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After An Embarrassingly Inept Performance Against Baylor, It's Time To Blow It Up On Offense

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By Jordan Esco
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Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

You can call this the irrational rantings of someone who is "just a fan."  Lord knows the know-it-all members of the esteemed media will be all to anxious to do so.  Probably a great many of whom that were all to quick to be critical of Josh Heupel on social media during last night's game.

I'm not going to single anyone out.  If you care enough to look, it won't take you long.  Just find your OU beat writer of choice and browse through their Twitter timeline.  But this particular Berry Tramel article would be a perfect example of the local media conveniently deciding now it's okay to question the almighty one.

It's a special kind of irony that allows them to constantly look their noses down upon us as fans only to then come full circle and call into question things we lowly fans have been justifiably questioning for weeks (or even years).  But now that they think it's a problem, well then being critics is perfectly fine.

Yeah, I'm a fan.  Never denied being anything else.  But for some idiotic reason in the minds of many that immediately disqualifies me from either being objective and/or speaking intelligently about this football program.

Would that distinction apply to some OU fans?  Without question.  Am I one of those OU fans?  I'd like to believe I am not and that my work here is proof of it, but ultimately that's up for others to judge.

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.  Back to my point.

If last night proved anything, it's that the time has come to pull the plug on this offense as we currently know it.

If you're in any other frame of mind you're either named Bob Stoops, Josh Heupel, or you have the world's worst case of denial.

What many of us as fans have referred to as a dumbed down version of the Landry Jones offense with Blake Bell at the helm has been an abject failure.  Culminating in one of the most embarrassing offensive performances in recent memory, if not program history.

The goal here is to avoid this devolving into a "FIRE JOSH HEUPEL!!!!" pointless tirade.  And I say pointless because I don't think anything is going to change there.  Do I agree with that?  Hell no, I don't agree with it.  But as far as I'm concerned that's the reality of the situation.

So operating under that premise, where do you go from here?

A good place to start would be to go back to what the plan was at the beginning of the season.  Regardless of whatever amount of smoke Bob Stoops would like to blow up our dairy aires, they are not running the same offense they against Louisiana-Monroe and West Virginia with Trevor Knight.

It was clear in naming Knight the starting quarterback they had come to the realization an overhauling of the offense as both they and we knew it was necessary.  To their credit, they bit the bullet and made that change.  They had to know there were going to be growing pains and many a bump with the transition to something drastically different than what they had ever done in the Stoops era.

Then Knight gets hurt and they have the convenient excuse to scrap those plans and go back to a system that somewhat more similarly resembles what they've run in years past.

I've shared my theory on this decision many times here, but for any who may have missed it I'll do so quickly one more time.

I'm convinced Heupel never wanted to make the change in the first place.  It was clear through the first game and a half that he wasn't comfortable calling plays in that style of an offensive system.  And now he's just as uncomfortable with the system they're currently running, one in which has has so little faith in his quarterback to throw the football you rarely see passes longer than ten yards.

And yet they continue to roll him out there series after series.  Why?!?

How bad does Bell have to play before they make a change?  It's a question fans were asking during and after the Texas game.  Now it's a question fans and, conveniently, the media are now asking after a hideous performance Thursday night against Baylor.

I'm quite certain the coaches would tell you they're doing it because they believe Bell gives them the best chance to win.  I'd respectfully disagree.

The simple fact of the matter is for all intents and purposes this season is over.  The Big 12 Championship that bob is always all too happy to remind you of how many he's won is off the table.  You're playing purely for pride.  That's not something to be taken lightly, especially from a player's perspective because no one has put in more than they have both on and off the field.  They're the ones putting their bodies on the line and they deserve our respect.  They certainly have mine.

It's difficult to say when thinking of the seniors on this team that's it's time to start planning for next year.  But if you're being honest, that is what needs to happen.

And it starts squarely with one position, quarterback.

It's nothing personal, but in my opinion Blake Bell has proved he is not the guy to lead this offense.  A change has to be made. You were confident enough in Knight at one point to name him the starting quarterback and yet now healthy they seem absurdly hesitant to go back to him.  And spare me any examples from last night because when you throw the kid in there Thursday night when everyone in the stadium knows you're not going to allow him to throw the football you're just setting him up to fail.  And don't even get me started on Kendal Thompson who must have insulted Bob's mother or something to not have been given some kind of a chance to see the field at this point.

Changes have to be made, Bob.  And if you either (1) don't believe that to be the case and/or (2) are unwilling to make them then maybe you're the change to be made.

And before you freak out on me, that's not me calling for Stoops to be fired.  I DO NOT WANT STOOPS TO BE FIRED.  But if he's too stubborn to make the glaringly obvious changes that need to be made then I'm not sure how anyone could deny in that situation he would be the problem.

To his credit, Stoops made changes this past offseason many did not expect and would not have predicted.  We're about to find out if he's willing to stay on that course and make some more because they are needed and it's up to him, and him alone, to make them.

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