Russell Athletic Bowl: Venables Returns (and no one cares)

Well Sooner fans, here we are at the closing act of another Sooner football campaign. This season was one of the more disappointing and underwhelming efforts I can remember. That OSU game might be the nadir of my sooner football fandom. I just hope the team can end on a high note. Maybe not as high as last seasons crushing-expectation-creating performance in the cotton bowl, but that seems unlikely in light of the bowl and opponent. Venables of course makes his return after being scape-goated for the poor defense a few years ago. Naturally the savior in Mike Stoops (who I fully admit I wanted as badly as everyone else at that point) hasn't realy changed much as far as results, and Clemson has the top defense by some metric. It will be interesting to see if they just stomp on the collective nuts of the sooner offense. I imagine that would be pretty sweet for ole Brent.

Offense

The Sooners expect back weapons (?) Trevor Knight and (!) Sterling Shepard. Though I heard Shepard is still nursing the hammy that must have been torn completely in two in the ISU game. This I think is good as the forward pass has been advanced calculus for the offense since that time. That said, the emergence of Samaje Perine as a man amongst pre-menarchal girls has proven to be quite a boon for an otherwise sad, unimaginative offense. This is why I'm going with Perine, I just don't think there is anyone else to pick. I think he makes little orange feces out of Clemson.

Defense

As I alluded to in the "intro", the defense sucks. Almost universally, in fact. In spite of that, I'm obliged to pick someone to be player of the game and I'm going to be just as creative as I was on offense. Eric Motherfuckin Striker went absolutely ape-shit the last time he played a bowl game. The fact that Clemson is playing its (far more stationary) back-up QB bodes well for the Sooners getting to the QB. Nobody does that better than MF Striker.

Score

I think the Sooners will have a tough time in this one, if for no other reason than they have a tough time with everyone that doesn't have Eastern, Technical, Dudes name, and State in their name. Clemson plays defense well, we don't play offense really at all. That said, I think OU has a little magic and paradoxically puts up decent points today. Sooners win 34-31.

Until next season,

Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner 

Sooners vs. Clemson - Russell Athletic Bowl

The first College Football Championship Game will be played Monday January 12th. Our beloved Sooners were picked by many to be playing in that game. High highs have given way to low lows and an unranked, four times beaten Sooner squad instead finds itself playing at 4PM on Monday December 29th in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

There are many reasons to be the grousing wah-wah Sooner fan about this season and this game. I will try to poke holes in my clouds of doom and let the sunshine pour through.

Let's start on offense where, for a second straight season, nobody has any idea what the offense will look like 17 weeks into the season. Year two of the Trevor Knight roller coaster was only marginally more fun than last year's version. Each was marked by inconsistency mixed with a dash of brilliance only to be cut short by injury then (hopefully) redeemed in the bowl game.

Meanwhile, the loss of Sterling Sheperd has taken away the threat of the forward pass. Not one player has stepped up in Sheperd's absence to give hope for the future of the wide receiving corp. Blake Bell has probably been the most consistent all year and this is his last game. In fairness Cody Thomas has been abysmal in Knight's absence.

You could argue that football in Oklahoma has been set back 30 years if not for the emergence of Samaje Perine. Good Lord what a beast. It took 10 weeks and an historic performance against Kansas to convince Josh Heupel and co. that he deserved 25 carries and the starting job but he did it. This dude is a fucking train and it's a fact that if Joe Mixon didn't beat a gal on his 18th birthday Perine is redshirting right now and is the guy you hear about tearing it up in practice leading up to the bowl game (a la Knight two years ago).

Defensively, the Sooners have been so average to below average that this matchup against Clemson has Sooner nation jealously lusting for the glory days of Brent Venables again. How times change. Three years ago he was paraded out of town and a return to the baby eating days of yore was a foregone conclusion with the triumphant return of Brother Mike. Now people are wondering how Bob is going to get rid of him without making future holidays awkward at Che' Stoops. The 2014 Sooners defense has gotten worse as the year has gone on. They have played better opponents for sure but first tier programs adjust, grow and round into championship form. This team is not first tier. Eric Stiker has been neutralized, the defensive line has been consistently below average to decent. The safeties have been the worst of the Bob Stoops era.

There have been some of the dumbest coaching calls you will ever see made by this staff this year which is saying something. Josh Heupel coaches the quarterbacks and they are the weak point of the offense. Brother Mike coaches the weak spot of the defense, the secondary. This season has been a disappointment of historic proportions because of coaching, period.

Who's ready for some football?

OFFENSE

Doom and gloom aside this marks the first time in months where the offense will have an opportunity to have its best eligible players on the field. If Trevor Knight can make good decisions and complete the occasional forward pass and if Sterling Sheperd is indeed back to full strength then maybe some holes can open up for Perine. Sooner Nation and all of America want to see this. Obviously I'm wrapping my arms around my chips and shoving my stack onto Perine's square.

It might take Heupel three series before Perine gets a touch but he's running downhill from there.

DEFENSE

My gut tells me that the aggressive, ears pinned back brand of defense that everyone thought would get trotted out against the Baylor's of the world makes a return today. Nothing to lose except a job, right? That said I'm going Eric Motherfuckin Striker here. There is literally no one behind him you could take and anyone else feels too much like a crapshoot.

SCORE

I think we get a bit of a slugfest today. The Sooners look better than people expect and the D brings the heat.

Sooners 27, Clemson 14

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner