Oklahoma Gets Exposed By Baylor
The Sooners faced their first top 25 opponent Saturday, and Oklahoma was exposed. Baylor dominated the Sooners in every aspect of the game and beat The Sooners 27-14 in Waco. Despite having two weeks to prepare for Baylor, the Sooners looked uninspired and ill-prepared. Clearly, Oklahoma has an abundance of talent however, they all seem to be lacking in passion or heart. On many occasions, Oklahoma appears to be just going through the motions.
Unfortunately, head coach Lincoln Riley had his worst game at Oklahoma calling plays. Why would he totally give up on the running game and focus solely on the deep ball? After taking a 7-0 lead, the Sooners were not competitive in this game. As for all those who were complaining about the College Football Playoff Committee, it appears that they may actually have had it right.
It’s time for some of the Sooner fans to take off the crimson-colored glasses and recognize what this team really is…Oklahoma is an overrated, and overhyped college football team.
Offense
To point out the obvious, the Sooners were undisciplined and uninspired on the offensive side of the ball. Notably, true freshman Caleb Williams had by far his worst game since he entered the Texas game. Although this may be true, all the blame shouldn’t be placed at his feet. After all, Williams is a freshman and freshmen make mistakes. As Williams didn’t have much help on offense. Coupled with the fact that the offensive line has not continued its trend of improvement from week to week.
In addition, the wide receiver group had their poorest outing of the year. The receiving corp had a difficult time getting separation from their defenders and had way too many drops. Comparatively, the running group in particular Kennedy Brooks didn’t fair much better. With respect to Brooks, Riley gave up on the ground much too early.
On the other side, Baylor moved the ball at will against the Sooner defense. If not for a fourth-down stop inside the Oklahoma five and a Bears missed field goal, the Sooners would have had a bigger hole to dig out of in the first half. Baylor was prepared and dominated the rushing game. The Bears outrushed the Sooners 296 to 78. The Sooners showed a lack of discipline with nine penalties and two turnovers.
Defense
Once again, the Sooner defense turned in a lack luster performance. What was once a strength of this team has turned out to be a detriment to the team. This defense is fundamentally unsound and is an extremely poor tackling team. Time after time the defense has an opponent with third and extremely long and still can’t get off the field. The Sooner defense rarely plays with any passion or extra effort.
On top of that, the secondary constantly has receivers running uncovered and wide open. This secondary, like the remainder of the defense is just soft and very passive. Possibly it’s simply a case that they have given up on the system or they just have too many outside distractions. Clearly, this defense was way overhyped coming into the season, honestly, they are just not very good.
Special Teams
Rarely does Oklahoma’s kicking game get outperformed. Gabe Brkic had by far his worst game as a Sooner. Brkic missed two very makeable field goals and a kickoff sailed out of bounds. As far as the punting department, Michael Turk was impressive as usual. Turk averaged 55.3 yards a kick on four attempts.
Coaching
Without question, Oklahoma was outcoached by Baylor coach Dave Aranda and his staff. Baylor came into this game mentally and physically ready to play. In contrast, the Sooners were still on their bye week. Was Riley’s absence mid-week a factor in the team’s lack of focus and poor performance? Perhaps, that’s hard to determine unless you are on the inside of the Oklahoma locker room.
Moreover, on the defensive side of the ball, “Speed D” just hasn’t worked. Every week defensive coordinator Alex Grinch says that he needs to coach better. The question begs, when will that start? With this being said, no one should be in danger of losing their job. Although major changes need to be made, possibly those changes need to be schematic or personnel.
The Final Word
In conclusion, obviously, this season’s team has been a major disappointment. The Sooners have struggled virtually every week with inferior opponents. Notably, the first top 15 opponent Oklahoma faces those close calls caught up with them. Any given Saturday a team can have a bad day and Oklahoma had their worst day against Baylor.
As could clearly be seen, the final score definitely did not begin to show how completely the Sooners were dominated. This was the most winnable game left on their schedule. The Sooners must step up the passion and play so as to not end the season with three consecutive losses.
In fact, this team hasn’t put four quarters together all season. This is usually the time of year that Riley coached teams kick it into high gear. That just isn’t the case this year. Maybe it’s just time for fans of the crimson and cream to just say “wait until next year”. This Oklahoma team has a lot of ‘quit’ in them!
