Herman has had two mentors, both having won national championships, that have told him the absolute number one thing that he needs to do is avoid doing everything in the HC job because it’s burns you out. He’s still learning on the job and if he had won the last 2 one score games vs OU the talk would be about Riley and his gadget program vs Herman and serious football, that will be in the 2023 threads.
I know 2019 wasn’t what we wanted to see but the gnashing of teeth over Herman has gone to extremes, and it’s a bit like BAS because it’s really OU focused.
was 2019 a complete failure? Yep. Did Herman leave it alone or did he hire one of the best OCs in CFB and a DC who won a National title the last time they were coaching together? All I read during the last season was everyone claiming that Herman was a fucking blockheaded narcissist that won’t change a goddamn thing with his staff. He always thinks he’s right yada yada ... then he did exactly the opposite. Oh I know, and you can try to hate on the Ash hire and his Hermanbro status but before you do go back and watch the Utah game and see what our defense looked like with only a few changes toward the simple (remember I said before 2019 that Naivar would be an upgrade at DC) and put that against the shitty one score losses we suffered in 2019 with Orlando’s bumblefucking. Anyone think Ash won’t be, at a minimum, better than Naivar would’ve been this year and markedly better than Orlando was in 2019? I think he’s going to be more than marginally better, there will significant improvements, but I understand any trepidation. Yurcich is a huge upgrade and anyone saying otherwise is being disingenuous.
I know all of this has been beaten to death so instead of leaving it alone I’ll throw some fucking gas on the fire and turn this shit up ...
I think Texas is closer to winning a national title than OU, despite their multiple Heisman winners and recent playoff appearances.
OU is completely uncompetitive in games where their talent mismatch is nullified because they have systemic issues. There’s lots of praise for Riley addressing the Sooner issues on defense by hiring Grinch, but dig deeper on that decision, it speaks to my point. They are installing Grinch’s SpeedD and recruiting toward it, so let’s see — a team that’s been bitchfucked and bullied over and over, that has tackled like shit — is going to address those glaring issues by getting a lot smaller across the board — esp on the DL? How do you think that’s going to play out vs Bama, LSU, tOSU, and Clemson? Not only are they getting way smaller on the DL they are doing it in concert with Bennie Wylie as S&C coach. They are doing it while not restocking the defensive roster well. They only have 38 scholarship players on defense and still their classes are overloaded with offense. Riley wants one thing from Grinch’s D - to be disruptive so that he can get his offense back on the field. Period. Because that’s all Riley cares about. The offense. Does anyone think they are going to have markedly better QB play than they have the past 4 years? WR? OL? They are already elite and are completely out of games by the 2nd qtr in the playoffs.
Really, it’s not just the playoffs, OU has had a huge talent (and almost as important, depth) advantage in the Big XII and still ended up in six one score games last season despite the fucking historically elite offense. Kudos to Riley for winning those games — Herman didn’t and that’s a BIG fucking problem — but the question of why the Sooners were even in one score games remains. The further they get from Stoops evals and Schmidt’s S&C the further they get from fielding a capable defense. I don’t think 2020 will see a drastic drop — they return all five OL, etc so they will still apply a ton of pressure to opposing teams via quick scores but the systemic issues reveal themselves over time. If you look at their D classes from 2018 going forward (compare them with Stoops classes that are fading away) and then project these classes forward under Bennie Wylie ... maybe I’m wrong but I don’t see them addressing the unsmooth buttfuckings they’ve received.
Do I believe in Herman? I’m not sure yet. I do know that I believe in him/his staff’s ability to identify talent. Very much so. I think the only comparable staffs are Utah and Clemson in that regard. I do believe in the offensive system (power running game with a mobile QB vertical passing attack — hellooooooo Yurcich) and I believe in his commitment to competitiveness, even if it’s often hokey or cheesy. I do believe in Yancey and his staff. I don’t think Texas would be humiliated in the playoffs under Herman.
commence flames, goddamn football board posters, and mockery. you’re welcome for the march to 1,000.