ADVERTISEMENT

FOOTBALL TIGER TALK REVIEW: Oklahoma Week '24

Jay G. Tate

IT'S A TRAP!
Staff
Jan 17, 2003
83,651
407,918
113
Montgomery, Ala.
IMG_7160.JPG


It's once again time for TIGER TALK on the radio waves throughout the Southeastern United States!

LIST OF AFFILIATES AND LINKS

PREDICTION: Big game this week. Oklahoma has a terrific team, well-coached group. Need a win.

**********

Freeze opens by thanking the fans for being so supportive. "They have shown up and been as loyal and strong as ever."

NOT ANDY wants to talk about meetings with the team today. "It was a challenging meeting, truthfully. Ten years ago ... when we would do something that hurt our team from winning a football game, I'd literally go overboard in front of the whole team. I'd play it over like 10 times. I was just that way. Honestly, it worked. But today's times are so different. Everything is so fragile. Today I made up my mind and be who I am. Truth doesn't change because your feelings feel some kind of way. We've got to get them where the winning ways are happening on those critical downs. I love Sam Pittman and I hope he wins the rest of his games. But I'm telling you that the hard truth is that if we play them nine more times, we'd beat them nine more times. That's what's hard to take."

"We can certainly play a more consistent brand of football."

(I've lost the feed. Trying to get it back.)

***COMMERCIAL BREAK***

HERB is in the house. He talks about how he played on a good team in high school. He wants to know about how the team is coming together. "I'm seeing a team that is playing together and playing their guts out. They're making mistakes at critical moments. I do believe our team is together. As you lose in this world today, the voices get so loud."

"We can coach better. I went through every single play with every single coach. I love our staff. I think they're getting taught the right things. Offensively ... the scheme was beautiful. You just can't turn the ball over."

KEN is in the house. He says he's excited about the future. He wants to know about if they'll make any changes to the offense. "We're averaging over 470 yards per game — and that's with 10 turnovers. I don't see schematically why we would change that."

JASON is in the house. He wants to talk about Champ Anthony. "He just ... when he went to put his foot in the ground to transition to make the play, the tibia just snapped. It was an ugly injury. I talked to him last night. His parents are here. We put them up in a hotel for a week. He should make a full recovery. He will have two years remaining. He was playing really, really at a high level in that game."

NOT ANDY wants to talk more about Anthony. Freeze thinks Anthony was a leader back there. "He will be missed for sure."

ANDY asks about the thin secondary. "It means JC Hart and Jay Crawford are going to have to play."

***COMMERCIAL BREAK***

ANDY wants to know about who will be QB1.
"That will be the biggest question we're facing. This Oklahoma squad is one of the best defensive teams I've seen in a while. They throw a lot at you."

ANDY says Oklahoma's defenders are ball hawks. "I watched the explosive reel. There's one run over 10 yards."

BUSTER is in the house. He thinks Auburn is so close to opening up a can. "I'm trying to figure out a way to put it ... we're averaging 6.7 yards per carry, we lead the league in (explosive pass plays) ..."

BUSTER now has an actual question. He wants to know about the fake punt.

"If you green-light (Oscar Chapman) ... he could have rugby punted it ... I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to run that thing. Thank God for that defense."

NOT ANDY wants to talk about the offensive line. "Connor (Lew) is sharp. He'll be able to get us on the right page. The quarterback has to make sure we get out of some of the bad runs. The line can only see the box. It's not all on them."

ANDY asks about OL health. "I think everybody was in the run-through today. They're fine."

NOT ANDY asks about the OL again. "When you rush for six yards per carry ... I thought they played solid."

CHERYL/SHERYL is in the house. She wants to know about not stopping Arkansas on third down. "I wish I could understand." (Freeze then goes on to explain several busts in detail.)

***COMMERCIAL BREAK***

MAX/MAXX is in the house. He says he played soccer with kicker Towns McGough. He wants to know about soccer backgrounds. "The longest (kick) I've seen him hit is 63 yards. As far as a soccer background, I honestly don't know."

NOT ANDY wants to talk about Dre Lambert-Smith. "He's been really, really solid. We've go to get some guys around him to make plays."

ANDY asks about reporting injuries. "Truthfully, I don't even look at it. I told the training staff to do it. I've never been one to hide that stuff. I told them: Don't bother me with it every (day). I just let them do it."

NOT ANDY asks about Oklahoma's uncertainty at QB. "They're just like us — their system is their system. It's not two different schemes going on."

ANDY wants to talk about OU's defense. "Personnel is the most important. When you have good personnel and you're multiple ... they don't make many mistakes. That means there's some good coaching going on."

NOT ANDY wants to ask about turnovers again. How do they fix the problem? "We've lost two fumbles. The first thing for that is ... we work ball security every day. We'll continue to do those things. There's a ball-security circuit. The passing game? I don't know. You run a post-over check-down and it goes through his hands. I don't know what you do with that. Maybe you throw it a little lower?"

(He notes that interceptions due to bad decisions are more upsetting.)

NOT ANDY says there isn't a magic button to fix this. Freeze says he asks Hank if he's comfortable with every call on his play sheet. He says he'll take one off if Hank doesn't like it. He notes that the missed throw toward Sam Jackson is "(Brown's) favorite one."

"Thank you, guys. Thank you, people."

BE GOOD. BE YOU.

--30--
 
Last edited:
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT

Go Big.
Get Premium.

Join Rivals to access this premium section.

  • Say your piece in exclusive fan communities.
  • Unlock Premium news from the largest network of experts.
  • Dominate with stats, athlete data, Rivals250 rankings, and more.
Log in or subscribe today Go Back