Calling Captain Planet

After watching the "no huddle" version of our game today on FSN, reading lots of different opinions and articles, I have finally come to terms with our performance in Saturday's game against Utah State. I am not all gloom and doom about it- I just know we have to make some serious corrections and come out ready to play against Florida State, because they will be ready for us. This week will be very telling of the rest of our season, I think.

I also think the keys to our success can be boiled down to the principles of one 90s Cartoon Superhero- Captain Planet. What might this eco-loving, green-haired freak be able to tell us about the state of OU Football, you may ask? Think about the elements presented in the show: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Heart.

Earth- What on EARTH was happening in our secondary? There were some serious busts in coverage. That is all too easy an issue for opponents to expose. Time to shore up this part of the D, or we are going to get torched time and time again by teams much better than USU. And I don't think Landry has the wherewithal to win in a shootout. Which brings me to my next point.

Fire- I have to ask this of Landry- Where's the FIRE? Through much of the game he had little or no composure. In some cases, he just seemed to panic and crumble. Even Stoops called him out on it. I'd hate to see him in a crisis situation. Hopefully he can pull it together and start using better field vision and decision-making.

Wind- Foolish penalties and mental errors definitely knocked the WIND out of us. The two personal fouls on Wort exemplified this, as they gave the momentum to USU. Penalties will kill you every time, and they are self-defeating. The other team is going to try their hardest to beat us- we don't need to give them any help.

Water- WATERed-down play-calling makes us very predictable. Of course we want to keep our cards close to the chest against what should be an easily-beatable opponent. I'm just saying, we better be ready to bring more than "run Demarco up the gut" and "pass play to Broyles" to the table against these tougher teams to come.

Heart- We have got to start playing with some HEART. Did we every really look fired up in this first game? Not that I could tell. Much as it pains me to give any sort of credit to Boise State, they played the game last night with a tremendous amount of heart. We've got to play through our schedule with courage and determination, or we are not going to be able to compete with the teams that truly show the desire to win. I always thought the poor kid on the show who got stuck with "Heart" was getting the raw end of the deal, but now I realize, it's like the most important one.

Like I said, I compiled, borrowed, hooked onto these ideas from a lot of different sources. But I think they make a lot of sense. And if we do these things right, we have a much, much higher probability of success. Gooooo Planet! I mean, Sooners!