OUInsider - Owen Field

Well we started with tons of hype and hope . With ESPN showing practices and everyone patting us on the back , in the end is was a strange , disappointing , sad year.
The Good

1.Ryan broyles ....he produced week in and week out , and when he got hurt we all could see just how much he ment to the offense. He set the all time NCAA record for most career receptions , a record that we long time sooner fans never would have imagined a sooner owning.

2.Trey Milliard ...tell him to block and hes the best blocker in the conference . Hand him the ball and he appears to be the most productive runner . Ask him to catch and he does that also . Yet even though we can all see he is underused , and i am sure hes aware of it also. You never hear him complain , he just goes out there and does whats asked of him.

3. The Florida State Win....The most hyped early season game of the year . Tough defensive game ,and Laundry actually stays composed and has a game winning drive . One of the hardest hitting games i have seen in awhile . We got over our biggest hurdle and are on our way to the BCS championship i thought.

4. The win over Texas....The longhorns were actually looking decent and we all know anything can happen in this rivalry game. So i was nervous as hell as the game started , but soon it was apparent that the sooners were motivated and had their " A " game going this day. In a laugher we look great , as i walk thru the fair i actually feel sorry for a few of the Longhorn fans and talk to some of them. Things are settting up perfect for another title game.

5.The Kansas State win.....After a shocking home defeat the Sooners now must play the powerful wildcats on the road . Stoops rallies the troops and they look mad and focused trouncing the undefeated wildcats . The defense looked like themselves again and Jazz was making circus catches all over the field.

6. Frank and Ronnell ....Finally Frank was healthy and the Hammer stayed in one position long enough to play instead of think , and it showed. These two brought consistant pressure from the edge and made life tough on opposing Qbs.

7. My slants ....Now i was off base on some also but they are going to be in the bad section , these were the ones i feel good about.

A. Joe Paterno ... i was the first to call out Penn State and say that Paterno must be held accountable , and finally PSU agreed.

b. Texas A&m would fall apart this year and Sherman would not survive . I knew that they had got lucky in alot of their wins last year and I was sure they would revert back to what Sherman had showed us the previous years . All that talent and they continued blowing huge leads , welcome coach Sumlin.

c.I singled out a few players that i felt needed to step up or be sit down.

1.Javon Harris...great kid , hard hitter , but way to many bust for me to be comfortable in him at the safety position . Finally he was replaced by the end of the year.

2.Dejuan Miller....Great size and alot of promise from this kid....but just didnt produce on game days. He dropped passes every game and seemed to be lazy on the field. By the end of the year he never even saw the field.

3.I also called out a few guys that still have a chance to take their game up to another level ...

a. Kenny Stills ,,,for all his talent he should be a better player. He disappears in to many games and seems to not give 100% in every game. Broyles is gone Kenny time to step up and be the next great sooner receiver.

b.Corey Nelson ...Nelson is a decent player , but for all the hype he needs to be more of a factor in games . Maybe getting a little stronger and bigger , and film study will make him the great player the coaches think he can be.

c. Trey Franks ...He played a little better at the end of the year . But trey { new born colt legs } Franks has gort to learn how to use his great speed on the field. Its all just a matter of playing fast but dont be in a hurry. Hopefully he works on footwork and balance during the off season . Also ball security should be something he works on because for the few touches he had , he had way to many fumbles .

d. Brennan Clay....another great kid and a player who seems to be playing hard . But Clays problem is he is good at many things but just lacks the speed , size , quickness to be great at anything.

e. Laundry Jones.....Could win the Heisman or he might not even make all conference . Its all about confidence with Jones , not only in his line to block ,but in his coaches and even in himself. His biggest weakness in my opinion is hes just not mentally tough . When he feels comfortable he sets back there and shreds defenses and has many 400 yard games and 5 tds. But when hes rattled for whatever reason , the footwork gets bad and his throws are off target . Or he gets rabbit blood and start looking at the rush instead of downfield. He knows the offense and the arm , and the talent around him to be a great QB. Now we just need for him to believe all that.

THE BAD

1.The Penn Sate scandal and conference realignment .....This year we seemed to talk about the greed and lost morals more than we talked about players and teams. It has taken away some of the innocence and joy of our national pasttime. Rivalries that have lasted a 100 years are thrown away all for cash , without a thought given to the fans and former players , and the tradition that has made the game what it is today. We are tired of ticket prices going up ,coaches salaries escalating , picking teams that are out of our national area to be in our conferences. Networks buying teams and hyping those teams and confernces . The Ncaa looks the other way as the game they are formed to protect is torn apart in view of us all ,and yet they do nothing.

2.Sooner Deaths....The Sooner nation has been rocked by shocking and horribly sad deaths in the recent past few years. Young lives just getting started like BOX and Everage . To all time great players and people like Tisdale and Selmon . If ever the phrase " only the good die young" is accurate then its in losing these great people. All were great Sooners and people , RIP and you will always be immortals in the eyes of sooner nation.

3.Sooner Injuries ....Its just a part of being a sooner at this point . Current players like Whaley ,Broyles ,Jazz, Rip, Ikard ,lewis ...all being taken down at some point this year. Some with freakish injuries that are hard to explain. Its remarkable that its usually our best players that seem to be injured...ala Broyles, Lewis, bradford ,White, Peterson ,Gresham, Dupree ,Gaddis, Aikman ,Hollieway, i could go on and on . It even follows our players in the pro ranks . As Bradford,Peterson ,Murray ,Blake , Tommie Harris , Mccoy will all attest to. I know injuries are part of the game but i cant think of another school that has this many great players injued.

4. Some of my picks have been off base this year also...

A. That Josh would be a great OC this year....Josh is a bright guy and might get it all figured out next year , but he let me down this year. From not throwing to the Tes . To not using Milliard nearly enough.He did put in the Belldozer which worked like a charm. But to many games we used the wrong players and plays .

b.THat our special teams would never be good as Stoops as the special teams coach....Well the punting was great , the punt coverage was great , the kickoff coverage was better. And dont look now folks , but we might actually have a kicker. I am not talking about a kicker who can kick extra points that actually look like extra point kicks. And i am not talking about a kicker who can kick a 30 yard fg that doesnt make you hide your eyes and pray that it somehow makes it thru. I am talking about a kicker who can try a kick from 50 yards in and you feel fairly confident that it going to be good. Its been a long time coming ,but it feels great to know that part of our game is shorn up. I do have 2 concerns though . One is working on getting our punts of a little faster , we are going to get some punts blocked if we arent careful. The other problem i have is in our punt return game. Either try for a punt block " something we have forgot how to attempt" or set up a full return and actually have a weopon back there that is going to return the punt . To many times we do a little of both at the same time and the result is nothing.

5.The Tech loss ...Of all the losses in recent years this one is the most disappointing . We had a 39 game winning streak at home, we were in the running for a national championship , we are playing a Tech team that wont win another game all year long . And we come out unemotional and bored . Gabe lynns picked all night and the defense forgets how to tackle . The offense cant even get a first down most of the first half , against a horrid Tech defense. Finally in the second half we wake up on offense and eventually replace Lynn . The comeback is on ,but we have dug ourselves to deep a hole ,and the clock and an easy missed FG seals our doom.

6. The Baylor Loss...Now this game was on the road against a good team ,and an awesome QB . We still came out flat and we had some bad bounces to put us 2 tds behind . But to the teams credit they rallied and tied the game with less than a minute left . But poor defensive Schemes and great plays out of RG3 made us leave with a last second loss. Not a shameful loss but it still hurt to know we had just lost for the first time in 21 games to baylor.

7.The Osu loss....OK its not that OSU wasnt a great team , and we were playing them in Stillwater for the secong straight year , which was total bs. Its how we lost that made this one sting. Horrible play calling , dropped passes, horrible blocking , and Jones having the strangest turnovers since Bradley touched the punt at the 2 yard line and then letting Usc have the ball. The defense actually played half way decent but was just on the field to much ,and Osu crushed us and went to their first BCS game.

PREDICTIONS FOR NEXT SEASON

top 5 improved players

1.RJ Washington
2.MCfarland
3.Shead
4.King
5.Wort

Top 10 teams

1.LSU
2.Oklahoma
3.USC
4.Alabama
5.MIchigan
6.Clemson
7.West Virginia
8.Oregon
9.Arkansas
10.Kansas Sate

I am holding to my prediction that Mack will be gone after this next year also. And rightfully so , with a top 3 recruiting class every year , and unlimited resources they are barely a .500 team the last few years. Without major injuries to blame and differnt cordinators , the only person left to blame is Mack. And we are in trouble if this happens.....Can you imagine a coach like Snyder, Beamer, Hoke with all that talent and resources.

Well its been a crazy , head scratching kind of year , filled without joy and heartache . But there is always next year andi have faith that the players and coaches will learn from this year and make next year a magical season .