Last week against Nebraska the defense proved its mettle and it was the offense that had fans pacing the floor. I'm pretty sure it was a top 3 prediction failure for yours truly. I predicted the Sooners would put up 63 and watched as Nebraska played a ball control game while Spencer Rattler looked like he was playing a playground game (in the poor decision making, fuck around sort of way. It was near worst case scenario as the Huskers played way above the heads while, fortunately from the Sooners, making more self inflicting errors than the Sooners). The Sooners scored 23 and won 23-16.
West Virginny comes to Norman today to take on the undefeated Sooners. The Mountaineers are fresh off an upset of Virginia Tech. Nebraska wound up being a good test. The Mountaineers absolutely are.
OFFENSE
It's hard to explain Spencer Rattler but it's almost as if his decision making is based off what throw he wants to make instead of just making the right throw on a given play. As if taking what is given to him is too boring. He needs to do everything with flair.
Pretending this to actually be the case, he needs to learn that by playing the system that he will drastically improve his value as a quarterback by taking the throws that are there as often as possible rather than constantly trying to do something gaudy. Hopefully there is enough on film at this point to be able to point out these obvious easier throws. He needs to bore the hell out of himself and make some smart throws today. I mean, I bet he could put a scare in the 80% completion percentage mark if he'd participate in my plan. He should be able to make easy throws that make the offense look like a 7 on 7 drill.
He's my OPOG because I really do want to see him show a command of the offense.
DEFENSE
Statistically, this defense is everything we could hope for. There are areas that they can improve, sure, like tackling, but defenders (even and especially Pat Fields) seem to be in the right place to make a play more often than not. It could be that I'm high but I don't recall a completely busted defensive play to date that resulted in a long touchdown.
West Virginny seems to rely a lot on their run game. The Sooners have been very good at stopping the run. That's the difference today and so I'm going Perrion Winfrey for my DPOG. He's a beast and can ruin some running plans for sure if he balls out. Fumbles seem to be our jam, too, so let's have a portion or three of that.
Also, I think there are a few guys who were banged up last week who will be back this week. Billy Bowman chief among them. That will help.
THE SCORE
This matchup is probably second on my list of Big 12 games that I'll miss when the Sooners move to the SEC. The states of Oklahoma and West Virginia are constantly battling for rating 49th or 50th (or 1st or 2nd) depending on the statistic. There are few states we can say, "At least we don't live there" so I think there's some pride on the line in this one.
Today, the Sooners get back above 40 on offense and the defense plays well enough to carry it under the lights, in PRIMETIME. I'm going Sooners 42, Mountaineers 24.
Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner
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