The Victors

1 Underwood’s passing performance was a bit better than statistics indicate. He had 2 very-near completions on the sideline that were just out of bounds, one drop, plus a PI on a long throw. That’s all good process. His decisionmaking looked faster and better than week one.

2 Game plan was a bit too conservative given the above. Oklahoma’s safeties were flying to the line. It’s impossible to generate consistent running against a defense that good and that willing to commit to the run.

Our plan was probably to get some explosives in the ground game, and we came really close several times but just hit one. We lost a chunk run on a very marginal holding call on Jake Guarnera, and several others on one-guy execution failures.

I’d have liked several more deep shots on first down. We had a second down play after an OU time out with 2:07 left in the game, so no chance to run clock. A successful pass would have ended the game but we ran. I hope Underwood earned more trust with his performance.

3 Defense’s ability to pressure with four was decisive. Our secondary played brilliant man coverage, allowing us to pressure and have a spy on Mateer. We were able to give Underwood clean pockets unless Oklahoma blitzed, and we did not need to blitz. Our pass protection was massively improved from last year’s Oklahoma game, though the game plan we used played a big role in that.

4. However, OU’s line was banged up, so we need to be a bit cautious overinterpreting the results. It’s the flipside of overinterpreting our offense: Oklahoma is way way better on D than O, so our defense was always going to look better than our offense against them. Need more data here.

Still concerned about the interior DT depth against stronger running opponents. But I think our pass defense can be really elite, and that is helpful against some of the top opponents we face (OSU, Oregon especially).

5. I think the running game has potential to improve with more reps. We are close to some explosives, which is what you need against that kind of D – expecting consistent 4-5 yards is unrealistic. I love the punting we have – right now, we have a conservative offense, great defense and great punter and that is a nice formula.