Saturday, December 29, 2018

OU - Bama

In spite of all odds, the college football’s worst defense has willed itself into the playoffs and the reward for the Sooners is Bama. For the last month I’ve taken solace in the fact that in 2014 a Sooners squad led by Trevor Knight defeated a heavily favored Bama squad.

OFFENSE

Obviously all eyes will be on Kyler Murray. But I think the real key to success is the Sooners ability to run the ball. Texas locked in on stopping the run and it seemed to slow the Sooners down for a bit. So I like Kyler Murray but I’m going to go with Trey Sermon as a backup OPOG.

DEFENSE

The Sooners need to forget everything that’s happened up to this point and just let it fly. The expectations are so low why not throw caution to the wind? I envision Bama running and running and running until OU shows they can stop it. For that reason I’m going Amani Bledsoe.

THE SCORE

Surprise surprise OU is going to surprise. If the game stays close I like OU in a big time way as they have a higher comfort level in that situation. It’s how they roll. I’m not sure Bama is ready for a back and forth.

OU 38, Bama 34

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner and all apologies for my worst post of all time,

Alabama

The College Football Playoff commences today with our beloved Sooners facing the mighty Crimson Tide from Alabama in the second of two huge games. This marks the third time OU has been to the College Playoffs and the second consecutive year in it. Alas, the next win in this setting for the Sooners will be their first. Going into this game last year, I felt OU had a decent chance of winning. Sure Georgia was tough, but OU had proved their mettle, in spite of a bad defense, with a road win at Ohio State. This year the defense is worse--much worse--and with no real banner wins, my confidence level is near zero.

If you own a TV, or have a reasonable idea of what a TV is, you've probably heard that Alabama is good. As usual, they have a defense that is loaded with NFL prospects and first-round draft picks. They are huge and athletic and fast and mean and can actually fly in short, 15- 20-yard increments. One of their linebackers is in actuality a minotaur that lives on the blood unborn sheep and can bench press 3500 pounds. So yeah, they're imposing. What stands out however, is not the mythical half man/half bull they signed out of rural New Mexico, it's that they have an offense that can score. Not only can they score, they're actually really good at it. So good in fact that their starters hardly played at all in the 4th quarter this season. I present the Sooners first 13 games as exhibits A-M in my case for OU as worst defense of all time. This is not a good matchup.

Optimism? Fear not, I'm sure Mitch will be your divining rod for optimism in the Sahara of this game. I, however, will do my best. Saban has historically had trouble defending an offense like OU. Alabama generally does well against NFL-style offenses found in the SEC. Improvising quarterbacks, and speed based offenses that spread the field and attack are a Big 12 novelty, and not easy to defend. OU is very good at doing these things, and with a stout offensive line, they might actually be able to move the ball and put up some points, minotaur be damned. The other side of the ball? Well, I don't want to ruin the ending for you.

Offense

Last year, you may remember, OU came out very strong and looked all but unstoppable against a good Georgia defense. Then Lincoln Riley showed his youth and inexperience by getting cute and moving away from the bludgeoning run game that had been so effective in the first half. It's not likely that scenario plays out again, but in the event something is working well, let's hope the Sooners stick with it. I think Kyler Murray winning the Heisman was cool, but what Alabama didn't need was material for their bulletin board. With that in mind, I think the Tide is going to be frothing over the chance to crush Kyler. I think Trey Sermon is the Sooners answer. Make no mistake, Murray has to be great, maybe transcendent for OU to have a chance, but I think OU rides Sermon behind a good offensive line.

Defense

Alabama has, for once, a good offense, maybe even a great offense. The Sooners defense is unbelievably bad. I think I'll be surprised if Alabama punts before half time. Oh how I hope I'm wrong. I think the Sooners best chance is to make Alabama sustain drives, and hope for a few lucky bounces with turnovers, dropped passes etc. The fact that this is what I'm hoping will happen is really not good. I will pick Curtis Bolton today simply for the fact that he is often the most fired-up guy. Here's hoping he lays a few big hits and disrupts their offense a bit.

Score

One thing I like about the build-up to this game is that nobody, and I mean nobody, thinks the Sooners have a realistic chance of winning. That's a potent motivator, and I hope Riley and his staff are reminding the team of that often. OU will need to play not only its best game of the season, it will have to be damn near perfect in all phases (no gimme field goals allowed on special teams right before half time, please). I'm fired up to watch this game, and I'm hoping OU comes out and stuns everyone from the get-go, but I just can't do it, Alabama wins it 49-38.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Texas Longhorns - The Big 12 Championship

It's the Big 12's wet dream cum nightmare; The conference's bell cow flagship schools playing on the national stage for a conference championship and yet, if Oklahoma loses, the Big 12 is shut out of the playoffs. Let's worry about that later and enjoy this for what it is. A second helping of the best rivalry in the conference, a chance at revenge for OU and a closing argument for Kyler Murray's Heisman bid.

This one will be a slug fest for the ages. Get your pepto, squishy balls, sniffing glue, booze or whatever you need. The Longhorns have nothing to lose and would love nothing more than to play spoiler to their arch rivals playoff hopes. The Sooners have to win and even that may not be enough to get them into the playoffs. They need to look good doing it. This, coupled with their historically awful defense, means the Sooner offense is going to be petal to the metal all day. There is no such thing as scoring too many points.

OFFENSE

I envision a greedy and aggressive Texas defense getting abused by misdirection and quick strikes. Murray will pick his spots to make some big gains. Marquise Brown might get 200 yards again.

The key, as always, is to not fumble the football. Murray might throw a pick and you have to live with that. But the fumbles are killers.

If Kennedy Brooks is remotely close to his usual self that bodes well for the Sooners. If Lee Morris and/or CeeDee Lamb are prominently involved that bodes well for the Sooners.

For OPOG I'm picking Kyler Murray the rest of the way. I think he deserves the Heisman. Nobody means more to their team. No team playing today needs their best player to perform more than the Sooners need him.

DEFENSE

We live in a world where a defense can give up 700 yards and still say it deserves much credit for a victory. Such was the case for this beleaguered unit last week against West Virginia. Texas has a few impact players on offense but are nowhere near as dynamic as WV.

The key to me is rocking Sam Ehlinger's world. So help me God if he has repeated success with that stupid draw play the Longhorns torched us on in October.  I'd love to see the Sooners commit to shadowing Ehlinger  and blitzing early and often from different positions all the time. Take chances. If your defense is shit and sitting back is ineffective, then why not? Speaking of nothing to lose...

For DPOG I'm going Caleb Kelly. For some reason I believe Ruffin McNeill is on the same page as me and will have the LB's shadowing Ehlinger and trying to light him up. He's as capable as any and frankly is due for some personal redemption.

THE SCORE

I like the Sooners here 56-49. It'll be two teams who hate each other slugging it out and the nation's best offense coming through yet again.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Big 12 Championship

After yet another week of winning a game they probably shouldn’t have, the Sooners find themselves on the cusp of another Conference Championship and, with a little help, the college football playoff. It’s a testament to Lincoln Riley and his offensive genius that this is even happening. Let’s face it, OU has no business being in the playoffs. Anyone with a defense that terrible shouldn’t win their conference even…which they might not still.

The longhorns dealt OU its only loss a few weeks ago. As much as I hate losing to anyone, let alone texas, the lone silver lining was that it resulted in the firing of Mike Stoops. This move was approximately 3 years later than was reasonable. Much to my chagrin, the defense got no better and possibly (is it possible?) worse. On the few plays where he wasn’t throwing to a wide-open receiver on 3rdand 12 for 18 yards, Ehrlinger looked like Larry Csonka circa ’72. It was a maddening, yet tidy microcosm of the Sooners defensive 2018. Despite the thirst for revenge, a repeat today will surely net the same results.

Offense

The previous iteration of this game was probably Kyler Murray’s second worst performance of the year (I think texas tech is easily first). A costly fumble and a failure to get the offense moving until desperation time in the 4thput the Sooners in a position they can ill afford to be in: one where they are depending on their D. I think Murray does a much better job today of coming out and putting the Sooners in the lead where they can dictate rather than try to play catch-up. I like Murray again this week for my OPG.

Defense

I didn’t get to watch much of last week’s game but I did see that when they weren’t doing a Roger Dorn olĂ© impression, they actually forced a couple of turnovers. It ended up being the difference in the game. I’m certainly not counting on it, but I’m hopeful that OU can get the texas punter on the field earlier than the 3rdquarter this time, even if it’s only once or twice. I’m picking Curtis Bolton today, he’s no world beater but he seems to play hard, and hopefully that’s enough.

Score

This is a big one. I won’t be able to watch today due to a lack of internet/American tv broadcasts, but I’ll be checking the score as much as I can. At this point, if it’s anything other than a shootout then it’s probably bad for OU. I think the revenge factor is on high, and OU does enough to win another conference title while paying back texas at the same time (you can have your stupid golden cowboy hat). Sooners win another track meet, 56-52.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin’ Sooner

Friday, November 23, 2018

Oklahoma Sooner versus West Virginny

I saw a headline, the day after the LA Rams beat the Kansas City Cheifs 54-51, asking if the world had just witnessed the future of football. The fact the question is being asked is one of the few glimmers of hope remaining for this Oklahoma football team. However, OU fans have been living this supposed "future of football" for three seasons now and I can tell you, we'd love to see some defense. The future of football, devoid of defense, is by turns fun, frustrating, predictable and inexplicable.

Tonight the present and future, as seen through the lens of the Big 12, will be on full display. The two best quarterbacks in the league, the two best offenses in the league, the two best offensive play callers in the league and two below average defenses. The couches will burn one way or another in Morgantown tonight.

OFFENSE

The only question for the Sooners is how best to overcome a lack of depth at running back or, more pointedly, what in the world could they do if Kennedy Brooks goes down. There seem to be no assurances that TJ Pledger is available or Trey Sermon.

Obviously, Kyler Murray can pick up the slack. But I think his effectiveness depends on Brooks being available. Otherwise it's liable to be a highlight reel of Murray running for his life for 60 minutes.

I'm going to go against the grain and pick Mr. Brooks over Kyler for my OPOG. I hope it's not a jinx. He needs to stay healthy, be productive and give the rest of the offense the room it needs to operate.

DEFENSE

It seems like every season the defense plays over its head at least once. I suppose one could argue that the Sooners blew their wad against K-State or TCU. I'm not buying it. They have, at most, four more opportunities to show something this season. But if they don't do it today they'll be down to one opportunity and that will be in some sub-tier bowl.  I don't want to sound like an ungrateful asshole but that might be the mercy killing this group deserves.

But back to today. Will Grier is liable to pick this group apart early and often. OU's best shot is obviously getting the Mountaineers to punt. I just heard on TV that the Kansas Jayhawks defense has 15 interceptions this season. The Sooners have forced 8 total turnovers. Anyone who says it's just impossible to defend dynamic offenses in the Big 12 is full of shit. The Sooners are hard baked at this point and getting turnovers seems to be a pipe dream.

I'll pick Parnell Motley for my DPOG today. Even though I just said the Sooners have a hard time forcing turnovers and even though Parnell Motley has inexplicably been Gasrag McGee this year, he is the guy who seems to come up big when it matters most.

THE SCORE

OU has to be composed from the opening kickoff. Kyler Murray cannot be jittery like he was against Texas Tech. OU cannot get down by more than 10 and hope to have enough defense to catch back up and pull ahead.

I'm certainly not confident. This game could be over in the first quarter. But as I slip on my crimson colored glasses I hold out hope for an outlier defensive performance.

I have to take the Sooners so.. Sooners 56, West Virginny 49

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner


West Virginia

This Sooners team is about as disheartening as a one-loss team can be at this stage of the season. They embarrassingly lived up to my prediction last week in giving up 40 points to a putrid Kansas team at home. I saw a stat this past week that they are the first team since the AP poll was started (some time in the 30s) to give up 40 points in 3 consecutive weeks and win all 3 games. To summarize, this is unsustainable. WVU scores in buckets vs anyone, let alone this crepe-paper panty-rag that OU calls a defense. Would anyone be surprised if this game is 64-63 at the end? The only question is, who wins?

OU miraculously still has everything in front of them, however they do need help. Alas it will all be moot if they shit the bed in Morgantown, which is so plausible that I'm almost glad I will be on a plane and missing it.

Offense

I tried to go "next level" last week with a Lee Morris pick. And while I think the running game will be paramount to the Sooners' success today, I still think the offense will put up huge numbers in the pass game. I hope that they play as close to a ball-control offense as they possibly can in this system, otherwise it just means more time for the defense to be embarrassed. But, with the now dearth of RB's, I think a lot of the running will fall on the shoulders of Kyler Murray. Couple that with the passing numbers, and I'm staying squarely inside the box this week and picking Murray for my OPG.

Defense

Our buddy and friend of the Steamroller, Travis Frye texted us last week and declared this the worst defense since we've been rooting for OU (read: damn near 20 years), and I really can't argue with him. I would say that statement is both accurate and nearly unbelievable given the number of shitty defenses over the years. I really don't have a good pick as their are none, but for the sake of doing it I'll say Amani Bedsore, err Bledsoe.

Score

I opened with a half joking 64-63 final, I'll reel that in slightly. Truthfully, I don't think OU will win this game. After last week's loss this will be, by a good measure, WVU's biggest game of the season, it's in their house and their biggest strength matches up with OU's biggest weakness. But, I will hop aboard the optimism train and pick OU today, 55-52.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Kansas Jayhawks

Here's the crux of this one. The Sooners have one more chance to tune up before West Virginia. It's taking every ounce of my being to avoid using this space to explain how it's going to go down the rest of the way.

Fuck it.

The Sooners will win unconvincingly today. They will get their shit together next week. They have a really good shot at winning the Big 12 title game but if it's Iowa State I could see them losing it. For reasons that can only be attributed to television ratings, the Sooners will be selected to The Playoffs.  They will get beat. It is bizarre how year after year the same scenario unfolds.

Alas, Kansas.

OFFENSE

As per yoozsh, the Sooners can only stop themselves. At this point that means they get a little too cute on offense. For instance, when they average 10+ yards per carry they will throw in some razzle dazzle, get behind the chains then do some kind of draw play.

I can't really blame them. When you have a garage full of luxury vehicles you want to drive them all. Today though they really just need to make it short, clean and injury free. I realize I just got done describing the gaudy run game but since there are only two healthy backs the best way to go about keeping folks injury free is to use the run game sparingly.

Therefore, Marquise Brown, now fully healthy, should have a field day.

DEFENSE

It is quite something to be told week after week that you stink and, yet, be unable to do anything the next week to change anyone's opinion. Even by recent Oklahoma defensive standards this team is historically bad. They do not deserve to be in the playoffs. They will sadly do nothing to change the opinion today. It's lose-lose for them. If they play well who cares? They should kick Kansas' ass. Nothing short of six turnovers would make me feel anything close to warm and fuzzy entering next week.

I'll take Kenneth Murray. He at least tackles a lot.

THE SCORE

OU runs rough shod but Kansas gets 24.

OU 70 Kansas 28

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner