SpongeWorthy

TT!

Also: Derrick freakin' Rose.

Yeah probably. But he really makes me gnash my teeth with his patented over dribble/bounce it off his foot or go into the lane and jump with nowhere to go. We have Tyrus Thomas, Andres Nocioni, and Larry Hughes...we can't afford stupidity from our better players.

Gordon and Nocioni are just infuriating players.

Another slow start vs. Philly. Hopefully we see a repeat of the last game.

If the level of civility in college football discussion drops below that of what you see on Charlie Rose a little part in me dies.

It's only impractical for the people who have a vested interest in not having a playoff. I find it completely ridiculous that there are characteristics unique to college football that make constructing a lucrative and logistically feasible tournament system impossible. Virtually every league with the stature of NCAA D1 football settles on its champion via a playoff and the vast majority of sports with a lesser shine than NCAA football do as well. Saying it's impractical is nothing more than a flimsy, self-serving argument for bowl committees, university presidents, and conference commissioners. Now if you don't want a playoff system because you prefer the way things are done now, that's a different argument that has some merit. I don't agree with it, but it is valid.

How much ground does Florida need to make up in the computers on Texas to pass them in the BCS? And what are the possible amounts of ground they make up by beating Bama?

Are you under some astoundng delusion that I thought he was really talking about Jason White? Or am I just not allowed to make a joke about a quarterback (who fit the given description to a T) who was horrific in the 3 biggest games of his career?

Thirty years ago, throwing a football across the line of scrimmage more than a handful of times didn't really involve a multimillion dollar investment taking vicious shots from the most freakish athletes on the planet. Tebow would never, ever, survive (as in have a career of meaningful length with adequate health) the sort of punishment in the NFL that he did in college. I doubt any QB could.

My original point that hasn't wavered a bit was a suggestion that Big XII coaches probably weren't doing an adequate job of game planning (whether through effort or imagination) a defense for OU. It seems yours is that OU is just that good that no other conclusion can be drawn except that their offense is so overwhelming that defensive coordinators are totally blameless for their teams failures. This is in spite of a very recent history of OU having what were touted as world class offenses that played anywhere from atrocious to average against teams with good defenses (when the very biggest prizes in the sport were on the line, mind you). no my point is that OU's offense just might be a little more complex than "just slant routes!" and if it isn't, that the personnel just must be overwhelming because you'd think someone might have watched tape on them at some point in the year there was also that thing about the offense being one dimensional, but i think we've disproved that it's almost like you dont actually know what you're talking about The slant/crossing routes remarks were firmly tongue in cheek. I thought that was blindingly obvious. When I refer to them as "revolutionary" and "ground breaking" I'm being more than slightly facetious. I'll admit that I haven't watched every snap of OU football this year but I've watched quite a bit. Are my points about them using primarily (exclusively?) shot gun, lots of underneath/timing routes, not a huge emphasis on the deep ball, not a ton of motion/misdirection way off? Clearly you watch more Sooner football than I do so I'll just take it back if I'm wrong. From what I can gather, a huge portion of their attack involves Bradford sitting in the gun and picking apart a team to death on short to intermediate stuff. They execute it extraordinarily well. I only submit that defenses could do better and if they face Florida and Bama in the BCS title game it'll be much tougher slogging.

If by "fully implement" you mean a full blown Oregon/Florida style attack--it'll never happen. No owner, GM, or head coach would tolerate a quarterback taking as many hits on the pro level as say Tebow or Dennis Dixon did at the collegiate level.

My original point that hasn't wavered a bit was a suggestion that Big XII coaches probably weren't doing an adequate job of game planning (whether through effort or imagination) a defense for OU. It seems yours is that OU is just that good that no other conclusion can be drawn except that their offense is so overwhelming that defensive coordinators are totally blameless for their teams failures. This is in spite of a very recent history of OU having what were touted as world class offenses that played anywhere from atrocious to average against teams with good defenses (when the very biggest prizes in the sport were on the line, mind you).

Try telling every one of Florida's opponents otherwise. Dependable grind it out Big Ten style backs are completely overrated and fairly useless in this place called reality. Wells and Moreno are better inside the tackles runners than Rainey and Demps, but Rainey and Demps for whatever reason are better at getting these important things called yards. Rainey and Demps are actually very very good inside the tackles and probably have higher YPCs than Moreno and Wells between the tackles too. I mean afterall. Beanie Wells has carried the ball a whopping 191 times for 1091 yards. Demps and Harvin have combined for 1067 yards on just two thirds the carries (116) . In fact the Gators triumvirate has 198 carries - just seven more - and have about 650 more yards. Those 1721 yards are just 8 yards fewer than Shonn Greene's total this year...on 80 fewer carries. Those 1721 yards are 130 more than Ringers'....on over 250 fewer carries. Those 1721 yards are 383 yard more than Moreno on thirty fewer carries. Perhaps Demps, Rainey and company wouldn't be able to carry the ball 30 times a game for the entire season, but that's a good thing. Take Chris Wells for example, his longest run in the fourth quarter is 9 yards. Greene's production in the fourth quarter falls by nearly a yard per carry. Last year Moreno averaged nearly 6 yards per carry in the first three quarters. 3.85 in the fourth. Granted there are some sample size issues here, but c'mon let's run the tired guy out there the entire time. Is the tired guy really better than a 100% backup at universities like Ohio State, Florida and Georgia? Of course not. Lets mix them up and keep their legs fresh. Demps, Rainey and company pile up high runs consistently because they're faster than everyone else, and their legs are completely rested each time they get the ball. This is the future of the running back position. The days of grind it out 40 attempt backs are numbered. NFL teams are starting to get the picture and so are college coaches. You run when you win, you don't run to win unless you run for high efficiency. You're "great" backs pile up empty yards in the former. http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/1129/ncf_u_tebow03_600.jpg I totally concur that a stable of runningbacks will be seen more than the traditional workhorse in the future. As for the NFL seeing the picture I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that. The leading rushers in the NFL this year are Portis, Peterson, Turner, C. Johnson, T. Jones, Forte, D. Williams, Jacobs, Barber, and Gore. The only one out of that list that even begins to fit the mold of a Demps or Rainey is Chris Johnson. And Wells and Moreno are both going to be drafted much higher than Demps or Rainey as well. You also made some weird point earlier in this thread about how Tebow represented the future of NFL quarterbacking. Huh? If anything the last few years has seen the repudiation of mobile, spread-option type guys (Young, Smith, Vick, etc. vs. Cutler, Ryan, etc.)

How did we get into Jason White? We all know he was never slowed down by good defenses.

All right then. Maybe unlike 2003, 2004, and 2007 this years version of the Sooners will be a world beater offense that plays better than somewhere between festering ass and average at the end of the year. And my point about one dimensionality was maybe phrased incorrectly. I didn't mean to suggest they were Hawaii or Texas Tech. But I maintain that if you can slow down their short-intermediate passing attack you'll win. Yes, they may put up the same kinds of numbers in rushing as AD's teams did but if I found my passing game bogging down, would I have the same faith in Demarco Murray and Chris Brown as I did in Peterson?

2004's run game averaged 208.4 yards per game That must mean Demarco Murray is just as good as Adrian Peterson. i thought your point was that ou is one dimensional and they can't run the ball as effectively as they did in 2004? where did the demarco murray - adrian peterson comparison come from? My point is that you can't say this year's OU ground attack is just as good as that year's OU ground attack because the numbers are the same. If that were true, you'd say it was irrelevant whether I had Murray/Brown back there or Peterson/Jones/Choice back there. Clearly that isn't the case.

See, if you looked at just the stats you might conclude something crazy like Rainey and Demps are better runningbacks than Beanie Wells and Knowshown Moreno. (Or that Tim Tebow is an accurate passer)

2004's run game averaged 208.4 yards per game That must mean Demarco Murray is just as good as Adrian Peterson.

Eh, they run the ball well enough to complement an excellent passing attack. I would hardly call them dominant on the ground (ala their 2004 edition with AD). Brown is average. Murray's a nice player--the homeless man's Peterson perhaps. They remind me a lot of their 2003 team that was being touted as possibly the greatest collegiate offense ever until being exposed by KSU and LSU. Or maybe the 2007 Sooners that were largely pedestrian against a good West Virginia defense. I just see them as much more containable than Florida.

Do you have anything besides pithy remarks to counter my argument that OU has a largely one dimensional offense and should therefore be better defensed than it has been?

I take it all back. I was way off for suggesting that poor defensive coaching may play a role in why OU has put up 58+ for 5 straight games.

I'm saying Big XII defensive coaches are probably not doing all they could or should be doing to prepare for OU's offense. As in, their teams should act like they've seen a slant or a crossing route before.

Does this mean I can pencil OU in for 60+ against Bama or Florida? You know, since Big XII defensive coordinators couldn't possibly be doing a better job of game planning against their revolutionary offense.

I'm not really saying anything about slowing them down. I would expect qualified FBS defensive coordinators to at least force OU to put up its 50-60 points by doing something in addition to having a great short to intermediate passing game. Like I said earlier, OU's offense isn't especially balanced, they don't pressure defenses with a large amount of deep throws (outside of the Gresham tipped pass their longest completion tonight was 21 yards), and they don't use a lot of motion or misdirection. This isn't the Florida attack that employs TONS of motion, misdirection, exotic formations, gadget plays, etc. and it isn't reliant on a once in a century freak of nature like Vince Young. It's largely Bradford sitting in the gun and nickel and diming teams to death yet teams can't slow it down at all. At the very least, good coordinators shouldn't be getting WORSE at scheming for it as the season progresses with more film to look at and sounder technique/execution from players.