Appreciated, PW. Although, I can't say that I am satifisfied with how many yards/points they gave up.

I agree about West Virginia. Many had them as the sleeper for the NC game. It turns out that just because a team rallies behind a coach for one game, it doesn't mean that the coach is deserving of the head spot. Maybe they spent all of their efforts trying to figure out if East Carolina is actually a state.

Ya, OSU's offense was great. The defense was not good, but they were in prevent mode throughout the second half, and 16 of those points came off of OSU turnovers.

I see improvement in the future.

I would also be worried about OU's D. I know they beat Cincy nicely, but Cincy didn't really have much of an O coming into this season after losing their QB and receiver.

Better teams can and will be OU and OSU.

TU is going to be a contender for the C-USA crown as ususal. I am guessing 2 more seasons tops for Coach G before he finds an SEC or Pac-10 team to coach.

PW: What happened at West Virginia is the quarterback saw what happens to running quarterbacks in the pros. You get obliterated. So to try to improve his draft position, he quit running and started throwing. Too bad he can't throw. Same with Tebow at Florida. Less running, more wild chunking.

Smithey: One of the former OU defenders said in a radio interview, when asked why OU had been flopping in the BCS bowls: Mike Stoops left.

The two things Bob Stoops is the most defensive about: playing lousy on the road, defensive secondary malfunctions.

Picker,

I thought that might have something to do with it. White is playing COMPLETELY different than last year. I don't necessarily blame him, either. But I do find it odd the head coach isn't doing anything about that.

Add me to the list of people who observe that the OU secondary has not played up to par since M.Stoops left. I won't question the defensive intensity....but if you remember the 2000 season, and the Texas A&M game, well....haven't seen that level of intensity in a LONG time.

So I'll ask an unpopular question. 4 BCS bowl defeats. What would prevent Stoops from making a change? And if he did, who's better?

Everybody is comparing an OU defense today to one that was dominate in a time when the spread offense didn't even exist. I don't think thats quite fair because quite simply, nobody has figured out how to stop spread offenses yet! That's why the style is so popular right now. Venables just happens to be the defensive coordinator in a bad time of offensive transition around the country. If Venables were the DC in 2001, I doubt there would be many nay-sayers.

The spread is so potent that it has even passed people like Spurrier by.

One way to beat it is to go for two.

Another way might be in making the recruitment of actual corners a key.

D linemen, who cares, the ball is gone in .015 seconds. Linebackers and corners, perhaps that's the ticket.

23 teams scoring over 50 last weekend is a joke.

Cyco,

Sorry to burst you bubble, but good ol' M. Stoops is a good coach, not a good recruiter.

His talent he worked with at OU was far superior because his brother recruited great players and he made them great. Now, Bob recruits great players and Brent V. makes them decent.

Do you understand that?

The best solution, thus far, for the spread is a deadly, disrupting blitz by big, intimidating def ends.

Cyco,

It makes sense to those who don't look through life with crimson-colored glasses.

Let me clarify it for you: He took great high school players, and made them even better. There is no argument there, because after he left, those great players came in and the secondary dropped off.

How else can you explain it? Your telling me OU isn't recruiting as good of players now? I think not.

What exactly are you backing up your argument with? Just an opinion? I mean, that is fine. I am just curious. Look at the stats.

What stats am I looking at? The win-loss stats. So OU has given up more passing yards. If you use the Licker's own logic, that can be attested to the fact that people are passing more than ever. So wouldn't passing yards allowed go up because of this?
Just saying that Mike Stoops is given way too much credit for anything OU ever did. OU is still winning the majority of their games without him. It's not like they were undefeated every year with him. You might also notice that the secondary coach at OU is the same one that has been there the entire time that B. Stoops has been. And if Brent V. is making all these great players 'decent', how come so many of them keep getting drafted?
And what makes you think you have to be a miracle worker to get players to go to U of A? This is a good school, it's in the Pac-10 and they sure don't seem to have a problem getting basketball players to go there. Seeing how they won a championship not too long ago. True, Tucson isn't exactly Los Angeles or New York City, but neither are the majority of college towns across the country. I mean, honestly, there's nothing special about Norman, Oklahoma, but players still go there. If M. Stoops is the defensive genius that people want to make him out to be, players would have no problem going to Arizona to play for him. It's not like Arizona is some wasteland.

So how do you stop a competent spread offense? Recruit Big-time receivers 2 play cornerback, then size/talent meets size/talent. But it won’t matter in the NFL where they still have that “stupid” pass interference call where ball is down @ pt. of contact. The NCAA 15yrd penalty rule makes a lot more sense.

A good run defense, which OU “looks” to have, make it more difficult for those spread formation offenses to run their offenses.

OSU will be 5-0 heading into Missouri, while Mizzo could be “fuming” after a loss @ Nebraska the week before. Should be a REAL offensive ‘shootout!

Outside of Tulane @ home in Nov., I don’t see one team on TU’s schedule that has a “prayer” of a chance of containing & stopping the Big “O”

With Ryan Broyles @ OU, Dez Bryant @ OSU, & Brandon Marion @ TU, has the state of Okla. Ever had this many high quality wide receivers playing @ our D-1 universities?

Um Chris, how about Kansas, K-State, Mizzou, and Baylor?