Oklahoma Football: Who Is to Blame for the 2011 Season?

While it has already been said that the 2011 season has to be considered a failure in Norman, who is really to blame?

With a solid recruiting class and a number of changes within the program, Sooner football has a bright outlook for the 2012 season.

Before we delve into the new season though, I have a few bones to pick with the 2011 squad.

The Coaches

There is no denying that the Sooner coaching staff had some major breakdowns.

Stoops and crew allowed this team to feel a sense of entitlement, as if they belonged in the No. 1 spot before a snap was even taken. Despite a few embarrassing losses, this team never did come down off of their high horses.

That is on the coaches.

Venables failed to ever really adjust to the defensive issues that plagued the secondary all season. It's almost as if he completely gave up heading into Bedlam, resigned to the fact that his defense could not stop the Pokes offense. No new wrinkles to the defensive scheme, just the same old tired formations that allowed Texas Tech and Baylor to run wild all over the Sooners defense.

Heupel continually gave up on establishing the run and tried to air it out on every down. Even when Landry Jones was visibly shaken up and clearly not on point, Heupel insisted on the pass.

Stoops failed to ever make any adjustments on special teams, despite it clearly being a weak point for a number of years now.

The coaching staff as a whole definitely held their fair share of the blame this past season.

The Secondary

This section could probably include the entire defense, but the secondary was far and away the most to blame.

Sure, the schemes that Venables called were probably not the best, but after a certain point you have to hold the players accountable.

The players hyped themselves as "sharks" from the beginning of the season, but failed to ever live up to the hype—the hype they created for themselves which was clearly never warranted.

Injuries and unforeseen circumstances plagued the defense from the start (with the passing of Austin Box and Travis Lewis' ankle injury). However, there is no excuse for letting Texas Tech and Baylor go off for nearly 900 combined yards through the air.

Texas Tech didn't win another game all year after shredding the Sooners. Baylor had never defeated Oklahoma in football before.

Embarrassing and unforgiving losses that stare the secondary straight in the eye with the blunt of the blame.

Landry Jones and the Offense

While Landry Jones may not be able to take the Sooners to a national championship, he had shown signs of improvement each year leading up to the 2011 season.

Then the 2011 season got underway and Landry appeared to regress.

While showing signs of life in comeback efforts against Texas Tech and Baylor, Landry went into shut down mode after losing Ryan Broyles for the season.

Against Oklahoma State, Landry managed to give the Pokes more points than he earned for his own team.

Landry wasn't the only culprit though. Like the defense, the offense also sustained devastating injuries (starting running back Dom Whaley and All-American wide receiver Ryan Broyles). No player managed to step up in the absence of the injured which led to a highly disappointing end to the season.

Oklahoma State featured one of the worst defenses in the country, yet the Sooner offense could only manage a banked in field goal before half and a Blake Bell touchdown during clean up duty.

That is embarrassing.

The defense had failed the Sooners numerous times during the year, but when did the offense begin to collapse? The offense certainly had their bright spots, but also failed to step up when they were needed most.

Like Landry, the offense as a whole appeared to get worse, not better, as the season concluded.