Oklahoma at Home

#101
#101
OrangeMoundTNVol said:
If you’re not concerned about breaking in five new linemen in the premier league of CFB then you guys are as delusional as UGA fans.
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If they were truly inexperienced, and if our OL coach didn't have a history of developing great OL and units, then I'd be much more concerned. Our OL players do have experience; however they haven't played together. The expectation is that they will be a work in progress during the first game, and a strong unit by the end of the season.
 
#102
#102
trj said:
If they were truly inexperienced, and if our OL coach didn't have a history of developing great OL and units, then I'd be much more concerned. Our OL players do have experience; however they haven't played together. The expectation is that they will be a work in progress during the first game, and a strong unit by the end of the season.
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I agree the OL situation is being overblown here. We play OU early and in Norman so, no huge advantage for us. If I were you, I would be worried more about OL depth.
 
#103
#103
When other fans come to Volnation to post, I enjoy the comparisons each are trying to make. Both Oklahoma and Tennessee are perennial powerhouses and I expect it o be a very good game. I don't follow the off-season things that happen too much, sometimes it only lets my expectations down when the season starts. There's some games we shouldn't have lost in the last few years and maybe some games we were fortunate to win .... that's football and the ball can bounce unpredictably at times.
Whenever dedicated fans of opposing teams start comparing each other to gain an advantage, I think back to my early school years when one kid is telling another kid, "I bet my dad can whip your dad". Its entertaining and as long as everyone remains good sports and respects others right to support their own team, I'm good with that.

Finally, the season is almost here and we can see if our expectations are warranted. Tennessee probably has the better talent but Oklahoma is definitely no push over in their home stadium. The team that makes the fewest early season mistakes will be the winner.

Gentlemen and Ladies .... " Start your engines" and "Play Ball"!

My prediction, Vols by fiddy" :p
 
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#104
#104
vol94 said:
I look at the flip side of the coin in that Oklahoma is due for a home loss.

This game brought back an old memory when TN ended Miami’s consecutive game winning streak. They hadn’t lost a game in over a year and I think undefeated @ home for two years. It was a boring game ending with a TN win that led to Kellen Winslow’s infamous post game quote.

Oklahoma will be a difficult game but one I expect to win. If we are going to get back to elite status, then we must win games like this.

I will be there - Go Vols!
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I would really like to know who did they beat during that home streak.
 
#105
#105
901 Orange said:
I would really like to know who did they beat during that home streak.
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My concern is more about us.
When did we last beat a good Top 25 team on the road at night? Only Kentucky comes to mind, and they aren’t exactly a juggernaut and we own them like Florida owns us.
a win in Norman at night (which I assume kickoff will be) would be a huge professional and PERSONAL feather in Heupels hat. Despite him having to say it’s just another game, you know how much he wants this one.
 
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#106
#106
trj said:
Well, it's probably not helping to go around this mulberry tree many more times, but here's a few more thoughts:

On first point -- coaches matter but there's more at play in favoring Oklahoma in this game.

On the second point -- the SEC definitely features more games with ranked opponents in 2024 than in 2023:
• More ranked opponents: Bama, Arky, Auburn, Florida, UGA, LSU, Miss St, OU, So Car, Vandy
• Less ranked opponents: Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mizzu
• Equal ranked opponents: Tenn, Texas, TAMU
-----
• Total Regular Season 2023: 59 ranked opponents for 14 members (uses AP poll at time of game)
• Total Regular Season 2024: 81 ranked opponents for 16 members (uses AP preseason poll)

On the third point –– I don't agree that Tennessee will exploit OU's OL or DL. Sure Tennessee may get a couple of sacks, but Oklahoma will likely dial up a successful blitz or two also.

And I totally agree Buck Fama and horns down!! :)
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I would give Tennessee the edge on the sack department. Not only is the ESPN's best player in the nation our pass rusher, but DL is DEEP for UT. Its probably the one position we are SEC ready with SEC quality depth at every position with talent waiting. edge, SDE, DTs, we have them, they are good, and they are experienced. If we are going to win games we shouldn't it will be the DL taking over. We also had 17 more sacks, 41 vs 24, than you did last year. playing in the SEC. heck the player who was considered one of the better transfer portal DE, left our team, and we have evidence to believe his replacement is better.

that being said, pass protection is not our OL's strong suit, and that was the one place Nico struggled in the bowl start was holding on to the ball too long. hopefully he has addressed the clock in his head.

I doubt the sacks favor TN 5 to 0. but I would expect us to have several more than OU can produce.
 
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#107
#107
Vfl2407 said:
My concern is more about us.
When did we last beat a good Top 25 team on the road at night? Only Kentucky comes to mind, and they aren’t exactly a juggernaut and we own them like Florida owns us.
a win in Norman at night (which I assume kickoff will be) would be a huge professional and PERSONAL feather in Heupels hat. Despite him having to say it’s just another game, you know how much he wants this one.
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Me personally, I never ask questions like that because past games have nothing to do with what's going on at the moment. It's far too many moving parts. Mainly the talent on the team and at QB. Hooker only lost 2 road games his final year. 1 was UGA and the other was a buzz saw which happens. Milton wasn't as good as Hooker, so we lost some road games Hooker might have won. If Nico is better than both we'll play better on the road
 
#108
#108
volbound1700 said:
Alabama has the hardest schedule that I have seen them play in years. Georgia also has a more difficult schedule for once with Alabama and Texas.
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Bama’s this year isn’t harder than last year’s. They get Wisconsin instead of Texas. They get South Carolina and Canderbilt instead of MSU and Ole Miss.

Georgia’s is harder this year but Texas and Oklahoma’s schedules this year are much, much harder in comparison.
 
#109
#109
trj said:
Well, it's probably not helping to go around this mulberry tree many more times, but here's a few more thoughts:

On first point -- coaches matter but there's more at play in favoring Oklahoma in this game.

On the second point -- the SEC definitely features more games with ranked opponents in 2024 than in 2023:
• More ranked opponents: Bama, Arky, Auburn, Florida, UGA, LSU, Miss St, OU, So Car, Vandy
• Less ranked opponents: Kentucky, Ole Miss, Mizzu
• Equal ranked opponents: Tenn, Texas, TAMU
-----
• Total Regular Season 2023: 59 ranked opponents for 14 members (uses AP poll at time of game)
• Total Regular Season 2024: 81 ranked opponents for 16 members (uses AP preseason poll)

On the third point –– I don't agree that Tennessee will exploit OU's OL or DL. Sure Tennessee may get a couple of sacks, but Oklahoma will likely dial up a successful blitz or two also.

And I totally agree Buck Fama and horns down!! :)
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I look forward to the game! One last thing I’ll add. The average SEC team plays .8 more ranked opponents this year. Oklahoma plays 4 more ranked teams than last year. Yalls schedule got went up in difficulty more than pretty much anyone else in the conference.
 
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#111
#111
LouderVol said:
I would give Tennessee the edge on the sack department. Not only is the ESPN's best player in the nation our pass rusher, but DL is DEEP for UT. Its probably the one position we are SEC ready with SEC quality depth at every position with talent waiting. edge, SDE, DTs, we have them, they are good, and they are experienced. If we are going to win games we shouldn't it will be the DL taking over. We also had 17 more sacks, 41 vs 24, than you did last year. playing in the SEC. heck the player who was considered one of the better transfer portal DE, left our team, and we have evidence to believe his replacement is better.

that being said, pass protection is not our OL's strong suit, and that was the one place Nico struggled in the bowl start was holding on to the ball too long. hopefully he has addressed the clock in his head.

I doubt the sacks favor TN 5 to 0. but I would expect us to have several more than OU can produce.
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@LouderVol, I appreciate this well-reasoned post.

American football is like full-contact chess. If a defense commits to going after the QB, there are multiple strategies for the offense to counter with: you can go full max-protect and leave RBs and TEs to help block, you can go flood and get RBs and TEs in short passing lanes for quick hitters where they may have to only beat one man for a big gain, or multiple possibilities between these two extremes. Since 2000, Oklahoma consistently has fielded offenses that can counter great defenses. For instance, in 2017 SEC fans told Oklahoma that UGA's record setting defense would shutdown Oklahoma's offense. That year, only two teams touched 20 against UGA. Oklahoma put up 48 points on them and that Oklahoma team essentially had zero defense to help the offense. As Heupel knows, many of the same offensive think tank that have been a part of Oklahoma's offensive success since 2000 are in Norman now in some capacity. And 2024 Oklahoma will have a very strong defense. My point is that Oklahoma believes we have the players, coaches and scheme to address a team with an outstanding DL, especially if other parts of their defense are suspect.

Talking about defensive strategies reminds me of some Big XII history. The following is my perspective (you won't find proof of any of this on anything officially tied to Oklahoma University), but it's the truth. Bill Snyder, KSU's coach for many years, sometimes used a "talent-equalizing" strategy that I always had heartburn with. KSU would sell out to hit Oklahoma's QB1 with the obvious intent to knock our QB1 out of the game. To fully appreciate the situation, you need some context here: referees in the Big XII would often call games in a way that favored Texas. Teams that were able to compete or recruit against Texas had to deal with the refs; every close call, every pass interference call, and every holding call would not favor teams like Oklahoma. This kind of influence was what drove Nebraska out of Big XII at great cost (Nebraska knew they would lose access to recruiting easily in Texas if they went to the B1G and no longer had conference games and campus close to those Texas recruit's family). In fact, one of the primary reasons Oklahoma fans favored leaving the Big XII is we finally got fed up with the biased officiating -- it was truly bad. One of the head Big XII head refs was the grandson of a Texas HOF coach. Another Big XII ref lived in Austin. Several had family attending Texas. There was never even an attempt to hide conflicts of interest. I think this is what Nick Saban was talking about during 2024 SEC Media Days when he said Texas would not run the SEC like they ran the Big XII (Oklahoma obviously ran the Big XII football championships wise, but Texas had plenty of "other power" to run the conference in the way that suited them). Anyway, even with the typical Texas-favoring referee bias, KSU would get multiple late-hit calls going after our QB1 -- it was that obvious. I'm hoping for a more level playing field from the SEC.
 
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#112
#112
trj said:
To fully appreciate the situation, you need some context here: referees in the Big XII would often call games in a way that favored Texas. Teams that were able to compete or recruit against Texas had to deal with the refs; every close call, every pass interference call, and every holding call would not favor teams like Oklahoma. This kind of influence was what drove Nebraska out of Big XII at great cost (Nebraska knew they would lose access to recruiting easily in Texas if they went to the B1G and no longer had conference games and campus close to those Texas recruit's family). In fact, one of the primary reasons Oklahoma fans favored leaving the Big XII is we finally got fed up with the biased officiating -- it was truly bad. One of the head Big XII head refs was the grandson of a Texas HOF coach. Another Big XII ref lived in Austin. Several had family attending Texas. There was never even an attempt to hide conflicts of interest. I think this is what Nick Saban was talking about during 2024 SEC Media Days when he said Texas would not run the SEC like they ran the Big XII (Oklahoma obviously ran the Big XII football championships wise, but Texas had plenty of "other power" to run the conference in the way that suited them).
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We use blue for sarcasm here. Just so you know, lol.

You've traded one evil(Texas) for another(Alabama).

Really not hard to believe what you posted. I don't wear the conspiracy tin foil hat, but bias is real and Alabama overwhelmingly comes out on top in the SEC.

Our 2019 & 2023 games against AL were particularly egregious. Sometimes it's hard to quantify, particularly to a skeptic. We're not talking about tallying up procedural penalties.
2019 we were getting called for BS roughing and unsportsmanlike penalties while Bama got away with knocking our QB out with a helmet to helmet hit in front of the ref.
2023 their OL were holding our DL in MMA style choke holds in front of the refs. Not a single live ball penalty was called against them.

Meet the new boss (bama refs), same as the old boss.
 
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#113
#113
trj said:
We have a sellout streak of 148 home games so I wouldn't count on more than the maximum required by the SEC.
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That’s a very cool stat for sure, but don’t underestimate how many of us are willing to drop $$$ on resell tickets.
 
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#116
#116
MemphisVol77 said:
We use blue for sarcasm here. Just so you know, lol.

You've traded one evil(Texas) for another(Alabama).

Really not hard to believe what you posted. I don't wear the conspiracy tin foil hat, but bias is real and Alabama overwhelmingly comes out on top in the SEC.

Our 2019 & 2023 games against AL were particularly egregious. Sometimes it's hard to quantify, particularly to a skeptic. We're not talking about tallying up procedural penalties.
2019 we were getting called for BS roughing and unsportsmanlike penalties while Bama got away with knocking our QB out with a helmet to helmet hit in front of the ref.
2023 their OL were holding our DL in MMA style choke holds in front of the refs. Not a single live ball penalty was called against them.

Meet the new boss (bama refs), same as the old boss.
Click to expand...

Several people have mentioned the Bama bias. That should make Texas vs. Bama games especially interesting. I think I might watch that 2022 Tennessee vs Bama game -- Heupel must have almost given Saban a heart attack. Checking on YouTube, that game already has over 462K views.

Thanks for the reminder that blue font = sarcasm here.

BTW, Love the Who reference. :) I've always enjoyed great lyrics...
 
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#117
#117
trj said:
Several people have mentioned the Bama bias. That should make Texas vs. Bama games especially interesting. I think I might watch that 2022 Tennessee vs Bama game -- Heupel must have almost given Saban a heart attack. Checking on YouTube, that game already has over 462K views.

Thanks for the reminder that blue font = sarcasm here.

BTW, Love the Who reference. :) I've always enjoyed great lyrics...
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Hey trj, a question for you.
who hates Texas more, OU fans or TAMU fans?

in the SEC, the question is always who hates Bama more.
And as a lifelong Vol, I can state that I hate them with every fiber of my being. However, I must admit that Auburn hates them more because they have to live and be around those obnoxious arseholes every day.
 
#118
#118
Vfl2407 said:
Hey trj, a question for you.
who hates Texas more, OU fans or TAMU fans?

in the SEC, the question is always who hates Bama more.
And as a lifelong Vol, I can state that I hate them with every fiber of my being. However, I must admit that Auburn hates them more because they have to live and be around those obnoxious arseholes every day.
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@Vfl2407 , good question. Both fan bases love to beat the Longhorns -- no question. TAMU fans are rabid, and frankly a little weird, but TAMU is hardly ever a relevant team. The OU/Texas game was always much more meaningful in the Big XII. And it's hard to beat the pageantry and relevance of the Red River Rivalry -- especially in Oklahoma and Texas. It's just a special game.
 
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#119
#119
cherokeeeVOL said:
They have talent and I do think it will be a tight game. But it's also not the best matchup for them along the line of scrimmage. Their weakness (OL) is going up against our strength (DL). If we can get to their QB more often than not then it won't matter as much if our secondary is shaky.
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This isn't rocket science, but if we can dominate the LOS on defense and generate a consistent enough ground game to avoid long 3rd downs, we will make enough big plays to win the game. The less stress for Nico the better.
 
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#120
#120
Rockytop10nessee said:
Bama’s this year isn’t harder than last year’s. They get Wisconsin instead of Texas. They get South Carolina and Canderbilt instead of MSU and Ole Miss.

Georgia’s is harder this year but Texas and Oklahoma’s schedules this year are much, much harder in comparison.
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Alabama has 5 top 20 teams plus Auburn and Wisconsin. That is 7 games against teams that could, in theory, beat them if they don't play well.
 
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