When Urban was here, he used to say that we weren't going to have the best offense in the country, and we weren't going to have the best defense in the country, but nothing was stopping us from having the best special teams in the country. And they were good. Blocked kicks galore, we were dominant. I remember that magical UT game his first season, when they got a big run back (UT did ), and the next time we kicked off, Meyer was in their huddle, face red, screaming. And we clocked the dude inside the 20.
Well, things aren't like that now. Our special teams are an embarassment, and kept an OU team in the game after we were completing dominating them while they had the ball. Add them up:
- Fumbled reverse on opening KO return.
- Two Blocked punts, one for TD.
- Missed FG
- Brain fart where no one touches a pooched kick, and they recover.
- At least two kickoff returns out near mid-field.
There's no way around it. The special teams tried to give the game away. The defense bailed them out on the first drive when the goal line stand held, and when OU got the pooch kick near the end of the first half, they were about to score and make it 14-14 (and a huge momentum boost) when Jelani got the INT on the goal line.
Something has to be done. We can beat OU like this, but we aren't going to beat UT, Miami, or win a bowl game. Kicking off, returning a kickoff, or punting simply cannot be this big an adventure.
I don't understand the rationale behind our punt formation. We're using the three-man wall in front of Nate, which is supposed to afford better protection...yet, he's been blocked a few times this year. I want to see us get back to the regular formation. We never had this many problems before.
One of two things is culprit here. Either, we are not devoting enough practice time to the special teams, or lousy coaching by John Bowers.
Either way, ultimately, well-coached football teams are good on special teams. Enough said.
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