Comments on: Flashback: Oklahoma vs. Nebraska

By: John

John — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:40:25 +0000

tristan, I know it’s almost a year later, but here is a video of that OU/A&M game from 1999 (one of my favorite games, but the picture quality is suspect in the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiIEd9vKh38

Only 3-4 ninja plays shown, but I remember watching that game. Fun times!

By: Will

Will — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:24:30 +0000

Yep, the ran the jet sweep (Z-Quick) well. They’d use the quick guys, Fagan and Savage, or even go big-boy with Josh Norman. It was a good play for them in the 2000 season.

They still use a lot of the same Air Raid passing philosophies. But don’t use the 2-back shotgun look as much, like Kentucky used to (Leach doesn’t either at TT). And now throw the ball down the field more.

By: Ted Seay

Ted Seay — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:49:08 +0000

Chris: “Incidentally, before watching these clips again I had forgotten what a good jet sweep team Oklahoma was at the time. I used to watch the passing cutups of the ‘99 and 2000 OU teams over and over and over, but had forgotten this aspect of their run game.”

For shame!

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:40:43 +0000

Yeah exactly. That’s what I meant by being too QB-centric.. seemed like he ran the QB keeper like 80% of the time or more. Their option game lacked the normal diversity and misdirection as a result.

By: Mr.Murder

Mr.Murder — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:32:41 +0000

Crouch would never pitch or he would run his lane too wide for there to be a pitch, he practically got on the pitch man’s area bouncing outside.

He was still a great athlete.

If only he had been used in a Wildcat look as a pro….

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:03:32 +0000

Well actually Leach was the OC in 1999, so he was in his first year at Tech during this game. They did keep his system for 2000 and I believe 2001 though. I think Mangino was the OC at this time.

In 2001 Nate Hybl got hurt and a running QB named Jason White came in, so that might be part of the reason they dropped it somewhat. (Of course White ended up hurting his knees and improving his passing ability to become the radically different player that won the Heisman in 2003)

It should probably also be said that Mangino wasn’t nearly as good of an OC has Leach, and the offense dropped off pretty rapidly over 2000 and 2001. He left for Kansas after the ’01 season and OU fans weren’t necessarily upset about it.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:37:15 +0000

As a long-time Tom Osborne/Nebraska fan, I remember when the Oklahoma-Nebraska game used to mean something (several “Games of the Century” if I’m not mistaken). Like you, the Nebraska I-option and Mike Leach’s AirRaid are two of my all-time fave offenses. I didn’t realize that Leach was the OC for OU in this game. Of course, I (and most people I presume) didn’t know who he or Mark Mangino were back then before they moved on and became well-known head coaches. Eric Crouch was a tremendous athlete but I thought Nebraska’s option was much too QB-centric and predictable during his time at the helm under Solich. Maybe that was b/c their I-backs weren’t as good… not sure.

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:47:28 +0000

Never understood why Stoops dropped the airraid.

By: tristan

tristan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:45:33 +0000

Bob Stoops used to known as Big Game Bob after performances like this.

I once tried to find video of Oklahoma running a Ninja formation for a scoring drive against Texas A&M, but never found anything.