Saturday, September 6, 2014

Sooners v Tulsa




Well I'm in NYC watching this one with Navin R himself. So we recorded a podcast.



Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Saturday, August 30, 2014

The 2014 Sooners

Welcome back Steamroller faithful, we are back again for another season filled with flawlessly accurate predictions, clinical exploits of mastery over the written word, and rapist wit. Much ballyhoo is being directed at the 2014 incarnation of Bobby Stoops' squad. I for one am excited, and it seems that 2 years after hitting the reset button, Mikey has started to do Mike Stoops things that everyone clamored for prior to his re-hiring. There is real talent at nearly every position, and while the likes of Aaron Motherfuckin' Colvin will certainly be missed, the front 7 give me the same feeling I had when I opened my first Playboy as a youth and feasted my eyes on hip-to-hip beav. Trevor Knight, who are ye really? I hope he comes back as the guy everyone remembers and not the guy everyone seems to have forgotten.

Mitch did a masterful job of covering the awards, and as the spoilers are out I see little reason to rehash them, but suffice it to say that Eric Motherfuckin Striker should have you (palm up/arm sweep at Sooner Nation) excited. I am instead taking the liberty of creating a few new awards for this season.

The TC Bread Award

Several years ago, I was looking through a player list for the Sooners roster and came across a player named TC Bread. Without question, this is the funniest name in the history of Sooner football. I never heard of this player again. To my knowledge, he never saw the field. Hell, he could have been a made up name by someone at the paper (side note: I once did this for a Sooners game. As a bright-eyed freshman I was asked to type up the roster list for the Nebraska game to be distributed in the press box during the game. Naturally, I put my own name, accurate height and weight, on the roster along with some other made up dudes, fun). Anyway, this year it's Jordan Smallwood.

Player Least Likely to Get Girls Based Solely On His Name

Poor Jordan Smallwood.

Best Silhouette

Almost went for a chiseled athlete but decided instead to go for OC Josh Heupel instead. His doughy pelican neck creeps ever so slightly over his half-buttoned coaches polo while his gut struggles to gain freedom from below. This leads me to believe that a silhouette of his would look like a humorous humpty-dumpty. I would buy this from Fathead.

Scariest in a Shower Situation

This one goes to the entire defensive line roster. They line up in two lines, shoulder to shoulder, across from one another, gauntlet style. Freshman have to run between the two lines getting into and out of the shower. I think this would feel a lot like running through one of those cages for RB's with the pylons on springs that slap your upper body and teach holding onto the football. I'm not on drugs.

Mat McCoy Memorial Gas Rag?

This one is actually legit, and unlike Old Steady I sincerely hope this position isn't filled. It, sadly, had been filled rather competently by Gabe Lynn the last couple of seasons. I hope no one steps into this role this year. Any DB with a penchant for getting burned with ease and alacrity teeters on the cusp of being dubbed Gas Rag. This is less than ideal.

Louisiana Tech

I suppose we should discuss this adversary. The line I most recently saw was OU giving 35. While I whole heartedly agree that the Sooners will win this game, I would put my money on LaTech with that kind of line. I'm just not confident enough in Trevor Knight et al, and even more Josh Heupel, that I think we can put up 40 points on these guys (though a shutout isn't out of the question). I think our defense is going to great, and while OU has question marks it has them in the right places. I'm firmly in the camp that every team looks better with good line play. A good offensive and defensive line will make everyone else on that respective side of the ball look better. Conversely, great skill players look bad if the line is getting fisted all day. Offensively, we have little experience returning at WR, RB and frankly QB (in spite of the Sugar Bowl performance), but up front we return a ton of veterans. Defensively, the Sooners might actually have 2 full defensive lines worthy of starting, there is that much depth. Yes, losing Frank Shannon hurts. A lot. But as Dominique Alexander aptly demonstrated (what a beast!), some times a star going down (RIP Corey Nelson) paves the way for an even better player to step up. Hopefully Jordan Evans does something similar.

Offense

I'd like to go Trevor Knight, I really would. I hope as much as anyone that he is the world-beater we saw in the Alabama game. But, until I see it consistently, I'm not ready to bestow anything as prestigious as this blogs pre-game OPG yet. I'm going against the grain a bit. I think Keith Ford comes in and makes little brown underwear streaks of this defense at LaTech. I like him to break out in a big way, at least one touch and 100+ on the ground.

Defense

I really feel inspired by Dominique Alexander (my current front-runner for Old Steady). He makes a ton of tackles and by his own assessment, he's no longer "thinking out there", just reacting and making plays. That's scary. But, in spite of all of this fluffing I'm doing, I'm going with Eric Motherfuckin' Striker. I feel like Mikey is going to do some good things with him this year, and we will see him in the backfield sodomizing teams in obscene ways. I think he separates a QB from the football once today, and makes big plays all evening.

Score

Ideally Trevor Knight and the boys will be sipping gatorade and wearing awkward unbroken-in hats by midway through the 3rd quarter. However as I said, I think the Sooners control this one, though maybe not to the tune of a 35 point win, but close. I think the offense shakes off rust early, and gets in a groove as things go on. The defense? Well, I think it will make a long day for Skip Holtz and co. Sooners win this one in front of a PPV TV audience of dozens, 35-3.


 Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner.


It's good to be back.









Friday, August 29, 2014

Your 2014-2015 Oklahoma Sooners

Eric MF Striker
It’s here you guys. Let’s get this party started. Can the Sooners get a seat at the playoff table? Can they keep me from questioning my fanhood before the Iowa State game? Are we who we think we are?

Here now some preseason awards, prognostications and the Louisiana Tech pre gamer.

MF’er
The MF’er is one of the cornerstones of this blog and the Sooner tradition. No higher preseason honor can be bestowed. Fuck the Herbies.

The 2014-2015 MF’er is Eric MF Striker. Striker’s emergence in 2013 had Sooner fans doing double takes as they saw visions of former Sooner greats such as Roy Williams and Brandon Everage. Striker is a guy who runs around like his hair is on fire and who can make an impact from anywhere he lines up. He’s a brute and slobberknocker on the blitz. He’s going to give opposing offenses fits and offer Mikey Stoops et al some nice flexibility.

While Striker was the No. 1 choice on all ballots of eligible voters there are some other intriguing choices. Jordan Phillips, Geneo Grissom, Dominique Alexander, Quinton Hayes, Julian Wilson and even Zach Sanchez got some consideration. Frank Shannon would be in the mix too if he didn’t run afoul of the law.

It’s the deepest defensive talent pool in years, a development that should moisten the thighs of many a coed. 

Old Steady
Old Steady is an award named after former Sooner RB Chris Brown. Brown was pretty unspectacular for the majority of his career but if you handed him the football you got three yards every single time. No fumbles, no dancing in the backfield, no one-on-one situations with safeties. Just a predictable modest result. 

We don’t know enough about anyone on this incarnation of the Sooners offense to say, “That’s Old Steady”. One could argue Keith Ford but how long is his leash after all his fumbling “issues” one year ago? None of the other RB’s are proven. Dimitri Flowers seems to be the heir apparent to Trey Millard but he’s not even starting.

So, until someone proves themselves there is no Old Steady. I think this is becoming it’s own tradition. 


Things I’m excited about

The D
Man, if this group had Frank Shannon it would be downright scary. It still should be a menace. Jordan Phillips is back after a promising start to the season that led many to believe he could be the next great (long missing) anchor of the d-line. Throw in Chuka Ndulue, Charles “Ass” Tapper, Grissom, Alexander, Striker, Sanchez, Hays and the much ballyhooed triumverant of Ahmad Thomas, Hatari Byrd and Steven Parker and, cripes, there are some ballplayers over here.

The Run Game
This could make some people nervous because this group is short on experience. But I’m making lemonade here and telling you that, contrary to popular opinion, running back is not the hardest position to fill on a football team. Keith Ford has shown flashes of beast mode already. Coaches seem to hold Alex Ross in similar esteem and players rave about the practice work of the difficult to pronounce Samaj Perine. Some version of this group is going to pick yardage up in chunks. Hey...No worries!

Michiah Quick
I don’t spend my offseason with my hands down my sweatpants reading Rivals and Scout so pardon my surprise at seeing this true freshman's name not once, not twice but thrice on the depth chart. Apparently he was the #7 athlete in the country coming out of high school. It looks like this fella Quick, along with Sterling Sheperd, LaColtan Bester and Durron Neal are going to be ratcheting up the pressure on defenses to “cover space”. Now watch as he sits on the sidelines before burning his redshirt against Kansas.

Things I’m Nervous About

Was Trevor Knight’s Sugar Bowl Performance a Fluke?
History is a fickle mistress. Prior to his breakout performance against Bama, Knight had been benched and shown a poor grasp for the forward pass. Not only did one game erase that from the minds of Sooner faithful but it’s also landed him on every major awards watch list including the Heisman Trophy ™. Hey, I want the guy to succeed too but he has plenty of room for improvement. The encouraging thing about Knight is he appears to be a gamer. His best games were his first career start and Bama. 

Was Josh Heupel’s Job Saving Sugar Bowl Performance a Fluke?
I wrote this about Josh Heupel after the Baylor game last year. 

Josh Heupel is not fighting for his job at OU. He's auditioning for a QB coaching gig at Appalachian State at best. The Oklahoman trotted out Jenni Carlson for a piece asking if it's time for a change in play caller only to have Berry Trammel write an article about how Bobby prefers "Stability" versus "Experimentation”.

Again, history is a fickle mistress. The Sooners offense last year was historically abysmal most of the season. The players and staff would publicly say they weren’t surprised about what they did against Alabama but even they had to have been shocked after being so inept up to that point. The Sooners played three quarterbacks out of desperation in the bedlam game. 

I am very cautiously optimistic that Josh Heupel retained what he learned and is now prepared to use all his weapons to their full advantage. If he does, the offense could be lethal. If he doesn’t then Jay Norvell will get his chance. Book it. Bob is learning to make changes to stay ahead of the game.


Are New Uniforms a Good Idea?
No. But I’m a surly, aging sonofabitch. Whatever the football team needs to do to continue luring top 17 year old talent to Norman to win football games is fine with me.

On To Louisiana Tech

Skip Holtz is the head coach and Tim Rattay is also on the staff so I hate them already. There is no good reason why the Techsters, or whatever they call themselves, shouldn’t just pick up their asskicking and a check and head on home. But the memories of TCU home openers loom large so the Sooners would be best advised to take this one quite seriously.

Offense
There are no shortage of things to watch for on this side of the ball. Will the real Trevor Knight please stand up? Who wants the bulk of the carries? Who will be TKnight’s safety blanket? How good can this O-Line be if it stays healthy?

I’m going to put my unsullied reputation on the line here and go all in on the Trevor Knight bandwagon week 1. He really needs to come right out and show that he has a firm grasp on this offense and prove that having the Belldozer take practice snaps at QB was the dumbest fucking idea of all time.

Defense
Can’t go with anyone besides newly minted MFer, Eric “Ted” Striker here. I think this defense is filled with baby eaters and they go PlayStation D this week. Man I’m pumped to watch these guys this year.

Score
42-7. No screwing around. The Sooners score in all phases and get the 2014-2015 campaign kicked off in a great way. Lots of baby making in Norman after this one.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner!

Notes about Notes from my Notebook

If I told you there was a Sooner named Jack Steed from DeSoto Texas and that Jack Steed was 6’2” and 200+ pounds, what position do you think the would play? The answer is Punter.

On the roster page of soonersports.com there is a little ear icon (to help with pronunciation) next to Josiah St. John but not one for Michiah Quick.


Thursday, January 2, 2014

Alabama, aka The Sugar (tits) Bowl

Big day Sooner Nation, nay, HUGE day. Stoops gets the chance to play spoiler for the first time in a BCS game that I can think of off hand. Will the lack of pressure and/or expectations provide enough motivation to not just expect to win by putting on the uniform? Will all of the slights, all of the foregone conclusion speak create a big enough chip on the collective shoulder of Sooner football? Did UCF provide a wake up call for all of the "goliaths" out there? I am skeptical.

The Sooners come in with almost no one giving them chance. The best we can muster from anyone who pretends to know what they're talking about is "they'll play Alabama tougher than people think". That's great, keep that shit coming. I'm sure Bobby's pregame speech will include something about how if we play hard, maintain our assignments, hit 'em in the mouth early, and play Sooner football, we'll keep this thing within 28 points. Or not. Look, I love the "nobody believes in us" card. I'm glad to finally be the ones playing it as well. That said, Alabama is really fucking good. They're better in nearly (if not all of them) every phase of the game. I don't have a great feeling. More accurately I feel like we're going to get stomped on the scrotum.

Sooner nation is riding high after an improbable road win in Bedlam. Against an OSU team we didn't have much business beating. Against an OSU team that is nowhere nearly as good as Alabama. Today is going to take our best game, not of the season, but of the last decade. People seem to forget our offense has been anemic all season. This is the best D we will face. Alabama is hard. End of story.

Offense

People continue to point to the Auburn game as an indicator that Alabama is soft against the run. Hey, we run the ball pretty well, we've got a good chance here. I hope that is true, I'm sure Alabama has heard similar things. I do think that if we go into this thinking Student Body Left, Student Body Right, we're fucked. Yes, I think we need to play ball control, that is essential. The running game is our bread and butter and it will have to be awesome today for us to have a chance. However, if we can't make a few big plays, convert a few long third downs, and keep them honest with the passing game, we're fucked. So, I'm going on a limb here and picking Jalen Saunders. He's been our most electric player the last few weeks. I think he does some explosive things and makes a couple of huge plays.

Defense

This is where things get (even more) dicey. So many guys absolutely have to play well for us to win. We need strong play up front, Chaz "Ass" Tapper et al need to be dominant. On the back end, Aaron "Motherfuckin" Colvin needs to lock down half of the field so safeties can make plays and Gas Rag is as un-Gas Rag as possible. In the middle Frank Shannon has to fly around and bust heads anywhere in the middle of the field. Eric Striker needs to be his hair-on-fire self and have his facemask in McCarron's ass early and often. With all of these guys essential to our success, I still think one guy steps above the others. Dominique Alexander is that guy. I think he's in the backfield, he's a blanket in coverage and he even forces a turnover. America, meet Dominique Alexander.

Score

Oh Billy. Billy-Billy-Billy-Billy-Billy. It's time for Stoops to take the velvet sleeve off of the putter. I'm not going to pretend I feel good about this. They are the better team. Slighted underdogs or not, we have a slim chance of winning this. We'll need big plays, we'll need to get our defense off the field on 3rd down, and we'll need to win the turnover battle (handily, I suspect). I'm not saying those things can't or won't happen, I just think it's a long shot. With all of that doom and gloom in mind, I slowly and proudly extend both of my middle fingers in no particular direction. I think we do what it takes to restore some much-needed respect to our program. Sooners find a way to pull off the stunner, 27-23. Now lets beat the shit out of these rotten fucks.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner.



OU vs. Bama - Sugar Bowl

Welcome to fantasy land. For the remainder of this column we will operate outside the bounds of reality and pretend the Sooners have a shot at beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. We will imagine a world where some version of Trevor Bell or Blake Knight (I'm combining the names; who knows who is starting and we'll probably see both anyways) and Josh Heupel can move the ball and we can imagine a world where the Sooner D can avoid being crushed into rubble under the brute force of the Alabama running game.

Let's remember that past Alabama National Champion teams are not this year's Alabama squad. Let's remind ourselves that past bowl game embarrassments are not the same team as this year's Oklahoma squad. It's a new day. Anything can happen.

OFFENSE

Obviously Bama is going to load up to stop the run and force the Sooners to beat them via the pass. How effective can the Sooners rushing attack be without resorting to bullshit and trying too hard to be cute? This needs to be the Brennan Clay show with some good decision making on the QB read by Blake Knight.

Also, Trevor Bell needs to be able to make easy throws without abandoning the run game entirely. Use one to set up the other. Jalen Saunders and Sterling Shepherd can get separation on anyone. If the ghost of LaColtan Bester could hang on to a ball that would help things tremendously.

For my OPOG I'm going with Jalen Saunders. He's been a beast lately both as a receiver and punt returner. He'll need to be awesome in both phases again, especially offense, to soften up that run defense.

DEFENSE

The good news is AJ McCarron is not known for his scrambling ability. The bad news is Bama has a guy named TJ Yeldon who is damn good and the Sooners can sometimes be soft up the middle. I fear the ground and pound from Bama.

Somebody in that linebacking crew is going to have to step up and wrap up before those Alabama running backs get to the third level and Gabe Lynn either dives at ankles or gives a well intended yet ineffective shoulder tap. My nightmare is giving up yards in chunks on the ground before McCarron goes to work on Zack Sanchez.

For my DPOG I'm going with Dominique Alexander but he's going to have to wrap up. I also want to go with Charles Ass Tapper, Frank Shannon, Eric "Ted" Striker, Aaron Motherfuckin Colvin et al but I can only pick one so it's Dominique.

THE SCORE

The Sooner offense needs to take shots, put the ball in the hands of their best players and do all this while sticking to a meat and potatoes type game plan. Screw razzle dazzle. Go right at them and work the clock.

The D can have success but if they're on the field all night this will be Baylor all over again. If they can stay somewhat fresh then hopefully they can stay aggressive and get after McCarron a little bit. They have to slow down that run game.

Here's to the last game of the year. It's bittersweet. I never would have thought after texas that this team would be in the BCS. Hopefully they can prove they belong.

Sooners 24, Crimson Tide 17

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner!