REACTION: Houston Cougars Fall at Oklahoma Sooners 16-12

Intro cougs house it's hard to feel bad about that one but also it's kind of easy to feel bad about that one Houston nearly pulls it [Music] off you are locked on coug your daily podcast on the Houston Cougars part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome to lockon coug podcast in the Houston Cougars I'm your host Houston born teacher and Coach Parker a joran whether you're a Houston fan or just a hater who came to stop by thank you for making us I guess this point we're probably your last lesson of the day on Saturday night or maybe you're tuning into a bunch of different postgame shows from a bunch of different places all over the world but we appreciate you making us whatever listen of the day we are for you at this LIVE edition and reaction show to locked on cougs the Houston Cougars fall to Oklahoma in Norman 16 to2 and it was kind of a weird gut-wrenching result that I think on the Houston Cougars' Close Game Against Oklahoma surface everyone would have been really happy about if you told them was going to happen on Friday and by the end of the game felt kind of like a why did we let that happen the way it did kind of game they show was brought to you by game time more on them later great place get tickets lowest price guaranteed but Houston again Falls 16 to 12 to Oklahoma and Norman Oklahoma is ranked in the top 15 a bunch of movement in the top 25 this week I'm sure they actually move up in the rankings uh I want to talk uh some about the Big 12 and some about the defense now special they were but I guess we got to talk some today about what did we just watch again Willie Fritz in the second game week two of the Willie Fritz era marches into Norman and keeps it to a one- score game that you could argue they should have had an even better shot to win now we could talk at nauseum about the muffed punt call early that was apparently looked very clearly like the wrong call to me on the review we could talk about the Bosch safety call late which again looks very much like the wrong call to me on the review um however again Houston more teacher and Coach coaching me likes to think about things that or take it to places where the the players have control coaches have control right um and so I'd rather lean on like MIM used to go catch the ball instead of letting it bounce once there in the early going I like to get to the fact the running back needs to get vertical when he feels pressure and not leave it up to the line judge to determine whether not he was in the end zone I think Max 343 hits they on the head here by saying that he's proud of this team great uh G was in the game the whole game exciting we almost got the upset uh when U was favored by about 28 and a half points I think fandu we had it about 27 and a half by the end of the week but man oh man 27 and a half 28 and a half the whole game did not reach 28 points in this defensive master class I Donovan Smith's Performance Against Oklahoma think the guy drawing a lot of heat both in comment section and online in this game is Donovan Smith is not often the quarterback can go 24- 28 uh against a Oklahoma CER defense that's going to make some noise in the SEC and ultimately still uh face criticism but I want to talk some about that in this segment because I do think that some things are valid some things are play calling some things are Beyond people's control right so Don Smith again 24-28 260 yards a touchdown and a pick uh he was also sacked a few time I think I have down here two times for eight yards in total couple of those Inc completions I should also stress were throwing the ball out of bounds instead of taking a sack people count those in different ways and different things um Donovan Smith played very conservatively against Oklahoma hint scoring just the one touchdown right um and I what I can't tell is is that Donovan is that barb is that both is that barb calling it for Donovan is that Donovan playing within Barb I'm figuring that relationship out I do know that last year it felt like Donovan Smith was a fairly conservative guy at times but he also didn't necessarily have the play calling for that and he also took some Chances with some strong receiving core right there a little bit different offense um this year it in game two you kind of needed big plays at some point in the game you keep it conservative throughout the most of the game to keep it close but 24 completions for 260 yards is really really low Houston had just three completions if I'm looking this correctly of over 10 yards um one of which was a 44 yard touchdown to Joseph manjack um that that that's tough again conservative for the majority of the game keeps the game close I get that at some point you got to take the shot right and like there was one point in the late fourth he's trying to throw the pump and go fake receiver screen he pumps he looks at the go the Go's not there he comes back down to the checkdown if that happened more often it' probably be a little bit different kind of feel but again a little over 10 yards per completion is not not great right it's just not great looks like he's about nine yards per Target on the day uh that's still also not not great um I would point out again that there were moments where I felt like he was playing good enough to win and then ultimately it was not I also didn't think he was playing poorly enough to get benched because I do think some of the play calling was conservative and did not help him out you're calling plays where the the go-to throw is in the flat that's going to be a short throw they called as by my account here 28 rushes 28 run plays again against an OU defense that's front seven is going to be as competitive as anyone in the SEC that again is not necessarily the most quarterback friendly play calling in terms of like giving him a chance to go win the game and so that's where I go back and forth people talk call me an apologist for a lot of these guys at Houston all the time I am a fan right I am a fan and a a a coach I coached nine years at High School varsity level football I currently coach high school I'm assistant coach at high school level varsity basketball I I approach you with that kind of mentality that kind of a background and I would have a hard time as a coach again I was a run game coordinator mean I called the run plays when need to run play uh some years that was more than others I I would have a trouble I would have trouble looking at a quarterback as my quarterback as having played poorly if I knew I was constantly taking the ball out of his hands in the Run game if I knew I was constantly taking the decision out of his hand out of his hands by saying hit the checkdown right we're going to run this flood concept to open up the flat route right those kinds of things are on me as a coach and I know it maybe sounds like I'm harsh on Barbay I would point out that the conservative thing did keep the game close and whether that's a lack of trust in him making it wide open or just the fact of the matter is like a lot of games that Oklahom I mean a lot of people that beat Oklahoma this year are going to need to be conservative and keep the game close we'll see um on the whole it did feel like in that final drive or two they needed someone that could flip it down the downfield 50 yards flip the field a little bit here or there and he wasn't that guy he just wasn't and so you know that's I think where the fault lies I'm not sure they've got anyone that is that guy everyone wants to jump to O uh because his performances against Sam Houston a year ago or that final drive against the Lo the UNLV backups last week you know he also had struggles against UCF and stuff last year when it was garbage time and so I don't know if he's the guy either Zeon Chris they didn't trust enough to throw the ball last week he didn't throw the ball one time I I worry about leaning too much into he's not the guy we gotta find someone else when it might just not be on this roster and that might be the best option they've got they really did play well enough to win this game though and the call that no one's talking about is Brandon Mack jumped off sides in a situation late in this game as well as the defense played Critical Offsides Call Impact that just shot them in the foot uh they end up getting the ball back with about 30 seconds because an Oklahoma penalty but they could had a whole another minute and that changes the damage thing completely um it's it's not I see people typing in who they think it is it that's what they've got they've got what they've got what they've got some people are tall some people are short you can't change that about yourself they are what they've got that's the way things are um I I look across this the game though and I think that that's the play Under called A lot of people are focused on the referee calls and and maybe not focused on what Houston could have done to change those up that sat that uh that offsides call and I want to talk about how great the defense was in a second that offsides was so so critical in the way this game played out down the stretch because Houston probably needed the full 90 seconds as opposed to 30 seconds to have a shot to throw the hell Mary to win this game and we've seen Donovan Smith throw the hell Mary to win the game right and instead it's not what happened right I want to talk about the defense in a second I want to talk about how well they played aside from that single play in a second but first we're doing a lot of talking tonight about replacing or do we need to replace Etc different guys if you got a small business and you got to replace certain folks in your business you got to hire and whatever you got to do LinkedIn jobs is the place to do it LinkedIn is not just another job board it's a cont of place you can find professionals that you cannot find anywhere else even those who are not actively searching for a new job but might be open for the perfect role in a given month over 70% of LinkedIn users don't visit other leading job sites they only use LinkedIn so if you're not using LinkedIn you're looking the wrong place LinkedIn knows small business are wearing so many hats and might not have the time or resources to hire LinkedIn is constantly finding new ways to make this process easier and they just launched a feature that helps you write job descriptions making the process even quicker and easier postop for free at linkedin.com locked on Coles linkedin.com locked onol to post free terms and conditions apply all right I have to say um that yes this single jumping off sides play was critical and it really did dramatically shift a lot of what Houston had left at the end of the game it changed what the clock situation was it changed the the energy of the game it it shifted a lot of things in this game but on the whole I think what we need to point out in this game and being a little bit more positive right that Oklahoma as an SEC defense with a a five-star quarterback and all of the yada yadas right uh Houston went toe-to-toe with them and rode the coattails of the defense the entire way Houston Cougar Defense's Stellar Performance this Houston defense is very very special I want to say that one more time the Houston Cougar defense is very very special AJ Hy led the team in tackles with 11 tackles but Michael baton had a pair of sacks Keith Cooper had sacks and three tackles for loss Carlos Allen dominated the interior at nose tackle hershy mclen had a couple big plays and pass breakups as well as a tackle for loss as a DB uh and I guess while only one of them counted jeremi Wilson did have two interceptions um there's so many things to point out about what went well defensively for this group uh even frankly the recovery made a couple times the only two bust you could say they had on defense were both situations where it was a run kind of down a second down and then run kind of situation Houston sold out on the run and Oklahoma found the tight end for in one case a touchdown inside the 10 yard line and in one case face a big game right I would point out that AJ Hy while playing the Run was a mere couple of steps away I think in schemes I would have been coaching uh coaching in again I coached them high school football not division one college football different athletes obviously I think we probably would have actually had kro web assigned to that but he's playing the run very aggressively so H is the next closest guy um that's really about the O that and the offsides penalty about the only three plays defensively and be like that was a mess up because the other touchdown was on a sudden change balls inside the 10 yard line because McKai Muse misses a Fielding a punt the Rev I think he didn't I don't think he touched it I really don't I I just wish he'd gone up and fair caught it instead of giving it to anyone's options right instead they rul it hit him re review says stands they get the ball um at the 10 yard line I think it was they throw a quick slant for 10 and a half yards in the middle of the field that's no big deal at the 10 yard line that's a touchdown right that that's just the way that that goes right and that's unfortunate they played three quarters of shutout defense against a very talented Oklahoma team I want to continue to stress um it started up front and I know Oklahoma going to say they're a little banged up up front but it really did start up front with these guys um and and I I I I want to say I feel validated because that's that's maybe not fair I said last week that UNLV is the kind of team that puts up 40 points a game on people and Houston held that offense to 20 and I said throughout the week that you know Houston can keep these guys low scoring if they can find a way to manufactur some offense right I'm not sitting here saying that I'm like some you know whatever any I think that people watched and paid attention to the game with more open minds saw that too but I think what we're seeing is confirmation of that regardless of what you I think right this defense is what's going to carry this team Willie Fritz is a defensive-minded head coach he was that way at two lane he was that way at Sam he was that way at blind and he's clearly going to continue to be that way at Houston I told people in a group chat I was in I'm an offensive guy uh I would much rather like coach in and have a fun close game with a bunch of touchdowns get scored because touchdowns are fun I think after games like tonight I'm realizing that's because I'm not built for this 16 to 12 heart pumping the entire time kind of game I'm way calmer in a 4548 game I don't know what that is um but oh my Lord that was an exciting one because of that right now getting things out of the way I open with it I don't think the safety was a safety I do hope that the coaching point there is hey Ran you're a young running back when you feel the pressure your toes are on the line plant get out of the end zone right like whatever you do dive for all I care get out of the end zone right that's that's the coaching point there is whenever it's close don't let them get anywhere near um a lot of comments here uh I was typically gonna save those for the third segment because we've got um we got Big 12 stuff talk about as well crazy day in college football can we just say that crazy crazy day in college football across the board um anyway strong defense running game 35 carries for 58 yards if you take out the sacks uh it would have been 33 carries for what is that 64 yards 66 yards it's not great and if you're gonna have this dominant defense you're gonna have this special defense that like carries you winning games you're going to have to help them out by running the ball a little bit better and I know that Oklahoma's defense again I've said it couple times this week couple times tonight Oklahoma's defense is going to be a a sec strong defense as the thing they're hanging their hat on um we can't we can't keep running outside Zone on Third and eight I'm not sure third and four is are running down and not for this team and I I just I my heart yearns for like getting Stacy or Parker or ran getting those guys into space and to get those guys into space I think we need to start hitting some more of the quick stuff earlier uh we had a lot of quick passes in the first quarter and I feel like we kind of got away from that over the course of the game um I think those things can open up the Run game in a way that will help win some games Oklahoma's really good uh if they play like that against rice they should beat rice right they they should if they play like that against a handful of Big 12 teams that we'll talk about later they should beat those teams as well and I think that that's a good game to know where you're at at because this time a week ago we were all feeling like are we going to win a game this year uh I I don't think I've said that but I think people said that in the comments section like this team doesn't win a game and now I think the feeling is very much the opposite defensive perform performance helped a lot now we got the offense to help it out I see a lot of comments about what you think that might be what you think that fix might be I don't agree with all of it we're going to talk about that in one second we talk about Houston's Defensive Strategy Against Oklahoma the rest of the Big 12 as well but first I mentioned that Houston plays rice next week and if you're looking for tickets to that concerts the Astros comedy shows theater Rockets Texans whatever you're looking for tickets to game time is the place to do it game time is an Allin feature you get no tricks and that can see exactly what you're going to be paying for those tickets you can also see what it looks like from that section and row in that type of venue for the type of event The View they show you exact it's great great feature I like the low price guarantee which is you find tickets in the same section in a row somewhere else for Less G gain time will credit you back 11% of the difference so download the game time app today create an account use code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase again terms apply that's a code locked on College l o c k d o n c o l l e g for $20 off download game time today last we lowest prices guaranteed all right I want to talk some about the Big 12 I got lots of comments here I got a guy uh commenting several times about the quarterback situation I'm not going to click on all of them um but I will say this person really likes WEA Texas double tap the one I'm pulling up is if he gets quarterback right win in the Big 12 believe it we can't count on playing perfect games in order to win um now without clicking on every sing one of these comments I'd point out that this person does think we is the the perfect guy um you know I think that they both do things well I don't mean to say that they don't and I said in my analysis over the course of the week last week that you know it probably is time at some point to put we in a situation where it's not garbage time to see if he can if he plays the same kind of way or not I don't know that that makes me think he's a starter necessarily till I see that um I don't if you're going to blend the play calling on not trusting him like some people have alluded to in the comment section I guess you could blame that on Donovan Smith I do think Barb called a very conservative game beyond the point that was reasonable meaning that I went past time for that uh over the course of the game at some point you got to try and uh take a deep shot Houston Sky don't think the quarterback's very good you know 24-28 only took two sacks pretty good defense there uh I'm I'm not sure he's the pro that CBS and folks were saying over the summer I I certainly don't think he's he's bad I think that it's a guy that missed the spring is shaking off some Rust uh he looked a lot better in week two they did week one I think that much is for sure if he makes a jump between week two and three or three and four they between one and two we're talking about a whole lot different kind of quarterback I think that much is very clear uh de Devin said I don't know if I was the one that said I don't know if I was gonna win another game well I appreciate the honesty there uh Kenneth Cole longtime listener says the difference between last week and this week makes me think that we're at least moving the right direction and I do have a future to look forward to maybe even within this season um I I think that that's the deal here is like this was a wiie Fritz kind of game because a he walked into Norman Oklahoma and the team was clearly not scared um play calling might have been some people in the comments were saying the quarterback might have been but as a team it's 105 man roster that did not look scared uh defense certainly looked ready to roll and I I also think that the other thing is like they clearly found things from last week corrected them and got better they gave up 20 points to UNLV last week at home and only gave up 16 points one of them being on a sudden change special teams turnover one touchdown of them being that two of them being a safety in Norman Oklahoma that's a big big flip around right uh other comments here people taking their turns trashing the quarterback I don't know if I go that far but this one's funny so I'm going to read it uh Devon also comment that you're absolutely right Parker that going allow me to sleep at night Don is gonna make me wake up and throw up that could also be uh other things happening for throughout the night if I'm being honest but you know kudos to you on having a fun time um I look at before I move on to Big 12 talk about what the big 12 landscape looked like I look at this game as a great building block and we'll talk about this I watch the game a second time on Sundays uh and kind of give my final two cents afterwards uh on Monday sometimes Monday and Tuesday shows depending on what kind of thoughts those are uh I'm a little under the weather if you can't hear that in my voice right now so we'll see what that feels like um or what that looks like this week but I will say I stressed throughout the week and I'm going to stress it again you played Oklahoma and Norman in 2024 there is no reason to expect the team not to be a much better team that sees them again in four years in Houston right this is the bar you went to their place you took it to them you shocked them you nearly shocked the world okay I think it's fair to say the expectation now for four years from now is that you beat him and frankly I don't think the expectation should be that J only kind of beat him because you almost did that tonight at their place worth pointing out if that game is not in Norman that game might have gone the other way crowd absolutely plays a role in a couple Key reviews not reviews Etc crowd Keith Cooper's Performance and Frustration absolutely plays a role in the defense Houston's defense might have been even better with Houston's crowd behind it right that would have been big time could have been a really really big really big game now that game in a few weeks I guess a few years not a few weeks that's again under the weather that game in a few years is in Houston four years in the Willie Fritz era things will look different um other comments Tom Oklahoma came ready to play uh get another Temple they found uh is not Temple they found U is not Temple folks they don't trust the offense uh till they show the same progress the defense to be fair PR same progress the defense be kind of crazy um this I don't mean to be negative but this sucks manck I can only imagine how actual players feel so I get it I can't imagine playing that well as defensive I mean imagine Keith Cooper playing a game of your life you're were playing at two lane last year you go the big 12 you g go play against an SEC opponent in their place you're trying to put Pro film on tape and you do it and they take home an L because the offense can't score touchdowns I that's that's the deal that's the deal um across Big 12 as we always wrap up satday night's uh postgame reactions Arizona is currently barely beating Northern Arizona still we that's big 12 game but uh wow that's not great Texas TCH getting the hurt put on them at Halftime by Washington State Arizona State might win a few games this year they're up 27 to3 Utah beat Baylor that was one those ones where we kind of Hope a meteor hit the stadium instead but anyway Utah Utah beat Baylor Oklahoma State represent the conference very well and beat Arkansas Kansas state held on held on to beat tane Kansas did not represent the conference very well lost Illinois Iowa State beat Iowa and the shawk bow or whatever they call that one Cincinnati lost a close one to Pittsburgh that's not good that's not good uh Western you won a big one against Albany UCF won a big one against Sam Houston Colorado can we get Colorado lost in Nebraska big time can we come on and TCU got right against Long Island now cross the conference thing it's interesting to look at you know on the one hand he looked pretty good and some inter-conference play stuff with Arizona State or with Iowa State or the Oklahoma State the state Schools they're the ones that look pretty good inter conference play but then like Tech's kind of embarrassing you Arizona's kind of embarrassing you Colorado is kind of embarrassing you and Potential for Houston in the Big 12 so the Big 12 is kind of this hodgepodge of a bunch of programs that frankly It Feels Like Anything could happen any week as Texas double tap points out if you win the Big 12 you're automatic in the playoff and the highest four ranked Conference champions also get a Buy in that playoff um I I think that there there's a chance that's in the near future I don't know that it's this season future but I think that Houston will win some games in this conference because it is such a wideopen conference and they've shown like they can play upset they can be that guy um anyway I'm gonna go watch the end of the Arizona game see if they actually lose to Northern Arizona um I'm gonna recommend you go watch other Houston Cougar content lots of folks doing great postgame stuff appreciate you making us your first listen if you missed it I was also on on locked on Houston sports with Michael Connor he does all things Houston the cougs the Astros the Texans the Rockets uh we had a good time with there we we chuckle a lot more on that one he's a fun guy funny guy so make sure you check that out as well want to hear more on Big 12 Conference Drake tol and locked on Big 12 for all things Big 12 Football locked on coug is the primary locked on podcast Network that means your team every day CS for