Bedlam 2012

OU is finishing up a run against the best offenses in the Big 12. So far, these offenses are who we thought they were. Baylor was savvy but, ultimately, not game. West Virginia was the most potent five-loss (at the time) team you are likely to see. Now it's OSU. Frankly, I fear them the most.

Conversely, the Sooner Defense is no longer who we thought they were. Sometimes statistics don't tell the whole story. Last week it did. The Sooner D at West Virginia was the worst defensive effort in Sooner history. They have been exposed and embarrassed for two weeks. Last week against West Virginia they needed someone, anyone, to step up. Landry Jones of all people bailed them out by playing one hell of a football game.

Speaking of, it's Senior Day for Landry Jones, the most polarizing player of the Bob Stoops era. A QB who re-wrote virtually all record books at OU and yet, the most readily criticized and vilified. Most praise heaped on him is deserved. When he's good he's great.

But much of his criticism is deserved as well.

I will argue forever that he leaves 150 passing yards on the field almost every game. These yards came in the form of interceptions for sure. But more often, it was a terrible swing pass or, worse, locking onto a receiver and ignoring/completely missing a more open target.

Ah well. He won a hell of a lot of football games and I really want him to win three more starting today. I hope next year I don't utter the words, "I wish we still had Landry Jones".

OFFENSE

At home, on Senior Day, against a rival, I expect the Sooners to come out humming like a sewing machine. Only a depleted offensive line can stop it completely.

The Cowboy defense is decent at best but shouldn't be able to hold the Sooners to less than 30. Shutting down Kansas and Iowa State does not make them a defensive juggernaut. No way they can stop the OU receiving corps. Will they be able to get pressure on Landry?

Kenny Fuckin Shitbag is going to pick the offensive unit up on his shoulders and make sure the Seniors, and particularly Landry, go out in style. This is the closest I can come to picking Landry. I like Kenny for 150 today.

DEFENSE

The Sooner defense is dead to rights for these last three games of the season and they know it. The Cowboys, regardless of who the Sooners face in a bowl, are the most lethal.

Joseph Randle could run for 300 yards. I guarantee Cowboy receivers will be running across the middle all day. The Cowboys are not near the levels of the last two years but they can pile up the points.

On the other hand, the Sooners have pride and legacies are at stake. 

What can the Sooners do? They can start making plays at the point of attack or they can change the scheme up a bit. Both seem difficult to do at this stage of the season. Things are a bit hard-baked by now.

I'll take my chances and hope that players will start making plays. It appears to be near impossible for coaches at this level to change schemes. I'm taking Senior DeMontre Hurst. Not that he'll have the most chances to make plays at the point of attack. He's just the most trustworthy not to screw up and he takes away half the field. He's been as solid as any DB in the Stoops era. He's had his position on lockdown for four years and no one has challenged him. He's about the only player you can trust over there these days.

THE SCORE

Of all the teams, nobody schemes on offense like the Cowboys. Of all teams, they are least respectful of the Sooners. If it can be said that anyone occupies time in Bob Stoops' headspace, it's Mike Gundy. In short, OU should be very concerned.

The Defense has been so sieve-like that the Offense might not be able to keep up. Is it possible the Sooner D is this bad? Is it possible to right the ship? Of course it is. And there's no better time than today.

Sooners 42 Cowboys 38 in a barn burner.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner

Oklahoma State

Bedlam is back for it's 2012 incarnation, pitting the Sooners against inferiority complex saddled OSU. At one point this might have been the most lopsided "rivalry" in history. OSU had beaten OU something like 4 times since WW2 to around 2000. Recent years however, have shown much more parity. From the Rashaun Woods game that was a fluke to last year's assbeat in Stoolwater, the Sooners have had much fuller hands with the pokes than any Sooner fan would like. Speaking of last year's embarrassment, I'm hoping the team has a little payback on their mind. Lonnie was never more Lonnie than that game last season, it's his chance for atonement.

OSU comes in with a pretty solid defense which is out of character. Their offense is good as usual. They've lost three on the season and apart from losing to what seems to be a terrifically bad Texas squad, they've been pretty good. It will be a tough test and if we bring the same defense that we brought last week there are going to be a lot of unhappy people in Sooner nation after the game. I'm not going to spend time rehashing that game. While a lot of fun to watch, my coronaries and my sphincter aren't up for a repeat. Suffice it to say, the Sooner defense doesn't seem to be much better than last year, if at all. I'm hoping for a little ball control offense to limit OSU's possessions and maybe we can sneak it out that way.

Offense

I went for Justin Brown last week, hindsight shows that Stills would have been the guy. What a game by Fuckin' Shitbag. Mitch went for Damien Williams who had a really nice night also. I would be happy with either of those two repeating this week. But I'm going a little different route today. I'm going with the forgotten man, Trey Millard (can we agree that Millard is the overwhelming favorite to be a beast in the NFL leaving everyone wondering why we never gave him the fucking ball while at OU?). I'm not sure why he doesn't get the ball more, I guess because there are only so many touches to go around with all of our weapons. Nonetheless he's probably the most difficult matchup we have and he rarely gets touches. Just a hunch, but I think that Heupel remembers him in this one and he steps up big.

Defense

I should just start drawing a name out of hat, because I'm essentially doing that now. In light of the fact that he's a Senior and just that he's one of my favorite players on the team, I'm going with Casey Walker. I hope he crushes their QB at least once, and I'm hoping by the end that he's been in the backfield enough that they're looking for him in their huddle.

Score

I'm nervous. Our D couldn't be looking worse right now. They can score, and actually play solid D. That said, I like that this is a home game, the first in two years it should be noted. I'm sure Sooner fans are ready. I am hopeful that the players are still gargling to get the taste of last year out of their mouths. Nothing will wash it away better than a thorough drubbing. I think it will be close, but I think revenge + home crowd is enough that we get it done. Sooners take this one 38-28 in a tough one.


Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Oklahoma vs. West Virginny

Dana Holgerson looks like the guy who rings my doorbell once a year asking for ten bucks to paint my house number on my curb. He's not a number stenciler though. He's the coach of the most disappointing team in all of football this year. These Mountaineers are not who we thought they were. This game is not for the Big 12 title after all.

The reason is simple.

The weekend of OU-Texas, I thought I watched the worst defense in the country play that morning (Texas). Then I saw the worst defense in the country play that afternoon (West Virginia). The Sooners should be licking their chops for this one.

OFFENSE

West Virginia cant't stop a wet fart which is good because nothing makes me more nervous than Landry playing in a hostile environment. It's going to be difficult for him to beat himself. But, if anyone can do it, it's him.

You could really pick anyone for today's OPOG. It's not looking through crimson-colored glasses to think that the Sooners could have three 100-yard receivers today. Landry will throw for 400 without breaking a sweat.

I think the key though is the run game. Stopping it is West Virginia's "strength" if such a thing exists on a squad that ranks 117th out of 120 teams. How much success can the Sooners have running? If it isn't working, how quickly will they abandon it?

Ever the optimist, I think the Sooners do have success and I think DD Williams gets back on track today. The last few weeks have been the Brennan Clay show. I don't care who carries the load but my gut says to pick DD. I think the Sooners really commit to running as well, if for no other reason than to keep Geno Smith off the field.

DEFENSE

The Sooners got a bit exposed last week. The good news is the D held Baylor to their fewest yards of the season. The bad news: They gave up a metric ton of rushing yards.

Dana Holgerson is the type of guy who will key in on these weaknesses and pick them like a scab if you let him. OU's Kryptonite on D is the run game. WVU does not have much of a rushing attack but will they be effective enough to open up their vaunted passing game?

At the end of the day this is going to be strength versus strength. The strength of the OU D is pass defense. The strength of WVU's offense is its passing attack. I'm cautiously optimistic about the Sooners chances. I'm optimistic because of Frank Shannon. He's my darkhorse for DPOG. A pass heavy offense means less Tommy Wort. Frank needs to be as active as he's been all season. I see no reason for him not to be.

While we're here, the Sooners have to tackle today. I'm looking at Javon Harris. If Landry leaves 150 passing yards on the field every week, Javon leaves about 6 tackles. He and Gabe Lynn cannot be doing their spark and gasoline routine today.

THE SCORE

Today the best defense is going to have to be our offense. Long, sustained drives with scores. Limited appearances by Lonnie. There is absolutely no excuse for not scoring 50. The Sooner D has to deny any rushing attack so it can focus on limiting the passing attack.

The state of Oklahoma doesn't get to look down its nose at many other states. West Virginia is one of them.

I'm very bullish on our Sooners today. Way more than I was a few months ago. No surprise, I like the Sooners big.

Oklahoma 56 West Virginia 28

Boomer to the motherfuckin' Sooner!

West Virginia

Well friends, this game isn't exactly what it looked to be before the games were played. I don't think I'm alone in saying that I thought this might be a game with two top 5 teams playing with a trip to the national title at stake. Instead, WVU after a hot start has plummeted out of the rankings thanks to a defense that appears to be looking for flags to pull off of opponents waist bands. Our guys on the other hand are a solid team, but not exactly the national title contender we thought they might be before the season (see: OU v Kansas State/Notre Dame et al). Nevertheless this is a big game in the conference, and our first trip to Morgantown as a conference opponent. I'm pretty excited to see it as they have a good atmosphere, and it will no doubt be crazy there tonight. The combo of night game + big conference opponent + the fact that WVU is one of the few universities that sells beer at their games = apeshit crowd. This will be a factor.

In spite of all of that WVU has been the cure for what ails any offense so far. The Big 12 offensive player of the week has come at the expense of the WVU defense for a few weeks in a row now. Let's hope that trend continues today in a Sooner offensive explosion.

Offense

As I said, this looks as if someone will be putting up big numbers today. It's probably a good sign that this is hard to pick. I'm going with a WR today and I'm going with Justin Brown. He's really turned into a damn good target and one that Lonnie looks to often. I think he gets behind the defense a couple of times today and gets in the endzone at least once. I like him for 100+ yards and a TD.

Defense

This is once again a crap shoot. As poor as the WVU defense is, their offense is solid. Dana Holgerson coached offenses have torched us pretty regularly in years past. Hopefully Mikey will do a better job getting us ready than Venables ever did. They pass a ton, so I'm looking to the secondary to do something special tonight. That said, I'm going with the same guy two weeks in a row, Aaron Colvin. I think they'll come after him a little and I think he'll respond.

Score

This looks like it's going to be a shootout of sorts. I hope that we'll be able to score regularly and more importantly I hope that we'll be able to get some stops and at least slow them down enough that we can get out of their with a win. Though national and conference titles are no longer on the table for us, this one still means plenty in our continuing to cling to the outside hope of getting a BCS bid. I like the Sooners today 54-38. Let's get these bitches.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Oklahoma v. Baylor

Since I couldn't care much less for today's matchup, let's talk Landry. Landry still does Lonnie things. I can't imagine how much money he cost himself by not going to the NFL last year. His whole career he's been leaving 150 passing yards on the table week after week. Last week was no exception. He'd have records no one could touch if he could keep his head out of his ass. His two INT's in the first half single-handedly kept things interesting. I think he might be, I'm sorry to say, the dumbest QB in the Stoops era. How else can you explain the fact that he has absolutely zero authority to check out of a play. Or that he never seems to survey the field prior to a play. He HAS to check the sidelines for everything.

Iowa State's QB, Steele Jantz, caught a blitz prior to a snap. What did he do? He made a change at the line, threw a quick pass to the WR covering the blitzer and made a decent gain. What would have happened if Landry was at QB. The entire offense would look at the sidelines, get a new play, the defense would also change and then something would happen. Might have been good, maybe bad. But Landry sure as hell wouldn't have made a call at the line and exploited the situation.

In other news, I'm happy for Brennan Clay. I've never been a huge fan as, prior to this season, Clay's only real usefulness was getting three yards a carry. He was a homeless man's version of Chris "Old Steady" Brown. He's taken a huge step forward and seems to have reduced Dom Whaley and/or Roy Finch to sideline observers.

My prediction of a career day for Clay was a wild guess only for its timing. When your career long gain from scrimmage is five yards and you suddenly start rattling off 15 to 20 yarders with regularity, you're due for a breakout. If it didn't happen last week it would have happened any of the next three.

OFFENSE

The wind is going to be howling today. Nobody respects the wind more than Bobby. Josh Heupel falls right in line. Ergo, vis-a-vis, to-wit, the Sooners will rely on short passes and the run game more than anyone woud like to see. So, whilst I'm tempted to ride the B. Clay train, I'm going to pick someone from the duo of Sterling Shepard or Jalen Saunders. I think the game plan is to get those guys in the open field and let them make plays. I can't talk myself out of Saunders.

The Baylor defense is god-awful. They are slightly better than West Virigina. The Sooners should run rough shod.

DEFENSE

Well I'm going Tony Motherfuckin Jefferson today. He's going to have his hands full patrolling the middle of the football field today. If he doesn't then Baylor needs to take a hard look at their film study situation. The Cyclones only had success across the middle and they had a pretty fair amount of it last week. Tony needs to make Baylor pay for testing this area of the field.

THE SCORE

So, maybe this is a revenge game for the Sooners. Maybe it's a trap game with West Virginia next week.

Surprise, surprise. I think it's a revenge game. I like the Sooners big today. Baylor gives up 40 a game. The Sooners can exceed that at home, even with sustained gale-force winds.

I'll take the Sooners here, 63-24

Boomer to the motherfuckin' Sooner

Baylor

Good morning fine ladies and gentleman. My post today comes to you from the sunny locale of Sedona, AZ. A far cry from my decimated home city of New York. Sadly, I'll be returning there tomorrow but for now it's sunshine and lollipops for Natey. The Sooners face a solid Baylor team this Saturday afternoon. Seems odd that a few short years ago this game had a W placed next to it sometime in April, or as soon as it was scheduled. Now however, it's not Alabama but it's no gimme either.

No one is forgetting last year's barn burner where the boys in Crimson neglectfully left their defense on the bus. This Baylor team is notably lacking one RG3, but let's hope that we line up 11 conscious players on the defensive side of the ball this time (looking at you Javon G.R. Harris)*. Baylor does score points pretty well, however the one thing they are better at than scoring points is allowing them.  Besides, in spite of two losses, it feels like our defense has been better than it was last season. At the very least, it doesn't get torched with regularity anymore.

*This G.R. is noting his moniker as Gas Rag which is bestowed for his propensity to be burned easily and with regularity. This is a unilateral move by me, but I'm sure Mitch won't put up too much of a fight. While Harris does make some nice plays on occasion, he makes some real dumbshit moves as well. I'll take consistently solid over feast/famine any day of the week. Read: I really dislike Javon Harris.

I like our chances today, the team looked good against a pesky ISU team last week and avoided a let down after the emotional Notre Dame loss. It seems as though we've got a pretty decent shot at beating the Baylor Bears. Provided we can make them earn their points with long, multi-play drives and we can keep their offense off of the field with a solid ground game I think we'll win.

Offense

Mitch continued his startlingly good, season-long impersonation of Nostradamus last week with a Brennan Clay bullseye. While I'll concede that Clay was the player of the game on offense last week, I didn't do too shabby with a (less impressive) Justin Brown pick as he went for 7 and 107 with 1 TD. Let's hope we both pick different players today, and that both players proceed to dominate as they did last week. You see, readers, having two really good players on offense statistically, is better than having only one (stay with me). Today I'm going with Jalen Saunders, if for no other reason than the guy is damn fun to watch out there. I like him for several great runs after the catch, and at least one TD.

Defense

This side of the ball has proven to be a bit of a crapshoot as not only has it been hard to pick a player of the game before the game, but it's not been easy to pick one after either. Today, I'm going with Aaron Colvin. He's really developed into a damn fine DB and one that seems to be as adept in the run game as he is in providing coverage. I'd love to predict that he forces a turnover today... so I will. Either a pick or a forced fumble, but I won't decide between the two (listen, I'm no Keith "Ms. Cleo" Mitchell over here).

Score

As I said before, the Baylor fellows can score some points. As I also said before, they can give up some points too. I like the Sooners today in a bit of a shootout. We control the ground game enough on offense and the passing game enough on defense to win. Sooners 38-24.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner.

OU vs. Iowa State

Sooner nation was ready to jump off a cliff following the Kansas State game. Now we see the cliff, shrug our shoulders, and back away. The Sooners didn't embarass themselves last week, Notre Dame is just better unfortunately. It's been proven on the football field that the Sooners just aren't an elite team this year. It sucks.

Notre Dame has a hell of a defense but everybody knew Lonnie wasn't going to lead a comeback. Notre Dame has an excellent football team and if the Sooners and Irish played five times, Notre Dame probably wins three.

In other news the tailgating scene was pretty awesome. To a party, every effort was made to make things "just so". Avid Steamroller reader Robert Powell had some fine smoked ribs at his Legal Eagle tailgate where I also enjoyed smoked bacon-wrapped quail and jalapeno. It was divine. The tortin' and cavortin' tailgate also had an open bar which may or may not have impacted my disposition for the remainder of the evening.

Oh well. The Sooners have a lot to play for. Namely, the Holiday Bowl or some such other mid-upper tier bowl game. They also face a stiff test in Ames against a scrappy Cyclone team. If the Sooners can't untuck their bottom lips this season will go from bad to worse.

OFFENSE

Things should return to form. Iowa State, whilst scrappy, is not the fierce unit Notre Dame is. However, it does not appear DD Williams will play much, if any. The law firm of Millard, Whaley and Clay should be fine in DD's absence.

Say, what about this Jalen Saunders? He's yet another reason why there is no good excuse for this offense to not have defenses on their heels early and often. 

Choosing an OPOG this week is throwing darts. With DD out, I'm going with Brennan Clay. He's been able to get to that second level on multiple occasions and so I like him to set a career mark for yards today.  Makes perfect sense.

DEFENSE

This group should be fired up. They clearly have room to improve and a short time to get there. The Cyclone offense is hard to figure. They seem to do poorly against half way decent defenses and they also seem to be pretty opportunistic. In short, the Sooners cannot take them lightly and the Javon Harris's of the world need to be alert.

For my DPOG I'm inexplicably going with David King. His is a name that hasn't been called that much lately so maybe it's time for that to change.

THE SCORE

I hope the Sooners don't mail in their performance like I just mailed in this piece. They need to take Iowa State very seriously. They need to get back on track. Big games are still ahead.

I think the Cyclones can get a couple of scores but I think they can't keep the Sooner offense contained.

OU 37, ISU 17

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Iowa State

I don't have much to say about the game last week. It was a good game, we played them tough but really I thought they just seemed like the better team. The defense could have made some key stops down the stretch but as poorly as the offense played it would be asking a lot.

I love college football. I love that each week is critical. But it's times like now that I wish there was a way to make a run at the end. The conference and national championships are off the table at this point. We're playing for the best bowl we can get which already doesn't interest me. That said, I'm looking forward to today's game and the rest of the season.

I know nearly nothing about this Iowa State team. I know they play everyone tough, particularly in Ames. It's the kind of game that could easily trip us up. Though with little on the line, I suppose we don't have much to look ahead to. Let's hope we come out looking to redeem ourselves and beat the hell out of these guys.

Offense

In keeping with the idea of knowing nothing about this team, I have no idea what their defense is weak at. But, for whatever reason I'm thinking Justin Brown. He's really become a weapon and I think his number will be called a few times today.

Defense

Here I'm going with a guy who is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, Casey Walker. I like the big boy in there plugging up the middle. He's no slouch at getting some inside pressure on the QB either.

Score

I think our offense is probably a little pissed about getting shut the fuck down last Saturday. But, this isn't a gimme either and the crowd will be amped up. I think we win and score some points on the way. Sooners take it, 31-17

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner.