The game sucked.
Or as Al Czervik would say
"this place sucks, thats right it sucks, the only reason im here is maybe ill buy it"
And then Smails says:
"BUY BUSHWOOD!?!?!?"
Anyway, the game was terrible. You say, well, it was #1 Oklahoma vs #5 Texas, it was the Red River Rivalry, it was a 45-35 final, it should have determined 1/2 of the championship game (in the cruel twist, it obviously didnt; Oklahoma lost and still made the title game), how could it be that bad? Well, let's begin:
For starters, the officiating was downright atrocious. Just inexcusably bad. For the first half, the officiating, and the game overall, were average. But then, the second half changed everything. There were four (3 in the second half) personal foul plays. Zero of them were legit. All of them were crucial parts of the game. You know like, when you stop a team, and they punt, and when the punter punts ha falls down when no one touches him, and they call a foul and the punting team gets to keep the ball? Yeah, it happened.
Even Musburger and Herbstreit were very, very, very critical of the officiating staff. Perhaps more critical than any other announce team of a game ever. Now in the past, announce teams have been critical maybe of one particular call, and have been more riled up over it than Brent and Kirk were during this game, but over the ENTIRE game, the number of bad calls and the number of times Brent and Kirk were critical is probably a record. Brent usually says whats on his mind, is critical when necessary, and lets you know who he has money on by the middle of the 1st quarter (he had Oklahoma), but for Herbstreit to be critical, you know the officiating must have been bad. They were laughing hysterically at one point at how bad the officiating was, and at different points of the game, compared the game to flag football and soccer. Is that what you want to hear when its #1 vs #5?
Other than the main, major blown calls, the officiating crew was generally obtrusive. Here are two sequences I would like to describe to you. One involves the officials, one doesn't really. These are both in the 4th quarter, you know, when intensity is supposed to be at its highest and stuff:
After a running into the kicker that didnt happen, Oklahoma maintains possession of the ball. They were down 30-28, but they score to go up 34-30. Small Game Bob decides to go for 2. Texas calls timeout because they dont have enough men on the field. After the timeout, they still dont have enough men on the field, and a defensive lineman rushes out there, just in time. Oklahoma though, false starts, 5 yard penalty. Since they are backed up 5 yards, Oklahoma decides to go for 1. They cant line up right, and Oklahoma calls a timeout because of this. After their timeout, they finally kick the FG, and make it 35-30. Does that sound like 2 of the 3 best teams in the nation.
On the very next drive. Colt McCoy finds Jordan Shipley over the middle for what would end up putting Texas up for good. Shipley catches it at about the 20, runs up the middle, gets a huge block from Quan Cosby (highlight of the game, Cosby sent this dude flying 5 yards, no exaggeration), and is dragged down at like the one inch line. His momentum carries him in.
At first glance, live, I thought it was a touchdown. The line judge signaled touchdown immediately. The field judge said he was down. Texas and their fans are going wild. We go to, instant replay. 90 seconds later they determine that the ball should be on the one inch line. THen Herbstreit says: "this is a big difference, thats a big call in this situation. Texas doesn't really have that big bruiser running back that can punch it in from short yardage." So what happens? First play, they give it to RB Cody Johnson who runs THROUGH the whole end zone untouched. It wasnt even close. Everyone on the Texas offensive line blew everyone on Oklahoma's defense 5-6 yards back. He could have crawled in. I probably could have ran the ball in. So, unfortunately, Herbstreit was wrong. By the way........Cody Johnson had 3 rushes in this game for 3 touchdowns. No joke, 100% rushing - Touchdown ratio. Hes 5'11" 255 pounds. Over the course of the year he only had 76 carries but 12 Touchdowns. Maybe Herbstreit's definition of a 'big bruiser running back' differs from mine, but I think that Johnson fits the bill.
Does that sound like a game you want to listen to/watch???
Watch the Cosby block here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbSaXAEoYvQ&feature=related
Can I first say something about Small Game Bob, which will be known as SGB from now on on this blog (I like it, its kinda like KGB from Rounders, but way shittier). He earned the moniker "big game bob" because when he was fresh at Oklahoma, they beat Texas a few years in a row and they won the Orange Bowl and National Title. Fast Forward a few years, and look at his past bowl games now:
2009 national championship: L 14-24 to Florida........ Oklahoma was a 3 pt Underdog
2008 Fiesta Bowl: L 48-28 to W. Virginia ..... Oklahoma was an 8 pt Favorite
2007 Fiesta Bowl: L 43 - 42 to Boise St. .... Oklahoma was a 7.5 pt Favorite
2005 Holiday Bowl: W 17-14 to Oregon .... cant find the spread....I would guess Ore was favored
2005 national championship: L 55-19 to USC ... I want to say USC was favored by 3?
2004 national championship: L 21-14 to LSU .. Dont remember the spread. This was the year Oklahoma was #3 in the AP but somehow #1 in the BCS.....that worked out.
2003 Rose Bowl: W 34 -14 to Washington State.... dont remember the spread.
So Stoops is 2-5 in his last 7 bowl games, and 0-5 in the last 5 BCS games. He also has lost to Texas three of the last four years. How could anyone justify the moniker Big Game Bob? Thats why I have even taken it the other route. Wow, Oklahoma has top 5 talent EVERY YEAR, and they can beat the likes of Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas St., etc. But they dont beat Texas, and they cant win a bowl game. Embarrassing.
So how does any of this relate? Well, just look at the 2 games Oklahoma lost last year. Well start with Texas. Oklahoma jumps out to a 21-10 lead. They obviously blow the game. The #1 offense in the nation only scores 7 points in the 4th quarter, and those came off of penalties. They shit the bed basically. Also, they couldn't stop Texas. Musburger (remember who had Oklahoma), was rationalizing his loss by saying that LB Ryan Reynolds got hurt mid game. True, losing Reynolds did hurt, but when you let another team go down the field twice, for 154 yards, in 2 drives in the 4th quarter, you are going to get beat. They just couldnt stop Texas; Texas wore them down. When Oklahoma went up 14-3, they let Shipley return the ensuing kickoff to get the deficit back to 4. At a crucial part of the game, Oklahoma was winning 28-27. There was about 5 mins left in the third quarter. It was 4th and 6 from the Oklahoma 48.
They ran a fake punt. Came up short, and the game was over at that point. Texas ended up kicking a field goal that drive, but they outscored Oklahoma 18-7 the rest of the game. If you have the #1 offense in the nation, and you want to go for it on 4th down, why not just send the offense out there? Why run a fake punt? I dont understand this. Generally, you want to run fake punts right when it seems like the momentum is shifting to another team, so Stoops was kinda right in this sense. But, I say, to never run a fake punt when you're winning. They were winning. Punt the ball, make Texas go 80 yards, and, if they do, youll get the ball back with your offense.
Think of the signals this sends. It says you dont have faith in the offense to pick up 6 yards. Funny how you couldnt, they are #1 in the nation and Bradford did throw for 5 TDs this game. It says you dont have confidence in the defense. "It doesnt matter if we kick it deep or give it to them here, we cant stop them." And it shows you dont have faith in the special teams to effectively cover the punt (remember they did give up a kick return for a TD earlier in the game). So Stoops just basically says, I dont have any confidence in anything, fuck it, Ill run a fake punt. It ended up costing them the game.
But, I said, lets look at the two losses they had last year. Look at the title game. It was 0-0 after the 1st quarter - neither team really threatened. Three plays into the 2nd Quarter, Florida scores. Oklahoma comes out and runs Chris Brown 3 times for 16, 15, 14 yards in a row. Boom. They score 3 plays later and its 7-7....good game so far. Next drive, Tebow throws a pick in his own territory.
This is where Oklahoma starts to blow it. Chris Brown rushed for 17 yards down to the 9. Then for 5, then for 3, then for 0. Its 4th and Goal from the 1. I know that he has confidence in Brown since he just had a few nice runs in a row. But, you take the points.
Repeat, you take the points. Its a 7-7 game in the national championship. ITs already been proven its not gonna be 66-56 or something like the stupid games against Texas Tech and other Big12 opponents. Its going to be low scoring. You take the fucking points. They dont, they run the ball, they dont get it. 3 points off the board, momentum shift back to Florida.
Florida gets some breathing room but has to punt. Oklahoma takes over with 2:30 left to play. They drive the field. First off, it should be mentioned that the first play of Florida's drive after the stopped 4th down, Oklahoma had to use a timeout. Basically, they get down to FLorida's six yard line. 1st and goal from the 6. 10 seconds left, and they burn their last timeout. (They didnt have the wisdom to get out of bounds). Anything short of the end zone and they run out of time. They could probably get one crack at the end zone and then kick a fg, or they could kick it now. What do they do? What would you do? What would I do?
Id probably throw a real quick fade route, that although has a low % chance of being complete, puts it where only my guy can catch it. It limits chance of an INT, a sack, and doesnt run 10 secs off the clock. Then Id kick the FG.
Oklahoma runs a pattern that is short of the endzone. Major Wright intercepts the ball, but even if he didnt, Oklahoma would have been down at the 1 and would have run out of time.
There is at least 6 points that Stoops left off the board. Could easily be 13-7 at this point, if not worse.
Oklahoma stops Florida on the first drive. They get the ball and are driving with it. They have 1st and 10 at the Florida 38. Do they throw the ball with the Heisman trophy winner? Do they give it to Brown who has been very effective? No, they run the ball to Mossis Madu, who gains 2 yards. Okay, not the end of the world. 2nd an 8, they run it again, to Madu. He only had 4 carries this game, 2 of them were there. He loses two yards, and its 3rd and 10. This again was terrible execution. 3rd down they throw an incompletion and they have to punt.
Floridas next drive, they just give the ball to Tebow every play. He runs for a big first down, gets up and starts waving his arms and yelling at everybody on both teams, and you say, yup, this game is over. And it was at that point. Florida punches it in.
Oklahoma drives down to the Florida 28 yd line. 3rd and 1, they give it to Brown who loses 4
yards. Brown is not effective in this short yardage it appears. Now, losing 14-7, they attempt a 49 yard field goal. After passing on those two other opportunities that were basically extra points when the game was tied, they will attempt a 49 yd fg when they are losing by 7. Its blocked.
But they stop Florida again. The defense is actually playing pretty well. They start the next drive at their own 23, and go 77 yards. Chris Brown touches it 5 times in a row to get the ball to the FLA 20 (yeah 57 yds on his own), then Bradford connects with Grisham two times in a row to tie the game up. Real hard there, Brown, and throw it to the TE who is gonna be a top 5 pick next year in the draft. Tie Game.
So Oklahoma's defense then gives up a big Harvin run to get the Gators a FG, and Bradford is picked off. 10 minutes left, Florida ball midfield, and they do the same thing that Texas did to Oklahoma. They make em bleed. Tebow completes every pass, they run it up their ass, and they score after eating up 7 mins. The game is over, its 24-14 with 3 mins left.
So if this were the SAT, and they said what do the two games have in common, what would you say?
1) Terrible special teams play/management by Oklahoma (allowing a kick return, not kicking a FG twice, getting a FG blocked, not being able to line up right on a PAT, etc.)
2) Losing the 4th quarter convincingly.
Both of those symptoms are consistent with what is known as "bad coaching".
That isnt to say Oklahoma lost every 4th quarter during the season, just the ones that mattered. Lets look at how Oklahoma was doing in the games entering the 4th quarter:
Chattanooga: up 57 - 2, won 57 - 2
Cincinnati: up 42 - 20, won 52-26
Washington: up 48 - 7, won 55-14
TCU: up 35 - 3, won 35 - 10
Baylor: up 42 - 17, won 49 - 17
Texas: Down 28 - 30, lost 35 - 45
Kansas: up 38 - 24, won 45 - 31
Kansas St.: up 55 - 35, won 58 - 35
Nebraska: up 62 - 21, won 62 -28
Texas A&M: up 66-21, won 66-28
Texas Tech: up 58 - 14, won 65-21
Oklahoma St. up 37-26, won 61 - 41
Mizzou: up 41-14, won 62 - 21
Florida: down 14-7, lost 24-14
So two things here. One, they were losing going into the 4th quarter in both games they lost. However, they were tied or winning then at one point in the 4th quarter. In the Texas game they scored and were up 35-30, and against Florida they tied it right at the start of the 4th quarter. The next closest margin they were was up 11 against Ok. State, and admittedly, they played well in the 4th quarter of that game. That was the best they played in the 4th all year. Look at the other games though, they were up 40 pts in some of them. Now, they didnt play Bradford in the 4th quarter. They ran the ball a majority of the time. It turns into a damned if your do, damned if you dont thing.
If they leave the starters in, you will be criticized for running up the score and you risk injury.
If you take them out, they dont get experience of playing 4 quarters.
I think the latter instance caught up with them. They did not have late game experience when they needed it. I dont really know how SGB could have made this happen. I guess sometimes people are clutch and sometimes theyre not. It sounds dumb, like something Herbstreit would say, but the Sooners just were not tested enough last year, and when they were, they lost.
BAck to the game though. In general I saw a few things:
I like McCoy better than Bradford.
I like Oklahoma's running game a lot better than Texas' (but they dont use it as much as they should)
I like Texas' WRs better than Oklahomas.
I like Texas' defense better.
Ultimately, what won the game for Texas is the same thing that won the game for Florida against Oklahoma, that is defense. We heard how good of a job Oklahoma's offensive line did last year at keeping Bradford up right, and for the most part, they did. But Loadholt was playing left tackle last year (who got taken by Minn in the draft), and he could not block Brian Orakpo to save his life. On the other end, right tackle Trent Williams (who is projected to be a 1st rounder), couldnt block Sergio Kindle (who is also projected to be a 1st rounder). Those ends caused loads of trouble for Bradford. Now, overall, you open up the box score and look at the stats, and you say, it wasn't Braford's fault, he had a good game. Both are kinda true, but when the offense needed to be big, they came up short.
IT also doesnt help when you allow 45 points of your own. The 45 points Oklahoma allowed was the most they allowed all season. In the 4th quarter, Texas' offensive line had their way with the front seven of Oklahoma. Watch Ogbonnayas run at the end of the game here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpT8bxpLwBo&feature=related (fast forward to 2:18).
If you want to watch that whole clip, do so with the sound off. BUt you can also see how much trouble they had blocking Orakpo and Kindle. BUt look at the whole they open up on that Ogbonnayas run. See the guard and center pull and knock those guys out of the picture? Thats the difference between winning and losing.
A short summary. SGB is not helping Oklahoma's cause. He can continue to go 10-2, 11-1, but he needs a defense that can play before they win another title. Look at the 2000 season in which they won the title. Mike Stoops was the defensive coordinator, and look at the totals in the games. Oklahoma averaged two touchdowns less scoring than they did in 2008. BUT, they averaged giving up just 15 pts/game, which is 10 pts lower than they allowed last year. They also played a harder schedule: #1 Nebraska, #2 Kansas State, #3 FSU, #8 Kansas State in Big12 Title game and #11 Texas. The point is, if you shave off the numbers, they actually net -5.0 in pts right? They gain 10 pts in defense, and lose 15 in offense. But they didnt lose that year. Its cause you dont lose when you play good defense. It didnt matter that they only scored 13 pts in the title game, cause they only gave up 2. They only scored 12 against Oklahoma State, but only allowed 7. As long as you score more than the other team, you win. And, a good defense will always beat a good offense. So when you have a day off because your coach decides not to kick field goals or you shoot yourself in the foot, (Title Game vs Florida), it wont matter that you only score 14 points, because ideally, your defense will have allowed less than 14.
In conclusion, the game between the two teams was very bad. I cant believe that anyone who sat through it was able to say that those two teams were 2/3 best teams in the nation with a straight face. It makes it less surprising that Oklahoma lost to Florida and that Texas barely beat Ohio State (neither were surprising to begin with). It also makes it less surprising that the teams that these teams beat (Texas Tech, Oklahoma State) also got destroyed in their bowl games. Its getting to the point where even though im trying by writing this blog, that I cant put into words how much I hate the Big12. These two teams were horribly over rated, and they played a powder puff football game whose shittiness was enhanced by terrible officiating. The only saving grace was that Musburger did the game.
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