If you think Nebraska's talent is equal to Oklahoma's talent you're kidding yourself. Pelini led some mediocre players to the 2nd best defense in the Big 12...I think I'll take that over someone who's D can't even force a damn punt...
Really? Well it seems to me that (compared to Oklahoma) "mediocre" defensive players at Arkansas, Washington State, and to an extent, Texas Tech, not under the tutelage of Bo Pelini, didn't get embarrassed by the amazing Greg Davis and his wondrous offense of renown. Yet Bocephus got ripped a new one. Who did Nebraska stop on defense last year that was good anyway? Penn State? Troy State? They only played 2 final top 25 teams all year, and got run by them on defense (Kstate and TExas, both losses). I guess he's got one thing in common with Mike Stoops then...
We'll see in a year if you're right about Pellini. I doubt it. BTW, we put up enough points on Arkansas, it was our D. WSU had time to see our zone read and all that so they had a great gameplan. We put up tons of points on Tech as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Nebraska was the first team that got to see Vince and the new running game for a whole game. Anyway, you might be right about Pellini.
Put it this way, Oklahoma's got nowhere to go but down w/Pelini as far as compared to their performance last year. Texas, at least vs. Oklahoma, has nowhere to go but up. Nobody might be in love w/Robinson and Tomey, but it's hard to believe that they coud be that much worse than Reese. Now, for the offense.....
I know everybody wishes that there is some high energy whiz kid out there just chomping at the bit to be the UT dc, but seriously, does such a person even exist? I'd prefer to take on someone who has been successful at levels below DC who has a chance to be a great DC, over someone who has a recent history of mediocrity and no real track record of phenomenal success. Unless you're going to get a historically dominant DC, take a chance on a fresh new mind over a retread who's gotten fired multiple times for failure. At the least the former has a chance to be the best in the business - we know the latter isn't.
Coming from a Chiefs fan perspective... Greg Robinson is an extremely overrated DC. I'm convinced that Shanahan had more to do with the success on the defensive side of the ball in Denver during the championship days. Everyone knows Dick Vermeil is an offensive-minded coach. So, who had total control over the Chiefs defense? None other than Robinson. He failed miserable calling all the shots. It happened all season and really showed against the Colts. Granted Manning was on fire...but should not have been unstoppable. Every 3rd or 4th down attempt, Robinson blitzed...and paid for it. Manning hit Reggie Wayne three or four times on the quick slant against this blitz...ON THE SAME DRIVE. Instead of putting an extra man on Wayne to stop the slant, Robinson blitzes his defense again. The Chiefs defense started out the season well...and thats because they were getting TO's...the only thing that Vermeil stresses from his defense. Once the TO's went away, so did the defense. As far as the Chiefs defensive players...they're not that bad. It's not a top 10 defense...but it isn't the worst either. The only credit I can give Robinson is that he was missing probably his smartest defender, MLB Mike Maslowski during the Colts game. Obviously he won't be missed in Kansas City. Maybe he'll have better luck in Austin.
Uh...Oklahoma State? Don't forget Michigan State, who had scored 20+ points in every game of the season, including against Michigan and Ohio State ... yet were held to 3 by Nebraska.
I've given up. I'm not rooting for UT till Mack Brown gets fired OR UT wins the Big 12...whichever occurs first.
I can't think of a single Chief defender who is elite at his position, nor can I think of a handfull of above average NFL starters. I don't think Buddy Ryan would have done much more there. I do admit I don't know much about him, but glad UT went to the pro ranks. All pro teams have much more sophisticated systems who encouter a lot of sophisticated offenses and must react. Further, a lot of mediocre to flat bad NFL coaches do well in college--Pete Carrol, Dennis Erickson, Mike Riley, to name a few. As for Denver--there defensive personnell was never that good, even there supwerbowl teams. Usually they had a couple of fast DE or LBs, maybe a run clogger, but a terrible secondary filled with journeyman. The were modestly successful because they attacked with what front 7 speed they had and usuauly could do so freely because the pressure was pu on the other team's offense because of their offense. Further, Shanahan has a lot more to do with their offense, and I would say there defense seems to me less successful now (w/o Robinson) of course this could be a product to the decline in their passing consistency to go along with their run game. So I admit I don't know much about Robinson as a person, but I think what UT was doing on the surface. Now they just need to bring in an NFL OC who stresses balance versus gimics.
well i didn't want to start a new thread (and couldn't find the UT recruiting thread) so i just figured i'd mention that our new defensive guys now have Okam to work with as he picked UT tonight on Fox Sports SW. at least we didn't get swept on the big 3 from Texas.
Does anyone know about Adrian Pederson? I know that he has verbally committed to OU but I heard that he was kind of wavering with that decision. Does anyone know anything?
