Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Happy Saturday, Sooner fans. Things have really fallen in to place for the Sooners following the firing of Mike Stoops. First a bye week then back to back hum drum offenses to adjust to new leadership. And now it's time to put that new D to the test on the road, at night, in Prime Time. It's hard to overstate how big this is for the Sooners to prove to themselves and the college football world that they have some semblance of a D.

OFFENSE

The key for the Sooners here is to get Kyler Murray settled down as quickly as possible. The only chance Texas Tech has on defense is to get Murray to make bad decisions. They should do anything to get him scrambling 50 yards in the backfield and taking 12 yard losses. Of course if the O-Line picks up the blitz, he'll feast.

Speaking of offensive lines, the Sooners have a good one and I think they'll use it to bludgeon the Red Raider D and pound the crowd into submission. The Sooners are clicking so well on offense this year that they can score whenever and however they want. They know as well as anyone that their offense is also their best defense. I expect to see a lot of play calling designed to milk the clock.

For my OPOG I'm going Kyler Murray. This game means everything for the Sooners. Your best player has to step up.

DEFENSE

All I want in the world today is to be able to say, in an evil genius type of voice, it looks like the Sooners have a defense. The D has been playing well under Ruffin McNeil but the TCU and K-State offenses are nothing like what they'll face tonight. I'm not convinced the Red Raiders are a juggernaut, either. The Sooners, quite literally, only have to stop them four times to win.

There are so many new faces now I have no idea who to pick for DPOG. I have a vision of Bookie running around like a demon and being a blitzer making life miserable for the Red Raiders. I hope he's playing today. Apparently he's a game time decision. If he plays, he's my guy.

THE SCORE

I think this could be a tight, low scoring (by these teams standards) affair. The Sooners offense will be content to control the ball so they may be a little self limiting and the defense will hopefully get some stops.
If you can believe it, I have faith that they'll do it. I like the Sooners here 35-21.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Baylor Bears

You won't see the fanbase of a 4-0 team much more glum than this one. Sooner nation is gearing up for the defensive let down that feels inevitable. I don't know if the Army game was an embarrassment but it was beyond frustrating. It's tough to prepare for an offense you will only see once and aren't conceived of to defend. In the end the Sooners made some plays and hung on.

With that tepid butt patt for the D I welcome the Baylor Bears, the very offense the Sooners are conceived to defend. Feelings of doom will be justified if the Bears put up more than 28 today. The Bears are maybe the 5th best team in the Big 12 running this offense and the first on the slate.

OFFENSE

Marquise Brown was inexplicably quiet last week. He gets back on track this week as Lincoln starts to flex the offense. Related, the running game is likely to look different this week too. The Sooners need to get that aspect rolling and fast. Kyler as the leading rusher is not going to cut it.

DEFENSE

It's not every day you get 24 tackles and find yourself completely overshadowed. That's what happened to Curtis Bolton when Kenneth Murray racked up 28 tackles. I wouldn't be surprised if those two were reflexively tackling bicyclists on campus this week.

I don't think they'll get quite that level of action this week. The secondary might though. I was going to take Parnell Motley for DPOG but I don't want to jinx him. I'll take Bookie instead. I honestly can't name the other starting safety.

THE SCORE

Hopefully the game will be less disjointed than this blog post. The Sooners should get to run more than 15 plays on offense and will have ample opportunity on D to create some turnovers.

I'm not sure the Sooners can hold the Bears under 28. I'll go 42-35 Sooners. People are going to be antsy again.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner