I sat in my living room watching the Oklahoma versus BYU football on Saturday night. Several members of my family were in attendance at the game in Arlington, TX. We had hoped for a different outcome.
This game left us with a wide range of emotions and thoughts. Here are my 5 top observations of the game.
1. Sam Bradford’s injury is a big deal in the college football world.
Whenever the reigning Heisman Trophy winner is injured, it is a big deal. Bradford entered the season as one of a trio of quarterbacks favored to haul in the trophy this year. His injury means that Tim Tebow of Florida and Colt McCoy of Texas are the early favorites to hoist the trophy in New York at the end of the season.
2. The Oklahoma offensive line demonstrated why they were the question mark for this team.
Right Tackle, Cory Brandon, will have to show marked improvement if Oklahoma has any chance to rebound. Brandon was penalized 5 times during the game. On the critical 3rd down play on Oklahoma’s drive, he stepped to his inside on pass protection. The problem was that the guard next to him handled his rusher. Brandon’s inside step allowed BYU’s outside rusher a clean shot at quarterback Laundry Jones.
3. Max Hall was impressive.
BYU’s quarterback may have only put 14 points on the board, but he consistently made fantastic reads. It seemed like every blitz was Oklahoma was countered by Hall throwing to the area which the blitzer had vacated.
4. The surprise influence of a tight end.
Earlier in the week, OU’s All-American tight end, Jeraine Gresham looked to be a vital part of the game. His abilities coupled with the inexperience of the wide receivers seemed to point to Gresham having a big game.
However, Gresham never suited up after suffering a knee injury mid-week.
Enter Dennis Pitta. The BYU tight end teamed with Hall to move the Cougars down the field. The outside receivers for BYU were pretty well kept in check, but Pitta consistently found openings in the middle.
He became such a focus that several OU defenders swarmed him at the goal line and Max Hall found a deserted wide receiver in the back of the end zone for the game winning touchdown pass.
5. The missing element for OU’s offense was the deep pass.
BYU inched closer and closer into the box when Oklahoma showed that they were going to play a short game. I don’t know if Oklahoma’s coaches feared that Bradford or Jones would not have time to throw deep due to the offensive line or whether the untested receivers were unable to beat BYU deep.
Whatever the case, it was obvious that BYU was able to load up closer to the line of scrimmage.
I look for BYU to make a strong run during this football season. I also expect Oklahoma to rebound and be a formidable opponent for their opponents.
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