OUInsider - Owen Field

I think it was a couple of things.
1- its an offensive game now, especially with the head hunting, horse collar and cracking down on contact in the secondary. Plus, offenses are so creative now.

2- the talent difference in the LB position between 2000 and last year is HUGE. I still believe the 4-2-5 is the most effective D when facing spread offenses.

3- we probably have about the same talent in the secondary but two major differences. 2000 had better recovery speed. And two, they made offenses pay for mistakes by creating turnovers. We dropped or just missed a ton of INTs last year.

4- talent wise, the DL was probably a wash. However the 2000 DL, while not overly talented, all had motors that never stopped, leading to balls batted down, coverage sacks because they didn't give up and made the OL work for everything, not running untouched to the LBs. Heart goes a long way on the DL.

Defensive tackle play is very sub-par, and the new guys are very green.
Linebacker is also untested, but the plus is that most have played some.
Your not going to beat anybody if the QB has all day to find open receivers.
The above is why Shipp is no longer at OU.
Kish really needs to recruit well, or he won't be here either.
Mike gets a pass for last season.JMO.

IMO I don't think the talent level last season was anywhere near the 2000 group. The defensive line was one of the worst in the 45 years since i've been watching the sooners. The linebacking group was not far behind. I did think that the corners and safety's were a pretty strong group but they couldn't make up for the DL or the LB play. That being said, all four players on the D-Line were highly recruited, either overrated or under coached IMO. The WV, OSU, and A&M games were totally unexceptable by OU standards, and that should bother any coach.

Thanks SMC. It amazes me how our recruiting fell so fast on D, but was so good on O! Coaching? Evaluation? We had so many injuries, transfers and problems mostly on the O side and yet the O had the players (except on the Oline) to make up for them. The D was just either poor evaluations; players not buying in; or poor coaching. Does not mater now, but hopefully we got some good replacements.