Author Archives: bcssportsprofessor

Coaching…

Years ago, I watched as Mike Gundy honed his skills as an assistant at Maryland and Baylor as he moved closer to his dream job at OSU.  I believed then that the T. Boone/Mike Gundy combination could be lethal.   T. Boone eventually hired Gundy, built a new stadium along with a state of the art weight room.  The Ags under Gundy were off and running.

Fortunately, for OU fans, the T. Boone/Gundy formula worked against everyone, except the Sooners.  Fifteen years later Gundy has 2 wins against OU and one of those was a gift from Bob Stoops.

With T. Boone now deceased, one must wonder how long OSU can afford to pay for Gundy’s $5 million dollar yearly salary.  Then, again one must also wonder how OSU can live without Gundy and his salary.  To keep Gundy in Stillwater, the Ags agreed to a $6 million dollar buyout clause that must be paid on top of Gundy’s $5 million dollar yearly salary.   It would take upwards of $11 million to fire the Mullet Man.

Still what came to mind after Saturday night’s game was the fact that $5 million OSU dollars leaves little room for hiring quality assistant coaches.   Even the dumbest Aggie fan must realize that the OSU staff was simply out coached on Saturday night.   Alex Grinch made adjustments in the 2nd half while Gundy set up his next hair appointment.  Offensively, co-offensive coordinators Cale Gundy and Bill Bedenbaugh simply outfoxed Gundy’s defensive staff.

With these thoughts in mind, it’s time for the OU Regents to do some greasing of the skids themselves.  This was not a great OU team this year, but this coaching staff made it work.   The future looks bright with recruiting on both sides of the ball picking up.

With Jerry Jones on the verge of a head coach opening in Dallas, OU officials need to up the Lincoln ante and fast.  Jerry has been playing second fiddle with Jason Garrett for far too long and I expect that he will be looking to the north for Garrett’s replacement.

We can’t let that happen…starting over is not an option.

Boomer Sooner…

 

 

 

Silver lining…

The win over Baylor was a win for the ages…not just because it was a historic come from behind win and not just because it allows the Sooners to stay in the CFP title race and not just because it happened in front of a frenetic crowd.  It was historic because it created a sea change.

OU had lost three game changers on offense prior to the game.  Tight end Grant Calcateera, running back Trey Sermon, and all-world wide receiver Cee Dee Lamb were sidelined.  Right on cue, OU appeared to melt under the pressure as they fail behind by 25.  Then it happened…

The defense stepped up with stop after stop in the 2nd half.   Next we have five freshmen take matters into their own hands.   Wide receivers Theo Wease, Jordan Haselwood and tight end Austin Stogner make huge catches.  Freshman kicker Gabe Brkic hit a game winning field goal and redshirt freshman Nik Bonitto ended the game with a massive interception.

For this year, it will take a miracle for OU to jump over the Pac 12 champion and into the CFP…for my money, this will be okay.   Avoiding this year’s LSU or Ohio State teams is a good thing.  OU’s consolation prize will be a Sugar Bowl appearance against Georgia or Alabama.  Let’s choose Georgia and examine those ramifications.

These days, only CFP bowls game matter to players.  Half of the Georgia team will choose not to play in the Sugar Bowl, including quarterback Jake Fromm in order to protect their NFL draft chances.  OU will lose its share of prospective NFL players, but those young players that came through Saturday night will play in the Sugar Bowl.   The coaching staff will also use these extra practice sessions to get the young guys ready for next year.  The Sugar Bowl will be a do-over of the Alabama game from a few years back.

OU will get a jump start on next season by playing a top echelon SEC team and in doing so will draw the attention of top flight recruits for years to come.

That’s my silver lining and I’m sticking with it.

Boomer Sooner…

A win’s a win…

Things are never as good or as bad as they seem to be in the moment.  Back in October the Texas win seemed to be the best thing since sliced bread.  Conversely the second half against K-State and Iowa State were about as bad as it gets.  Then again, it could have been worse…can you imagine having to deal with the misery of a loss last night after that loss at K-State.  Like I said a win is a win.

Also, if Saturday’s game had ended after three quarters, we would be thinking today that we were back and that the K-State game was an aberration.  We would be of the belief that we would roll into Waco with the wind at our backs and dispatch of those pesky Bears.   Instead our two best players made uncharacteristic mistakes that jeopardized the outcome.  Unlike two weeks ago, we found a way to win.

Okay, here’s your BFO (blinding flash of the obvious) for today.  We’re not as good as we thought we were after the Texas game…enough said.   Then again, this team still has talent and we can still finish strong.    While I don’t want any part of LSU in the playoffs, we can still have a great season that we can build on for the future.

Here’s my solution for next week.  We pay millions of dollars for this coaching staff to figure out a way to address certain weaknesses.   This offensive line is not going to grow up this year so this coaching staff must find ways to deal with this fact.  We must develop a running game to take the pressure off Jalen.  We must also find receivers other than Cee Dee that that can catch a pass.  Finally, we need to help Alex Grinch prepare a game plan coming out of the locker room after the half.   I know that these things are easier said than done, but then again what choice do we have.

Baylor is an athletic, well coached team, but not a dominate team.   Let’s see how the Bears respond when we go up by three touchdowns.  At the same time, I don’t want to blow smoke up your skirts, because I have seen firsthand how hard it is to win a night game at McLain Stadium.  I have also seen firsthand that it can be done.  It will be tough sledding, but then again, there is only one Oklahoma. 

Boomer Sooner…

P.S.

Kudos to those fans that stayed to the bitter end Saturday night.  We could not have done it without you.

Here we go again…

OSU just announced that they were going to sign the top high school guard in America.  This guy along with several other top picks should give OSU a top five recruiting class.   Who said crime does not pay?  OSU, Kansas, Arizona and Louisville have been indicted by the FBI for a cheating scandal that would make Watergate look like child’s play.  Conveniently, the NCAA has decided to wait until after the signing period to punish these teams.  No since stirring the pot…sounds like the keystone cops to me.

Adding to our misery will be the fact that Lon Kruger will continue to do things the right way as OU tries to return to respectability this year.  The Oklahoma news outlets will act like three blind mice in handling this story.   As we know, farmers make up a sizeable portion of the Oklahoma population so the Kfor will always cater to the Aggie crowd.   The fact that OU and Lon Kruger will refuse to debase themselves will be lost in the shuffle.

This year as the OSU fans rush the court after every win, OU fans will know the real truth about how those wins happened.   Maybe, one of these days, the NCAA will wake up, grow a pair and put a stop to this nonsense.  Until that happens, our best bet will be to appreciate Lon Kruger for being the good guy that he is and take stock in the fact that  OU does it the right way…

Boomer Sooner…

 

 

Hard times…

I have to admit it…I never saw that mess on Saturday coming.  Of course as Dr. T. has said many times, you can never trust Kansas State, with or without Bill Snyder.   Now, we must navigate our way back to the top for a shot at the CFP.  That means jumping over five undefeated and four one loss teams in the latest AP poll.  Adding to our challenge is a Big 12 that has fallen apart.  Even the Big 12’s only undefeated team, the Baylor Bears are well out of the CFP running.

For those of you who love a challenge, this is it.

I know, it’s probably best to put these things behind us, but this one is going to be hard to deal with.  While after that 3rd quarter, the Sooners probably had no business being in this game at the end, they were and yes, should have won the game.

Granted, the onside kick could have gone either way, but I will always contend that it should have gone our way.  Even without the onside kick, we should have won the game.  Think of this…

  1. Cee Dee Lamb gets hammered in the end zone at the end of the game…a move that should have resulted in a pass interference clock stoppage and a subsequent OU score. (2 minutes lost on the clock)
  2. Then Jalen Hurts scores a touchdown…the officials decide not to review the play resulting in a loss of 30 seconds before he scores for a second time. This review business is driving me over the edge.
  3. On the second try, Jalen is clearly into the end zone for the score, but the side judge takes 30 seconds to make his way to the scrum to signal a touchdown. Where do they find these guys…my grandmother can move faster than that guy and she’s in a walker?

According to my math, these events would have given OU an extra three minutes, not to mention extra time-outs prior to the onside kick fiasco.  Most importantly, this would have given us more than enough time to avoid a precarious onside kick scenario.

I’m sorry, but this conference sucks…from the t.v. contract to the officiating crews to the teams themselves.  Now, we must fight our way back to the top using a conference consisting of a no-name Baylor team and a bunch of two loss conference teams.  Oh well, it is what it is…

Like I said, everyone loves a challenge.  I think we just found one…

Boomer Sooner…

OU-Texas

First off I want to thank all of you for your Christmas wishes.  I’ve been celebrating a premature Christmas all day.   Normally, a win is a win, but not in this case.  We now have a legitimate shot to play for all the marbles, not to mention OU-Texas bragging rights.   I felt pretty good going into the game, but squandering two touchdowns made me squirm a bit.  In the end this fact only sweetened the feeling.

One more thing… a wise man once said that offense sells tickets, but defenses win championships.  We saw this OU team come of age on Saturday and hopefully the 2019 Sooners will become the personification of this wise man’s advice.  This offense will only get better as the season goes on and now that we have a defensive coordinator that can spell defense, this team will have a shot at winning a National Championship.  Hang on; this is going to be a fun ride.

By the way, let’s give Sam Ehlinger his due…this guy’s a gamer…I don’t like the guy, but he did his best to will his team to a win.  He also has a bunch of long armed receivers and now that Texas has a semblance of a run game, these guys will be dangerous when they get healthy.   I don’t want to see Texas again this year.  The good news is that the Horns play Iowa State, Baylor and Tech at the end the season.  Our best bet may be Iowa State.  The Cyclones are going to be tough down the stretch, particularly in Ames.

Here’s one other question about the OU-Texas game.  I’ve never thought of this before, but how many football stadiums in America have both teams enter the stadium through the same entrance.  Being OU-Texas, once must wonder why a fight has not broken out before.  This plan is similar to having the Earp and the Clanton brothers walk down the same street in Tombstone on the way to the OK Corral.  Can you imagine the smack talk that would be coming out of Doc Holliday’s mouth?

There is an upside to this story.  Every member of the team got an unsportsmanlike penalty for the game due to what happened in the tunnel.  This means that every walk-on making the trip to Dallas will have a tale to tell their grandchildren.   These guys will brag that they were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct at the OU-Texas game back in ’19.  I can only imagine how this story will evolve after being retold thousands of times.

Boomer Sooner…

 

 

October 8, 1966 is a day that will live in infamy.  Those are famous words, not about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and from FDR, but about an OU win over Texas and from ERS.  This date was the first OU win over Texas in my memory bank.  Like other dates in history where old timers remember exactly where they were at that point in time, I remember exactly where I was on that day.

I became a rabid OU at age 8 and did not experience a win over Texas until I was 16.   Year after year, I would go through Texas week expecting a win, only to have my hopes dashed against the rocks each year.  My first win in ’66 was worth the wait.

For the record, I would not taste a win over Texas for five more years.   For those who are counting, that was 12 of 13 scar-filled years.  So much for being a spoiled OU fan.   I learned early on to appreciate Texas wins and while those wins have become much more common place, they’re still special.  A win over Texas is like a 2nd Christmas.

Just like in the old days, the days will creep by as we await OU-Texas.  It will finally arrive and those of us who will be watching the game on our in-house big screen will warn family members including canines to vacate the premises for four hours.  I also warn love ones to check the final score before returning home.

Like the old days, OU fans should be careful about getting their hopes up, but just like the old days, I won’t be able to help myself.  I know crazy things happen in this game, but I must admit I feel really good about our chances.  We have the better team, so I fully expect to celebrate a 2nd Christmas this year.

Boomer Sooner…