It is my belief that OU will ... take a step back (what else were you expecting me to type?) in 2019. We're so used to seeing them defy losses and hold alpha position in the league that that may sound absurd, but it's not as farfetched as it sounds.
”But closetojumping, their offense has transmogrified into a fuckdragon unleashed from the depths of hell?!!? I’m so scared, hold me, bro!”
OU lost 4 stand-out OL starters from last year’s team. Replacing the 4 OL stars is not something that can just be poo-poo'd away. They have a stud OL coach, so it won't be the end of the world, and Humphrey is, while overrated, still excellent at a key spot in C. So I don't think the OL will suck, but it won't be anything close to elite. Several of the projected starters are guys that Texas and numerous other programs actually passed on. They no longer have Vomit Schmidt gearing them up for play. No sir, enter a one Benny The Body Wiley and his irrelevant training tactics for OL.We'll see those effects in full regalia in Year 3 of his reign.
At QB, Hurts does not enable the utilization of the full offensive playbook. He’s not going to be the savior of their program that Kyler Murray turned out to be. They were frustrated by Hurts’ limitations in the spring. He's not an above average passer. He's good on his feet, but he's not elite. They can weave him into the running game, but there's significant risk in doing so, and they have a stable of good backs. His running utility will be limited to mostly off-schedule runs behind a disorganized OL. Should OU lose Hurts in a tragic scenario where one of his teammates drunkenly beats him into a coma, cuts his neck open with a screwdriver, or breaks his jaw thinking he's a woman, and he goes down for a month or more, Tanner Mordecai is the replacement and he’s as prepared as okie high school students are for future life success. Spencer Rattler could ultimately be the man, but he’d have to lay off fucking janitors in his high school bathroom first, and put down the weed second.
They have elite WRs and Calcaterra is terrific, but no one can plausibly argue that losing Hollywood Brown won't slow them down at least some. Charleston Rambo is basically serviceable. I’m interested to see how quickly Wease, Bridges or Haselwood can make an impact. This is an elite team strength even with the loss of Brown.
At TB, Brooks, Sermon and Pledger are all good to great, but they’re not elite, gamechanging players. They won’t have the Mack Truck-sized holes to run through this season, either. TB is a team strength, but it’s not a differentiator that they can rely on to take over games.
Riley is an offensive wizard, so I agree, they won't fall too far. I see them in the #15-20 range if Hurts is terrific and #30 if he sucks.
“Now come on, CTJ, Alex Grinch is an acclaimed defensive guru! You know the OU defense is going to wake up and play like it’s 2001 this season!”
Defensively, Grinch thinks they have a bunch of pussies and dead weight on the roster. His own players don't like him. He's unproven as a DC. Yeah, he had a decent year at Wazzou during a down cycle for the Pac 12. He's pretty much living off of that.
They're hurt on defense by the fact that their practices are geared towards offense and the focus on technique is traded off for repetition of assignment. Doesn't work that way for defenses against game day offenses. This phenomenon hurt(s) Oregon, Wazzou, Tech, Baylor, etc. OU under Riley is no different.
The DL is meh. Perkins can straight up play, if he's healthy. Gallimore is an overrated pile of shit. He has to be carried or carted off the field at least once per game, sometimes 2-3 times, only to return later to play the hero role. I cannot remember him actually making a single play. But hey, he's big and experienced, and he plays for the vaunted OU brand, so let's line that pussy up as a preseason All Big 12 guy on the DL. Right. The other starter is a dude named Mann. He’s literally JAM.
At LB, Murray is fine on the LB side. I know he had like 50 tackles against Army. They count tackles even when the TB stumbles down as he runs over you. Outside of that game, Murray was good but nothing special. He's all they have worth thinking about until Deshaun White shows that he can make a play.
The secondary is lukewarm scrotum sweat. If Grinch could take the Texas back-up secondary and trade it right now with the starting personnel in OU's secondary, he'd do it faster than Bookie Radley-Hiles could shit himself in panic having to cover Collin Johnson again. Fuck, Grinch is telling recruits that kind of stupid shit as we debate things here. There is not a single player on OU’s roster in the secondary that would make the two deep at Texas.
I expect OU to finish with one of the worst defenses in the conference, again. Sure, some of the guys are a year older, but does that make someone who sucks actually improve? Did Breckyn Hager or Naashon Hughes suddenly show up with a clue as seniors? Why, with worse coaching, would we expect more from the OU defense this year?
“closetojumping, you jinxing hillbilly, the personnel doesn’t matter when OU is playing one of the easiest schedules this side of the SEC & ACC eunuch-level scheduling shit!?!?”
OU has a backloaded schedule.
UH
South Dakota
@UCLA
Tech
@KU
UT – neutral
WVU
@KSU
ISU
@Baylor
TCU
@Okie State
They play a fucking FCS school in week 2, which is shameful and a fucking embarrassment.
They don’t play back to back road games, of course, helped by not having to do that in the conference since 2013, which is unbridled favoritism by the bureaucrats in the Big 12 home office.
UCLA is the big non-conference match-up and they're going to suck. They close out ISU, at Baylor, TCU, and at OSU.
Obviously Mike Gundy will shit himself in fear and choke Bedlam away the way he does every year. He’s a man, until he plays OU. Here's hoping he calls in sick that day and Okie State actually makes an appearance in the game as though they give a flying fuck.
My bet is that OU goes 9-3 with losses to Texas and then 2 of the final 4 games. Could they slip to 8-4/7-5 before a bowl? Sure. They don't have much margin for error on offense. If Hurts is off, so are all of the bets. The defense isn't saving them from jack shit.
Thoughts?