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Cooper needs to get upfield on the toss. Sometimes those 3 yards matter. Had a chance for a few more.

Baker Siani OU.mp4 For those of you who don't want me to take up for the offensive line and want me to point out what that group can do better, here you go. @Bobby Burton mentioned this play on Coffee & Football this morning. I don't need to say anything other than to tell you to watch what happens to Brandon Baker and Melvin Siani. That can't happen in short yardage. The play was over before Cooper got the handoff.

bad run 3 OU.mp4 I'm putting up this whole play for one reason: whether Arch needs to check out of this before the snap or Sark has to burn a timeout, you have to get out of a run against an 8-man box. Trying to block eight with six isn't going to turn out well. This was second-and-4 on the drive that ended with Spetic's missed field goal. Instead of checking to a pass or regrouping on the sideline, Smothers never had a chance on a play where he took a 5-yard loss and you're in third-and-10. This type of stuff can't happen, especially inside the last four minutes of regulation.

Crack Toss OU.mp4 This is the ill-fated crack-toss, which is a bad play I put on Sark for a few reasons: 1. I hate toss plays. 2. OU's safeties and linebackers fit the run so well that hitting one of these long-developing runs is a low-percentage play, IMO. 3. That's asking a lot of Robertson to get across Jackson's face and reach/scoop him. Sikorski had two red marks here, one for not getting enough of Jackson to help Robertson and for missing his block at the second level. 4. Asking Ryan Wingo to down-block on an EDGE so Goosby can pull isn't putting him in the best position to win, IMO. He and Mosley fight right here, but add this to the reasons why I'd take this off Sark's call sheet (especially when the offense is coming off the goal line) if I could. 5. I'm not sure if Mosley was supposed to work up to the safety or if that was Goosby guy, but two guys in white jerseys running into each other isn't how Sark drew this up.

Wingo Block OU.mp4 I started this play midway through the sideline view because I want you to watch Ryan Wingo and Hollywood Smothers. — If Wingo gets a clean block on the safety, does Smothers see it and bounce the run off Wingo's outside shoulder? If he does, he only has to deal with the safety and/or the corner. Instead, Smothers hesitates and falls into a 3-yard gain that could've gone for more. — Even then, Smothers probably could've bounced this off Wingo's block and picked up a first down (he might've had a one-on-one with Powers if Coleman had kept Haynes from getting in a position for a potential open-field tackle. Or if he hit his path hard off Nick Townsend's inside shoulder, he might've beaten the safety to the spot and picked up the first down. Regardless, Texas punted two plays later. — This is a bad run because it should've gone for more. This is what I'm talking about when I push back against the running game issues being all on the offensive line. This is on Smothers and/or Wingo, with a little blame assigned to Coleman, IMO.

good run 2 ou.mp4 I mentioned this in the article, but here's one counter Sark called and it hit big. Watch Michael Masunas at around the 7-second mark and again at 25 seconds (I'm showing both all-22 angles from this one because it's that good, IMO). He's the MVP on this play, IMO. If he doesn't get a piece of Lewis, that's a TFL for Oklahoma and the offense is in second-and-long. Instead, it's a 14-yard gain. When Texas can get a hat on a hat, the offensive line moves people. It just doesn't happen often enough.

Cooper Zone Run OU.mp4 This is a good run. It's a zone run from Cooper that I like for several reasons: — If you look at the way OU is aligned to the strength of the formation (nose, 4i, 9-tech edge, Lewis playing over the tight end and Sullivan almost stacked behind the nose, they're positioned to take away the outside zone and make the run bounce back in toward the pursuit. That’s why the aiming point by the running back has to be tighter (think B gap) and he has to hit it hard. — Robertson actually does a good job of walling off Stone. Goosby makes a hellacious reach block to get to the middle linebacker. Sikorski does a great job to run his guy past the hole, clearing space for Cooper to cut it up. — It’s hat-on-hat football and Texas wins, setting up first-and-goal. These blocks aren’t dominating, but they’re effective because everyone did their job. — Watch Cooper stick a foot in the ground and get vertical around the 5-second mark. He’s got some juice.

Kentucky makes it a point to run the football, has a good offensive line and Baxter is healthier now than he was last season.

Is it something relevant that CJ Baxter is now gaining 5.6 yards carry versus having 3.6 while he was at Texas. Is that scheme? Is it the line or a pretty heavy mixture of both? I would assume more heavily waited towards the offensive line not being able to execute. It seems like Texas paints a picture and ask the team to execute it and you look at Alabama or Georgia and they state here’s where we’re gonna run, show us you can stop it. That’s the difference in the physicality. I think we’re not seeing..

Well that’s just mean, Gerry.

I can't see this OL getting more physical overnight. I can't see Cam Coleman wanting to get his nose or fingernails dirty on blocks over night. I can't see Emaree Winston getting push on anyone with a pulse over night. On any given run play, it is almost guaranteed that someone is gonna blow their assignment and the play is gonna go for minimal yards. We can run the ball more, but only after making them fear our passing attack enough to pull guys out of the box. This is a team that thrives in space, not in close quarters.

@JeffHowe the most confusing part to me is that we hit the portal for TE's to help with our running game and we have missed on that so bad. So is that a recruiting error or is our TE coach to blame for not prepping them for each opponent.

SOLD

Tough to say because the upcoming defenses are worse than what we’ve faced so far, but they could genuinely lose every single game remaining on their schedule except Arkansas if they keep playing this way

He has to be trolling 😂😂😂😂

Logan served more of a hybrid serve. Same thing with Melanie Parra. Micaya White was the last real top spin jump server we had. Haha, that was a roulette wheel. I speculate Spears is battling through an injury, but I don't know. I don't even know what Nya Bunton's injury is. When the articles came out she was "resting" after the Mississippi State match I made fun of how obscure this staff is with their injury information with some posts on volleytalk. A bunch of people came after me with pitch forks and torches. "You don't know she's injured!" Uh, she didn't participate in warmups and had a big @ss brace on her knee. I feel pretty confident about it. Spears wears that brace on her wrist she takes off when she serves. The way they replaced her abruptly and then put her back in, when her stats aren't any worse than Anderson's have been, make me think there's something ongoing she's dealing with. But again, that's not some kind of special insight into the program. That's just watching and reading everything I can get my hands on and then coming to conclusions.

Very good post.

One thing I noticed during telecasts is that no one from our team is ever angry. We don't seem to have any fire breathers holding dudes in check. They seem like a bunch of nice guys who don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Maybe those culture Wednesdays are having an opposite affect. I don't think VY, B-Rob, or Rak tolerated losing. And I am sure they let it be known.

There were several long kickoff returns by Michigan in the bowl game in 2025. This just lists the 51 yarder. They had several.

Good question. I am a little leery of coaches having success with another coach's recruits, although it is a little different now with the portal. Stein and Chesney are certainly doing much more with less, but overall, I'm not sure. Sark had his issues too (performance at Washington, not his personal issues) when he was hired, so there is always a risk. I hope we don't have to cross that bridge and Sark gets it fixed, but this was supposed to be the year, so it is very disappointing to be talking about a lot of the same issues that have plagued this team for multiple seasons.

If there’s not a significant improvement in the offense. What’s your prediction for the final W-L record? This could get ugly imo.

The 11 personnel numbers are what stand out to me. We had some success running with Mosley in motion and Cooper hitting the crease. Why does a run need to go for 20 to keep us interested? Five yards puts Arch in a much better situation on the next snap. The blocking needs work, and Arch has to quit leaving throws out there when he does have time. But Sark also has to recognize what this group is doing well and stick with it long enough to build a drive.

Sark should’ve called a timeout. That was doomed to fail

Thank you Jeff…Hopefully the people that can do better, do better. I’m kinda down, and I appreciate the work you guys do, and I respect the grind to keep the money flowing for you guys to take care of you and yours. The depressing part is that I don’t know if the analyzing work that y’all do can be put in place to help the team perform better. I just want somebody to help these guys play ball.

I'll come back in a little bit and add some all-22 clips from the OU game to illustrate some of my points.