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Positive Notes about the Defense

Listening to Hunziker on the Coach Gundy Radio Show and he dropped these tidbits:

- Pro Football Focus (PFF) graded Trey Rucker as the fifth best safety in the country for his performance vs. Utah. He’s having himself quite a season so far.

- Also according to PFF, our pass coverage score was the highest grade PFF has given since its inception in 2014. Also was our highest overall defensive grade since the 2021 season with Knowles.

Once again, special shout-out to the offensive staff for their sheer ineptitude last Saturday. 🤦‍♂️

Utah Game Thoughts

Let's hear your thoughts about the game.

09/21/24 oSu vs Utah

OFFENSE

1) I sound like an broken record, but we need to run gap scheme 100% of the time. I also want to see guards, tackles, and tight ends pulling across the formation. Our coaches need to go watch tape when Art Briles was at Baylor and copy some of those gap scheme run plays.

2) Dicky needs to retire at the end of the season or be let go. Sure miss those days when we had Wickline.

3) Our QB's looked horrible today. Our biggest mistake last week was not getting Flores some time in the game. Again, we missed a huge opportunity last week to rotate quarterbacks in the second half when we had a huge lead. I just hope Flores doesn't get disgruntled and transfer. He is the future and not Rangel. Gundy too often puts emphasis on years in the program over talent.

4) Dunn is terrible when it comes to playcalling and making adjustments in the game. We sure miss Monken and his ability to change things up mid drive and never had to wait until halftime. We need to throw more 10 yard outs, ins, slants, and drags because we never utilize these short routes enough. Dunn also needs to open up the running lanes between the tackles by throwing some bubble screens to the receivers and pitching the ball to the RB to get to the outside (toss sweeps).

5) Probably one of the most frustrating things is when we actually call some really good offensive plays in one game, but we never see thise plays again for the rest of the season (which is a total head scratcher). Dunn tries too hard to outsmart the defensive coordinator that he outsmarts himself. Horrible game plan!

6) Can we not use motion and misdirection plays to make the defense pause slightly to give us an advantage? We are just too predictable in our sets. Utah did a great job with motion today on some of their bigger gaining plays.

DEFENSE

1) Tackling still is our biggest issue. We definitely had less breakdowns in the secondary, but Utah didn't test us with many passes with a freshman QB.

2) We were all hoping to see better defensive line play this season, but it hasn't happened. We need to start some younger guys and recruit better talent. Otherwise it's coaching. We haven't been good on the defensive line since Clements moved to coaching linebackers. We can find ways to get pressure on the quarterback, but our defensive coordinator isn't creative enough to find ways to disguise blitzes.

3) Whoever let the team choose black helmets for any game in September is an idiot and should be fired. The players were overheating on defense and on offense and it's not rocket science to know that a black helmet in this heat was a bad idea. We have white and orange helmets, but if they want a darker color we even have gray helmets. Any of those choices would have been better than black. How does Gundy not override this mistake? They need to put this in a handbook and state if the game time temperature is above 80° NO BLACK HELMETS.

Here are the game highlights.

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We are officially on the verge of WW3

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Libs, the stakes just went up.

It's no longer will you choose your politics or your country, now it's will you choose your politics or your world?

Admit your politics are wrong and save the world, or continue to blindly defend your politics, and watch the world burn.

Your choice.

Remember When Democrats Tried To Impeach Trump For Election Interference?


Yet here they fly Zelenski in to essentially campaign for Harris. Democrats wear their hypocrisy as a badge of honor.

Oklahoma State softball commit Libby Jaques aiming to lead Moore to state championship

Oklahoma State softball commit Libby Jaques aiming to lead Moore to state championship​

Portrait of Jordan DavisJordan Davis
The Oklahoman

MOORE — Libby Jaques paraded around the diamond after blasting a two-run home run to center field.

The homer came in the Moore outfielder's first at-bat of the evening. She then met her teammates at the plate, who've grown accustomed to the sight of Jaques sending softball's over the outfield wall.

While most pitchers opt to walk Jaques when up to bat, others choose to learn the hard way.

"I've been in a rhythm lately, so I've seen a few teams walk me recently," Jaques said after Moore's 3-0 win over Broken Arrow on Tuesday. "I feel like (Broken Arrow) had ideas coming into the game of how to pitch around me. Even if I didn't get on base, my team would back me up. They have all year up to this point."


The win over Broken Arrow improved Moore's record to 14-5 on the season. The Lions have been on a tear in September, winning 10 of their past 11 games, with the start of the regional playoffs is just weeks away.

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Moore has won its games with opponents by nearly five runs per game in that span while scoring seven runs on average.

"We started the year out strong in the first week, but we had a pretty rough stretch the week afterward," Jaques said. "We had a team meeting and decided to stay after practice to work on our hitting with the machine, which has helped us get going since."

Jaques, an Oklahoma State commit and Lions team captain, is a three-sport athlete at Moore, participating in softball, basketball, and track and field.

She was The Oklahoman's Big All-City player of the year after hitting .459 with 15 home runs, 52 runs batted in, 55 runs scored and 18 stolen bases last season.

Jaques was also named Girls Athlete of the Year at the 2024 OKC Metro High School Sports Awards in June. She won the Class 6A shot put title in May with a toss of 44-4 and was an honorable mention on The Oklahoman's Super 5 in March after averaging 13 points.

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However, those feats are only half of what Jaques aims to accomplish.

She dreams of becoming a pediatric nurse. Jaques currently interns for Moore Public Schools at elementary schools, shadowing occupational therapists weekly.

"From the moment I met Libby, I noticed that she's never complacent," Moore head coach Stephanie Riley said. "She's never satisfied with where she's at. Whether it be hitting after practice or shooting free throws or in the classroom, she always feels like there's room for improvement or room to explore. That kind of energy is contagious."

While the Lions' play has spoken volumes over the past month, their chemistry did not materialize recently.

Moore began its conditioning workouts weeks ahead of the start of the season. The team met on weekday mornings throughout the summer at 6:30 a.m. to run, lift weights and remain in playing shape.

The team's conditioning workouts not only prepared them physically but also fostered a strong sense of camaraderie. Their dugout chants, born from these workouts, remind them of the promises formed in the offseason.

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"We're a younger team this year after graduating 11 seniors, so our summer program was huge for us," Jaques said. "All of us were there grinding because we don't want to lose again. We're motivated to win a state championship. We don't want to get to state and lose — we want to get to state and win it this time around. Everyone had already agreed to it."

Despite the Lions' regular-season success, their deep postseason success has been elusive in the past decade.

The eventual Class 6A state champions have eliminated Moore in the playoffs in nine of the last 11 years. The program won its most recent state title in 2007 and finished as state runner-up to Mustang in 2017.

Riley and the Lions are aware of this reality, but the 15th-year head coach refuses to let the past discourage her players.

"Tradition at Moore is deep, and that tradition is strong," Riley said. "When they come in as seventh graders, teach them to stay 'Lion strong.' The big thing for this year after losing last year is to finish. Sometimes luck is better than talent, so we want them to enjoy each other, play hard, and finish."

Gaza? Who Cares About Gaza When We’ve Got Lebanese To Kill? Such A Juicy Target!

And we’ve actually tricked gullible Americans into thinking we’re doing it out of self defense! There must be no limit to how often it can be believed that we’re the victim. It’s almost like sorcery! We get cheered for causing murder and mayhem. Zionism may be the greatest political ideology there’s ever been!


The Israeli Economy Is Suffering Because Of The Genocide

But who cares? Butchering Palestinians has become an addiction. It’s so freeing to know that God is on your side and is looking down with pleasure as you murder and maim those unholy animals. Can there be any greater joy for the most moral society in the world, in the history of the world?


The Brent Vegetables era is already over?

Ian Boyd thinks it is:

As I expected going in, this was a lopsided matchup that didn’t really offer much intrigue for the state of college football races or even who’d win this particular game but there was the chance we’d get a really fascinating tactical battle when OU’s defense faced the Tennessee offense.

Before diving into the fantastic war between the former deposed Oklahoma assistants while Bob Stoops frowns over there in the corner, let’s talk through some ramifications for Venables’ Sooner program.

It’s over.

It’s not over over but the writing is on the wall.

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN

The days for the Bob Stoops coaching tree are numbered. They have been weighed and found wanting, the kingdom is to be divided among the Medes and the Persians.

Does this seem extreme? Here’s the deal. The Brent Venables era was heavily contingent on 5-star quarterback Jackson Arnold having a big year in 2025 as a returning starter.

Dillon Gabriel served as a bridge for the Sooners to transition to an era defined by a built up, Venables defense paired with an offense built up from fresh recruits to replace what Riley had left behind. The 2024 season was going to be a rebuild, with a more realized defense helping to carry some of the weight while Arnold and the retooled offense found their feet. Then fall camp saw them lose one key receiver and O-lineman after another…and now:

He did this early in the game. It’s a two-man route. He sees two-high safeties and knows the post is a risk so he throws the crosser. Extremely late. Into the other safety and a sinking cornerback who has absolutely nothing to defend underneath because OU is in a 8/9 man protection so they actually have a chance to get a deep throw off without the quarterback getting smacked. Just a terrible decision and emblematic of a broken offense and broken young quarterback.

It got worse.

A few bad things happened. Jackson Arnold made the right read to keep on a quarterback counter play that was abysmally blocked and fumbled when gang tackled. This reversed the advantage Oklahoma had after strip-sacking Nico Iamaleava inside his own 10. Not good, not entirely his fault.

Then Oklahoma surrendered a safety due to abysmal O-line play.

No matter! The defense sack-stripped Nico yet again. On the ensuing offensive possession, Arnold pulled this out of his bag:

That’s a fumble and Tennessee recovered it and scored a touchdown to make it 19-3. Game over. The Sooners brought in freshman quarterback Mike Hawkins later, who made a few plays with his legs and was able to fight to get it to 25-15 before the end.

I think Arnold forgot this was a run-read all the way. Or maybe he snapped it late and couldn’t get to the flat route on time. If you were throwing the flat route it needed to be at the snap when the overhang blitzed rather than chasing it. I dunno, none of the timing makes sense here.

After the game, Venables was effusive in praise of Hawkins and completely uninterested in protecting Arnold. The “fumble” in particular was noted to have come from a pass that wasn’t even an option on the play. Venables said this was a run, probably because the box count is even for the offense. I sympathize with Arnold some, the designs of the Sooner plays rarely make clear sense.

Arnold just completely panicked and lost his head and now everyone in Oklahoma knows it and wants the freshman quarterback in a desperate hope he can run around (at 180 pounds) in the SEC and make enough magic happen to allow them to win a few SEC games on the strength of their defense.

Here’s the problem.

First of all, Hawkins isn’t going to save them. A 180-pound freshman who’s on the field to play undisciplined ball and “make things happen” is going to kill you or himself with his decision-making, whichever comes first.

Meanwhile, if Arnold is checked out for the rest of this season, then he is likely to bail in the offseason, get pushed out if they feel he isn’t committed to getting better, or perhaps stay but collapse into himself and bust. Is he the type to take a disaster like this, get off the mat, and go to work for the next 300 days committed to ensuring something like this never happens again? I dunno, and it doesn’t really seem like anyone there believes in him.

It appears he’s ruined as an Oklahoman quarterback. This means the NIL investment is a bust and they will need a different quarterback for the 2025 season, assuming Venables can win enough games this year to even get there, which is not a given with their schedule.

The catastrophic nature of this loss is going to kill the long-term plan for Venables football. Can he pivot? Doing so would require taking the following steps:

  1. Winning at least six games this season and saving his job with either a freshman quarterback or, (stifles laughter), 7th-year Casey Thompson.
  2. Quickly moving in the offseason in a new direction on offense with a new staff which can get immediate results.
  3. Navigating the transfer portal to acquire a proven winner at quarterback who matches the new offensive system.
All of those are going to be very difficult. Seth Littrell ain’t gonna make it, this offense is a total mess. Who comes after him?

Brent Venables doesn’t really have an offensive network, he’d need to figure out who to go hire or else have the Oklahoma brass do it for him. Another apple from the Stoops’ tree? Kevin Wilson? Someone Venables coached with at Clemson? Does Bill Bedenbaugh have a connection anywhere? That hire would also need to be able to either help or lead the sale on a transfer quarterback as soon as they came. Who’s going to follow the new hire into that mess? Running it back with Hawkins after whatever unfolds over the following weeks is going to be really tough. Getting Jackson Arnold to buy back in would be difficult as well, particularly when he could just follow Jeff Lebby to Mississippi State and get to play in schemes that make sense again.

It’s possible Venables could win 6-7 games and they could still look at the shape of things heading into 2025 and say, “do we really need to see more? Or should we just cut the cord now?” But if you do that…what’s next? Is the Oklahoma administration and donor class ready to go find another coach from outside the Bob Stoops tree who can take the program into a new era of success in the SEC? Can they navigate that while also observing the results of this season to see if Venables can fight his way out?

I don’t know what they’re going to do but I think each path is totally fraught and doomed. There’s no way out. They gave him an extension in the preseason to help protect themselves and set up 2025 as the make or break year. Well now it’s already broken because they couldn’t get there without collapsing on offense and pinning it all on the quarterback everything was built around.

Alright, I’ll tell you what, let’s do a little more flag football here and I’ll do a big breakdown on Wednesday of how Brent Venables’ Flyover defense (3-3-5 with three deep safeties) gave Josh Heupel’s Veer and Shoot all they wanted and more. Venables is still a great defensive coach.



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