Tulsa at OU Afterthoughts: Line play

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 5, 2011

Went to watch alma mater #2 get crushed by OU. It got me to thinking about our fate this season, and the results of seasons past.

First, OU had a walk-on running back rush for 131 yards and 4 touchdowns. http://newsok.com/dominique-whaley-gives-oklahoma-fans-players-an-unlikely-week-1-hero-to-pull-for/article/3601227

While it's not right to bash kids, let's be honest. If a walk-on who hadn't played a game in three years blows up for 130+ yards and 4 TDs, your offensive line in dominating. You have to wonder about a guy like Lance Dunbar would like like behind a serviceable line. At places like OU, you could stick Grandma Moses and tailback and she'd give you good production.

Second, OU's defensive line play was sick. An end knocked down two passes and intercepting another. That's a good night for a defensive back. This was their starting DE.

I am reluctant to blame former coaches on current results. But, when you look back, Dodge's best offensive linemen were guys Dickey left behind. The same can be said of the DTs. And, thus far, I think it's been a push with the DEs.

We've debated for years that first recruiting class of Dodge and how it fell apart, was top-heavy with receivers who didn't pan out, etc. But, the real battle for McCarney and company is rebuilding the offensive and defensive lines.

It's not that the guys we have aren't good guys or students. It's just that, once you look a the results, you have to wonder whether or not they belonged at this level.

There's no secret that many of us were skeptical of Todd Dodge and his ability to grasp the game at this level. I think we're about to discover that merely getting rid of Dodge isn't going to be enough. Although I hate to say it, the new coaching staff has a bigger hole to dig out of than I ever imagined.

As far as our game with Tulsa, even without alleged felon Damaris Johnson and graduate Charles Clay, they moved the ball well on OU. They had 400 yards of offense against Oklahoma, and the Sooners didn't pull their starters until midway through the 4th quarter. Both TU TDs were scored on OU's first teamers.

G.J. Kinne is a real talent with ridiculous escapability. He converted a 3rd and 10 with a 13 yard run that was crazy in that he created the open space himself with some twisting and turning away from pressure. They have a couple of good backs as well. The stats were 31 rushes for Tulsa for 129 yards, 4.2 per carry. That's not bad against OU.

The bottom line is, Tulsa may still roll into their game with us without a win, but they will give us everything they have. If we don't show some improvement against Houston, I'm not sure we'll compete even with Tulsa.

risinggreen · September 5, 2011

Went to watch alma mater #2 get crushed by OU. It got me to thinking about our fate this season, and the results of seasons past.

First, OU had a walk-on running back rush for 131 yards and 4 touchdowns. http://newsok.com/dominique-whaley-gives-oklahoma-fans-players-an-unlikely-week-1-hero-to-pull-for/article/3601227

While it's not right to bash kids, let's be honest. If a walk-on who hadn't played a game in three years blows up for 130+ yards and 4 TDs, your offensive line in dominating. You have to wonder about a guy like Lance Dunbar would like like behind a serviceable line. At places like OU, you could stick Grandma Moses and tailback and she'd give you good production.

Second, OU's defensive line play was sick. An end knocked down two passes and intercepting another. That's a good night for a defensive back. This was their starting DE.

I am reluctant to blame former coaches on current results. But, when you look back, Dodge's best offensive linemen were guys Dickey left behind. The same can be said of the DTs. And, thus far, I think it's been a push with the DEs.

We've debated for years that first recruiting class of Dodge and how it fell apart, was top-heavy with receivers who didn't pan out, etc. But, the real battle for McCarney and company is rebuilding the offensive and defensive lines.

It's not that the guys we have aren't good guys or students. It's just that, once you look a the results, you have to wonder whether or not they belonged at this level.

There's no secret that many of us were skeptical of Todd Dodge and his ability to grasp the game at this level. I think we're about to discover that merely getting rid of Dodge isn't going to be enough. Although I hate to say it, the new coaching staff has a bigger hole to dig out of than I ever imagined.

As far as our game with Tulsa, even without alleged felon Damaris Johnson and graduate Charles Clay, they moved the ball well on OU. They had 400 yards of offense against Oklahoma, and the Sooners didn't pull their starters until midway through the 4th quarter. Both TU TDs were scored on OU's first teamers.

G.J. Kinne is a real talent with ridiculous escapability. He converted a 3rd and 10 with a 13 yard run that was crazy in that he created the open space himself with some twisting and turning away from pressure. They have a couple of good backs as well. The stats were 31 rushes for Tulsa for 129 yards, 4.2 per carry. That's not bad against OU.

The bottom line is, Tulsa may still roll into their game with us without a win, but they will give us everything they have. If we don't show some improvement against Houston, I'm not sure we'll compete even with Tulsa.

Yes, apparently Dodge was absent that day in coaching school when they covered the chapter on building your team from the linemen on up. There's no denying that both Tulsa and Houston have the guns to burn out some lights on the scoreboard.

GrayEagle · September 5, 2011

Of course our offensive line play will never equal that of OU's but I like the talent that's available. Of the five O linemen only JJ was at the same position and he had a year's staleness (game time that is) and was lost early in the FIU game. The rest were inexperienced at that position so were likely not able to pick up the defensive formations and stunts that FIU threw at them.

I thought that they handled their blocking assignments reasonably well. Most of the pressure on our quarterback came from the outside. The containment of Dunbar was that of a defense designed to stop the run so it seemed that there was always an extra rusher on our running backs.

I was having a little computer trouble and didn't see much more than half of the game but I don't recall sweeps or screens to counteract clogging the middle. I do remember Byrd making a couple of nice gains on wide sweeps. We did try to pass but were never very effective due to the outside rush.

The defensive tackle play was pathetic. Brooks had a tackle on the safety and Abbe had an assist. That was it for defensive tackles for the entire game.

I hope that Coach Mac will focus on this position beginning today. Boutwell has to give up 30-50 pounds to his blocker and most of his rushing strengths are nullified. Brooks appears to be our best DT and needs more playing time. I have no clue about the others.

Edited September 5, 2011 by GrayEagle

The Fake Lonnie Finch · September 5, 2011

Of course our offensive line play will never equal that of OU's but I like the talent that's available. Of the five O linemen only JJ was at the same position and he had a year's staleness (game time that is) and was lost early in the FIU game. The rest were inexperienced at that position so were likely not able to pick up the defensive formations and stunts that FIU threw at them.

I thought that they handled their blocking assignments reasonably well. Most of the pressure on our quarterback came from the outside. The containment of Dunbar was that of a defense designed to stop the run so it seemed that there was always an extra rusher on our running backs.

I was having a little computer trouble and didn't see much more than half of the game but I don't recall sweeps or screens to counteract clogging the middle. I do remember Byrd making a couple of nice gains on wide sweeps. We did try to pass but were never very effective due to the outside rush.

The defensive tackle play was pathetic. Brooks had a tackle on the safety and Abbe had an assist. That was it for defensive tackles for the entire game.

I hope that Coach Mac will focus on this position beginning today. Boutwell has to give up 30-50 pounds to his blocker and most of his rushing strengths are nullified. Brooks appears to be our best DT and needs more playing time. I have no clue about the others.

Agree, that perhaps what we have can be servicable in the Belt. But, outside of that...we'll see how it goes against generic C-USA offensive line in Tulsa.

As to the DTs, I've already stated my preference that they throw Brooks and Thompson into the fire. If we're going to get beat, let's at least have some guys in there who are already big enough to fit the part learning the part.

The other weird TU-OU note I left out is that the punters for TU and OU are brothers, Cole and Tress Way. And, TU's Way, Cole, can sky the ball, folks. He had OU's Ryan Broyles calling for fair catches no matter what part of the field he kicked from. TU's gunners we're at Broyles well before the ball got there many times.

This was also interesting: A guy both UNT and Tulsa recruited, a JUCO QB named Milton Howell, started at CB for Tulsa.

Tulsa's defense is largely intact from last year, and they hit hard. But, OU just had more guns all the way around. Notably absent for Tulsa was defensive back John Flanders - the guy who intercepted Notre Dame in the end zone with about 20 seconds left in last year's game to seal that upset. Flanders in academically ineligible. That's probably the reason Howell was starting at CB.