In rewatching the game, it became very evident that with a banged up Warren, oline, and pressley, at the minimum, that Gundy's plan was to do just enough on offense and to rely on the d for this win. And if the o executed a bit better and if not for a couple dropped passes we win easily 30ish to zero.
The alligator arms, d Martin holding back a bit, Richardson running at less than full pace in very planned up the middle and dont get hurt runs at the end of the game, and gundys getting angry on the mic at an asst, all showed the real goal by Gundy and Co. was to protect our players from further or more injury and to be as healthy for ou and the title game as possible.
You could see Warren was still in pain, sills played through obvious pain only because his backup went down with injury and they didn't let pressley do anything but fair catch punts due to him being banged up. All of this indicated we came in more knicked up than what was led on before the game and that the conservatism was very purposeful last night.
We sacrificed style points in protection of players so we could make a run at ou and the big 12 title game in as healthy a situation as possible.
With such a great d and once gundy saw the d would totally dominate tech, we could reign it in and rely on them and do just enough on offense to secure the win, but also limit exposure to further injuries.
I think Martin was told to avoid big hits, Dom was reigned in at the end of game, as on his last few runs he looked like the goal was to just run clock and not get banged up as he didn't run at 100% and just went up the middle and stopped almost, and Gundy yelling at an asst coach on mic to reign it in all validated this.
So to all of us that wanted more from the O, I think we need to step back and realize the conservativism last night had a purpose and reason and to be glad it really appears Gundy has his sites set on OU and the big 12 title game and wanted us to be as healthy as possible going into them so we had the best chance to win.
I have criticized his conservativism often, but see it had a legitimate purpose last night and am glad to see that Gundy put placing his players in the best shape possible(especially physically) for a chance at ou and a big 12 title ahead of style points and possible further injuries which could've made our end run more challenging.
This staff has really done a great job of relying on an incredible defense and playing through and protecting an offense that has often been plagued with injury, and getting the win.
Last night was a perfect example of this and shows me Gundy is both very engaged in trying to and wanting to beat OU and win a title game, and that he also believes that this team has a chance to do so.
There was indeed a reason to what appeared to be a frustratingly, overly conservative game plan at first watch and it was again a terrific job of our coaches scheming around injury, relying on a terrific defense and having it prepared to control a game again, and also playing for and looking into the future by doing enough on offense to win, but protecting our health for the big games to come.
Go Pokes, Beat OU!!
Congrats to an incredible team for a big 12 title game birth and in my opinion overachieving success this season. Thank you coaches for your best job with the team in years. And hoping that there is more magic and success still out there for you in the games to come.
Has been a different year to watch with us relying so heavy on the d, but has been an incredible season and this team deserves credit for hanging in there and just winning!! Hopefully there are a few wins left!
The alligator arms, d Martin holding back a bit, Richardson running at less than full pace in very planned up the middle and dont get hurt runs at the end of the game, and gundys getting angry on the mic at an asst, all showed the real goal by Gundy and Co. was to protect our players from further or more injury and to be as healthy for ou and the title game as possible.
You could see Warren was still in pain, sills played through obvious pain only because his backup went down with injury and they didn't let pressley do anything but fair catch punts due to him being banged up. All of this indicated we came in more knicked up than what was led on before the game and that the conservatism was very purposeful last night.
We sacrificed style points in protection of players so we could make a run at ou and the big 12 title game in as healthy a situation as possible.
With such a great d and once gundy saw the d would totally dominate tech, we could reign it in and rely on them and do just enough on offense to secure the win, but also limit exposure to further injuries.
I think Martin was told to avoid big hits, Dom was reigned in at the end of game, as on his last few runs he looked like the goal was to just run clock and not get banged up as he didn't run at 100% and just went up the middle and stopped almost, and Gundy yelling at an asst coach on mic to reign it in all validated this.
So to all of us that wanted more from the O, I think we need to step back and realize the conservativism last night had a purpose and reason and to be glad it really appears Gundy has his sites set on OU and the big 12 title game and wanted us to be as healthy as possible going into them so we had the best chance to win.
I have criticized his conservativism often, but see it had a legitimate purpose last night and am glad to see that Gundy put placing his players in the best shape possible(especially physically) for a chance at ou and a big 12 title ahead of style points and possible further injuries which could've made our end run more challenging.
This staff has really done a great job of relying on an incredible defense and playing through and protecting an offense that has often been plagued with injury, and getting the win.
Last night was a perfect example of this and shows me Gundy is both very engaged in trying to and wanting to beat OU and win a title game, and that he also believes that this team has a chance to do so.
There was indeed a reason to what appeared to be a frustratingly, overly conservative game plan at first watch and it was again a terrific job of our coaches scheming around injury, relying on a terrific defense and having it prepared to control a game again, and also playing for and looking into the future by doing enough on offense to win, but protecting our health for the big games to come.
Go Pokes, Beat OU!!
Congrats to an incredible team for a big 12 title game birth and in my opinion overachieving success this season. Thank you coaches for your best job with the team in years. And hoping that there is more magic and success still out there for you in the games to come.
Has been a different year to watch with us relying so heavy on the d, but has been an incredible season and this team deserves credit for hanging in there and just winning!! Hopefully there are a few wins left!
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