Texas Tech

The 2019 conference schedule pulls out of the station today with the Texas Tech Red Raiders coming to Norman. The Sooners had a semi-eventful last weekend, falling in the rankings for committing two egregious crimes: 1) not playing and 2) not being in the SEC. A younger more naive version of myself would have much angst, hand-wringing and expletive laced complaints over this. But there is much football to be played this season and our Sooners could easily stumble (maybe that defense hasn’t really improved much) and those SEC teams will beat each other up a bit too. Suffice to say, let’s just TCB and hope that things work out for the best. 

Offense

Lincoln Riley just knows how to design an offense. Unlike some in our Sooner past (looking squarely at you Heupel, oh and you too, Chuck Long) he designs things to give his current group the best chance to have success and he adapts. It’s quite a nice thing. Today’s game looks like another opportunity to put up asinine numbers against possibly the only program in college football less interested in defense than OU. Jalen Hurts has been nothing short of fantastic. And while I think at the end of the day it will be hard to argue against him for OPG, the sieve-like Tech run defense looks ripe for a Trey Sermon explosion. I like him for 150+ and 2 TDs. 

Defense

I read something this week, which may be inaccurate (and of course I didn’t bother checking), but it said that so far the Sooner defense is essentially the same as last year in terms of yards to this point. I’ve not watched as much as I’d like but it seems they have improved to me. Regardless, we should know more after this one as this game is generally a shootout. Anything better than that I would view as a win. For no good reason at all, I’m picking Brendan “bookie” Radley-Hiles in this one. He seems to fly around to the ball and general play with a lot of energy. 

Score

I like that the Sooners open the conference slate at home and that they don’t have to go to Lubbock this year. I think the offense does Riley things and I’m cautiously optimistic that two weeks of prep by Alex Grinch has gotten the defense a solid enough game plan to make this one comfortable at the end. Sooners win this one 48-27. 

 Boomer to Motherfuckin Sooner 

Oklahoma Sooners vs. UCLA Bruins

Hello hello. The Sooners are 2-0 and headed on the road for their first test away from Owen Field. The Sooners play at the Rose Bowl and it could be in front of a ton of Sooner faithful. Hopefully the Sooners are smelling blood and looking to dismantle the hapless Bruins. On the opposite side of that coin you have the Bruins with an opportunity to correct the trajectory of a lackluster Chip Kelly reclamation project.

OFFENSE
The Sooners are looking great as hoped for and expected. Jalen Hurts has been phenomenal and yet I heard from a handful of people who all shared the opinion they felt something was "off" with him. Hopefully these fine people are not sages or mystics. It's hard to find fault with an 85% completion percentage with 7 incompletions to go along with 6 touchdowns, third in the Big 12 in rushing and sporting a rather gaudy 252.3 QB Rating.

Today, the offensive line needs to rebound from a so-so performance last week that included way too many penalties, particularly to start the game. This offense can only stop itself so far this season. I'm also looking for Kennedy Brooks to go bananas today. He's my OPOG pick.

In other news, much is being made of Grant Calcaterra not getting very many balls thrown his way so far. Shut up it's gonna be okay.

DEFENSE
The Sooner D got off the turnover-less schneid by racking up three last week. Importantly, one of these was by Brendan Radley-Hiles who has now strung together two of his best, if not best best, games as Sooner. More of same please. I'm even taking him as my DPOG.

Today, you know UCLA is going to have some razzle-dazzle with "guru" Chip Kelly leading the Bruins. But the Bruins have been dogshit. Barring the Sooners being completely uninterested (reminder: no Sooner has earned this right yet, particularly on D) why wouldn't that continue today? I think the Sooners will make another nice statement on national television while continuing to identify players who can turn this beleaguered unit around.

THE SCORE
The Sooners have won 26 straight true road games (which is a nice way of saying everything except the neutral site games against Texas and in the Playoffs but who gives a shit about those?). Today is no different as the Sooners enjoy what is essentially a home game in front of tons of Sooner faithful in sunny Cali.

I like the Sooners big, 45-17, beating the spread handily.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

UCLA

Hello faithful reader(s), I really shit the bed last week in failing to get something up for the doormat game. It’s hard to get up for one of those, particularly when I’m unable to watch. This week should prove more of a test against a UCLA squad, albeit an underperforming one to this point. Chip Kelly seems to have whatever the turf equivalent is of the Midas touch ever since leaving Oregon. It’s possible he figures out the problem and once again produces top ranked programs, but let’s just hope he doesn’t take step one this weekend. And while the Bruins aren’t as formidable as they’ve been at times in the past, this first road test against a power 5 school, effectively starts the “meat” of the schedule. Let’s get going on the right foot. 

Offense 

I’m starting to believe Lincoln Riley may be an actual savant when it comes to designing an offense. So far, it’s been his most impressive start for me. He has essentially a completely new offensive line as well as a transfer qb that has been, er, inconsistent at best prior to coming to OU. Granted the skill positions were fairly stocked and so the cupboard wasn’t empty, but it’s still impressive. Now, the question remains if this level of play will continue against increasingly strong competition, Saturday is the first step. Hurts has been nothing short of great. But, I think UCLA’s speed on defense slows him down a bit. I like Trey Sermon in this one to have big day with over 100 yards on the ground and 2 TDs. 

Defense

The Sooners pitched a shutout in the first half last week. I know I know, it was a JV team. But how much of a reach is it to imagine that game the last two years and picture yourself screaming that “it’s fucking South Dakota?!?” as they score a 3rd first half touchdown and “hang around”. By no means am I declaring the defense fixed, but it’s been a damn sight better this year than it has been in a while. UCLA will score, ole chipper knows how to create mismatches and score. But I think OU continues it’s steady start. I like Delarrin Turner-Yell to fly around and make some big plays and force one turnover today for my dpg. 

Score

I think the Sooners start fast and UCLA stays in it with some second half scoring, but alas it isn’t enough for the Bruins, the Sooners leave the pacific time zone unbeaten, 44-27. 

Boomer to the Motherfuckin’ Sooner 

OU versus South Dakota

Well the season got off to a rollicking start with the Sooners thoroughly dismantling Houston. Jalen Hurts had 508 yards of offense himself and the defense looked mostly like a defense. Today the Sooners have a perfect practice game with FCS South Dakota. The Sooners have an opportunity on offense to get some game speed reps, the defense can continue its overhaul and hopefully a number of young guys get an opportunity to show what they can do.

OFFENSE
The name of the game today is to be injury free and take care of business so starters can be pulled as early as possible. There are plenty of young guys who can show what they have, including Spencer Rattler, supposed QB wunderkind in waiting.

For my OPOG I'll go Jalen Hurts. Not only did he play near flawlessly he seemed in awe of the offense he's been asked to lead. He's happy to be here and appears quite interested in maximizing his opportunity. Look for PlayStation numbers today again.

DEFENSE
The defense definitely looks different in a great way but there is plenty to improve upon. They made some dumb mistakes that kept Houston drives alive. They did not have a takeaway although they forced enough punts to keep Houston safely at bay. Most importantly, it seemed to me they lost their focus about midway through the 3rd quarter. They aren't good enough to do that. They haven't earned shit and you'd think there would be enough competition to not have to worry about it. They need to be sharp today regardless of score and competition.

For my DPOG I'm going to say  Ronnie Perkins. I'd really like to have him be MF'er.

THE SCORE
I think the Sooners play it ultra conservative mostly to give the kickers a chance to build some confidence but scoring will come early and often.

I'm thinking 60-13

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner!

Houston

Welcome back loyal reader(s)! Another season of steamroller is upon us and I promise on my life that each week I will churn out decidedly below average content with minimal effort, zero insight, and absolutely no research, it's my commitment to you! It's telling that after completing this "piece" I will have written more articles about the Sooners 2019 football team than I've read. The Sooners start 2019 with a rematch of a game we'd all rather forget. But that was the Bob Stoops era where, as much as people hate to admit it, teams often weren't prepared for inferior opponents. However, since Lincoln Riley has taken over, these things are hopefully but a memory. I'm pretty optimistic that with Alex Grinch coming over from Ohio State, that the team might actually start fielding something resembling a defense. The offense loses most of the offensive line, something that I think could really cause the offense to struggle this year, especially early. Oh and I did mention there is a new QB under center? That may make an impact as well.

Offense

Jalen Hurts comes over from Alabama as, more or less, your typical SEC QB: athletic as a mofo, but struggles with the forward pass. If anyone can turn him into a productive, if not heisman winning, QB it has to be wunderkind Lincoln Riley. I think Riley will scheme so that Hurts is throwing lots of short, quick passes to guys in space and letting them do the work with their legs. This both takes the mental game out of it (somewhat) for Hurts and doubles to reduce the burden on the new O-line to protect for long periods. I like Hurts as my opg today for 250+ through the air, 50+ on the ground and accounting for 4 scores.

Defense

Can I name a player on the OU defense? Yes, yes I can (teaser). I think the OU defense will struggle today. Holgerson will have the Cougars running a wide-open up tempo offense as we all know. And while I'm optimistic about Grinch, I strongly doubt he's solved the Big 12 offenses already. What I hope is that OU can make enough plays to force Houston to punt, settle for field goals, and with any luck, turn it over a couple of times. I like Kenneth Murray to fly around and rack up 12+ tackles and have a big impact, particularly on some well designed blitzes.

Score

OU is favored big in this one, but I don't think it will be a runaway. Houston will put up some points for sure. But, I like the sooners to get out of this one with a W, if in a bit of a wobbly start. Sooners take it 37-28.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Oklahoma Sooner vs. Houston Cougars

Welcome to the 2019 college football season and another edition of the Steamroller. The season is full of hope and promise for the Sooners as Lincoln Riley's offense has become one of the most reliably high scoring and fun to watch in all of football. The season is also full of questions as Jalen Hurts makes his debut and, most importantly, the Sooners attempt to field a Top 100 defense under the guidance of Alex Grinch.

Today the Sooners take on the Houston Cougars led by Dana Holgerson. You won't believe this but the Cougars feature a high speed RPO offense. It will be a "tester" for Alex Grinch's new D.

THE OFFENSE

Jalen Hurts and the O-Line are the story here. The offensive line features four new faces which takes the group from the nations best to one of little to no experience. All four linemen who left were drafted in the first round of this year's NFL draft so my faith in Bill Bidenbaugh to develop players is strong. I'm thinking less than five penalties from this group today would be a good measure of success.

Jalen Hurts is the on-off-on again Man of the Hour from Alabama who now gets one last chance to put his skills on display. He came to the right place. He has an embarrassment of riches to work with at the skill positions and, of course, the games best quarterback whisperer in Riley. Riley will let Hurts run at will. The key for Hurts will be decision making. Can he make the right call pre-snap and will he progress through reads if given enough time by the O-Line?

The knocks I keep hearing on Hurts is that he doesn't throw a great deep ball and he checks down to easy throws too often. The latter doesn't make much sense to me as a shortcoming and I think will be especially moot in an offense where, oftentimes, there is a super easy pass to make. I'm interested to see about the deep ball though. To me, this seems like perhaps the "easiest" skill to develop for a quarterback. If it is a weakness then a marginal improvement would make a huge difference.

Hurts is doing and saying all the right things though so I think he'll thrive. He has been named a captain before he's taken an official snap which has to be unprecedented (too lazy to look) and speaks volumes about his effort since arriving in Norman.

Elsewhere on the offense, the Sooners feature the running duo of Trey Sermon and Kennedy Brooks. Their complimentary skill sets should ease the burdens of both Hurts and the O-Line. Brooks seems particularly capable of making a leap from last year and Sermon is as steady as they come.

The wide receivers will be deep and with that marginal at best segue I am picking CeeDee Lamb for my OPOG today. He's already considered one of the best at his position in the country and yet I don't believe we've seen his best work yet. He'll be the primary target and, up to now, he's been an amazing possession type receiver. Starting today I think we see him more in the open field. He wouldn't be returning punts if the only skill he had was catching the ball in traffic. He's going to light it up.

THE DEFENSE

I said last year that if the defense was going to suck so much why not go for broke and blitz all the time, from anywhere. It doesn't take a genius to realize it's harder to execute when you don't know what your opponent is up to. Lincoln Riley obviously knows this. But finally someone listened to me and the Sooners went and got Alex Grinch. His defense is predicated on a lot of pre-snap movement, designed to confuse and disguise, and speed. He gladly trades size for speed to blitz and to quickly gang up to rip the ball away. If you give up some big plays, so be it because that just means the offense gets the ball again. The worst case scenario, from Grinch's point of view, is letting your opponent play keep away from your offense. Agreed.

That said, we have no idea which Sooner, if any, will thrive in this scheme. The bar is incredibly low and the expectations very high. There are a couple of places to look first though.

Neville Gallimore has shown promise for what feels like five years now. He's trimmed down supposedly and this defense demands aggressiveness up front. Could this be his breakout year? Beside him will be Jalen Redmond who has drawn rave reviews as a physical menace. And there is Kenneth Murray who racks up tackles like my wife collects athleisure.

I'm going with Gallimore for my DPOG today and hoping to see someone, anyone, jump out on tape.

THE SCORE

The Sooners are favored by 23 which seems high to me. There's too much "new" with the O-Line, Hurts and the defense. Maybe these unknowns are an advantage. The Cougars will be a good test with a quality quarterback. But I think Hurts shows a steady hand and he gets lots of help. The defense won't ease all concerns and will put plenty on tape to learn from and improve upon.

Sooners 41 Cougars 31

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner