Oklahoma Sooners versus Texas Tech Red Raiders

 Hello Sooners fans and welcome to a rainy Saturday in Oklahoma. The Sooners, fresh off a curious Bedlam win, find themselves bowl eligible and looking to finish the regular season on a high note today in Lubbock Texas against the Red Raiders of Texas Tech.

Against the Cowboys the Sooners played a first quarter on both sides of the ball that looked like quality football. From there, the offense was anemic while putting on a clinic on how not to manage the clock. The Sooners played hurry up and punt while the defense, to their credit, played like what you might hope and expect a Brent Venables football team to play like. 

Today the Sooners need to clean up a lot on offense and continue to build on defense.

OFFENSE

This offense is 8 for 33 on third down over the last two games. Everyone has been responsible. Jeff Lebby, Dillon Gabriel, WR's dropping passes, penalties, you name it. But you have to start with Jeff Lebby today. He has to be able to adjust and someone has to help him manage the clock and timeouts. 

From there, Dillon Gabriel needs to chill the fuck out. In the first quarter last week he looked in rhythm. He was light on his feet and he had confidence. You can sense his tension and see it on the field in the last three quarters when he fires laser beams on short routes or takes dumb sacks.

He needs to relax, give his playmakers a chance and run every now and then. Jalil Farooq and Marvin Mims need to step up. They have about 10 drops between them in the last month. When they get a chance at a catchable ball, they need to step up. 

I'm taking Dillon Gabriel today who has to be pleased with some of what he saw on film. Build on it. 

DEFENSE

I did not see last week coming. One could argue that this is not the Oklahoma State offense of years past and you would be right. But the Sooners have been letting mediocre offenses embarass them all season. It was a huge boost to be able to turn the ball over, hassle Spencer Sanders and hang on for the victory. 

Notably, the line looked better. Isaiah Coe, Jaylen Redmond and Jeffrey Johnson have been getting some pressure. Ethan Downs and Jonah Laulu have been visible. Laulu, in particular, shows some promise. 

CJ Coldon has arrived on the scene at DB. He seems to have taken over for a much maligned and often abused Jaden Davis. Billy Bowman has been solid since he came back. 

Look. None of these guys are all Big 12. But over the last month they've played well enough to keep the Sooners in the game. 

Tonight they need to keep it up because Lubbock is always a tough place for the Sooners to play and the odds of DG not shitting himself are slim.

For shits and grins I'll take my man Laulu for DPOG. Fuck it.

THE SCORE

I get the sense that the wide receivers of the Sooners are going to put it together today. And I think Jeff Lebby learned something from tape before he strapped on a feedbag at his Thanksgiving dinner. These two developments are key for the Sooners as they have to score probably 38 points to make sure they win. 

It's a tall order. Still, you know me, I'm taking the Sooners here 38-31.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner.

Tech

 This team baffles me. They are a tire fire on the defensive side of the ball and then go and shut down Oklahoma State. However, I think that is probably more the exception than the rule. Nevertheless, it's always nice to beat Mike Gundy being that he is such a tool. I know nothing about Tech this year, once OU fell out of anything resembling contention (conference or otherwise), my interest in the rest of the conference essentially went to zero. I see they have the same record as we do. I see we are going to Lubbock. None of this is probably good if your hope is a Sooners victory.

Offense

I'm going to go with Marvin Mims today. Yes DG sucks. But this feels like a shootout game to me and who better to reap the benefits of that than your best WR. 

Defense

They've got a lot of work to do before I consider picking anyone over here again.

Score

OU is -2 as of now. I think that is probably reasonable even though they will probably lose. I'm going to go against my better judgement for the sake of this puff piece and say Sooners win 38-35.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

O State

 Man this OU team is really bad. In my opinion the worst Sooners team since the John Blake era, which is equal parts good and also appalling. Brent Venables has come in and completely taken the wheels off of this team. He makes Alex Grinch look like Buddy fucking Ryan. Dylan Gabriel is pretty awful. Yes he makes plays occasionally, but more often than not he misses open guys, and I mean so open the blimp-cam has a hard time getting a defender on the screen with the receiver. There is little positive to say about this team. At this point, I'm just hoping the losses keep piling up so we can all move on from the Venables era and get a good coach back in there. 

Offense

At this point its basically Eric Gray or Eric Gray. Every other talented player is too dependent on DG to get them the ball. But, I will go with Braden Willis anyway. Maybe they'll run him out of the backfield a bit, or maybe Gabriel can complete a 5 or 6 yard pass to him and he can make things happen on his own. Why not?

Defense

Not a chance.

Score

Clearly the Vegas odds makers are knee deep in a serious crack addiction as OU is -7.5 today. I really think I might throw some cash at this one for OSU. Yes, they've looked pretty bad, but we just lost to WVU and everyone knows Mike Gundy has the biggest boner for beating OU. Still, for the sake of tradition I will pick OU at home 27-24.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Oklahoma Sooners vs. West Virginny

 Hello Sooner fans. Here's today's missed deadline BLUF:

The Sooners need to pick themselves up after a tough loss at home last week.

I'd like to see the offense use a lot of play action. Get Dillon Gabriel on the run where he has a choice to tuck and run or get something easy in space where mismatches exist for Brayden Willis and Eric Gray. Also, and critically, take care of the ball. 

The defense, well, they need to toughen up. 

The Sooners will lose handily if they show any sign of a hangover from last week. They need to show some gumption and, if they do, I think they can win something like 38-31.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

West Virginia

 This Sooners football team simply is not good. If anything the defense is worse than the last few years and the offense most definitely is. Years of watching football has taught me that is not a good recipe for winning football. The really discouraging thing is that there hasn't been any improvement on defense. If anything, they've gotten worse as the season has gone on. I realize these aren't Venables guys, but they were good enough to be recruited by and play for a perennial top 10 team. If he is the defensive wizard everyone says, they should be getting better. They should at bare minimum be close to average. In a nutshell, I'm not impressed. Nor am I encouraged. It feels as though some dark days may be ahead of us. 

Offense

To their credit, the offense has looked better. And on a team lacking in bright spots, Eric Gray has certainly been one. He looks worlds better than he did last year. I'm not sure if this is scheme, or he's just figured it out but he's a nightmare in the open field and more than serviceable between the tackles. In turn, I am picking him as my OPG.

Defense

Just nobody even approaching decent here. 

Score

I know nothing about West Virginia, moreover I have no interest in learning about them. Sooners manage to do enough on defense to win. 41-35.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner 

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Baylor Bears

Hello Sooner fans. It is a glorious day for some fall football in Soonerland. Today the Sooners take on the Baylor Bears in Norman. I'm excited for this one as I think it's going to be a very good measuring stick for the progress and promise of this Sooners team. 

OFFENSE

The Bears are a well coached, defensive minded football team. It's going to be up to Jeff Lebby to scheme ways to hang on to the ball and be able to run. Eric Gray and Dillon Gabriel are the keys for the Sooners but they cannot have success if Marvin Mims isn't on his game. Last week Mims had some inexplicable drops. He needs a bounce back and he's my OPOG.

DEFENSE

The Sooner D is showing signs of life. The Bears, athletically, will present a pretty even matchup. This is going to be a huge test and benchmark for the Sooners. Can they be in position and can they execute. The Bears are obviously beatable. But it comes down to fine details and execution for the Sooners. 

They need four quarters of focus and intensity. I like their chances with a home crowd and I like the baby steps the defensive line took next week. Hopefully they can build on that and someone from that front four can put some pressure on the Baylor quarterback.

THE SCORE

As I mentioned, today is a measuring stick game. Can the Sooners move the ball against a chess playing defense? Can a Sooners defense that sometimes looks like they struggle playing Chutes and Ladders  keep the Sooners in the game?

I think this is going to be a low scoring, well played game by both sides. The score will be tight. The line is -3.5. I think the Sooners can get to 27.

I'll take the Sooners 27 and the Bears 24.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Baylor

Following a one week hiatus I'm back, relax. After a pendulum like start to the season where our Sooners looked equal parts dominant and completely inept, they seem to have settled in to something likely more realistic. Which is to say, they are mediocre. The type of team that will play a bowl game where about half of the seats go unsold. It's a far cry from our usual level of eking out a conference title and then wringing our hands about whether we're going to get into a playoff we have no business being in. I'm not sure which is worse, I suppose the current version. I at least feel far less inspired about my fandom. And with today's game against Baylor relegated to ESPNs subscriber only online network, the national interest is spelled out right there. 

I know nothing about Baylor other than they were initially ranked, as we were, and later proved that was wildly undeserved. I suspect if I knew more about them I would have a much more gloomy outlook on this one than I already do. But, after managing to beat a highly overrated KU team and slightly underrated ISU team I don't really know what to think. A blowout loss would  not surprise me any more than a win. 

Offense

Dylan Gabriel's play has mirrored that of the team in my opinion. At times he looks very capable and others he looks absolutely horrible. But, I will place enough of my faith in him that I will pick Marvin Mims this week. Eric Gray has been a very pleasant surprise this year, and I think he will make some great plays as usual, but I think Mims gets back on track today with a big game. 

Defense

I am not picking a defensive player. They are just so bad in all phases. I will however pick Billy Bowman's neckerchief as daintiest accessory of the game. 

Score

For no particular reason, I will pick OU to win today 31-27. Let's close out this lost season with a nice win streak and play spoiler to some of that teams that have done that to us in the past.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner