DEFENSE
Make a Play at the Goal Line
It’s impossible to get stops inside the 5 if you lose every one-on-one battle. Twice Oklahoma scored off the exact same play (power), from the exact same formation, to the exact same side.
The offense’s first challenge here is that the left tackle has to cut off the 3-technique, Charles Omenihu, to prevent him from following the pulling guard to the ball. Omenihu doesn’t use his hands and ends up on the ground. Second, they need to kick out the end, Malcolm Roach, on the playside. I feel like Roach should look to spill this (undercut the blocker and take the block on with his outside shoulder, forcing the ballcarrier to bounce outside), but he doesn’t, and he gets cut down. Finally, the offense needs movement with the double team on the playside 3-technique, Chris Nelson. Nelson actually does a great job holding his ground and splitting the double team, but the right tackle just manages to wash him down near the end.
Texas is in a different front from the previous example. Now the left tackle has an easier assignment: cutting off a 4-technique, Jordan Elliott. Again, the Texas player doesn’t get hands on the blocker and he’s dropped. The frontside kickout is now targeting Breckyn Hager. He recognizes and avoids the cut block but is knocked just off balance enough that he can’t make the play. Finally, there’s the two defensive tackles. True freshman D’Andre Christmas is the one taking on the double team, and he not only mostly holds his ground, but he also manages to throw the right guard to the turf, keeping him from reaching the second level. That’s not bad. What is bad, however, is the center pancaking the nose, senior Paul Boyette.
Westbrook vs. Anyone
First it was Davante Davis.
Westbrook beats Davis with a post route. He gets him to turn his hips, cuts back inside and leaves Davis behind. Davis could have used a “baseball turn” (turning toward the sideline so that he maintains more speed in the transition) and had a chance, but he didn’t. I brought this same point up in the Cal breakdown, meaning this is the second time this season Davis’ hips and/or technique have given up a touchdown. (Watch the corner at the bottom of the screen to see the technique I’m talking about.)
Man coverage again, this time with a player better equipped for the job than Davis: Holton Hill. Westbrook runs a slant-and-go, and Hill is all too willing to bite, despite the lack of safety help. I want to see more Hill, but not like this.
Do Your Job
This was the most predictable playcall in the whole game, and Texas should have stopped it.
They’re so focused on Mayfield running that Jason Hall and Anthony Wheeler let Perine jog out into the flat uncovered. It doesn’t matter because Mayfield has already made up his mind. Boyette gets out of his rush lane, making the run a lot easier for Mayfield, then he beats Wheeler to the edge.
Not Just Youthful Mistakes
We’ve seen a lot of young guys doing dumb stuff, but here’s a fourth-year player and a fifth-year player screwing up.
It’s a well-designed play by Oklahoma, aided by the fact that Naashon Hughes gets no depth in his zone drop. He actually moves up about a yard and a half from where he is at the snap. Just look where he is in relation to the other underneath zone defenders. Mayfield finds Westbrook in the space behind him, and Andrews blocks Hill. (Again, it’s drawn-up nicely.) The deep safety, Dylan Haines, is the defense’s last line of defense, but somehow he’s outside of Westbrook. So instead of (a) having Westbrook’s momentum carry him right into the tackle, (b ) being able to force Westbrook outside and into Ed Freeman, or (c ) being able to force Westbrook toward and into the sideline, Haines is scrambling in the open field.
OFFENSE
D’Onta Touchdowns
To the surprise of no one, D’Onta Foreman had a great game. Here’s his first touchdown.
Texas runs split zone. LG Patrick Vahe uses some judo-looking moves to toss the defensive end aside, and C Zach Shackelford does a nice job ripping past the nose and locking up with the linebacker who’s screaming toward the line of scrimmage. RT Brandon Hodges had a tough assignment against what looks to be a 3- or 4i-technique, but Foreman is strong enough to throw the 265-pound defensive lineman aside.
Pay attention to the formation. Texas comes out with three receivers and the back to the boundary. We’ll get another look at this formation and Oklahoma’s response to it in the next play. Needless to say, they overreacted. I strongly suspect the linebacker to the field should have at least been in a 50 alignment over the tackle. Because he’s inside, RT Tristan Nickelson had a chance to slow him down and spring Foreman to the outside.
Screens That Shouldn’t Work
Here’s the play from earlier in the quarter that I guess Oklahoma was reacting to.
Oklahoma wasn’t set at the snap so I can see why Shane Buechele tried attacking out there, but you can see that Jacorey Warrick is in no position to block the safety. Texas was fortunate that the true sophomore took a bad angle or got lost or something. Good blocking by Jake Oliver, though.
The Deep Ball Is Back
Did you know Devin Duvernay was fast? It seems like Steriln Gilbert didn’t until Saturday. Jordan Thomas definitely didn’t.
Oklahoma likes to run these trap coverages where the corner jumps any outside-breaking route by the slot receiver, and Texas had encouraged that response by running this look with the slot receiver stopping after breaking outside. So when Duvernay releases to the outside, Thomas is thinking about jumping the route and housing it. That hesitation is all Duvernay needed to separate. Gilbert needs to challenge more secondaries to run with Devin.
The previous one tempted Thomas, but this one is a true double move — and he doesn’t even really bite on it. Because it’s a double move, the offense has to protect longer, and they get the job done. Connor Williams and Caleb Bluiett pick up the blitzers from the edges, then Kyle Porter… let’s say he gets in the way… of the delayed blitzer. Outside of the throw, none of this is very pretty, but it got six points, and that’s what matters.
Process vs. Results
Finally, I hesitate to bring this one up, but I’ve seen some stupid things said about this playcall. You know the one.
Foreman was having a great game and had just picked up eight yards to get it to 3rd & 2. Run the ball, right? That would make sense. Instead, they run a play-action sprintout pass. EVERYONE PANIC. Except… it’s open. And not only is it open, but if Buechele throws it on time or even just a little late, there’s a very good chance that it’s a touchdown or 1st & Goal inside the 5.
It is hard to call a play that catches a defense totally off guard. Sterlin did it. That should be celebrated, in my opinion. Why did he put it on his freshman quarterback to convert a crucial 3rd down with a chance to tie? First, if you’ve watched this team at all, you’ve seen Buechele convert bigger plays than this. It wasn’t an unreasonable expectation. Second, this is about as easy as you can make it — the receivers are right in front of you, there’s only two of them, and if they aren’t open you can run.
Buechele made a true freshman play at a critical moment and people melted down because they assume Foreman would have picked up the first down. We don’t know that. We do know that if Buechele had thrown this (easy) ball at a reasonable time, it would have been a first down by a lot — very possibly a touchdown. Fans would be cheering the brilliant playcall had that happened.
