Oklahoma football: Mike C. Stoops: shooting was inevitable

DALLAS – Lincoln Riley responded quickly. Without hesitation, the Oklahoma head coach sent comments to a reporter who, like so many others at the post-game press conference, inquired about the defense of his program. How on earth, he was asked, can you trust a beleaguered unit that awards more points in Texas than any of the previous 112-unit teams in this century-old series? "Because of the people in this locker room, in this football team," Riley replied. "I trust every person in this room."

Now, we know that maybe that excludes at least one person: Mike Stoops. Stoops is the defensive coordinator of Oklahoma, according to several reports. This split is not so surprising, despite the bond between the two men: Mike is, of course, the brother of Bob Stoops, the man who moved away last year to open the way to Riley for he wins the current sum of 4.8 million dollars a year. annual concert at the age of 33. Mike Stoops coordinated OU defenses for the previous six seasons, targeted by those wearing Crimson and White for his unit's regression to Norman.

His defense hit the bottom of the barrel after a 48-45 loss to Texas at Saturday's Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns destroyed his unit for 501 yards and 27 first tries, scoring in their first five drives and converting the third and fourth key tries to rack up this staggering record of points in this rivalry. So tired of Stoops, a fan who wandered to the State Fair outside the Cotton Bowl sent reporters a shirt he had brushed after the match to say, "Fire Mike Stoops. "

The Stoops unit in 2018 is ranked 96^th nationally in yards allowed a portion (421.2) and is 79^th giving 27.3 points an exit. A few weeks ago, the Army collected 339 yards, Baylor has accumulated a total of 500 and Iowa State, a pass of 360. All of this happened after Georgia scored 24 consecutive points in a half. College Football Playoff final on Jan. 1 with 54 goals scored. in a victory that ended the season of the OU.

The defense struggles have been so well documented that one of its members, cornerback Parnell Motley, told The Athletic on Saturday: "We continue to talk about it and talk about it. I'm tired of that s —. … We have to go prove it. It's crazy. We continue to talk about it and not to do it.

Riley and three players heard 14 questions that were put to them at a post-match press conference on Saturday, which lasted 15 minutes. Nearly half of them (six) were directed against a defense that, for the most part, has steadily declined since the second season of Stoops in 2013. The new leader – either defensive coach Ruffin McNeil or defensive analyst Bob Diaco, according to Oklahoman– has a mess on his hands. Texas has exposed all weaknesses at all levels of unit defense: mediocre backhand play against unbalanced receivers (6'6 "Collin Johnson and 6'4" Lil'Jordan Humphrey combined for 15 shots and 214 yards); mediocre quarter containment (Sam Ehlinger ran for 72 yards and was sacked only once out of about 40 defeats); and a run defense that allowed true freshman Keaontay Ingram to average 6.6 yards per bag for a career day.

"We did not attack well," Riley said afterwards. "I missed too many big tackles in the free field. I do not think we covered great. A few too many guys beat one-on-one. The flagrant contract was the third and the longest. Texas converted eight of the 16 third and fourth tries, many of those on the simplest of plays: a tilt. Johnson, the UT receiver, revealed after the match that pre-game scoring had led Texas to expose the unit's semi-turns. "The most disappointed is that we have not defended the slopes and the interior roads," Riley said. "We did not give them the big ones but at the same time, the yards after taking and the inside leanings hurt us."

If you listened attentively to one of Riley's answers on Saturday, you've heard a subtle critique of his defensive coordinator's schemes. Although the coach said he liked the plan, Stoops came into play, but he suggested that the adjustments were not made. "Any match like this requires adjustments, on all three sides of the ball," he said. "Texas did offensive and defensive things we did not see. We did things that they did not see. It was a constant, but we certainly do not have enough stops. "

And now, one can not help wondering about a domino effect that has occurred during the off season after the 2011 season. Arizona has dismissed Stoops as the head coach. Stoops has joined his brother in Oklahoma to share the work of defensive coordinator with Brent Venables. Venables then left the Sooners for the same concert at Clemson. And if Arizona had never fired Mike? What if Bob did not hire his brother? And if Venables remained? The trajectories of Clemson and the OU could of course be modified.

But enough with the simulation game. The reality is that this group of Sooners will have a new CD, although the players blamed themselves for Saturday. "I have to go and go to work. Go to the lab, "linebacker Kenneth Murray said. "The coaches put the game plan for us. It's up to us. "

They will be doing experiments in the so-called lab without Stoops among the staff for the first time in nearly two decades.