I have a few points to make. But the first I want to make is a refutation of the claim “we called off the dogs” and got conservative once up 38-13. To make my point I actually went back and thanks to fast forward charted every offensive possession from 7:08 left. Yes, I could have just used the play chart.
Play chart
But, in order to strengthen my opinion, I wanted to see the plays unfold again.
Score:
38-13 with 7:08 left in 3rd Q:
1st &10 - 3 wide drop back, Kj hits Green on check down
2nd &4 - 4 wide, on back, KJ makes wrong read on Read option (inverted veer).
Personal foul on #14…thus
3rd and 22 - drop back, check down to Bax. Another flag, Illegal formation. Declined.
Punt
Score: 38-20
1st &10 - 4 wide 1 back. Read option.
2nd & 10 3 wide 1 back, Check off to off tackle. Stuffed.
3rd down - drop back, pass to Landers broken up
Punt
(This was worst possession of the half)
Score: 38-23
1st &10 - 2 back set, KJ fake toss, runs for 11. 1st down
1st&10 - Read option, Green 7 yards
2nd &3 - “New” offset I look that we used, KJ misreads option and leaves with Green. he or Dub might still be running if he keeps it. No Gain
3rd & 3 - Read option with a wheel route, KJ hits Dub for BIG gain down to Kansas 24. PENALTY. PASS INTERFERENCE ON WILSON. (Huge play and momentum swing. We probably get points if this stands).
3rd & 17 - KJ drop back, check down to Henry, to 40
Punt
After a Kansas 3 and out
1st & 10 - Dub nice run, 5 yards
2nd & 5 - Read option, KJ keeps for 4
3rd and 1 - Kansas has literally 10 in the box (we are bunched in too, and Briles runs that sneaky direct snap to Dub with KJ and Landers (lined up at TB) faking the speed option. It doesn’t work. Punt
8:23 left in game.
Defense gets a stop AGAIN.
1st & 10 - 3:52 left in game - Green for 4 yards
2nd & 6 - Green 3 yards on read option carry
3rd and 3 - DEEP PASS to Landers to Kansas 29. 3:32 left. Gutsy call. BP lovers probably went into a near hysterical euphoric state on this call. Game should be over now,
1st &10 - Read option, E Harris, who played a great game for a 3rd string freshman, gets whipped. 3 yard loss.
2nd &13 - Play of the game. Reverse to Landers. Good gain. 1st down yardage, Fumble non-fumble. Kansas runs it back deep in our territory. VAR decision…wait…this is tackle football…“Replay booth” decides to uphold call on field in one of the worst calls I have seen.
Y’all know the rest. Kansas scores. Get’s the onside. Scores again. We win in OT thank God.
Now, I am not some sort of Briles defender. He deserves criticism when it’s warranted just like everyone else. But how anyone can look at the plays called once we were up 38-13 and decide that we “called off the dogs” or “got conservative” is beyond me. Briles continued to call the game in the same manner he had when we built the big lead. The fact of the matter is that two big penalties derailed drives that took us deep into Kansas territory–drives that would have in all likelihood resulted in TD’s or FG’s. But, nothing on those drives. We try a trick play on 3rd and short that doesn’t work. Argue the play call…but a trick play on 3rd and short doesn’t qualify as “conservative”. “Cute”? Probably. We throw deep (successfully) on 3rd and short, and run a reverse for a big gain…both on our final possession. We all know the ground caused Landers’ fumble…but that is what it is. None of that qualifies as conservative. Unless you want to be a 60 pass a game team.
All in all, I for one AM FINE with the playcalling once we were up 38-13. There were some read option misreads. But as Clay said, that is part of the deal when you run our scheme.
Other thoughts:
–Briles’ scheme is a read option, run alot on first down to set up play-action or just throw off the read option scheme. It is what it is. I like it. If you as a fan want a drop back, throw alot on first down team to watch, I suggest you go watch Tom Brady, or several other NFL teams. (Though the read option is very much in the NFL now…)
–Y’all…we had 681 yards total offense. SIX EIGHTY ONE. And some are griping about the offense? Man. Hey Pitt…better shoot for 800 yards per game bro. Otherwise people are gonna gripe.
–We gave up over 600 yards, and 544 in passing. As usual, our secondary got burned. ESPECIALLY late in the game. But we all knew our secondary is the weakness of the team. Not a shocker. Pitt has straight up admitted we need to be better in the back half. Plus, we were missing Slusher (now driving fancy cars at UL if his twitter post is to be believed)…and some portal folks. We had little to no depth back there. We did get two picks. But as the game wore on, we were worn out.
–The shocker to me was that we held Kansas to 13 as long as we did. I honestly thought yesterday would be a 2020 Ole Miss-Hog type game. From the first possession.
–I think that given Ricky has moved on, and we were playing E. Harris at RG, the O-line played fine. We ran the ball for 406 yards. 406!!! Without Rocket! With Rocket, you can bet some runs would have been busted for bigger gains. Green and Dub played well! But they don’t have Rocket’s vision.
–The d-line played well. We STUFFED their running game. And without some late-in-the-game flukes, the defensive priority of stuffing their run game would have resulted in a more clear cut win.
–Our young WR’s played WELL. Anyone recall a drop? I don’t recall a single drop. Period. Add our freshman TE to that. Big TD Washington!
–Our LB’ers show we have a bright future at that position. With more on the way. Pooh played an awesome game. Crook and Woodward played well too. I thought Woodward mad one of the plays of the game.
–I don’t think the targeting call was accurate…but it was a less than smart play by McAdoo (who otherwise player really well). Don’t duck your head dude. Don’t duck your head, we win right there.
–Some of the big Kansas passing TD’s were not so much “our db’s stink” as much as Kansas exploited our 5 in the back end scheme…which isn’t new…but something we didn’t run predominately this season. We let some guys run wide open.
–We do need an upgrade at safety. Not a shocker.
–Also…y’all…Kansas QB is a stud. So there is that.
–Speaking of studs, both KJ and Rocket should be preseason first team all-SEC next year. If they are not, I have an issue.
–I am very happy Domineck is coming back. I think he has a great year next year.
All in all, I am allowing myself to BE HAPPY we won the game yesterday. We WON. THE. GAME. Pitt was completely correct when he pointed out that once we went into OT, things didn’t look good if you think about what usually happens. But our kids showed so much character.
Which makes me optimistic about the future. I cannot prove this, but I suspect most of the portal entries were not bemoaned by Pittman. He flat out said the lockerroom was better now. I think losing Knox and Cat hurt and probably was a disappointment to the staff. Cat and Trey aren’t good kids. They are a GREAT kids. (Unless there is something that has never been reported. I don’t know either kid…just have always been super impressed with both). But other than that I think we will be JUST FINE roster wise next year. The schedule is tough, as usual. I think Pittman will, over time, prove to be the best recruiting HC since Broyles. Even better than Houston, who was underrated as a recruited IMO.
If we can avoid major injuries, which we most certainly did NOT this year, I think we are back to a 9 win or more season next year. That’s my prediction right now. And, we will have a quality back-up QB!
So with that, Merry Christmas to all! Its not over! There are 12 days! And a very Happy New Year!