Film Study - Oklahoma vs. K-State (2nd Quarter)

Okay, K-State gets the ball to start the second quarter. Going to do my best not to make this another 2,000+ word novel. Here we go.

* OU defense opens the quarter with a nice three and out. Two more KSU runs over the left side (the case for every single run play so far) and a Klein incompletion.

* Arthur Brown just destroyed Trey Metoyer, day-umn! May have been a split second early, meaning before the ball actually arrived, but at live speed there is no way a ref could make that distinction. Tough play, hard (legal) hit, it's football.

* 2nd Q, 12:28, 3rd & 13 for OU from their own 13. The Bad Landry fumble. In order to understand just how bad a play this was you need to know the formation prior to the snap. OU is in a four wide side, trips left (remember this part), Jones in the shotgun with Whaley to his left. As they check back to the sideline (hate this), Heupel gets the call in very late, with only seven seconds remaining on the play clock actually, so they are rushing just to get the play off. Worth mentioning that OU only has one timeout at the moment after wasting one on defense and another on offense, in a similar situation to this, in order to avoid a delay of game call. But back to the play.

Jones gets the snap and stars his read. Both KSU defensive ends get too far up the field on the pass rush, giving Landry the ideal pocket to step up into as his interior o-line holds firm at the point of attack. Instead of doing this, Jones freaks out, rolls to his right (remember he had trips left to start the play!), thus right into both the rush in front of him and the DE who is now coming back to the play from behind. It's concerning for any number of reasons, even aside from what we now know happened, but more importantly because the literally saw the guy who wound up hitting him make that rush up the field. So where exactly did he think he'd be when the started to scramble out in that direction? And that's what people mean by pocket presence. He should have known that guy would be there, coming back into the play, but he didn't and the rest you know. Instead of doing what he's been coached to do since the first day he became a quarterback, i.e. throw the ball away live to fight another day, he holds onto the ball while taking the hit from behind he had no idea was coming and fumbles. 7-3 KSU

* Sterling Shepard is going to be a star. I don't care that it's just his third game of his true freshman season. I'm calling it right now.

* OU offense clicking right now, in the hurry up, KSU defense clearly on their heels, so what does Heupel do? Slows things down with the hurry up and wait approach.

* I don't know how it could be humanly possible, given that he's in his fourth year of starting and I assume he's been a quarterback for a minimum of 6-10 years prior to his arrival in Norman. But I am now utterly convinced the words "step up into the pocket" have never been explained to Landry Jones or he finds this particular combination of words in the English language to be something similar to this.

* 2nd Q, 10:33, 2nd & 10 for OU from the KSU 20. In basketball, they call it jumping out of the gym. I'm not sure what they call it on the football field, but whatever the name for it is Sterling Shepard just did it. Heck, I'm never going to be able to describe it so fortunately the guys at SB Nation have provided a visual aid.

via assets.sbnation.com

* The fact that Josh Heupel has not centered this offense around Dom Whaley, Damien Williams, Trey Millard, Brennan Clay, Roy Finch, and this running game is a complete joke. A sad, depressing, demoralizing joke.

* Having just typed that, you know what should really scare us as OU fans. The idea of Heupel trying to once again jam a square freaking peg (this time in the form of Blake Bell) into a round freaking hole (that being the role they currently ask Landry to play in this offense). Do any of you have any amount of faith in Heupel not to put Blake Bell in this offense and ask him to throw 50 times a game? Because I sure as heck do not. And all due respect to Bell, but that's not the kind of offense he should play in. And if we have to be the ones to figure that out before the coaches do, well then we are royally screwed my friends.

* 2nd Q, 9:35, 2nd & goal for OU from the KSU 1. One of the few things I actually agree with Bob from his comments in last night's postgame. Not a lot to be said here with this fumbled Bell snap. He clearly tries to run with the ball before he secures it and as a result he puts it on the ground. By my count, that's now 18 points either not on the board for OU or that should not be on the board for K-State. Those kind of errors would be hard for a really good team to overcome and as we learned Saturday night, this is not a really good team.

* Following that fumble, K-State proceeds to then go on a drive from their own six, to the OU six, and take a 10-3 lead. It's only three points, technically, but that's just a freaking back breaker. No other way to put it.

* 2nd Q, 8:50, 2nd & 1 for KSU from their own 16. I feel compelled to point this out because it's KSU's 12th rushing attempt and the first that does not go over the left side. As for the play itself, Harris actually comes up to fill the hole quite nicely before failing to wrap up and allowing Hubert to gain an additional five yards. It probably would have been a first down even if he makes the tackle, but it's more about the little things. Like the 36 yard gain Hubert scampers on the very next play, over the left side by the way.

* 2nd Q, 6:21, 3rd & 6 for KSU from the OU 39. OU's second timeout taken while on defense. And yes, I'm going to point them all out because I hate it that much. Oh, and I don't need the argument for why it makes sense here. I get it. It's third down, you want to make sure the defense knows what they're doing. You're right. I don't care. I will always hate when OU takes timeouts on defense. Always.

* Oh yeah, and by the way, that timeout didn't prevent jack. You know why? Because apparently they called a timeout in order to get Tom Wort lined up on a slot receiver, who absolutely abuses him in space with a simple stutter step/hesitation move, and makes the reception for what amounts to a way too easy throw and catch. First down, K-State. Obviously some of the Venables'ness of this defense are still present. For the life of me, I'll never understand how anyone, let alone someone as intelligent as I believe Mike Stoops to be, can think this is a good idea. It has literally never worked, not a single freaking time, and yet they still continue to do it apparently expecting a different result. I don't know how to express screaming through this form of communication, I mean other than typing in all caps (which is stupid), but just know that I'm screaming at my television right now.

* 2nd Q, 4:29, 3rd & 6 for KSU from the OU 24. The play is a perfect example of two things. (1) How poorly the defensive line played with respect to getting anything even close to penetration and (2) as a result of #1 of stupid a decision it was on the part of Mike Stoops to not blitz, on a single down, all night. K-State is in a three wide set, all to Klein's right, and OU is in their 4-2-5. Klein has all day, and I mean all day, to throw the ball which makes it impossible for the OU secondary. It's not fair to put this first down as no secondary should be asked to cover for as long as they were on this play. Tyler Lockett comes over the middle and it's another easy throw for Klein and another easy KSU first down.

* Absolutely fantastic play by Colvin here on what amounts to a jump ball/fade route in the corner of the end zone. It's actually a pretty well thrown ball by Klein, even this the receiver in the hands, but Colvin has perfect coverage and rips it away at the last minute. That's the kind of stuff you see on Sundays. OU defense holds KSU to a field goal. 10-3 KSU

* Again, in the hurry up here with two minutes remaining in the half, there is a noticeable difference in this offense. Apparently we have the ability to see this and Josh Heupel does not. That is not encouraging.

* 2nd Q, 1:22, 1st & 10 for OU from the KSU 18. I think a lot of people will blame Metoyer here on this what should been TD catch because of the comments Bob made after the UTEP game about him having to know where he's at on the field. But from my vantage point, it's another poor throw on the part of Landry Jones. To me, it looks like he both leads him out of bounds and turns him around. Admittedly, I could be wrong but that's what it looked like to me.

* After another wasted pass from Landry to Millard, notable as it's the first time on the tv broadcast I can hear the fans start to groan, it sets up a 3rd and 10. Yet another instance where Jones totally locks onto Stills and the KSU safety does a perfect job of baiting him into this throw. It should have been an interception, possibly even one KSU would have taken back for six, but Jones is fortunate the defender drops the ball. It's an atrocious decision not just for the force of the throw, but because Stills is so clearly in bracket coverage with a safety over the top before the play even starts and yet Jones is completely oblivious to it.

* Sooners settle for another field goal. I've lost track of how many points they should/KSU shouldn't have, but I think it's at 22 now. As it is, KSU leads 10-6 at the half.