Dean's List: Keys to OU Victory over Texas

Dean Blevins breaks down everything the Sooners need to do for a win.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:58 am

By: News On 6

Dean's List: Keys to OU Victory over Texas

Originally Published: Sep 30, 2010 6:0 PM CDT

Dean Blevins
Oklahoma Sports Sports Director – Oklahoma City

Historically speaking, OU-Texas games hinge on defense and turnovers. I agree with a former teammate and OU coach in defining specifically what OU must do to beat Texas: Control the ball and have success on second and medium on both sides of the ball.

We believe OU has an edge at QB and that the Sooners should be more psychologically upbeat after the results from last weekend. Moving on to three keys to OU winning in the Cotton Bowl:

Offense

-Run well enough to avoid lost-yardage plays and put the offense in vulnerable situations—by now, the world knows that since 1997, the team that did not lose in the run game yards, wins. That streak will continue.

-QB Landry Jones plays smart but hits some downfield shots—against the press coverage where the tremendous athletes in the secondary are for UT, the Sooners will throw some streak/go routes in hopes of hitting home runs or hoping to loosen things up for the receivers.

-OL must neutralize UT DL and avoid making QB run for his life—if Jones is on the run all day long, OU loses (assuming Texas does anything on offense).

Defense

-Rattle QB Garrett Gilbert. I’ve never seen OU fans put down a QB as much as they have this young kid. If he was as weak as people are saying, he wouldn’t be playing at Texas. Having said that, Jeremy Beal and LBs and players on the back end need to get after him—primarily on blitzes.

OU has blitzed 21 percent of the time this year. But against UT last season, it was well over 50. Blitzing is great—if you get there. If not, you’re exposed. That’s when you give up big plays, and OU has shown itself fully capable of giving up big plays.

-Don’t be out of position and tackle, tackle, tackle.

-Blitz wisely but can’t give up more than five explosive plays (18 yds +).

Intangibles

-First-year players (including players like RS frosh MLB Wort) not being overwhelmed by atmosphere, quickly settle into the game and make plays.

-Turnovers – the past twenty years show that the team with less TOs wins 90 percent of time. Locals who are dissing Texas haven’t realized UT’s four first-half turnovers was the reason they were ambushed by the Bruins last week.

-Don’t lose in the kicking game. There’s no reason to go into specific; the bottom line is to not lose the game because of a bad snap on a punt that gives up an easy TO. Do not have a punt blocked or give up a kick or punt return. Just break even.

-Get 50 percent of the bounces and breaks. I believe this is the most unappreciated factor in all of sports. Two evenly matched teams—and I always believe that whether it’s golf or football, the ball and the calls are huge issues. So just HOPE you get your share of the breaks. Anything more than that is just gravy.

Do most of these things and OU wins by more than the three-and-a-half spread. Easier said than done. Thanks for checking in and keep checking.

DB