Illinois State

 Welcome back faithful reader(s). We are once again at that wonderful time of year where Sooners football is here and we can still be (falsely) filled with hope. This season brings a lot of changes on both sides of the ball, most notably the coming of transfer QB John Mateer and his OC from Washington state where the two did great things last season. If you watched any of the Sooners last season then you know QB was mostly a wasteland. Hopefully this will be a massive upgrade, anything would be an upgrade over that wet dog shit we called an offense last year. A lot of questions remain on the OL (never a good thing), but if young guys can step up, the offense might be, dare I say, a strength. The skill positions have some newcomers mixed in with some solid holdovers. WR should be a strength, but Deion burks has to stay healthy I think to really anchor that group. RB sees the addition of Jaydn Ott to join Javontae Barns and company in the backfield. Maybe most interesting is the move of Jared Kanak from LB to TE where he looks to be the top guy at this point (says a lot about the lack of recruiting at that spot). He’s a beast but it’s a big change, his blocking will likely determine how much success he can have. 

Defensively, the loss of Stutsman to the draft leaves a large hole on the LB groups and an even larger hole in my puff pieces, and the biggest hole of all in my heart (well 2 out of 3, I didn't love him that much). I’ll be forced to devote some thought to my DPGs again (not my strong suit). Dline should be a strength with R Mason Thomas anchoring that group; and the return of David Stone after being in the transfer portal for about 45 minutes is big as well. The DBs will have quite a few changes but Peyton Bowen was an all-world recruit at S and he has shown flashes to this point, our Sooners really need him to step up and fill Billy Bowman's neckerchief. CB is a question mark with mostly unproven guys there. I'm hoping that the strengths at the other levels will hide this area a bit.

The schedule is pretty brutal as usual, with an added bonus of Michigan as a non-conference game. Apart from a few early season games, every week will be a test. In short, it’s a real butt-fister of a schedule. Illinois state is up first, let’s get our feet wet, iron out some kinks and tune up for Michigan week 2. 

Offense

All eyes will (rightfully) be on Mateer and the offense in general. I’m hoping they can come out a little vanilla and maybe set the cruise control early. With that in mind I don’t think Mateer "blows up" this week, I like Jaydn Ott to come in and have a nice game running and catching the ball out of the backfield. He’s my OPG. 

Defense

I’m weirdly optimistic that the defense might be respectable. They’ve actually improved under Venables and there are a few returning guys that are studs. The Dline looks tough and really all levels have playmakers. But for today I’m going with Kip Lewis. That dude is awesome and his athleticism is crazy. 

Score

I really don’t know much of anything about Illinois state. I suspect they have some solid athletes on their roster and no doubt they’re playing with nothing to lose. But top to bottom OU is just more talented. Of course, this doesn’t always mean in a win but I think the Sooners come out and TCB in this one, 44-10. It's good to be back.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin’ Sooner 

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Navy Midshipmen

 Well folks happy Friday. I hope you holidays have been fantastic thus far. It's time for the underwhelming conclusion to the 2024 edition of the Oklahoma Sooners football season. The Sooners take on the Midshipmen of Navy in the US Armed Forces Bowl in tropical Fort Worth, Texas.

The Sooners will be without Jackson Arnold and virtually every wide receiver. Quarterbacking will be Michael Hawkins, who probably won't be the starter next year. Joe Jon Finley will be calling plays, and he won't be in that role next year, either.

Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman are also out of this one for the defense. The Sooners are short handed all the way around and this one doesn't even offer much hope for seeing what the future might look like for the Sooners. 

Excited yet?

OFFENSE

New Offensive Coordinator Ben Arbuckle is on campus and is apparently involved in the game planning of this game. Kevin Johns or whoever the hell stepped in to help after Seth Littrel's dismissal. So, maybe he's got a handful of plays that Mikey Hawkins is comfortable running. 

I don't know why Arbuckle wouldn't step in and start calling plays. That's what Littrel did last year in the bowl.

Alas, not knowing anyone else who might play, I'll take Hawkins for my OPOG. He's liable to be running for his life all game. Whatever.

DEFENSE

No Stutsman, no Bowman. There are some portal losses here as well, though not nearly as detrimental as on the offense.

If there is something to look forward to in this game, it might be seeing some familiar faces in bigger roles today.

I like Kip Lewis for my DPOG. He's probably the heir apparent to Stutsman.

THE SCORE

I don't know what Navy brings to the table, aside from their coach is from Oklahoma. That said, they probably do some ball control. The OU defense probably holds them to something like 24. The Sooner offense shows flashes of creativity, but probably steps on their own ding ding with turnovers. You know, the story of the season. We are who we think we are.

Sooners 27, Navy 24.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner.

Oklahoma Sooners vs. LSU Tigers

Hello Sooner fans. The Sooners got new life breathed into their season and their program last with after a humongous home win against Alabama. The Sooners dominated both lines of scrimmage and they played a style of football suited to their current skill set. 

It's just enough to give a fanbase a heavy dose of optimism and overconfidence heading into a regular season finale on the road in Baton Rouge. The Sooners would match the overall record of LSU with a win. "A lot of people" were saying that OU would be the LSU of the SEC and here we are.

OFFENSE

The Sooners played to their strength consistently for the first time all season last week. They ran the ball early and often and played keep away. I was in the restroom, but I could swear I heard on the radio broadcast that Jackson Arnold lined up under center.

The Sooners need more of this set. You put two running backs in an offset I formation or a twin back set and you can run about 9 plays off that in short down yardage.

Apparently, Javonta Barnes could be back, and rumor has it Andrel Anthony might be ready to return. I'll take whatever we can get. 

The Sooners will meet with success if they follow last weeks game plan. Control the ball. Establish the run. Pass to keep the D honest. 

I'll take Xavier Robinson for my Hot Hands Offensive Player of the Week.

DEFENSE

I'm super happy these guys got to celebrate a big victory this year. They've played their asses off and they showed the country they can hang in this conference.

I'm excited to see what they bring today. There's nothing to lose. 

Do we go Kip Lewis or R. Mason Thomas? Danny Stutsman or one of the Bowen brothers? There are a lot good players on this side of the ball.

I'll go Kip Lewis. All he does is score touchdowns.

THE SCORE

You guys, I'm lulled into this false sense of confidence. I think this team is still working hard and eager to end this season on a high note. 

I think they're ready to play tonight and they show up big. 

I like the Sooners 24-21

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

LSU

 Coming off of the biggest win of the season, our Sooners travel down to Death Valley in Baton Rouge. LSU is having a down year by their standards and so what I would normally chalk up as loss right away, I feel we have a chance. However, it has a lot of strong letdown potential after last week. In addition, that stadium is a rough place to play for anyone and I think it might be OU's first ever trip there. As a former New Orleanian, I heard so much about how great LSU is, was and always will be. I got copious amounts of shit about the Sooners and thus I would like nothing more than for our Sooners to go and repeat last week's ass beating. Let's see if we can do it.

Offense

The offense has really improved after the dismissal of Seth Littrell. While not great, we seem to have figured out that playing to our strengths is a decent plan. Jackson Arnold might not ever be a great QB. He has the arm but hasn't been consistent at all. However, once we decided that letting him run was a good idea, he's been very good in that capacity. He's a big dude and he's fast and the offense has been so much better with him being an active runner. The secondary benefit is that it keeps the other team's offense off of the field. Our D has been very solid, but they can't pitch a shutout every game, so minimizing the opponents opportunities to score is huge. In spite of this rambling nonsense, I do have a OPG to pick and I'm going with Xavier Robinson. This dude has really emerged and the offense has taken off with him as a feature guy.  I like him again tonight.

Defense

What a game last week. The D was unbelievable. My buddy said he thought we single handedly knocked Jalen Milroe out of the first round of the draft. That's probably not true, but we definitely locked his ass down. LSU has plenty of talent on O, but I think we can contain them. And of course Danny Stutsman, who else? Man, I'm gonna miss that guy.

Score

LSU is favored by 6. I think that is probably reasonable given the home game and crowd advantage they will have. But I like our Sooners to come in and score the upset. Sooners win 27-21.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Alabama

 Hello Sooners fans, buckle up for another Pulitzer worthy piece of journalistic artistry. I write today from beautiful Thailand, preparing to embark on over 24 hour journey back to NYC. Which means I will not be tuning into today’s contest against Alabama. OU has had two weeks to prepare for this one, it’s prime time and it’s a home game. For these reasons I’m more optimistic than I would be normally. Alabama has at times looked mortal this year and while they are clearly the better team, I think OU has a shot here. I’ll keep it brief as this is being typed out on my phone. On to the picks!

Offense

I saw Javonte Barnes is questionable and even though I think running the ball a lot will be critical to winning this, I’m going on a limb and saying Jackson Arnold here.  The young buck has to step up sometime, hopefully this will be the week. 

Defense

It’s Stutsman again. That is all. 

Score

I don’t know the line here but I’m sure we’re home dogs. Bama is good, but with all of the time, Venables coaching for his life and what will presumably be a raucous Saturday night crowd, I’m taking the Sooners in a  shocker 33-20.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin’ Sooner 

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Mizzou

Good afternoon, Sooner fans. Welcome to another football Saturday where today our beloved and much maligned Oklahoma Sooners revive their history with the Missouri Tigers in Columbia. 

The Sooners are fresh off a decisive victory against the outclassed Black Bears of Maine. It was a game which was almost lose-lose for the Sooners in the sense that they should destroy a team like Maine, so it's ho-hum when it happens. Or, they could have struggled and that would have represented the new bottom for Oklahoma football. The best I can say about it is this team needed reps under Joe Jon Finley.

OFFENSE

The Sooners went for 500 yards total offense against the Black Bears with highlights being Javontae Barnes rushing for 200 yards and Jackson Arnold connecting with JJ Hester for the longest passing play for the Sooners since 1995. 

Bad news for the Sooners, however, as Javontae Barnes is out with an injury this week. That's how we roll. Also out for the Sooners are five offensive linemen. 

The good news is that Jalil Farooq and Deion Burks should be back. Taylor Tatum is still available and running back Sam Franklin looked pretty good last week as well. They should get ample opportunity today. 

I'll drink the Kool-Aid and ride the Jackson Arnold train as he continues to look more confident after being reinserted into the lineup. He should be able to take advantage of some opportunities to create plays.

DEFENSE

Apparently Mizzou has all kinds of issue of their own at quarterback. Their offense is not prolific and they appear to turnover prone. All of this means nothing of course in so far as the Sooners are concerned. They are more than capable of helping anyone out of a funk.

However, this defense still is not like Sooner defenses of the past. If the Sooner offense can keep them in the game, this unit should be buoyed and hold the Tigers to less than 24 points. 

I'll take Dasan McCollough for my DPOG today. No real rhyme or reason for it other than he seems to be healthy and gaining traction week to week.

THE SCORE

The Sooner offense should not be lulled into a false sense of confidence coming off their performance against the hapless Black Bears. However, they should feel more comfortable in the new offense and, with luck, the Sooners can manage to string together some success on the ground and manage to put up enough points to outscore Mizzou, provided the Sooner defense plays to their abilities. 

At this point, we know what the defense is capable of. If the Sooner offensive line is anything close to decent, I like the Sooners to put up 31.

I like the Sooners getting bowl eligible in a must win today. 

Sooners 31, Mizzou 21

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner.

Missouri

 After great public outcry, I am back this week after inexcusably not posting last week. This team does so many things poorly, and a lot of it falls on coaching. The offense is terrible and so often there are questionable game management strategies that arise. Anyway, suffice to say I was uninspired by the Maine team coming. In hindsight I was encouraged that, at minimum, we trounced a team that was ripe for a trouncing. Missouri comes in today and they have underwhelmed relative to pre-season expectations. Luther Burden is an animal (see what I did there? Looking at you over 60 crowd). I fully expect him to go apeshit on the Sooners defense. I don't really think the QB there is that great, but he's serviceable and given our crap offense he should have plenty of reps. Can we get enough stops, and more improbably, can we score enough points to hang in this one? I have my doubts. 

Offense

The offense finally put together some drives last week. Again, this was a terrible team they faced, but nevertheless they scored. I'm hopeful that this gets the running game we so desperately need on track. It will be critical to keep their offense off the field. With this I will go with Javontae Barnes today. I think he goes over 100 yards and a TD. 

Defense

As I mentioned, Burden is going to get some big plays. The key is can we limit them. I like Stutsman today for approximately one shitload of tackles. 

Score

I really hate Mizzou. I grew up in SW Missouri in the 80s and 90s, and I can tell you this die-hard fan base didn't exist (similar to a pro team in the state that is suddenly everone's heart and soul). People couldn't give two shits about Mizzou football then, so I find it absurd that their fans act like they're these born and bred Black and Gold religious fanatics. That said, Missouri is the better team, but I'm going with a spite score. OU pulls out some old Sooner Magic just to make these Tigers fans piss and moan a little bit. Sooners win 27-20.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner