Sports

The first post-Lincoln Riley season at Oklahoma couldn’t have gone worse


Brent Oil

Brent Oil
image: beautiful pictures

While Ohio State fans have their most recent grudges against Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams, and USC, the fan base that remains most upset about this year’s Trojan success resides in Norman. Williams is arguably the third Heisman winner in crimson and cream under Riley, and that’s the OU that should be a congress title away from a spot in the College Football Qualifiers.

Instead of making it to the knockouts for the fourth time, Oklahoma is leading 6-6 and will play in an unremarkable game after the season. Right now, projections suggest they’re slated for a Guaranteed Odds Match against Wisconsin. If they can’t get past the Badgers, it will be the Sooners’ first loss since 1998, when John Blake oversaw the 5-6 campaign, was fired and replaced by Bob Stoops.

1st year coach Brent OilLongtime defensive coordinator at Clemson, there was no room left, and although some players, including Williams, followed Riley to Southern California, it shouldn’t have been this bad.

The only thing Venables really has to fix is ​​midfield and defence, but fans will really understand if he goes for a one or two, with the team improving on the ball arguably a strength. of the new coach.

The defense not only hasn’t improved, it’s gotten worse. The Sooners are 100th in college football for points allowed, 109th in rushing defenseand 107th in defensive pass. They have lost three of their past four games against underrated teams. Over a three-week period from late September to early October, the Sooners took the lead by 145-58. Given that two of those teams are competing for the Big 12 title and the other is Texas, reading it is still alarming.

The last time an OU team was so badly battered for three consecutive weeks was in 1997 when they lost to Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M 156-21 on aggregate. If you’re an Oklahmoa fan (and you’re still reading this), you’re probably wondering who the fuck this guy is and what he means.

Aside from highlighting the weaknesses of a really bad season – the only other show that Texas Tech added 50 points to this year was Murray State – I’m saying life comes to you fast and Venables must Fix this soon or else OU is in danger of jumping on a coaching carousel that very few schools have a reputation for.

After the defeat to the Red Raiders, OU leader and team leader Marvin Mims didn’t completely reject his new head coach’s adjustments joined the show, but he said he had trouble adapting to the cultural changes.

“The most important thing about him, is that – I wouldn’t call it a culture shock. But, you know, he brought a lot of things that the players have to get used to, especially Coach Schmitty (fitness coach Jerry Schmidt) coming back. I mean, you know, there’s no wobbling on the rope and stuff like that. You must do what He wants you to do the way He wants you to. That’s basically the most important thing, just adapting to that.”

It’s not fair to shout “You’ve got a job” at Venables, given how hard it is to successfully coach a college team in an age of NIL transfer and transaction portals. It is always too much to expect a guy who has never been a head coach to do what Riley or Ryan Day did when they inherited all the players and resources of their hugely successful predecessors. . It’s like assuming that Dillon Gabriel will take the place of Williams and win 9 or 10 games. OK, it’s not quite like that, but you get what I’m saying.

While Oklahoma was in the top 10 in recruiting rankings under Riley, it was what the coach received from his quarterbacks that really set OU apart from other longtime powerhouses. No Oklahoma team led by Riley has finished higher than 29th in average points allowed, and often that number is in the 60s.

For whatever reason, the Sooners can’t get the strong athletes that Alabama, Clemson, LSU and Georgia have eliminated. If that’s what Venables need to get defensively on par with the Tigers units that have destroyed the ACC’s game plan for years, it could take several years to redo the team’s identity.

Don’t laugh too much, Texas fans. You also have a lot to learn before diving into the depths and swimming with SEC teams week after week. These two programs need to operate at their peak potential as they move south, or else they will have a hard time maintaining – or, in UT’s case, returning to – the lofty status quo. there.

There’s not much that can go wrong in Norman since Riley and Williams bounced back, but if the duo goes back to CFP and adds the only individual hardware that matters, it’ll be like twisting knives, throwing salt in wound , and kicked a fan as they fell into one.

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