July | 2019 | sportsprofessor

While most everyone has moved on to the recruiting Class for 2020, a final look at the Class of 2019 may be in order. Phil Steele is the guy that puts out the most extensive preseason football magazine on the market these days. He also puts out what I would consider to be the most accurate recruiting information as well.

As you know, football teams are allowed 85 scholarship players at any one time. This means that the size of recruiting classes can vary from year to year. I have seen classes as small as 18 and as large as 30. A team with a new coach can run off a ton of players in order to make room for his new recruits. This move can create over-sized recruiting classes.

Recruiting services like Rivals and 247sports give far too much credit to the number of recruits in a class and not enough credit to the stars by their names. This system makes creating rankings much easier. In their defense, the financial bottom line that creates pressure to take short cuts is paramount for these guys as football fans go online daily to keep tabs on their favorite team. I do the same thing…after all winters in Oklahoma can be unbearable without a daily fix supplied by football recruiting news.

Phil Steele puts out his rankings the following summer in his preseason football magazine. It’s always worth the wait, but this year the wait was even better for the Sooners. OU has climbed three spots and jumped ahead of Texas on the Class of 2019 list…how sweet it is. The Class of 2019 is getting better by the day.

National top 25…

Georgia
Alabama
OU
Florida
Tennessee
Texas
Ohio State
Michigan
Penn State
Auburn
Texas A&M
Oregon
Clemson
Notre Dame
LSU
Florida State
Mississippi
South Carolina
USC
Arkansas
Washington
Stanford
Nebraska
NC State
Mississippi State

Rest of Big 12…

38..TCU

45..West Virginia

46..OSU

57..Baylor

61..Kansas State

68..Texas Tech

70..Kansas

83..Iowa State

The tail wagging the dog…

I have often wondered why OU can’t go to the bathroom without OSU tagging along. With some time off this summer, I decided to research the question for myself. Now, I wish I had left well enough alone.

As we know Oklahoma is notorious for back room politics. The most powerful people in the state spend their days hanging out at the big house on Lincoln Boulevard. With rural legislators leading the way these guys have a ton of clout in this state and tend to wear orange on game days.

In addition to the deck being stacked against OU by state legislators, we also get it from the governor’s mansion as well. Oklahoma governors appoint OU Regents. The bad news is that the last two governors have been OSU grads. That’s right, when the fox lives in the hen house; there will be chicken for dinner every time.

The current batch of OU Regents bears out this story. Over the past two years, we lost two OU stalwarts in Clay Bennett and Kirk Humphreys from the Board. As you might imagine, these two guys were appointed by OU grads. It has gone downhill from there.

As for the current batch of OU Regents I can count three that might be loyal to OU. Two others have a limited connection to The University and then we have the last two. One Regent appointed by Mary Fallin has no connection to OU whatsoever and one Regent graduated from OSU. Making matters worse is the fact that OU Regent Valerie Shirley also served as president at OSU/OKC. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

Okay, that’s the bad news; the good news is that we now know why OU has been a dysfunctional mess for the past two years. We also know why OU looked to Stillwater before making any conference re-alignment decisions three years ago. Expect the same in 2024.

I for one would like to make my own bed instead of having an Aggie do it for me, but having lived here all my life, I am not hopeful that this will happen. I know Oklahoma politics all too well.

All the more reason to kick some Aggie butt whenever we get the chance.

Boomer Sooner…

Football wins…

Dr. Tamage, OU’s resident football historian passed on some interesting win total information for OU football recently. OU has won 896 games in football compared to 632 for UCO, 621 for Tulsa and 592 for OSU. That’s right…OU has 304 more wins in football than OSU.

This win total ranks OU as # 8 in the country in this category. This amazing stat. was compiled in spite of the fact that the Sooners got a late start in the football game. While other football teams began playing football years after statehood, OU started its football program 12 years before statehood. Michigan, the team that ranks #1 on the win list at 953 wins achieved statehood 73 years before Oklahoma became a state. Michigan also began playing football in 1879, some 16 years before OU played its first football game.

Now, let’s take a look at the other state schools. UCO has won 632 games compared to 621 for Tulsa and 592 for OSU. While the OU win total is impressive, equally impressive is the fact that UCO has 40 more wins and two more legitimate National Championships in football than OSU. It looks like OSU has two big brothers instead of just one.

Let’s put this matter into even more clarity. OU ranks up there with the big boys of college football in Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Alabama. OSU on the other hand has found a way to dumb itself down to the likes of West Chester, Albion, Charlotte, Wabash and Wisconsin-Whitewater.

About the time, we think it can get any better, it does…

National win list…

1…Michigan 953

2…Ohio State 911

3…Texas 908

4… Yale 907

5… Alabama 905

t6..Notre Dame 897

t6..Nebraska 897

8…Oklahoma 896

State School’s win list…

1…Oklahoma 896

2…UCO 632

3…Tulsa 621

OU softball…

It appears that OU softball under Patty Gasso won’t miss a beat going forward. Patty Gasso will combine a solid group of returning starters with a boat load of new talent.

Here’s the good news…

Taylon Snow, a shortstop from Auburn has transferred to OU. Basically, she will replace Cayleigh Clifton in one form or another in the lineup. With All-World shortstop Grace Lyons back, this may be the best middle infield combination in the country.
Giselle Juarez is only going to get better in the circle and now we have Brooke Vestal, the ace pitcher from last year’s recruiting class joining her. This combo could be lethal next year.
Mariah Lopez has found a home at Arizona. Coach Mike Candrea has a great reputation. This is a win-win situation for everyone.
In this year’s 2019 recruiting class, Patty is bringing in Kinzie Hansen, America’s top player for this year. FloSoftball also ranks this group as the # 3 recruiting class the country.
Looking ahead, Patty has secured commitments from Class of 2020 players that ranks OU #1 in the country according to FloSoftball.
For the Class of 2021, OU already has commitments from the # 7 and # 14 ranked recruits.
Savannah Geurin, the top ranked pitcher from the Class of 2022 has committed to OU.
Finally, Patty Gasso just picked up a commitment from Leah McAnally for the Class of 2023. The Moore catcher was an 8^th grader last year.

Boomer Sooner…

It can always be worse…

Here’s a scary thought…twenty five years ago Terry Don Phillips was a rising star as the Athletic Director at OSU. In a surprising move Terry Don decided in mid-stream to give up one orange gig for another. He left Stillwater to become the Clemson AD.

I remember thinking at the time…why would anyone leave one state Agricultural School for another? Why would he also relocate to a football program that would play 2^nd fiddle to another big brother? South Carolina has never been a top feeder, but they were coached by Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier back in the day. Clemson at the time was a middle of the road ACC Conference team dominated by Florida State.

Looking back now I suspect that Terry Don was provided with an exit plan by T. Boone Pickens. The OSU Godfather was ready to make his move in Stillwater. T. Boone hired his golfing buddy Mike Holder to be his A.D., who in turn hired Les Miles and Mike Gundy to run the football program. Give T. Boone credit, he has done a nice job of putting OSU back on the football map, but nothing like Terry Don has done at Clemson. Terry Don has since retired, but what he put in place at Clemson has turned the South Carolina Aggie School into a monster.

Gundy has beaten OU twice during his time in Stillwater and continues to recruit 3 star players. Terry Don’s hire, Dabo Swinney has owned his big brother. Clemson with its recruiting classes of five star athletes has created separation, from the rest of the ACC, not to mention from South Carolina.

Can you imagine the thought of having to play Clemson Thanksgiving weekend every year. I don’t want to think about it.

Thank God for small miracles.

Boomer Sooner…

Whoa Nelly…

Unhitch the horses and put the ponies in the barn, Kansas is moving up the recruiting charts. According to the latest Rivals rankings, KU has moved to #24 in the 2020 national rankings. Due to the early nature of these rankings that value quantity over quality this ranking should not be overstated, but…

Give Les Miles credit…this is the same Kansas football program that just two years ago was ranked the worst in America. Also, give Les credit for not trying to reinvent the wheel at Kansas. Les knows a good thing when he sees it. He used an effective smash and grab scheme two decades ago in Stillwater to put OSU back on the football map. Les used his recruiting at OSU to leave Stillwater for a big league job at LSU. He also left town before his despicable recruiting tactics could be discovered by the NCAA.

When T. Boone hired Les Miles, OSU was coming off its near-death penalty and was desperate for a winner. Kansas football is in similar straits as the football program has gone almost a decade without a winning season. Kansas A.D. Jeff Long reached out to Les Miles to replicate his by hook or by crook act in Lawrence.

I have no doubt that he will do just that. I predict that over the next four years KU will beat arch rival K-State and go to a Bowl. Once he does this Les Miles will hit the bricks just ahead of NCAA’s investigation of the program. The guy is smarter than he looks…