Why did the Offense sputter

S

Syzygyone

Five-Star Recruit
So, if I take the consensus that the D played a very good game with the exception of pass coverage, and that the D gave the Offense great field position most of the game, what is the concensus of why the offense failed to deliver.

Was it O-line not being able to pass block? Weak players on the O line?

Was it bad play calling and reliance on the pass?

Was Taylor's inability to complete a pass due to superior converage?

 
A fast OU defense that disguised it's blitz's very well. Two of the INT's Taylor had the defender came out of nowhere to pick it off. The passes were spot on target to be TD's. Taylor got frustrated and seemed to be trying to make the big play instead of managing the game more.

 
We got outcoached and outplayed by a better team. I also wonder if the early bad start got us into something of a panick. ZT was clearly not at his best (e.g., he threw one pass directly to a defender, other passes were short, etc.). It's not like the offense didn't have plenty of opportunities. The one thing I was wondering about while watching the game was why we didn't see more short passes of the Luck variety. Also, there seemed to be some success with the run that we didn't seem to take advantage of. The persitent ZT to wide receiver thing didn't work well.

 
I really didn't see it as we were out coached on this one. Offensively we simply didn't make plays in the passing game. ZT missed some passes and their secondary was pretty good. The pass rush was not a factor in my opinion. Let me re-state that one. The pass rush was only a factor when NOBODY was open. Zack had all the time in the world if somebody would have been open.

It was a good effort but we really NEED some more speed and ability from the wide outs.

Defensively we've know all year where we are weak.

 
Callahan will tell you that the play calling was atrocious. I thought that, yea, we probably could have run more especially with the short field but the plays that could have made a difference in the game weren't made, although they were there. The INT's in the red zone is what I am referring to.

The defense played well, as much as you could ask. Take away the drive OU had starting on the 2 yard line, they gave up two touchdowns and kept giving the ball back to the offense who couldn't do anything with the ball. That's the story I think.

 
I think we abandoned the run way too early. I know in the past I have said we needed to throw the ball more against the good teams, but that was when the run wasn't working. The run was working well against OU. I think we were averaging 4 ypc, but only had 21 attempts which is less than 30% of the time. Against USC we ran the ball 36 times or 68% of the time. Same story w/ UT. We ran the ball 24 times for a meager 38 yards which is 45% of the time. We did not control the clock and allowed the OU O to be on the field more. We took away OU's running game great, but were repeatedly burned on 10-15 yard outs and comebacks just like we have been every year. ZT uncharacteristicly threw 3 picks and we failed to capitalize on good field position and stalled drives inside the 40.

 
The offensive line was really inconsitent. Most of the time they looked up to par. If the defense was hiding a blitz or running a stunt the comunication wasn't there and they would be completely out of position. Like i said this wasn't all the time, but you have to be consistent on the offensive line to be a top 10 team.

 
You have to give OU's secondary credit for two of those INT's. Looking at the slo-mo replay the passes were spot on to the receivers and would have been definite TD's. Wolfe and Harris made exceptional plays on the pass coming out of no where to snatch those out of the air. ZT could have maybe put a little more heat on the ball but those throws have worked all year long and where the DB's were he may have felt they didn't stand a chance of intercepting them.

And I agree with us going away from the run to early. We were able to move the ball pretty good and Lucky's two screen passes picked up big yards.

 
FriscoTXHusker said:
We got outcoached and outplayed by a better team. I also wonder if the early bad start got us into something of a panick. ZT was clearly not at his best (e.g., he threw one pass directly to a defender, other passes were short, etc.). It's not like the offense didn't have plenty of opportunities. The one thing I was wondering about while watching the game was why we didn't see more short passes of the Luck variety. Also, there seemed to be some success with the run that we didn't seem to take advantage of. The persitent ZT to wide receiver thing didn't work well.
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One of the biggest improvements ZT made between last year and this year was being more calm in the pocket and taking the time to progress through his reads. Looking to more receivers and getting out of the tunnel vision he had quite a bit last year (i.e. trying to throw to Hardy every play).

IMO ZT had "happy feet" in the pocket when he really didn't need to. There were plays that were rushed and he had to step up and move around. Other plays his movement in the pocket seemed to be excessive and he was rushing the play.

Not to mention the fumble on the first play from scrimmage was a momentum killer.

 
Remember...Oklahoma was one of the schools selected to be preseason #1 by many before their QB was kicked off the team (and replaced by someone who had beat him out originally last year)...they had talent in many places and played a very good game Saturday...Taylor misfired on a number of passes and against a very good team that will not lead to success.

Two plays were BIG difference makers: Purify's fumble and the long TD pass to make it 14-0.

Without those two plays who knows what happens.

Looking forward to the Cotton Bowl and playing a very good Auburn team on the 1st...wish it was a little bit later in the day though.

No one is as down as the players and the coaches but they will bounce back with a good showing in Dallas.

Woke up this morning and am still damn proud I am a

HUSKER

:cheers

 
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Zac was simply off. I don't believe it to be an O-Line problem. Zac had time (yes, he was rushed a few times), but the sacks came from there not being receivers open and the pocket finally collapsing with him in it. He did start to scramble in the second half and had a small amount of success. Zac over or under threw the receivers many times (leading to INTs). We also had a few dropped passes and were horrible in the redzone.

 
big poppa said:
Two plays were BIG difference makers: Purify's fumble and the long TD pass to make it 14-0.

Without those two plays who knows what happens.
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I agree Purify's fumble sort of set the tone for the game. But I would disagree with your 2nd choice. For me, the 2nd big play was the 3 and 10 for OU when we had them pinned on the 1/2 yard line. Converting that 3rd down for a huge gain seemed to be the back breaker for us and gave OU the momentum from then on.

 
While I feel Stoops coached a great game, I don't feel like we got outcoached but out-talent. Their defensive backs were better than our receivers. But when we had guys open for those two possible TDs, Taylor clearly showed his one weakness, his arm strength. Yes, Harris and Smith made great plays, but if Taylor had thrown the rock hard enough and far enough, those two plays would have been TDs. OUs' talented DBs exposed Taylor's weakness like no one else has this year. Take away Mo's fumble and if Taylor connected on those two throws, it could have been a different game, even though we were a little short on talent against those guys.

Guys, we are still missing some players. It's going to take longer than many of you have been hoping. We will continue to get better next year, but it may be at least a couple of years before we have a national championship caliber team (a team that has the potential of competing for one but may not actually win it).

 
HuskerfaninOkieland said:
[

.... For me, the 2nd big play was the 3 and 10 for OU when we had them pinned on the 1/2 yard line. Converting that 3rd down for a huge gain seemed to be the back breaker for us and gave OU the momentum from then on.
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:yeah

Plus, if the D could have held on that down, together with the two previous totally awesome defensive stands that resulted in back to back 3 and Os and which drove OU backwards, that would have totaly deflated the OU offense and given the Huskers a huge boost. But, I am not sure the Husker offense would have stepped up. At least that would have made the game a 14 to 7 loss.

 
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What concerned me was the fact we couldn't score even though we had a very short field several times. The sooner defense was great at stopping us on third down. We had 366 yards total offense and 17 first downs so we were moving the ball, it's just the sooners were able to step up and stop us when they had to. When we play a team like Oklahoma that has a lot of speed we need to score quickly. If we try to drag it out and grind down the clock, moving the ball slowly down the field, then sooner or later they'll stop us. If our scoring drives require us to convert two or three third downs, with the sooners speed on defense, they'll stop us on one of them.

 
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