No way he intended his season to go like this. That’s why if I was him, I would opt to sit out the rest of the season and try my luck in the draft.

Time for Sam to get completely healthy and focus on the next chapter of his life. He was stellar for OU and I have no doubt he’ll be stellar as a pro – if he does the smart thing and get that shoulder fixed right.

As painful as it is to have to admit, this year is toast. It’s six games to see where we stand heading into next year. So it’s time to play guys like Ronnell Lewis, Demontre Hurst, Marcus Trice, Jamarkus McFarland, Jaz Reynolds, Dejuan Miller. Why did Miller and Reynolds not even get a chance against Texas? I’m 99% sure Reynolds never got on the field and Miller was only in a for small handful of plays. They threw the fade pass a couple times and I’m forced to ask who on our roster is better for this play that Miller? I had heard speculation on OKC radio that Miller could possibly be used in the flex TE position, similar to what Texas has done w/ Buckner. I was disappointed to see him play well against Baylor and be essentially relegated right back to the bench against Texas. You’re never going to know if a kid and step up and make a big play in a big situation if you never give him a chance.

The part I have trouble with is who the coaches decide to give multiple chances to while not even allowing others onto the field. Good was very highly touted coming out of high school and while that certainly doesn’t equate to anything at this level, I would think that the coaches would at least give him a chance to prove he can’t play. To the best of my knowledge, his playing time this season has been limited at best and while he’s struggled that hasn’t stopped the coaches from continuing to run Cory Brandon out there over and over again. The O-line is probably a bad place to try and make this argument because they’ve all played pretty poorly.

One spot where I feel like we fans have a very legitimate point is at WR. Cam Kenney had his moments against Texas, but that fumble on the reverse was a killer. We saw him get benched against Baylor for dropping passes, yet that fumble somehow didn’t seem to cost him any playing time? I think Miller was on the field for like three snaps with zero balls thrown his way after his best game as a Sooner against Baylor? Wilson’s reason being that Broyles played, in the slot predominately, and that somehow relegated Miller to the bench? And instead of playing Miller flexed out, they decide to go with Trent Ratterree? At least Miller would have been a threat to do something, the same can definitely not be said for Ratterree. Again Wilson’s excuse was the Miller can’t block, so that’s why he used Ratterree instead. Really Kev? Take a look at those rushing stats and tell me that Ratterree made a difference anywhere. Another promising young WR who the coaches refuse to get in the game, Jaz Reynolds. Also coming of a good game against Baylor and what does that earn him, a spot on the bench for literally the entire game.

Well I’m hoping the coaches can accpet the reality of this season and actually start playing some of these kids. Everyone who’s already burned their redshirt needs to be getting significant playing time from here on out. We know what Ryan Reynolds can do, we don’t know what Ronnell Lewis can do. We know what Dom Franks can do, we don’t know what Demontre Hurst can do. We know what Adrian Taylor can do, we don’t know what Jamarkus McFarland can do.

Start using your bench coaches!!! Or you will continue to find yourself in the same position you have for the past several years. A starter goes down, the backup comes in and has virtually no experience, proceeds to get beaten repeatedly, and you come out after the game and tell us that inexperience lead to the break down. Well you’re the only ones preventing these kids from getting that experience. I’ve watched too many games where we’re up big in the 4th quarter and for some inexplicable reason the starters are still in the game (it happend this year against Tulsa) to simply believe that the backups are that bad in practice and that’s why they’re not in there.

I don’t mean to speak for CC, but I don’t think anyone is advocating “giving up.” Stoops has been notorious for not playing backups during the last couple seasons which has lead to inexperience leading into new seasons. Perfect example, see our offensive line this year. How many games did we wind up winning pretty comfortably last year? Without going back and posting every single final score, I’m going to assume the answer is more than just a handful. Well, I can remember multiple games last year where we’re up big and the entire starting offensive line is in the game late. My question then and now is what’s the point? Why risk the injury to the starters? Why not get the backups some experience? That’s all I’m saying now as well.

I’m definitely not recommending “quitting” on this season, rather trying to get the backups some game experience in meaningful situations. That certainly doesn’t mean you have to bench everyone who isn’t a junior or senior. Just try rotating them into the mix so we don’t go into next year w/ them having zero experience.

As to your point about them not performing in practice, I have to reference our coaches. All we heard throughout summer/fall practice was how well those guys you specifically mentioned. The coaches, namely Kevin Wilson and his comments about the offensive line and the offense in general, are the only ones to blame for any unrealistic expectations we might have. They oversold what they had and now are angry that they’re being questioned after the fact. That said, I find it very hard to believe that the backups we have that never get on the field can’t do just as poorly as some of the guys we currently have out there.