OU vs. Kansas

There's not enough fingers to point to all the blame from last week. I mean, what a pathetic performance. [Air quote] Props [Un-Air Quote] to Texas for executing well. But you want to talk about poor football? You want to talk about being your own worst nightmare? Egads. What a miserable day. Terrible run defense, terrible 3rd down defense. Nothing resembling flow on offense. Stupid penalties. Fucking hell.

Now we turn from that spanking to what, on paper, should be the reverse. Perennial doormat Kansas comes a calling. This should be a salve on the wound of the Sooners but the Sooners have no freaking idea what to do on offense and the defense is shredded by injury. Piling on, this is lose-lose. Win big and you did what you were supposed to do. Win by a little and you haven't solved anything. Lose and a mushroom cloud appears over Norman this week.

OFFENSE

This is how bad the offense has gotten. This week on the same day in the Oklahoman, there was a story about how the running game has to step up. Right next to that was a story about how Jalen Saunders and Sterling Sheperd need to pick it up. Jenni Carlson dusted off the Sorry Landry Jones love letter she wrote this past offseason. Berry Tramel wrote an article explaining the benefits of the forward pass in modern football.  The top two quarterbacks are pretty bad. This thing is a train wreck and the only person who seems to be coming out unscathed is Josh Heupel. What the hell?

Today I'm going with Keith Ford because he's A) A bright shining star in a sea of average and B) it seems clear that if any change is going to happen offensively it's going to be giving him more reps.

Maybe the passing game looks decent today. Maybe Saunders or Sheperd do get a lot of catches. It will be a damn miracle. I am very bearish on this offense. Woe is me and the sky is falling, etc.

DEFENSE

The story here is injuries obviously. This is a different unit with Jordan Phillips missing up front. When he was lost the D looked an awful lot like it did late last year. Co. Nelson hurts even worse. I don't know if Aaron Colvin is playing or not. That's three of the top four players on your defense (Ass Tapper obvs) "dinged" up. Tough to overcome. But overcome they must.

I haven't gone back and watched the tape. I rarely do on losses because I'm a sore loser. I know the longhorns went after the youngin' Dominique Alexander but 19 tackles is insane. He and Franky Shannon had almost 40 between them. Pretty hard on paper.

That said I'm not picking either of them today. I'm going out of the box here and going Quentin Hayes. Sure, why not. He seems like he's been relatively solid.

THE SCORE

Well, it's blowout or bust. Even though I don't think Josh Heupel likes "scoring points" or "routs" the Sooners have to have it. I don't know how they'll do it if Kansas doesn't go tits up. I wear crimson colored glasses and believe it will happen.

OU 31, Kansas 17 in a not as close as the score would indicate type game.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner.

OU vs. West Virginia

Judging future performance on the recent past is a tricky business. It's borderline dumb in sports. Any given Sunday and all that jazz. But last week, West Virginia had to throw the kitchen sink at William and Mary to eek out a win at home. I pegged William and Mary for a women's field hockey powerhouse. Nevertheless, a game that was, on paper, the best of the 2013 Sooner home slate now looks a little less appealing.

That's dangerous thinking that the Sooners would be advised not to buy into.

I watched a little bit of the WVU game and the Mountaineers trotted out some half wit at quarterback name Greg Millard. I am delighted to call him Greg Marmalard. I hope he plays early and often. He seemed ineffective.

OFFENSE

Anyone who wasn't pleased with last week's performance is a jerk. Trevor Knight was shaky early in his first meaningful action since high school. That's understandable. Some of his passes should have been caught. He managed the game, his lone turnover was awarded via replay and was a long pass on 3rd down anyway (effectively a punt). He got rid of the ball quickly, didn't take a sack and didn't fool the o-line with snap counts and such.

The running game was damn good too. It might not happen this year but Keith Ford is going to be a star. On one play it took three defenders to bring him down and they all got up slowly. The dude runs hard.

I would expect more of the same this week. I expect the passing to be marginally improved by virtue of the distribution of the ball being a bit better.

For my OPOG I'll go with Roy Damn Finch. He saw more action than I expected and I think he'll break some longer ones this week. The good news is there are options here week in and week out.

Before we move on to defense I'd like to highlight that both Navin and I made awesome picks last week. Both Knight and Jalen Saunders were impressive.

DEFENSE

Sooner fans should be pleased with what they saw on this side of the ball last week as well. Shutouts are hard to get. There is clearly an athletic upgrade across the board from this year to last. They seemed to play with a sense of urgency. I was really impressed by Jordan Phillips and Charles (Chaz) Tapper on the line. Frank Shannon and Corey Nelson both played well. Eric Striker is a linebacker in a Safety's body. Zack Sanchez was solid at DB. Quentin Hayes and (gulp!) Gabe Lynn were both flying around.

I'm cautiously optimistic that the attitude and snarl missing from year's past has finally made its return.

For my DPOG I'm going with Cory Nelson. I'm hopeful that the Sooners might have an answer to all the underneath stuff these widespread offenses are using. The LB's really seemed like they were covering some ground last week. Maybe some of these plays can get funneled to these guys and that they have the athleticism to make the plays.

Seems crazy picking an LB but what the heck.

SCORE

It's too hard to believe that WVU can be as bad as they appeared last week. I chalk it up to new personnel and looking ahead a bit. Also, Dana Holgerson seems like a putz so he probably just didn't have the boys ready to play. So, I think they look a little better this week and score some points.

I do not, on the other hand, believe that the WVU defense can hold a wet fart. This will not be the shootout of last year but there will be lots of scoring.

OU 42 WVU 24

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

2011-2012 Offseason Review

I scrapped the first draft of my Offseason Review. You see, a key offseason development was the dismissal from the football team of Jaz "Hands" Reynolds, Trey Franks, Kameel Jackson and Quentin Hayes. I must admit, I didn't realize Quentin Hayes was dismissed. I barely knew he was on the team. He's that good.

Two days ago, the Sooners announced three of the four have been reinstated (Kameel Jackson, he of the prematurely announced transfer to Texas A&M being the lone exception), although all three are still suspended indefinitely. I imagine they'll come back (At least Jaz Hands and Franks) after the opener at UTEP when it will become painfully obvious that a team with perennial title hopes cannot win said title with a system Quarterback and no experience at the Wide Receiver position.

Oh, and on that note, what else could put more pressure on Lonnie, Coach Josh Heupel and the rest of the Sooner offense? Why the return of Mike Stoops!

Nothing has the groins of Sooner faithful swolt like the return of Mikey. The love-hate relationship with Brent Venables is over and, so too, hopefully, the bend-but-don't-break defense that the Sooners have come to rely on over the years. I believe the final straw may have been Venables and Willie Martinez (also gone) architecting the Robert Griffin III Heisman Highlight Reel in Waco (I'm a glutton for punishment and watched the re-airing of this one a few weeks ago. To call the defense sieve-like is an insult to kitchen implements, or really anything, with gaping holes).

The return of Mike does, of course, bring it's own level of pressure and expectations but this is Oklahoma and nothing but a title is ever really sufficient. In this case, nothing short of the baby-eating, sure-tackling, ears-pinned-back mentality that accompanied the dismantling of Florida State for that national title in 2000 will suffice.

So, as I say, no pressure or expectations.

There were also some offseason roster moves. I happen to be of the mind that if a player has contributed exactly nothing to the football team, that player has taken exactly nothing off the table by not joining the team. I don't think armchair recruiting gurus feel the same but they can go kick rocks.

One such player that failed to qualify academically is JC WR Courtney Gardner. I'm sure this has nothing to do with the return of Jaz Hands and Franks. Will Latu, an offensive lineman also couldn't make the grade.

What hurts the most is the loss of Ben Habern who called it quits after dealing with nech issues since high school. Habern had started 30 games in his career at Center and was preseason All Big 12 this year as well. That stings and will come back to haunt. Book it.

Next, Navin and I will go over the offensive side of the football for the 2012 Sooners. Obviously, it will be chock full of "insider only" info so you'll want to check and/or set your RSS feed accordingly.