Oklahoma Special Teams Coach Offers New Perspective on Texas' Punt Return TD

Oklahoma special teams coordinator Doug Deakin has a slightly different perspective on Texas’ 75-yard punt return last week that essentially clinched the Longhorns’ 23-6 victory over the Sooners.

Like everyone else wearing Crimson and Cream, Deakin said the play was “very much” a moment of great frustration.

But — at least publicly — not for the reason everyone might think.

“There was no yellow flag on the field,” Deakin said Thursday on this week's OU Coaches Corner show, “and so there wasn't a foul.”

Sooner Nation would disagree, of course, offering up three instances where it appeared an OU coverage man drew contact for a possible block-in-the-back infraction.

Head coach Brent Venables said on Sunday’s replay show that on his weekly correspondence with the SEC officiating office — standard documentation that every team submits every week after every game about the crew’s performance — he noted that Ryan Niblett’s touchdown in the fourth quarter should have been negated because of an illegal block in the back on OU’s Taylor Wein.

Read More Oklahoma Football

Venables also revealed that the league office agreed with him that the call was missed and should have negated the touchdown.

Deakin, however, had other problems with the play.

“The reality was, we had eight players to the left of the returner, and that is a glaring — that's back to the basics,” Deakin told Gabe Ikard and Chris Plank. “And where we — you say frustrating, it’s like, yes, that is a day one fundamental breakdown on us and me as a coach, in not having the guys understand to get back to their leverage.”

The Sooners failed to score a touchdown against the Longhorns for the third time in the last four meetings as Texas turned a 13-6 slugfest into a 20-6 game with 9:59 to play. Texas added a field goal with 2:59 left for the final margin.

For Deakin, it was a sour way to hit the midseason mark after five-plus games in which the Sooners’ special teams units — and especially the coverage teams — had been so reliable.

“Grayson hits a beautiful ball,” Deakin said. “It's outside the bottom of the numbers, right? And we're — the guys were hauling to get there now. But we had eight players on one side of the returner, and that's not a recipe for success in tackling.

“ … One-score game, and that's a momentum play, let alone making it a two-score game.”

Since his arrival last year from San Diego State, OU’s special teams have been improved under Deakin.

Miller currently leads the nation in punting with a 51.0-yard average, and kicker Tate Sandell is among the national leaders in both field goals per game (1.5) and field goal percentage (.857).

After their first loss of the season, No. 14-ranked OU (5-1, 1-1) tries to get back in the win column this week with a road trip to South Carolina.