Oklahoma: What did we learn?

Enhance said:
Maybe it's just a matter of semantics and superlatives, but I think ST is a mixed bag and I think you have to look at the severity of the mistakes in comparison to the successes.

- Nebraska's FG/PAT unit left six points on the field and spotted OU two points directly... that's objectively a failing grade.

- Punts were overall quite good.

- The kickoff game was pretty good, though they did almost send one out of bounds. OU may have bailed them out but that's still a Nebraska screw up IMO.

- There was one kick return where they didn't fair catch and only got the ball out to the 10-15 yard line.

So if you're going to grade out "special teams" as a whole unit then you're probably only giving a C or D grade. If you want to go by individual unit, FG/PAT gets an F, punting probably an A, kickoff probably a B and kick returning probably a B.
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Kick returning is more like a C- or D for me, we only took one opportunity and whiffed on it. Punting was better which was nice to see.

I just don't know how you fix field goals to be honest - this isn't 2019 where we're literally moving guys from DB and recruiting them from the club soccer team. We have the guys at kicker, and it's not a mechanical issue. Dealing with kickers sucks, there are lots of examples of NFL kickers missing themselves out of jobs just to deal really well the next place. And plenty of examples like Culp, great one year and then randomly struggling. Maybe you take another look at other guys in practice, but you know Culp can make them. 

 
Enhance said:
So if you're going to grade out "special teams" as a whole unit then you're probably only giving a C or D grade. If you want to go by individual unit, FG/PAT gets an F, punting probably an A, kickoff probably a B and kick returning probably a B.
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This is what I'm getting at.  It's pretty much just the place kicking that has been terrible.  Everything else has been pretty solid.  Kickoff and Punt has been drastically improved from last year.

 
Mavric said:
This is what I'm getting at.  It's pretty much just the place kicking that has been terrible.  Everything else has been pretty solid.  Kickoff and Punt has been drastically improved from last year.
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I'd add returns to the terrible list, or at least bad. Even taking out the bad decisions which I'm sure aren't being coached, our only punt return of more than 2 yards is Toure's on Saturday (10 yards) where Oklahoma kept everyone in to block and didn't try to cover it super well. Our long kick return is 18 yards. 

FWIW I don't think poor return yardage will hold us back the same way kick coverage, punt distance, and turning the ball over on returns has. I can live with the poor returns if the field goals come back and those other issues stay gone, just frustrating because it does not seem that difficult to set up an average kick return. We've got the athletes.

 


I think Rahmir is just an awesome story, because despite the three other freshmen having gotten so much hype over the past two years he kept his head up and just keeps fighting for playing time.

If we were playing in the Big 12 he'd be the starter based on skill set and fit. In the B1G I think he just needs to continue to work on his vision; he's built roughly like Ameer except he's not particularly physical.

If he can find the seam he can get yards just based on his ability to explode forward, though.

 
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Undone said:
I think Rahmir is just an awesome story, because despite the three other freshmen having gotten so much hype over the past two years he kept his head up and just keeps fighting for playing time.

If we were playing in the Big 12 he'd be the starter based on skill set and fit. In the B1G I think he just needs to continue to work on his vision; he's built roughly like Ameer except he's not particularly physical.

If he can find the seam he can get yards just based on his ability to explode forward, though.
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His speed was quite noticeable to me as well on that throw back pass.

 
hskrfan4life said:
Besides the first game there hasn't been much issues w/ punt distance.

Also I learned, Nebraska never gets better, the teams we play just aren't as good as their ranking.
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Right, I listed those weird - I'm really not concerned about punt distance, kick coverage, or bad return decisions this year. As long as they stick with Toure and not CTB. And yeah, funny how quickly it turns to "well obviously Oklahoma just isn't as good this year."

 
Husker in WI said:
Right, I listed those weird - I'm really not concerned about punt distance, kick coverage, or bad return decisions this year. As long as they stick with Toure and not CTB. And yeah, funny how quickly it turns to "well obviously Oklahoma just isn't as good this year."
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Yes, Toure should be back there. In regards to kick returns. Any time we do it, it's because we want to make a big play. But each time it's backfired so just take it at the 25.

 
hskrfan4life said:
Yes, Toure should be back there. In regards to kick returns. Any time we do it, it's because we want to make a big play. But each time it's backfired so just take it at the 25.
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I think you might actually want Oliver Martin in there just to protect Samori from unnecessary injury, honestly.

But either guy would be great. We just need to catch the ball; I'm not even expecting or even wanting a return at this point - just limit the mistakes. We're good enough at this point on offense and defense that we can win 5 out of our next 8 if we just play mistake-free.

 
Undone said:
We're good enough at this point on offense and defense that we can win 5 out of our next 8 if we just play mistake-free.
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Which at this point is awesome. I'm not even mad at AM for the int. Being on 4th down and essentially like a great punt.

He's looking so much better. I'm just praying it's like this all season, then we can keep it close with everyone and maybe win more than a few of those we shouldn't win games.

 
It really is awesome how much improvement there has been from week 0 to now 

Having most of the roster healthy is proving big 

Even the top ranked teams don't play mistake free football.

I'm very excited to see how competitive we are each week the rest of the season.

 
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