Yeah, Bob Stoops was happy last week with that win over Missouri. But he was also disgusted about some things. He knows that if his Sooners are going to run the table and have a chance to play in a national championship game, they have to be playing better than they are right now.
There are a couple of things that bug him–the inablity of his team to run the ball and the screw-ups on special teams.
“We are really disappointed in our running game right now,” said offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. “We are only averaging 135 yards a game in Big 12 Conference play. That is definitely not good enough for us.
“The biggest problem that we have is the offensive line isn’t doing the job they should be doing. We have not created the holes we need to create in the running game. This is something that we have really been focusing on this week in practice. We just have to get better. I thought running the ball would be a big strength of this team this year, but it hasn’t been thus far.”
Last year Brody Eldridge spent a lot of time at fullback. He’s a devastating blocker and cleared the way many times for Adrian Peterson. This year he has played mainly at tight end.
“The reason we hadn’t been playing him more at fullback was because he got injured in the spring and then didn’t practice much when we came back in August. So he was limited in some of the things that he could do,” said Wilson.
“Last week we used him a little more at fullback and we are going to increase the number of snaps he gets at that position beause he’s such a good blocker. He can help us quite a bit.”
And what has happened with the special teams? There are problems kicking extra points and field goals. The coverage of punt returns and kickoff returns have not been good lately. There have been fumbles when OU is trying to return the ball. And then there was Reggie Smith trying to return a punt from inside the Sooners five yard line last week.
“We have to get better in these areas even if it means trying different people to get it corrected,” says Stoops.
The answer on punt returns could be redshirt freshman Dominque Franks. He has been used sparingly, but will apparently now get a lot more chances.
Don’t look for Oklahoma to get too fancy against this weak Iowa State team Saturday. The Sooners will force the running game and try to find some answers with their special teams. . .
OKLAHOMA STATE has a big three game homestand coming up starting with Kansas State. The key for the Cowboys is that they have to win at least two of these games. If that happens they can be playing for the Big 12 South title in Norman on Nov. 24.
The key for this Cowboys club is that they are playing with so much confidence right now. This isn’t the same team we were watching in September.
The obvious key on offense was when the Pokes decided that Zac Robinson was going to be their quarterback. He has done a terrific job in both passing and running the ball. He has been a lot more consistent than Bobby Reid has been the last two years.
And how about the Cowboy defense? What a shocker this unit has been. It was so bad early in the year and now just keeps on making balls.
Kansas State is a good team. It almost won at Auburn and did win in Austin. That says a lot. Still, this game is in Stillwater, and that says a lot more.
I’m going with Oklahoma State 24-21 over Kansas State and Oklahoma 52-14 over Iowa State.
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I totally agree with you Al, no dominant team in college right now. How’s this for a scenario. LSU gets beat at Alabama and then meets big 12 champions OSU in a BCS bowl game. Now I know it is kind of far fetched but wouldn’t that be a game we’d love to see. This year who knows?