Keep the faith Tulsa football fans!

[Tulsafanzz]

Things WILL get better. It may be with a different head coach, but things will get better.

Look at 7-0, ranked SMU. Look at 7-0, ranked Baylor.

It’s been a very rough 2 1/2 seasons. It’s tough to get your hopes up game after game, only to be disappointed. I’ve been a TU football fan for over 40 years. I’ve seen great seasons and bad seasons. Things will get better.

The best thing we can do as fans is support these players through good seasons and bad seasons. They are giving their all and deserve our support. If you want a coaching change, make your opinion known to the leaders at TU. But, let’s keep supporting the players!

 

[Tu Geo]

You're right Tulsafanzz...

This team is very close to being pretty good, need discipline and less turnovers (maybe that only comes with a new coaching staff )but I think this team is far better that last years team.

Smith will have a great season next year and the O line will improve as well.

I'll never give up on Tulsa !!!!!!

GO TU!!!!

 

[red dirt]

I know we always say this but next year will be great. We lose very little in offensive production. We do lose some on the defensive side but can be replaced. This line needs a year of getting beat so they can get better.

 

[tupatsfan]

I know we always say this but next year will be great. We lose very little in offensive production. We do lose some on the defensive side but can be replaced. This line needs a year of getting beat so they can get better.

The next coach will walk into a talented team desperately needing leadership

 

[TulsaGrad07]

I know we always say this but next year will be great. We lose very little in offensive production. We do lose some on the defensive side but can be replaced. This line needs a year of getting beat so they can get better.

Seems like having a good O-line is more important than having a good QB, all else held equal. That's my lone observation from watching football through all the years. The big guys up front win and lose games. Tulsa has big guys up front. I've seen graphics during the game that show our O-line is heavier and taller than most in FBS. Why do these guys suck so much?

 

[RayB27]

Things WILL get better. It may be with a different head coach, but things will get better.

Look at 7-0, ranked SMU. Look at 7-0, ranked Baylor.

It’s been a very rough 2 1/2 seasons. It’s tough to get your hopes up game after game, only to be disappointed. I’ve been a TU football fan for over 40 years. I’ve seen great seasons and bad seasons. Things will get better.

The best thing we can do as fans is support these players through good seasons and bad seasons. They are giving their all and deserve our support. If you want a coaching change, make your opinion known to the leaders at TU. But, let’s keep supporting the players!

IMO we have a very good group of players who are looking for some good leadership. They have a lot of potential but we should admit they have played hard against a rough schedule this year also.

 

[tupatsfan]

IMO we have a very good group of players who are looking for some good leadership. They have a lot of potential but we should admit they have played hard against a rough schedule this year also.

Agreed, but, we should be at a minimum 4-3, we could very well be 5-2 as well

 

[nevadanatural]

Seems like having a good O-line is more important than having a good QB, all else held equal. That's my lone observation from watching football through all the years. The big guys up front win and lose games. Tulsa has big guys up front. I've seen graphics during the game that show our O-line is heavier and taller than most in FBS. Why do these guys suck so much?

They don’t seem to know who to block. I’ve watched them double team a guard or tackle on a pass play while a DE comes in completely untouched to nail Smith. They need to be sure and keep the fast rushers off the QB on pass plays and they don’t. This has to be a practice failure.

 

[TulsaGrad07]

They don’t seem to know who to block. I’ve watched them double team a guard or tackle on a pass play while a DE comes in completely untouched to nail Smith. They need to be sure and keep the fast rushers off the QB on pass plays and they don’t. This has to be a practice failure.

Aren't they taught this in high school? And again, I have never played a down of football, so I'm asking out of pure ignorance here... Do college players still need to be coached fundamentals like picking line backers and the blitz?

 

[nevadanatural]

Aren't they taught this in high school? And again, I have never played a down of football, so I'm asking out of pure ignorance here... Do college players still need to be coached fundamentals like picking line backers and the blitz?

The running back should be picking up blitzes, I’m talking about a standard rush.

 

[HuffyCane]

It’s basically zone blocking each snap with some exceptions. Its more complex than just a hat on a Hat.
We run a lot of RPO so The offense wants to send several players into a particular zone which is the point of attack for the run game. The lineman work in tandem or groups to identify which defender to block. Some defenders are double teamed. Some defenders are engaged by two OL, then one releases to the next level etc. Just depends on the play call.

So a lot of times we are lining up on obvious passing downs in a run stance and trying sell it being either. The run stance, particularly for the guards can be problematic as the ball is snapped. This is the source of some of the obvious matador blocking you are seeing. Some, not all.

It takes a particular physical type of player to block that system effectively. There are defensive alignments and schemes that can exploit those physical particularities when we try to do basic pass protection packages. Especially when you are behind schedule due to penalties and no gain runs putting you in obvious passing downs. We are long and lean on the edges and oversized at guard by design trying to do power isolation running which our head coach gets off on. So teams that have the horses to either strength or speed rush our tackles using various tactics create all types of havoc for their stunting tackles, it’s not a question of TU knowing who to block it’s a question of having an offensive system set up for failure from the beginning.

Which I’ve been mashing the red alert button over and over since the day he got hired.

 

[TU 1978]

We need a line filled with fluffy yellow potatoes.

 

[HuffyCane]

We need a line filled with fluffy yellow potatoes.

Are you available to implement this concept at $1 million a year?

 

[TU_BLA]

Seems like having a good O-line is more important than having a good QB, all else held equal. That's my lone observation from watching football through all the years. The big guys up front win and lose games. Tulsa has big guys up front. I've seen graphics during the game that show our O-line is heavier and taller than most in FBS. Why do these guys suck so much?

They're out of position. And bigger/heavier doesn't always equate to good technique, good footwork, good communication, and good scheme. Best OLs communicate well and are put into a winning scheme.

 

[TU_BLA]

The running back should be picking up blitzes, I’m talking about a standard rush.

Here's the problem with that...teams have figured it out. They show a 7 man front with possible blitzers from both edges and the middle and it forces the RB to make a decision about what he is going to do at the snap. Brooks almost always goes middle and Smith gets crushed blind side. The problem isn't the RB, it's the OL, and specifically the OTs, not being athletic enough to block the Trevis Gipson types on the outside. They also don't communicate well. Rewatch some of the blitzes when teams bring just 1 extra person and rush 5. Often the RB doesn't touch anyone or helps on someone already engaged (see the 3-4 chop block calls we've been hit with this season). We often have interior OL who don't touch a soul and you will also see 3 guys blocking 1 DL. The communication and scheme (as Huffy pointed out) are not good at all. If Brooks guesses middle and there's no one to block, he needs to immediately release to be an extra option. A nice little shovel pass in that scenario would work to at least minimize the negative play. But that's not one of the 5 pass plays in our arsenal already and the adaptability of this offensive coaching staff is NIL, so we likely will never see it. I won't even get into when the other team brings 6 or 7. With 4 WRs, someone should always be open in that scenario. We can't even get enough guys chipped to give Smith an extra second to unload the ball in those scenarios...and yet we have blockers in those situations who didn't touch anyone. Unacceptable.

 

[nevadanatural]

My point is forget the blitz. Go back and watch, you’ll often see a standard 4 man rush and the line will double team the inside and an end will come through untouched. IMO we use an empty backfield way too often.

 

[TU_BLA]

My point is forget the blitz. Go back and watch, you’ll often see a standard 4 man rush and the line will double team the inside and an end will come through untouched. IMO we use an empty backfield way too often.

The ends come in untouched because the tackles aren't very good IMO. Gadlin and Ivy are getting destroyed out there. There were too many times against Navy where Gadlin barely got a hand on the outside rusher on that side. Too slow, poor feet. Even when we have a TE in the game, the rest of the line looks like they don't know who they should block.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Paul at guard is the only one showing anything out there. We just got Bucktrot back at Guard, so we'll see where that goes.

 

[mmckell]

Sweet baby Jesus. What does Tulsa have to get a win in football? Tulsa needs to start making coaching changes right now. Ugh!!!!!!