Kent State vs. Oklahoma

The Sooners take on hapless Kent State on a gorgeous sunny day in Norman today. This will be the first game for the Sooners since learning that John Mateer suffered an injury in his throwing hand that required surgery in the Sooners victory against the Auburn Tigers.

Making the playoffs, much less winning a championship, requires more than a complete team. You have to avoid injuries and you have to have some luck. The Sooners have a good, mostly complete team. The timing of Mateer's injury seems to be lucky. The injury should take approximately four weeks to come back from. It seems plausible that he would try to come back on the aggressive side of a 4-6 week timetable. But for the Sooners, what a gift to have week 1 of the injury be on a bye week and week 2 against Kent State, at home, a chance to let Ben Arbuckle and Michael Hawkins, Jr. try to get some work in together before SEC begins, in earnest, with the Red River Rivalry coming up next week. 

The Sooners will be (spoiler alert!) undefeated going into Texas. Let's hedge and say Mateer does not make it back for that one or the matchup at South Carolina the week after. The Sooners will still be in terrific shape for the stretch run if they can go 2-1 without Mateer and get back home on October 25th sitting at 6-1 or 7-0 against Ole Miss. I'd love to see Mateer against Texas. But if Michael Hawkins can show some competence and poise while managing Ben Arbuckle's game plan, I'd be thrilled to see the return of a healthy Mateer at home against Ole Miss.

That's the mission at this point. 

OFFENSE

Speaking of Michael Hawkins, what we've seen in limited action thus far would indicate he is not John Mateer or even close. He's run-first and does not seem to keep his eyes downfield while scrambling. He's an athletic freak, but the magic of Mateer is his ability to keep both a play alive and his eyes downfield.

The key today will be for Hawkins to reign in his instinct to tuck and run. One would hope the Sooners O-Line can provide enough cushion to allow Hawkins time to work on going through his reads quickly, being decisive and running as a last resort. 

Secondarily, today really needs to be used to develop the running game. Every armchair quarterback who's watched the Sooners this year has lamented the lack of a consistent running attack outside of John Mateer. Rumor has it that Jayden Ott might see more action. One is also left to wonder, "Wither Taylor Tatum?". 

The key today though, and my OPOG, is Jaren Kanek. Kanek has been such a pleasant surprise and primary security blanket for Mateer. He will find himself playing on Sundays if he doesn't watch himself. If he and Mikey Hawkins can get on the same page, Kanek can go a long ways towards helping Hawkins get settled in. Kanek needs to hang onto the ball, but by and large he's sure handed, great after the catch and can get himself open a lot. He's brilliant at getting chunk plays when the Sooners need one. I think he'll be huge today. 

DEFENSE

Mateer gets a lot of credit for his part in making the Sooners one of this season's biggest positive surprises thus far. It's the Sooners defense, however, that is carrying the day. They're 3rd nationally in scoring defense and 2nd overall in total defense. 

Perhaps the weirdest statistic in college football this year is that the Sooners are tied for 128th in the FBS in turnover margin. They have yet to get one. They've had chances and you have to trust that they'll come and when they do it will be in bunches. 

Maybe it starts today. Eli Bowen is back and healthy and will get his first action of the season. He is probably the better of the Bowen's which is saying something. If he's fully healthy and the Sooners decide to get him a lot of snaps to work him back into playing action, then it's conceivable this defense just got better. 

For my DPOG I'm summoning my inner Natey, though,  and starting to really like what David Stone brings to the table. He is a menace. This defensive line is something else. I'm claiming my spot on the Stone Bandwagon until it looks like it's parked at a Mumbai station and I'm squeezed off by the crush of so many other Philistines.

THE SCORE

The Sooners will crush today. Kent State has played some ranked teams (Texas Tech and Florida State), but they are about to get feasted on, the extent to which they are not prepared to handle. I will be interested to hear how Kent State compares the Sooners overall to these other quality teams they have faced. Mind you, interested to hear is not to be confused with ambitious enough to actually look.

The Sooners are favored by 45.5 as of press time and the over/under is 53.5. I will take those odds and the over. 

Sooners 63, Kent State 7

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner