Jed Castles

OU’s offense has 2 major roadblocks keeping them from realizing their full potential. 1. QB cannot process the game quick enough. He has the arm talent, he knows the plays. His reaction time from seeing the field to making a decision is just too slow. That’s why balls are overthrown, underthrown, or held until sacked. It’s rarely happening on time or in sync. 2. No killer instinct. This is a result of coaching. This team operates with the idea that the defense kills the opponent, and the offense avoids killing itself. This offense does not look like they are lead, or held to the expectation to go out and take souls. It’s purely look for safe and easy gains, and prioritize field position over points. All of this is a result of coaching philosophy. With QB they value practice evaluation over game evaluation. The speed of the SEC has been too much for Mateer since he got there. He’s protected in practice, it’s much easier to look good with no threat. When they say “he gives us the best chance to win”, it’s because they view it through the lens of not expecting killer instinct plays. They want safe short passes and runs that get them to a good punting position. Their whole offensive strategy to dink your way up to field, and over the course of the game you’ll get a couple drives that keep going long enough to score. Under Lebby and DG, the offense was looking to kill. I think Brent blamed that for leading to defensive struggles. So he changed his offensive philosophy to be more about preservation, and less about aggression. All to obtain “complimentary football”. That’s flawed though, because it has always been about “the offense is hurting the defense”. Everything is built around defense as the main act, and offense as the passive support group. BV needs to figure this stuff out, or he’ll continue to solidify himself as a failure as a head coach.