious it was time for us to throw the change up. Where we saw Meager start running around and bailing on the pocket so quickly, Vizza stepped up, buying an extra second to find the open man. Here we saw down field throws. Much less "Ohh crap" throws for little to no to negative yards. It was Vizza time and it was time to move the ball. By the time the first pick was thrown, I had seen enough out of Vizza to know that the man that was planning for Prom just a few months ago had more talent than the man that has been in college football the last 3 years. Make no mistake, Vizza's 2 picks were awful. They were right to the defender who was probably surprised it was that bad of a pass. The safety was horrendous as well. That could have been avoided.

The mistakes by Vizza I saw were fixable/coachable mistakes. The play I saw from Meager wasn't really mistakes though, I suppose that is a compliment - he played mistake free. Meager's problem isn't mistakes, it is execution and talent. Meager is Mean Green and therefore I have a spot in my heart for him, but this team can't progress any further with him at QB.

By the time it was over I felt amazingly bad. My only glimmer of hope was Vizza. If you say Vizza's picks washout his points he put on the board, so be it: He was neutral tonight. What was Meager?

That is great analysis of the QB situation. Meager stood in the pocket way too long, then when he did throw many times it was short or rushed. Vizza stepped in and it was completely different. He got the snap and with three steps back was passing - very little hesitancy in his work. Yea he threw some bad passes, but as you said, those are completely fixable mistakes. Meager is done as well as probably JT. Meager will probably start this week and probably at Arkansas, but by the time conference rolls around, Vizza will be our starter.

[EagleMBA]

It looked to me that Vizza's second pick was caused by an OU defender. I think he got whacked on the arm, not allowing full forward motion, and causing the pass to go short straight at the DB instead of over his head where our receiver was open to take it to the house. Did TV pick that up?

[emmitt01]

I just wanna concur with what Zeke said and add a little.

For those of you still on the Meager bandwagon, watch the tape. What you will see is a tale of two QB's when the rush comes. Meager on the first few plays where he felt pressure sidestepped a man and tried to run around in the pocket buying time or eluding the onslaught of more and more defenders in his face. On these first few occasions he was able to make something or a neutral play out of his running around. But, much like the Dickey draw that you fall in love with when it works once, he continued to run around and eventually it just became a question of HOW MUCH yardage he would lose. He obviously was just a player trying to make a play but at some point, any point, in your college career you've got to realize your limitations and go down. Vizza, on the other hand, when he felt pressure stepped UP in the pocket or tucked it and tried to get what he could. I didn't see any losing 5-10 yards of ground to try to gain his composure against a much faster defense.

On Vizza's two picks...on the first one he was hurried and threw off of his back foot. Standing 15 rows up in the endzone he was closest to I could see the man he was trying to get the ball to. His pass didn't have the arc on it necessary to clear the LB and OU made an easy play. You can coach that out. The second one, I hope he never saw the guy because it wasn't a very difficult task to step in front of that one. But let's look at what else he did. On the drive where we got the field goal he was facing something like a 3rd and 16. What did he do? Find a man across the middle for a first down. Then followed that up with another pretty good sized completion (while being roughed...tack on 15 yards) to get us into field goal range. Then a drive or two later he throws a TD. But Emmitt, this was their second or third team defense. Wrong! They played defensive starters until damn near the 4th quarter.

The bottom line to me is two-fold:

1)I think we can all agree this will be a transitional year. If this is so, and we've already burned Vizza's shirt, why have next year when our offense could be hitting on all cylindars already be his first year to start? It's crazy to try to bring the rest of the team up to snuff while their on-field general waits in the wings.

2)Todge himself says they are neck and neck. If this is so, and we really did bring Riley in here to be a QB, why make the freshman wait? If you're gonna give Danny the nod this year and waste a year of Vizza's eligibility why in the world would you then have Vizza start as a sophomore while Riley redshirts only to have hime give way as a junior? Or even if you allow Vizza to play his sophomore and junior seasons why wouldn't you "hand him the keys to the Dodge" as a frosh so that those sophomore and junior years are spectacular and not still an OJT session?

[greenminer]

I definitely saw a different quarterback when Vizza was in. That said, I'm very curious how Meager will be coached/adjust for SMU after this whooping. Maybe he'll have a great learning curve after his first real game in Dodge's system.

Vizza....wow. What a warrior.

Edited September 2, 2007 by greenminer

[GreenN'walinsVet]

You know it seemed to me that when Meager took a three step drop and the fired, he was accurate and moving the team, where he got into trouble was if the first or second read wasnt there and he had to move a little bit, he was doomed.

On TV there was no doubt that Vizza was the better QB talent wise. When he threw a ball it looked like it came out of the book on how to throw a ball, good zip and perfect spiral.

Just for clarification, His first INT was casued becasue a D-lineman it his throwing arm in motion causing the ball to flutter out short and into the defenders arms.

The second INT was jsut a bad read. They showed a view form behind the QB and you could clearly see the LB baiting the throw to the slant and once it was made the LB just stepped over and made the pic. Clearly a freshman mistake that will be cured by experience IMO

[trud1966]

You know it seemed to me that when Meager took a three step drop and the fired, he was accurate and moving the team, where he got into trouble was if the first or second read wasnt there and he had to move a little bit, he was doomed.

On TV there was no doubt that Vizza was the better QB talent wise. When he threw a ball it looked like it came out of the book on how to throw a ball, good zip and perfect spiral.

Just for clarification, His first INT was casued becasue a D-lineman it his throwing arm in motion causing the ball to flutter out short and into the defenders arms.

The second INT was jsut a bad read. They showed a view form behind the QB and you could clearly see the LB baiting the throw to the slant and once it was made the LB just stepped over and made the pic. Clearly a freshman mistake that will be cured by experience IMO

Yeah - somebody help me out this, someone that was at the game. It's hard to tell from TV, but in the first few possesions, I was very impressed with the time Meager had in the pocket, seemed fairly well protected for a good 4-5 seconds. But now with thre spread, were all 4 his receivers always that well covered each time? Fox would never like instant replay the down to show what the receivers were doing. Given that, was it really ALL Meager? Or were our receivers just smothered with OU guys?

[Dodge2007]

In all honestly, I felt like Daniel never checked off and was AFFRAID to make a mistake. He played scared in some regards. I liked the way Vizza made quick decisions and stepped up in the pocket.

[untbowler]

I had to listen to OU Radio on sirius last night coming back from Mt Home and they mentioned mid 3Q that Vizza looked to be the better passer of the 2 QB's. I nearly drove off the road a few times hearing Meager get con't sacked or rushed out of the way, especially the 10+ yd losses.

Also what was up with the KR's? I do not think they advanced passed the 15 yd line at all, while I was listening, which started with 8 min left in 2Q.

[GMoney]

think from that first drive it was apparent we were outmatched. Gosh Evyn Roman is undersized. That may be about as picked on as I have seen a Dback be. Some sort of changes need to be made there no matter if it is personnel or strategy.

Was he supposed to be playing that much or did the starting db get hurt on the first or second play. Roman was not the starter but he did get most of the snaps. Nuradeen (sp) and Bush are suppose to be the starters. Not only is he (Roman) young, but throw in that he was a backup and OU went straight after him like they should. Being on that island can be a lonely world, sink or swim, but you've gotta go through it to get better.

[Zeke]

Was he supposed to be playing that much or did the starting db get hurt on the first or second play. Roman was not the starter but he did get most of the snaps. Nuradeen (sp) and Bush are suppose to be the starters. Not only is he (Roman) young, but throw in that he was a backup and OU went straight after him like they should. Being on that island can be a lonely world, sink or swim, but you've gotta go through it to get better.

I wondered the same thing. Latif played later in the game I believe so I really couldn't understand it.

[UNTLifer]

It was nice to see sideline shots with coaches actually coaching and being involved.

[Will to Win]

Like TD said, it was to stomach that beating but at least I know we have a talented & aggresive QB waiting in the wings (Vizza). Meager just doesn't show the fortitude & confidence to carry his team forward. It is as simple as that and I am not sure why TD choses Meager over Vizza?

We will see what the SMU game reveals? Will Vizza come in the 3rd quarter or earlier if Meager struggles or not at all if Meager flourishes?

Is our defense the strenght of the team?

See at SMU!

[KBJ]

I know we have a talented & aggresive QB waiting in the wings (Vizza). Meager just doesn't show the fortitude & confidence to carry his team forward. It is as simple as that and I am not sure why TD choses Meager over Vizza?

Is our defense the strenght of the team?

See at SMU!

Vizza rushed 6 times for a total of 17 yards with OU second team on the field. Meager rushed 5 times for 29 yards.

Vizza completed 4 of 11 (36.4%) with 2 Int (18.2%) Meager 15 of 27 with 2 drops per the official summary (55.6% or include the two drops 62.6%) with one Int and you clounds want to run him into the ground.

All fall this site called the defense the second comming of all world. The secondary was the greatest the school has ever seen. Then T Dodge goes out and brings 2 or 3 CB into the fold and everyone is asking what is wrong.

You run down the 56 players that are on the team from the previous coach saying that none of them are worth being on the team and you want the players to kiss your ass and show you the respect that you think you deserve

I hope the players on this team show you what you really deserve a big f u

[emmitt01]

Vizza rushed 6 times for a total of 17 yards with OU second team on the field. Meager rushed 5 times for 29 yards.

Vizza completed 4 of 11 (36.4%) with 2 Int (18.2%) Meager 15 of 27 with 2 drops per the official summary (55.6% or include the two drops 62.6%) with one Int and you clounds want to run him into the ground.

All fall this site called the defense the second comming of all world. The secondary was the greatest the school has ever seen. Then T Dodge goes out and brings 2 or 3 CB into the fold and everyone is asking what is wrong.

You run down the 56 players that are on the team from the previous coach saying that none of them are worth being on the team and you want the players to kiss your ass and show you the respect that you think you deserve

I hope the players on this team show you what you really deserve a big f u

That was refreshing and enlightening.

You can leave now.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

Vizza rushed 6 times for a total of 17 yards with OU second team on the field. Meager rushed 5 times for 29 yards. Vizza completed 4 of 11 (36.4%) with 2 Int (18.2%) Meager 15 of 27 with 2 drops per the official summary (55.6% or include the two drops 62.6%) with one Int and you clounds want to run him into the ground.

All fall this site called the defense the second comming of all world. The secondary was the greatest the school has ever seen. Then T Dodge goes out and brings 2 or 3 CB into the fold and everyone is asking what is wrong.

You run down the 56 players that are on the team from the previous coach saying that none of them are worth being on the team and you want the players to kiss your ass and show you the respect that you think you deserve

I hope the players on this team show you what you really deserve a big f u

Whoa, Nellie! Let's put some facts straight.

Meager carried 10 times, gaining 29 yards and losing 48 for a net of -19 yards. Vizza didn't set the world on fire with a net of only 7 yards, but at least it was positive.

Admittedly, he had a poor completion percentage but his four completions gained more yards than than Meager's 15. And, as to dropped passes, I've never seen that statistic in the thousands that I have read. Please link that summary that shows that particular statistic.

This is not meant to be a knock on Meager; more of a defense of Vizza. Meager gives his best but he is too cautious and conservative to me.

Whick of the 56 holdovers have people on this board said do not deserve to be on this team. The talent is thinner than in years' past but there is still talent, such as Weathers, Chapman, Holman, both Thomases, Drake, and on and on. The only bad-mouthing that comes to mind is players who left the program and I think that was one of disappointment rather than criticism for lack of talent.

[KBJ]

Whoa, Nellie! Let's put some facts straight.

Meager carried 10 times, gaining 29 yards and losing 48 for a net of -19 yards. Vizza didn't set the world on fire with a net of only 7 yards, but at least it was positive.

Admittedly, he had a poor completion percentage but his four completions gained more yards than than Meager's 15. And, as to dropped passes, I've never seen that statistic in the thousands that I have read. Please link that summary that shows that particular statistic.

This is not meant to be a knock on Meager; more of a defense of Vizza. Meager gives his best but he is too cautious and conservative to me.

Whick of the 56 holdovers have people on this board said do not deserve to be on this team. The talent is thinner than in years' past but there is still talent, such as Weathers, Chapman, Holman, both Thomases, Drake, and on and on. The only bad-mouthing that comes to mind is players who left the program and I think that was one of disappointment rather than criticism for lack of talent.

Sorry GEO but Meager was sacked 5 times and only had 5 running plays called.........so the numbers as stated are correct.

--------------- 5 plays, 67 yards, TOP 01:42 ---------------

Hartley, Garret kickoff 67 yards to the NT3, Bush,Antoine return 22

yards to the NT25 (Bowers, Brett;Holmes, Lendy).

N 1-10 N25 NORTH TEXAS drive start at 11:38.

N 1-10 N25 Thomas,Jamario rush for loss of 4 yards to the NT21 (Lofton, Curtis).

N 2-14 N21 Meager,Daniel rush for 16 yards to the NT37, 1ST DOWN NT (Lofton,

Curtis;Williams, John).

N 1-10 N37 Meager,Daniel pass incomplete to Jackson,B. (Smith, Reggie).

N 2-10 N37 PENALTY NT false start (Menard,Matthew) 5 yards to the NT32.

N 2-15 N32 Meager,Daniel pass incomplete to Jackson,B., dropped pass.

N 3-15 N32 Meager,Daniel pass complete to Fitzgerald,C. for 5 yards to the NT37

(Lofton, Curtis).

N 4-10 N37 Spencer, Truman punt 39 yards to the OU24, Smith, Reggie return 2 yards to

the OU26 (Mahan,Colt;Davenport,Ryan), PENALTY OU illegal block (

[MeanGreenBuzz]

Sorry GEO but Meager was sacked 5 times and only had 5 running plays called.........so the numbers as stated are correct.

To my knowledge Meager didn't have a single running play "called." They were all scrambles to escape a sack or when he found open running room (I remember one play in particular where he gained 10+ when all the defenders ran past him). Which means you can separate his negative yards from his positive. If you wanted to do that you would need to remove the negative yards from the safety, etc. from Vizza's totals.

[KBJ]

To my knowledge Meager didn't have a single running play "called." They were all scrambles to escape a sack or when he found open running room (I remember one play in particular where he gained 10+ when all the defenders ran past him). Which means you can separate his negative yards from his positive. If you wanted to do that you would need to remove the negative yards from the safety, etc. from Vizza's totals.

All the negatives yards were taken from Vizza's totals.

When Meager rolls to his right and the WR are blocking I would bet a lot of money that I was a QB running play called. On the second series JM rushed for a 4 yard loss then TD call for DM to run and he picked up 16.

[Coach]

I guess it's that 4.4 speed from Meager that allows him to rip apart the OU defense like that. Vizza can't hold his jock. Or a hybrid of Reggie Bush and Peyton Manning.

Do I deserve "a big f u" now?

[Cr1028]

To me it seems like Vizza will get sacked for a 5 yd loss while Meager gets sacked for a 15 yd loss.

[Coach]

To me it seems like Vizza will get sacked for a 5 yd loss while Meager gets sacked for a 15 yd loss.

No.

The stats clearly prove that in that situation, Meager will complete a 98 yard TD pass to himself.