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SI.com college football writer Stewart Mandel shares his commentary, analysis and random tidbits on the latest developments around the country.
Officiating Bad, but So Is Sooners' D
I’d also argue, however, that the officiating debacle was beneficial to Stoops in one way. During Monday morning’s Big 12 teleconference, nearly every question directed at Stoops was about the officiating. Clearly, the debacle has deflected attention away from the issue that Stoops should be talking about right now: How has his vaunted Oklahoma defense managed to become so bad? While statistics can be misleading this early in the season, you still have to raise your eyebrows at this one: Through three games, Oklahoma ranks 97th in the country in total defense, having allowed nearly 400 yards per game. The Sooners gave up a surprising number of big plays against UAB (the same UAB team that got shut out by Georgia last weekend). They allowed Washington’s long-underachieving tailbacks to run all over them. And while Oregon’s offense is admittedly hard for anyone to stop, you’d still think OU could do better than allowing 501 yards. Bad officiating or not, the Sooners’ secondary was helpless to stop Ducks QB Dennis Dixon on the two last-minute touchdown drives. This wasn’t supposed to be the case. If anything, Oklahoma’s defense was expected to carry the team until QB Paul Thompson gained confidence. Instead it’s been the opposite. Thompson has acquitted himself surprisingly well the past two weeks; the Sooners’ defense, on the other hand, seems to be regressing by the week. All of this is indicative of a deeper, more troubling trend regarding the Sooners. When Stoops came to Norman in 1999, he built his program around having a dominant defense, and that was certainly the case from 2000 to '03, when OU went 48-6 behind a host of All-America defenders (Rocky Calmus, Tommie Harris, Derrick Strait, Teddy Lehman, et al.). Something changed, however, with that Big 12 championship meltdown against Kansas State at the end of the 2003 regular season. OU returned to the national-title game in '04, but its defense struggled all season and imploded in the Orange Bowl against USC. Last year’s unit was better but still not up to the old standard. And in '06, it seems, the Sooners’ defensive swagger has completely vanished. So what’s the problem? Oklahoma has been able to recruit far better athletes the past few years than it did at the very beginning of its run. And defensive coordinator Brent Venables has been a constant from the get-go. It may not be a physical thing -- it may be emotional. Former co-coordinator Mike Stoops, who took the Arizona job the week of that ‘03 Kansas State game, was a famously maniacal motivator who got his guys to play at a fever pitch every week. Clearly the Sooners miss him. But I also wonder whether OU simply lacks the kind of on-field leaders they had on those early teams. Rufus Alexander, Reggie Smith, C.J. Ah You -- these guys are all more physically gifted than Calmus, Lehman or Torrance Marshall, but those players also brought the kind of intangibles you can’t measure. Who’s leading the current Sooners defense? The way they’ve played so far, the best guess is, nobody.
posted by Stewart Mandel | View comments |
Comments:Ah, yes, years ago, Oklahoma football was all about hangin' a quick fifty on 'em, then giving the new talent some work while the defense carried through to the end of the game...
I'm a life long Sooner fan, and I just don't understand what's going on with the D either. I think once Mike Stoops left, the heart of our defense left. Our talent has improved yearly, but we lose so many good coordinators each year also. Venebles is a decent coach, but he's not on the same level as Mike Stoops.
Not to shy away from partisan feelings on this but I can't say I'm sad about OU's decline into football purgatory. After Texas had suffered 5 straight defeats at the hands of the Sooners during the Red River Shootout, I'm elated at the latest turn of events in Norman. Apparently the elder Stoops has no control over his supposed better athletes (read that as Bomar), at least not being able to hold a candle to his little bro! Come what may I feel the Longhorns are on the verge of their own 5 game winning streak. And only then will I feel satisfied as Sooner fans begin to clamor for the head of Bob Stoops on a pike, instead of Mack Brown.
Who cares about OU! You should talk about Oklahoma State - Although they've played a week non-conference schedule, they are crushing their opponents. The Larry Fedora offense has finally come together and the defense is playing great too! How could Sports Illustrated have picked OSU to go 0-8 in conference play? Last year was a rebuilding year - OSU will beat Baylor at the least!
Absolutely correct. I'm a dihard fan, but OU hasn't been the same since that K-State whipping. No swagger, and seemingly no heart.
good luck against Texas!!
Both replay reviews in Oregon-Oklahoma were inexcusable, the onside kick being particularly egregious. As a PAC-10 supporter, it was embarassing to see what appeared to be blatant home cooking to engineer a victory over the visiting conference.
Yeah I agree completely Mandel, and another thing to note is that when OU played big games(top ranked teams) during Stoops' first 3 years, they almost always came into the game with an amazing defensive strategy to lock the other team down, and Stoops doesn't seem to have that strategy and creativity anymore. But WOW...that was still possibly the worst officiating call I've ever seen in the replay era. It blew my mind.
If this were an SEC w/ a sputtering offense, yet they continued to win (i.e. Bama last year), everybody would talk about how great it is that they continue to win. The Sooners should be 3-0 (anybody who thinks otherwise is delusional) and all that would matter is that they have more points at the end...
I agree that the Sooners' D needs to find any kind of defense and the O needs to show up in both half's of the game, but if you are going to have Instant Replay, get some refs that aren't visually handicapped to view the freak'n replay! Oh and by the way, Mike Stoops, how could you leave us like that back in '03? What a sham to leave before the final games of the season!!!
It's interesting how the offense has continued to flourish despite the constant coaching turnover (Leach, Mangino, Long, etc.) but the defense has really been in steady decline over the past few years since Mike Stoops left. At what point will Bob Stoops, a defensive coach himself, look to make a major change on his defensive coaching staff to better capitalize on the talent OU is bringing in? I know he's a loyal coach, but the defensive inconsistency is getting ridiculous, and something has to change...
I didn't see the zebras giving up 500yds offense...or two TD's..or blocking kicks..it was a bad break, but you don't hear any OU fans talking about the call in the UAB game that sealed their win. In year's past, these bounces always went to OU...now they aren't. That's why Stoops will be following Peterson out of Norman this year. I hear he loves the weather in Miami.
Yes, the call was wrong but OU never had the horses to win the NC this year. LSU, on the other hand did, and got equally railroaded by at least three bad calls. I am not an LSU fan, but for the SEC to say those calls were legit is just ludicrous.
The officiating wasn't bad; it was criminal. There is simply no way the officials could have missed a)the fact that the Ducks touched the onside kick too early b)that the Sooners actually recovered it anyway and c)that the pass was tipped at the line, nullifying the pass intereference, all with the benefit of instant replay. This was a case of Pac Ten officals throwing the game to the home team. Stoops is not allowed to say it; the NCAA will never admit; and all the commentators shy away from it. But we all know it. On the field these calls could have been missed; in the replay booth they could only have been wilfully thrown.
I'm sick of reading about two blown calls during the game. What about all the others? Like the two times OK snapped the ball after the clock had expired... or the phantom fumble by Oregon's Stewart as they were driving for a score... or the blantant offensive pass interference by the OK receiver when he shoved the Oregon DB with both hands to create room for his touchdown catch. OK got the better of the calls all day. The fact is OK could not stop Oregon and they got beat. Quit whining!
Good blog entry on the OU defense, but I would say that the problem goes beyond the D. Does Stoops seem like the same coach that won it all in 2000? That coach was aggressive and took risks – he always went for the win (a la Pete Carroll). This Stoops is more Lloyd Carr-esque; he plays close to the vest and tries to avoid losing. I thought OU might go for a TD (or fake FG) on fourth down when the score was 30-21. Instead, they took an easy 3 and then played very soft prevent defense. It seems like a change in coaching philosophy from the early days of Stoops’ tenure. Sure, the refs did an atrocious job on the onside kick and pass interference calls, but Oklahoma should not have been in a position to lose the game because of lousy officiating. I say this as a Sooner fan – Bob Stoops seems like he has lost some of his early fire.
O Who? Oklahoma will not be 'OK' this season and in the coming seasons. Looking forward to Colt and the Horns hanging a half a hundred on them...
All good questions, but someone also needs to ask Stoops about the coaching meltdown in the last 30 seconds. Even with the two absolutely terrible calls they still had a great chance to win, but left their kicker with a 44 yard field goal when they could've run two pass plays to give the kid some help. Stoops inexplicably ran Peterson with no timeouts and was lucky to even get a shot at the kick when Thompson stopped the clock at 2 seconds. What a waste. With better management they still should've gotten a win.
All the controversy over the last two reviews in the Oregon game conceal the horrendous officiating that happened during the game. Two calls against Oregon were similarly wrong. One was a very questionable fumble that was upheld in the third quarter and the other was allowing a long pass play for OU to stand that was snapped after the play clock expired. Not to mention a flagrant push off by an OU receiver for a TD in the second half. Bad refs, Bad!
The bottom line is that despite the pathetic calls, Oregon was crowned winner of the game. There is nothing that can be done this year but I hope it provides the NCAA with food for thought for the future. NO TEAM should have to lose a game the way OU did this past Saturday. It borders on criminal.
I agree...there were so many other terrible calls during the game that went in favor of OK...they had every opportunity to win the game. OR had 501 yards against the OK defense. Stoops and Sooner fans should be more concerned with that than crying over what could have been.
Your comment about Stoops using the officiating to deflect attention from OU's abysmal defense is on the money.
The Sooners had this game locked up, and gave the game away. OU can huff and puff all they want, but giving up two touchdowns in under 30 seconds says volumes about the Sooner D. As a die hard sooner fan I have to agree with you regarding the sooner defense. However, all Texas fans should take notice, your freak of nature is gone, you had your one lucky year. Reality will return to the Longhorns this year as we all have already seen with the pathetic performance against OSU. Don't be fooled, OU will start another 5 year streak this year in Dallas!
I'm sick of hearing about the bad officiating, as if that is the sole reason OU lost. 500+ yards of offense given up? Oregon walked all over OU most of the game and OU wouldn't have been that close without a phantom fumble that they benefited from. Bottom line: Officiating excuses cover up 500+ yards given up. Oregon's offense blew OU up.
Although there were calls that went Oklahomas game throughout the day, the bottom line is that they blew the calls when it mattered the most. As a Sooner fan myself, I figured we wouldn't win due to a lack of D and a medicore offense (Peterson or not, Thompson is too inconsistent to drop 50 on any team), but those calls were just horrible. We would have won if they called the on-side kick correctly. As for Mandel, you are 100% right about the D. I turned on the UAB game this month expecting a dominate D (which I saw for the first quarter), not a 24-17 win. Stoops, step it up. You have Mid Tenn. State to beat up on then two weeks for Texas. Boomer Sooner!
Stoops has simply lost his mojo.
I'll never forget that "deer in the headlights" look he was wearing going off the field at halftime during the 2005 Orange Bowl. His inept coaching that night was most of the reason they lost, or at least lost so badly, and he knows it. What is the purpose of this column? Just a chance to slam Stoops and deflect criticism from "home cookin" at its finest at Oregon? OU should be 3-0 but instead asking hard questions about what went on in the replay booth we get another Stoops slam by the media. If this game had been called correctly this would not be an issue.
I was at the game and agree that the officiating was not perfect - that happens, even with video replay. But bad calls where made (or not made) the entire game, not just in the final minutes. I watched the replay last night with all of this in mind. I'm not convinced that the onsides kick result was inaccurate - I feel different about the pass interference call, but given how Oregon was moving the ball, I doubt it would have mattered - in fact, it may have given OU an opportunity to attempt the game winning field goal. OU got away with a touchdown when the zebra's didn't call a delay of game penalty and the receiver wasn't called for offensive pass interference on the TD pass.
Too bad time expired when Oregon blocked Oklahoma's field goal attempt. The way Oregon was rolling, with a couple of more seconds left I think they could've scored again and beat the spread!
the OU performance was pretty much indicative of how weak the big 12 really is this year. has the big 12 won a non-conference game against a worthwhile opponent this year?
The past few weeks, most of America has been reflecting on the tragedy of 9/11, the aftermath of Katrina and the ongoing war in Iraq. For the Oklahoma president to issue a statement calling the outcome of the game an "outrageous injustice" and calling for sweeping changes in an organization other than his own, is beyond ridiculous. I would feel differently if the statement was from the coach or AD, but for the president of the school to make a statement like that after the 3rd game of the season is embarrassing to the univesity and the state of Oklahoma.
"If this game had been called correctly this would not be an issue."
Wrong. It was an issue after OU squeaked by UAB and it was an issue for a half when a bad UW team hung with the Sooners for a half. And even if the officials had made the correct call on the onside kick, it would still be an issue. Take way the final 55 yard drive for the winning TD, and OU still surrenders upwards of 450 yards of offense. That's still bad. And until it gets corrected, OU could possibly lose one to two more games this year. If you want to find a bad guy in all this look to the NCAA. Why, because it defies belief that the all mighty governing body would leave it up to the various conferences to handle the officiating via replay as they see fit. Why in the name of Bud Wilkinson would you leave that kind of decision up to the locals when you won't leave any other important decision up to them. The conferences may as well be playing on different sized fields, come to think of it wouldn't that be fun.
Oklahoma had done everything it needed to do to win the game, up to and including the onside kick play. I'm not saying that it was a great performance, but the game should have been theirs after recovering the kick. That was taken from them, and so was the game.
MIKE STOOPS - no need to say anything else. When he was with us OU you won titles becasue of its defence. After He is gone, we loose them becasue of our defence. MIKE COME BACK
Another thing to consider...Oklahoma lost this game on their own by not capitalizing on the turnovers...Oregon turned the ball over 4 times, the Sooners got 1 TD and 3 FG's out of it. Plus with 3-of-4 of the 3-pointers on the day were from 20, 20, and 22 yards respectively, why couldn't they get Adrian Peterson into the endzone on at least one of those trys? Trade a field goal for a touchdown and none of the bad calls on either side mean a thing. As far as I'm concerned, a championship team doesn't let opportunities for points or bad calls get in the way. Kudos to Peterson on his effort, and to Oregon for not giving up on the game and coming back from 13 points down to win the game with less than 3 minutes to go.
I agree totally with what you have to say here. As pissed as I was with the blind refs of the game, I still can't get over how bad our defensive line has been the first three weeks! They have let teams like UAB push them around there by creating huge holes for the backs to run through. I think Rufus Alexander could be a leader if he could get excited about something, but our defensive line has done nothing to help him get to the QB and the HB early enough to get the big plays going. If we hope to beat Texas then someone had better get those lines into the shop and give them a big tune up!
Boycott the Pac-10! If they want to cheat and play favorites, then they can play the likes of Sam Houston. All power house conferences like the Big 12 should no longer commit to playing Pac 10 teams. Maybe then they will get the picture. Cheaters do win I guess.
I think its fair to say that if the same terrible calls had been made AT Oklahoma IN FAVOR of the Sooners and the Ducks had ultimately lost because of it, there would be MINIMAL talk about this in the media. Yes, these were terrible calls. But terrible calls happen every single season, and only now, when a big-name team loses to an up-and-coming Pac 10 team is the media in an uproar. Give me a break. Get over it Stoops - its happened to every team in the NCAA at some point or another.
I've have come to the conclusion that OU is the most hated team in college football.I can't understand how they get robbed a game,and all anybody can do is talk trash.
win or lose ou has got big probelms. even before m. stoops left we were getting beaten deep how many times in the last three years have we seen wide outs 10 yds behind the sooner defense. on almost all of those ocassions the safety and corner look helplessly at each other. you can have all the talent in the world but if the db's are not on the same page you are in "deep" trouble.
Finally, some payback for the legions of college football fans who had to sit through two years of overrated OK teams being gifted spots in the National Championship game.
OU WON THE GAME! AT OREGON! I cannot believe all the doomsday predictions on this team... Remember last year? It was even worse... And then we magically went on to BEAT a # 3 team in the Holiday Bowl. Did anyone notice that Washington beat Fresno State this weekend? Go ahead, jump on the "I hate OU" bandwagon while you can... The wheels will come off in about 3 weeks when put Texas right where the have always been... Below Oklahoma.
Mandel is an idiot. I normally don't read his articles, but I couldn't help reading this one-he takes every chance he can to belittle OU. He has always hated Oklahoma. I would be curious to hear what team he roots for. Texas?? How can Oregon feel good about a win that they didn't deserve. If I were a football player, I would want to win outright where there aren't any controversies. If I didn't win a game, the worse thing that can happen is that I'm haned that win. This game would haunt me and go with me for the rest of my life knowing that I didn't win outright. I pity the Oregon players.
The defense was fine last year, so I don't think its Venables. The D will get better. Bottom line is that OU (inspite of their D) did what they needed to win this game but did not because of the egregious officiating calls.
waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh......what if...what if.....maybe if OU just played the way they were hyped up to play than it would have been issue.....hey OU fans i have plenty of kleenex for you whiners. OU wants the game voided?? hahahahahahahhaha if Mizzou didnt get the CU game voided for an extra 5th down play, than the whiner of O who wont get this one voided. Crying will just bring you more misery this season, looking foward to seeing the crybabies in Norman lose a few more heartbreakers :-)
You hit the nail on the head again, Stew. Everyone with half a brain around here realizes that OU's decline in D coincided with Mike leaving. But having said all that, it was still the officials' negligence that cost us the game.
Before I saw OU play, I didn't think Colorado could win a game. Now I think Norman may be the site of the Buffs only win! Where is Brian Bosworth when you need him.
Sorry to hear about the Texas fans celebrating bad calls at OU-Oregon. And, to think, I actually was yelling Hook 'Em Horns against USC last year and against Ohio State. OU's defense will be back, it always is. If there was ever any doubt that Mike Stoops was the genius behind OU's past defenses, the past couple of years of average defense should prove it.
When you have multiple turnovers and are behind your team is going to have a chance to put up a ton of yards.
Chris Sims had 300 yards passing this weekend but that doesnt mean that the falcons D was playing crappy or that the game was even close. OU got jobbed and everyone knows it. Yes, OU's defense hasn't been up to snuff but Oregon's is???? Gimme a break. OU came out at half took charge and went up 33-20. Defense let them score once but then the infamous onside kick. It would be one thing if it was just one aspect of the play they got wrong BUT it was 3. Even the Oregonian writer was in disbelief. All I ask is that Duck fans be humble and not think they're the be all end all. I had to listen to how they got shafted last year not getting into a BCS bowl and then oops, a loss in the Holiday Bowl. Win a championship first and then brag.
I am tired of hearing all of the Oklahoma folks complaining about the last 70 seconds of the game. If you go back and watch the game closely there were bad calls made on both sides of the entire game! The bottomline is that OK had a chance to win the game and they choked! The Oregon offense put up over 500 yards and some of the early on bad calls from the refs did go Oklahoma's way! So get over it and lets move on...
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The Book
 Stewart Mandel's first book, Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy that Reign Over College Football, is available now. Click here to order your discounted copy.
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