November | 2018 | sportsprofessor

Texas do-over…

I felt pretty good about our chances against West Virginia, but after Lincoln’s play calling went south a couple times, I was beginning to wonder. Who would have thought that our defense would be the difference in the game?

I wanted a Texas do over and I have it. I felt that we were the better team in October and I still do. The offense will roll and the defense will play inspired. I also like the fact that the game is not being played in the Cotton Bowl. I like our chances.

What’s the deal with OSU…Mike Gundy is doing a jig in the locker room after the West Virginia win last week and a week later his boys lose to one of the worst teams in America. TCU was down to its walk on, third string quarterback. OSU beats Texas, West Virginia and comes within a point of beating OU and this team loses to three of the worst teams in the conference…go figure.

After OSU’s Saturday night loss, it appears that the Cowboys may have sunk to the Cheez-It Bowl. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. OSU fans will come to the game dressed as orange Cheez-Its.

I never thought I would feel bad for Kliff Kingsbury, but I sort of do. The guy seemingly saved his job by beating OSU, loses his quarterback at the half time of the OU game and loses five games in a row which meant he was toast. Good luck finding someone to recruit to Lubbock, the arm pit of the universe.

One more OSU question…one must wonder how much money T. Boone is paying Hawaii graduate transfer Dru Brown to stay in Stillwater for another year. The kid transfers from California to Hawaii to Stillwater and gets beat out by a Corndog. Go figure…

Pooka Williams…

The kid that ran wild Saturday night against OU was no mistake. Pooka was a four star prospect that David Beatty had recruited out of Louisiana two years back. Pooka was one of several Louisiana highly ranked athletes that Beatty convinced to move from Louisiana to Kansas. This Kansas team is well coached and has a ton of young talent. With the right guy at the helm anything will be possible moving forward.

Unfortunately, the right guy was not Coach Beatty. He had built this Kansas team up from the ashes to make it respectable. We saw evidence of this fact last Saturday night. The problem is that Beatty had inherited too much baggage and the fans had lost faith as evidenced by atrocious home attendance counts.

A change was assured the moment Kansas hired Jeff Long as Athletic Director. Long is a longtime buddy of Les Miles. That’s right Less has fallen into tall cotton once again.

Les may be the luckiest man on planet earth…this guy fell into similar situations at OSU and LSU before arriving in Kansas. Some will think that I am crazy believing Kansas is a good deal for anyone. Trust me, if Mark Mangino can win at Kansas, anyone can. It is all about timing. Les Miles used the Kansas deal to justify a final buyout from LSU and will use his name and his Louisiana and Texas contacts to relocate a bunch more Pookas to Lawrence.

I am not saying Less will win his 2^nd National Championship at Kansas, but trust me things will be different. Expect a new stadium to be built within five years, a move that will create a meteoric rise in fan interest and recruiting.

The guy is about as likeable as a case of Shingles, but the guy can flat out coach and more importantly can flat out recruit. It won’t happen this recruiting cycle, but within two years, he will have top 30 recruiting class in Lawrence. With the talent now on campus, the Jawhawks will be bowl eligible within three years.

Pooka Williams will lead the way for Les Miles, the luckiest man on planet earth.

Another shot at Texas…

Okay, OSU and Texas did their job so now it’s our turn. Assuming that Texas will take care of business in Lawrence next Saturday and OU wins on Friday we will have our OU/Texas rematch. I know our defense still sucks, but it can’t be any worse that it was back in October and our running game has gotten so much better.

Why do I care you may ask…I care because I don’t want to wait a whole year for another shot at Texas. I also care because I don’t want Kyler Murray to have to go through life without a win over the burnt orange. Kyler Murray will be like a man possessed with another shot at the Horns.

The hard part will be getting past the Mountaineers this Friday, but I am encouraged. First, OSU took the wind out of their sails Saturday night and in doing so squashed any talk of playing for a National Championship. Football is an emotional game and having something extra to play for can be huge.

Secondly, West Va. will be taking its transcontinental flight back to Morgantown for what was already going to be a short week of practice. OU players will be watching game field today while the boys from Morgantown will be recovering from jet lag. It may be Tuesday, before the West Virginia players can see quality practice time.

Here’s another factor that might play into this scenario. Word appears to be leaking out that Dana Holgorsen may be interested in the Colorado job. Apparently, he has tired of trying to recruit players to a place with no high school football. He saw Will Grier as his lunch ticket and they may go out together. Regardless, these rumors can’t help team morale.

Here’s another angle…we will know after Friday night if rooting for Ohio State against Michigan Saturday morning will matter. I have learned that in the OSU/Michigan game, anything is possible. With a Michigan loss and with OU running the table with wins over West Virginia and Texas, that loss in the Cotton Bowl back in October would basically go away as far as the selection committee is concerned.

Who knows…even in the end a Michigan win on Saturday might create an interesting debate for the selection committee. OU would be playing a top ten Texas team in the championship game while Michigan will be a playing a four loss Northwestern team.

As you can tell, I have changed my thinking a bit on the playoff subject. Granted, with this defense, I don’t want any part of this Alabama team. At the same time I don’t want any part of a Georgia team in the Sugar Bowl either. If we are going to have to play a SEC behemoth, it might as well be in a playoff game.

Boomer Sooner…

Kids now days…

My dad’s generation used this excuse and at times I have conveniently used it for myself over the years; to be honest, this is a blame game gem. The custodian in the “Breakfast Club” may have said it best when he explained to Dick, the assistant principal that kids hadn’t changed, he had.

I would suggest that the custodian had it right…this would be good advice for both Mike Stoops and Mike Gundy who have used this excuse in recent weeks. Stoops couldn’t get his players to play for him while Gundy was sore after losing another player to transfer.

Granted, age can be a factor when relating to the younger generation, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Far more often, using the “kids now days” excuse is just a cop out, particularly useful during rough times. Mike Stoops failed to realize that the game had passed him by and Mike Gundy was the victim of his own hypocrisy.

The Mike Stoops statement stands for itself, but the Mike Gundy part may need further explanation. A month ago, Gundy justified using the new four game red-shirt rule to play Corndog instead of his Hawaii graduate transfer and his true freshman quarterback. When one of his young defensive backs and a heralded receiver uses the same rationale to transfer without losing a year of eligibility, he complains about how kids have changed.

Apparently, Gundy was under the impression that young players today would be so smitten with his mullet and his locker room dance moves that they would never leave his side. Mike Stoops assumed that players these days would relate to his rants and raves. Both were wrong.

Personally, I tired of Stoops’ side line rants the day he called out his defensive back for playing off the Baylor receiver time and time again as the Bears quarterback picked us a part. Possibly adjusting the formation might have been a nice touch. I tired of Gundy’s mullet the first day I saw it and I knew full well that the Gundy dance moves would eventually wear out their welcome.

Stoops and Gundy should have seen this one coming…kids of any generation will go through a wall for a coach when treated with respect. Stoops and Gundy apparently missed the respect memo.

Something to think about…

Poke choke…

About the time we think that this year will be different, OSU remembers just in the nick of time, who they are and they hit the “poke choke” accelerator. Happened again Saturday as OSU had us right where they wanted us, then they remembered who they were.

First, they botch the point after try to keep the game tied, next they produce the only fumble of the game that allowed the OU defense to get off the field and allow the Sooners to score the winning touchdown. Finally, Mike Gundy who had done a masterful job of keeping the Sooners on their heels all day went into his full blown “poke choke” mode.

Even if OSU had converted the two point try, OU would have had plenty of time to go the length of the field to kick the winning field goal due to Gundy’s end of the game pass happy play calling. Finally, Gundy should be sued by his players for malpractice for his two point conversion call. That was the call that the OU defense was praying for…granted, it was a lousy throw by Corndog, but still…

In any case, all of this is good news as the Sooner season will live to tell its 2018 tale for one more week. Hopefully, this defense can slow down Kansas next Saturday. This is the ugly proof of the matter…hoping to slow down Kansas.

All the more reason for OU to open up its bank account and hire the best defensive coordinator money can buy. OU’s chances of making the playoffs this year are thankfully on life support. I don’t want to appear unsupportive of the OU cause, but with this defense, we don’t want any part of Alabama in the first round. We need to focus our attention on 2019 with our hopes being placed on returning starters on defense and a new coach for that side of the ball.

I know OU fans are excited about five star quarterback recruit Spencer Rattler coming to Norman for next year, but he will still be a true freshman. Even if Rattler he is the reincarnation of Baker Mayfield, to continue to ask our offense to score every time we have the ball is unreasonable.

We need a new game plan…after all the OSU and Mike Gundy “poke choke” routine may play itself out one of these days. We need a backup plan. We need a defense.

Boomer Sooner…

Bedlam…

I remember back in the day, I would call my football bro. at the halftime of an OU/OSU game to ask him what he thought about our chances. You see this guy tends to have a knack for analyzing this game while I tend to look at things from an emotional perspective. His advice to me was simple…they have thrown all they could at us in the first half and we’re still on top. He was right as the Sooners came out victorious for the umpteenth time.

As I look at this year’s Bedlam game I have similar thoughts…T. Boone and Mike Gundy have thrown all they have at us and OU is still on top. T. Boone was installed as OSU’s Pope some twenty years ago and Gundy eventually became his Maestro. Timing was perfect as tough games against Nebraska and Texas A&M went away along with the occasional tussles with Colorado and Missouri. Those games were replaced by Missouri State, South Alabama, Troy and a watered down Big 12.

Next, T. Boone built Mike a new stadium, along with and a State of the Art training facility. Texas recruits headed north for Stillwater. Ten win seasons became common place in Stillwater as well as numerous years when OSU was favored over the Sooners.

If I asked my football bro. about Saturday’s game, I suspect that his response would be the same as it was years ago. Over the last decade, OSU has hit us with their best shot and we are still on top. At the same time, like I said, I am the emotional wreck in these situations so for my sake I hope Lincoln will keep the pedal to metal and not look back…

Boomer Sooner…

Good time day…

As a kid, my daughter would use this expression whenever she had a really good day…OU fans had a good time day on Saturday as the Sooners won and the Gags and Horns lost. Adding to the pleasure was the manner in which it happened…

Okay, first things first…there are only two teams in America that can overcome the first five minutes of last Saturday’s game in front of that hostile crowd and live to tell about it…you guessed it OU and Alabama. I know everyone is back to questioning our defense, but still winning that game was impressive.

As for the other part to this story, my friend Gary is right…OSU is the master at finding ways to lose a game. Make a first down and run the clock out…instead they botch that deal and allow Baylor to go 60 yards for a score and win the game with 7 seconds left on the clock. Texas was not much better as they scored too quickly and allowed the Mountaineers to go the length of the field to score and then successfully go for two twice to win the game.

I took a couple of things from these games other than the final outcomes. First, if the Bowman kid can play against Texas, I am picking Tech to win. Tech is better on defense and damn good on offense. The Horns are a beat up bunch both mentally and physically. And right on cue the game in Lubbock is a night game…I wish we could play Texas again, but I don’t see that happening.

By the way, the officiating in this league really sucks….first the Mountaineer player gets flagged for the upside down hook “em horns sign and then their best offensive lineman gets ejected for a shove. As a result West Virginia kicked off into a stiff wind from their own 10 yard line and Texas scores with a short field. In the OU game, the Sooners go from a 1^st and goal on the Tech five to a 1^st and ten on the forty. If OU had scored on that drive the game would have been over at 42-31.

At the same time, Lincoln needs to assign someone to both sides of the ball to pull our guys away from the scrum in these situations. Right or wrong, good call or bad call, this cannot happen again.

Now, as we head into Bedlam, it will be imperative to remember we were a four touchdown favorite over the Gags in Norman three years ago and lost in overtime. No slips ups this time, keep the hammer down and blow them out.

After next Saturday, it will be interesting to speculate OU’s fate at the end of the season. A Texas loss on Saturday will mean that the Horns will be out and things could get really interesting. Everyone’s assuming that we are looking at an OU/West Virginia double header at the end of the year, but don’t be shocked if Iowa State sneaks in through the back door with their win over the Mountaineers earlier in the year.