Grading the Bucks: Week 3 -- Oklahoma

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

Offense: A
What can you say?  The young Bucks entered the unfriendly confines and simply dominated.  Noah Brown showed the special player that he can be.  Curtis Samuel and Mike Weber continued their 'Death and Taxes' ways of inside out play.  JT was clinical as always.  The O-line kept JT upright for the most part. This was almost as complete a game as you can expect against a top team like the Sooners.  On the road no less? Me likely.

Defense: A
This secondary might be special.  I feared that BG and Tulsa were just aberrations against bad teams, but the defense indeed traveled on the road to Norman.  Malik Hooker continues to impress as due other young studs like Lattimore and Baker.  Perhaps the biggest positive was that the loss of Gareon Conley was not noticed.  Conley has been a spectacular underrated corner since he started last year, but the 'next man up' philosophy worked like a charm.  The Dline has slowly amped up the pressure as they've gelled more as a unit.  Even the DT's replacing Tracy Sprinkle have been impressive.  I don't think it's a stretch to say the hiring of Greg Schiano was a massive homerun.  While they gave up some points this week (only 2 TDs), they have still outscored the opponent offenses over the last 3 games.  That is a MASSIVE achievement with any opponents let alone when one of those opponents is the Sooner squad in Norman.

Special Teams: B-
Everyone who reads this blog knows one of my biggest pet peeves is when a kickoff goes out of bounds and we saw it return here.  I know the thought to kick it in the corner, but Joe Mixon is too much of a threat to mess around with.  Boot it deep and start at the 25 in this situation.  Don't allow a momentum shift.  Which brings me to the kick return.  Mixon is an electric player, but no special teams coach can live with points for the opponent on a kickoff (even if he fumbled before he crossed the goalline).  That being said, every football player from now on should sprint to the ball and dive on it if there is ANY thought that it was dropped before crossing the line.  This epidemic must stop.  The grade given is accounting for all special teams.  The reason it's so high with the monster negative for giving up a kick return is because Cameron Johnston was magnificent.  While Tressel has to hate Urban's bull in a china shop mentality, the glorious punting has to bring a tear to his eye.  Johnston repeated flipped the field and put Mayfield in difficult situations which is worth counter-balancing the poor kick coverage.  Oh year, our kick return unit was pretty good.

Coaching: A
The defense was extremely prepared as was the offense.  The transition from Samuel to Weber and back was flawless.  I though the gameplan was nearly perfect with a nice mix of passes thrown in.  In addition, Urban's decisions to go for it on 4th down in many situations show an understanding of the situational football lacking in our loss-averse society.  Kudos!

Overall: A
Let's be honest, did anyone expect this before the season? The Sooners are nearly unstoppable at home, and the Buckeyes embarrassed them.  This team is so talented, the sky is the limit.  Honestly, the only worries are complacency until the date in East Lansing.  Nothing comes easy, but this team grew up in a BIG way on Sat.