“Their schemes are all the same,” Stoops explained. “They’ve got good athletes and are well disciplined in everything that they do. So I see them very similar, you know watching them, as they were a year ago.”
Senior co-captain Gabe Ikard said control on the line of scrimmage was a key component of the game last year and will be important yet again.
“The most important thing from last year was who controlled the line of scrimmage and that was obviously them,” Ikard said. “We didn’t run the ball well at all. They started to wear us out. That’s our focus now. Establishing and controlling the line of scrimmage.”
“They want to control the ball, they want to run it,” Stoops concluded. “They want to play action pass because they’re such a good run team and they make you respect the run game. That’s what got us a year ago. We missed a couple hits and they kept running it and running it and finally creased us and then after they did that they hit a big pass. Again, this is a very difficult preparation. (Tommy) Rees throws a very good ball, they have two go-to receivers. They can defend the whole field and they just missed some passes a week ago.”
