Time for some notes on the Feels Like 45 Podcast that just dropped.
Offense
QB
Not Bowman's best game. Struggled with efficiency and accuracy quite a bit. Conditions may have been a factor. Will need to play better against ou, as a 50% completion percentage will not cut it.
OL
Great overall game against the best d-line they have faced all year. Was dominant as a group and like Ollie, got stronger as the game went on. Michalski is still struggling with snaps. 4 bad snaps again, could be rain influenced, but he really needs to clean this up or it will end up costing us in one of these games. Cooper and Springfield have really solidified the tackle spots and really opened things up. Will need a great game this week to pave the way for Ollie.
RB
Ollie was fantastic. For Nixon things still haven't clicked. If he could figure things out, his speed will be key, but at this point rolling with Collins as RB2, especially later in the game is probably a better choice.
WR
They did a good job blocking downfield as a group. Leon Johnson had a great game, really showed something. This was a surprise based on practice reports and xtreme camp attendance. He had trouble running the right routes, catching balls, etc. They don't love leaning on him against ou, as some of those other things may get exposed. Maybe throw him jump balls and go from there. 11 targets, 5 receptions, 151 yards. 3 contested catch attempts, caught 2 of them. Is more of a deep threat
Need to stretch the field. Must find something there, or there will be 8 people in the box. Bray should be back which will help. Owens struggled getting separation against Cincy, but had a couple good plays.
TB/FB
They were awesome blocking and really covered the Cincy LB's up. Josiah had the TD--he was inline or H back 75% of the time. Playing with a broken toe and a thigh bruise and is still practicing and playing despite all of that.
Defense
DL
Outside of Goodlow, who was fantastic, and Kirkland, who had good push on several plays, have been pretty pedestrian. Latu did a good job pass rushing, but struggles against the run. Have reverted to an overall pedestrian group, which is unfortunately. Due to this, a lot of cincy OL were able to block up to the 2nd level, springing those big running plays. This needs to get cleaned up, especially in a big game like the next one.
LB
Our best defensive group performance. Oliver was just a touch slow and got 3 qb hurries that just a split second before could have been sacks. Still figuring out how to close from deeper alignment and get a good pass rush going. Martin was our best LB overall. Read plays and was absolutely violent out there. Starting to get really good at fighting through blocks and still making the play. Schematically, Benson was less visible and he was asked to cover the slot quite a bit. He did well with it and still had some impact plays and a qb hurry.
DB
Korie Black completely shut down the wrs he was covering and allowed no receptions over 52 snaps. A complete blanketing. If he can do something similar next week, it would be big. Other CB's played relatively well and they rotated a bunch of them in. We seem to rotate CB's more than any team they have watched so far this year. Safety play was pretty iffy. A lot of people played and Rucker in particular struggled. Daniels also had several bad misses, but made up for it with havoc plays. Dylan Smith in particular had a really rough game. They don't think he should play against ou and if he still has snaps/games left should redshirt.
Special teams were bad. Missed FG, two penalties and just seemed overall disjointed. Needs to be cleaned up for next week and they wonder if Hale can snap out of the rough streak.
ou Game Preview
- They hate ou and told their friends who went to school down south they aren't welcome at their tailgate.
- Feels like this game you can throw the stats out the window, a lot is going to happen that is hard to prepare for.
- They have a good offense in general, but are down playmakers. Many of the ou podcasters do not like Lebby. They pretty much hate him.
- Good system, but not a great playcaller. They don't run the ball as effectively as it would appear. Veer and shoot offense. Spread you out, counter runs and zone outside runs. They think ou will probably come out and try to air it out.
- Can option to take deep shots. Kansas made them pass deep and it didn't work well. OSU should dare them to throw it deep. They lost their main deep threat to injury.
- Cade wants us to come play base defense the first drive to see how it holds up against the run and adjust based on that. Do you spy Gabriel on 2nd and long and 3rd downs? To take something away, you give up something else.
- They use 11 personnel mostly. Will move Stogner around. Will pull lineman.
- Their offensive line is a mixed bag, not up to their usual standards. Their RT has been their best lineman. They played 9 different OL vs Kansas. Cannot seem to be settled on offensive line. They don't run well out of their base offense. Have not gotten the continuity that OSU has gotten.
- Their leading rusher, Walker, is injured and is unlikely to play. Major is their zone RB guy. Walker is the gap guy, so unsure how that will go. Barnes has been hurt, but they aren't sure why he hasn't been playing. Offensive line and RB have not figured it out so far. If both are out, they are in trouble.
- WRs, outside of Farooq, Stoops, Freeman and Anderson, do not have many targets. Freeman has more speed, but doesn't catch the ball at the rate Stoops does. Farooq is the YAC guy. Austin is out, who was their deep threat. Stoops leads the team in targets, but not a deep threat. Anderson is explosive, big and a good blocker.
- Concerned that they will just start throwing it to Stogner against us and will do short passes to IR in space and make our safeties make a play. Could be an issue.
- Gabriel will make bad throws and bad decisions (the last couple of games), he has looked really good otherwise. Capable runner. All around an above average quarterback. Is undersized. Has a good deep ball. Evenly distributes the ball. Most talented thrower that OSU has faced. Moves DB's well with his eyes, but takes a lot of hits. OSU has gotten 10 turnovers in 4 games only turned it over 3 times, so this momentum bodes well.
- 7th in big 12 in total defense. Have given up over 30 pts per game over their last 3. 4 down front, that will be a 3 down front sometimes. Ted Roof is the DC, controlled by BV. Like cover 3 and quarters. Will sometimes use man and a tampa 2
- Mainly even front. Give up explosive plays in the passing game, but make up for it by getting TFL's and causing havoc. Allowed several 100 yard rushers this year. Had a lot of missed tackles the last several weeks. Overall a good defense, but have distinct weaknesses. Is still a very talented defense. Overrun a lot. Put safeties a lot in 1:1 and they miss a lot of tackles. A lot of guys banged up.
- Interior DL are ok, but got their butts kicked by Kansas last week. DEs will get sacks, but will lose contain.
- Stutsman is their best player. Smart player, diagnoses and makes the play. Has a high ankle sprain, they would be surprised if he plays. If he does play, he will not be close to 100%. Probably the biggest loss they have. Their other LB's are out of position a lot and miss tackles. Gentry Williams is also hurt. Harrington is also hurt. Peterson will miss the first half for targeting against Kansas.
- ou's defensive backs are better than Cincinnati's, if they sell out to stop our rushing attach and are successful, that could be a big issue. Especially if Bray is out. Separation could be an issue.
- All of these injuries are at key spots. OU media thinks they are a much better team than OSU. Cade and Dustin think the difference is very slight.
- If Ollie goes for 150+ they feel good about OSU winning. They think Epps will get a pick.
- Really hard game to pick. Protect the ball, atmosphere will be great. Will lean on Ollie and find success, in a classic bedlam.
Cade: 34-33
Dustin: 34-31
