At last, after another long offseason, we are on the precipice of another Sooners football campaign. I needn't remind anyone that last year was, by OU (and most others) standards, a shitshow. The first losing season since my collegiate years and the pre-Bob Stoops era. Dark times indeed. Brent Venables, formerly exiled Defensive Coordinator and returned savior come home to make good, looked far more like the coach that fans chased out of Norman so many years ago. The defense he was supposed to come in and revitalize was garbage, and certainly not appreciably better/different than the loose diarrhea we've been spewing out for the last, oh, decade or so. But this year he has his own recruits, and if the national pundits are to be believed, a great class of them.
The secondary was trash last year, the defensive front--also trash, the linebackers were actually serviceable and return the likes of one Danny Stutsman who led the Big 12 in tackles last year. Several transfers up front promise to tighten up the pass rush and run D, which should in turn help the sieve of a secondary that boasts all-world recruit Peyton Bowen. Brent will have to have them tuned up on this side of the ball if he wants to cool off his lightly warmed coaching seat.
On the offensive side of the ball, our Sooners return Dylan Gabriel, aka the least accurate passer in football. Behind him of course is all-world recruit Jackson Arnold. Gabriel is one of those players where, if you look purely at his numbers without ever watching a game, looks pretty solid. But the reality is that he misses more open (I'm talking no one within 10 yards of them open) than any Sooners QB in recent memory. It is maddening. Clearly they were much better last year with him than without, but that speaks more to the absolute absence of any sort of talent behind him. Now there is, presumably, someone good backing him up so it will be all the more frustrating if/when he does this shit again. On a different note, I think my biggest surprise on offense is that Javantae Barnes is third and Gavin Sawchuck fourth, on the depth chart behind Marcus Major and Tawee Walker. The two former clearly outplayed the two latter last year, so this was a surprise to me. This will be interesting to see how it plays out.
It's a new season and there will be a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball. As always, my biggest concern is defense and play up front on both sides. I'm skeptical, but brimming with dawn-of-season optimism that Venables has them ready. Let's do this.
Offense
Now that Marvin Mims has gone on, the WR corps will be a different bunch. Losing someone that good is always tough. The aforementioned question marks at RB have me skeptical of picking one of those guys simply because I don't know who is going to get the reps there. And even though it is likely that Gabriel ends up putting up the numbers I'm going to start the season off with Jalil Farooq. I think he steps up and his trust from Gabriel lets him lead the offense.
Defense
There are so many question marks over here that it is really difficult to pick. The secondary has some new faces, and some returning ones that I hope have improved (looking at you Woodi Washington). But, unlike on offense, I'm not going to overthink it here. I'm going with Danny Stutsman. I think he comes out with his hair on fire and lights some guys up with a big day, including a sack.
Score
As of this morning when I'm finishing this up, the line is OU minus 36. I think that is generous given the defensive struggles and question marks on both sides of the ball. Arkansas State (coached by Butch Jones?!...who knew?) was only 3-9 last season. A weak program coming off a bad season? Sounds like a lock for cover city. But I'm scarred from last years general ineptitude and think OU has some early struggles. Sooners win, but fail to cover 38-14.
Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner
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