Oklahoma Sooners vs. texas Longhorns

It's hate week, Sooner fans. The perennially overrated texas Longhorns come limping into the Cotton Bowl today after having been ranked the preseason number 1 team in college football, now unranked, and fresh off a loss to the Florida Gators last week in Gainesville. They are led by the poster child for being overrated, Arch Manning. The talking heads seem to think the Longhorns are going to lock it in and that every humiliating performace from Manning is the one that will light the fire to get him to turn the corner. Maybe they are who they are. Maybe they are coming to regret the deal with the devil they made to get Arch on campus. They are stuck. And today they are fucked.

The Sooners, on the other hand, are flying high. They also have a lot of motivation. Beyond the rivalry, they got smacked last year by the Horns and this Sooners defense must be licking its chops at the opportunity to rush this very average un-texas-like offensive line and the woefully average Arch. 

And oh, by the way, it looks like John Mateer will be giving it a go, which in and of itself, will boost the spirits of Sooner Nation. I am very surprised he's going to give it a shot. I figured the Ole Miss game in two weeks would be a more reasonable target date. Alas, this apparent Alpha doesn't want to miss this one as he understands this is why you come to Oklahoma. This is big time college football.

OFFENSE

The obvious key is Mateer. Is he truly able to give something close to 100%? We've talked about the Sooners running game being key, and it is, but in this one, the odds of victory go up exponentially with Mateer. Mikey Hawkins isn't Him. With Hawkins, the Sooners are stressed to depend on the defense and special teams to hang on and, more likely, have to come up with special play to have any chance at victory. With a healthy Mateer, you have an offense that can play keep away or get up a score or two and then leverage big plays in other areas to provide some cushion.

This will be the best defense Mateer has faced, ate least since Michigan. He has to take care of the football. Hopefully the surgery has improved JM's touch.  

The Tory Blaylock/Jaydn Ott combo doesn't have to be lethal, but they need to be respected and they need to be effective enough that the Sooners don't have to put Mateer in overly risky situations from a re-injury standpoint.

Mateer is my OPOG as long as he plays. Isaiah Sategna III is my backup. Anytime something wild happens on the field this year, it's this guy who's in the camera frame. 

DEFENSE

We're running out of superlatives for this group. They are tops in the country in total defense. They will be motivated after having given up 35 last year against the Longhorns. And they are facing the homeless man's Jackson Arnold in Arch Manning. You think you've seen these guys fly to the football all year, just wait until you see them today.

Steve Sarkisian is a crafty little fucker, though, and I'm sure he'll have a scheme designed to take advantage of our speed and aggressiveness, likely in the form of quick strikes that get a texas WR in the open field against Courtland Guillory. That's what I would do anyhow. He's the closest thing to Gas Rag McGee (patent pending) that this defense has. I say that and believe that he'll be a stud in time. Offenses have to find someone to try to exploit, though. 

They will also have to try to establish some run game and the Sooners, as per usual, will sell out to stop that. It's a simple game, really, where the Longhorns will be in serious trouble if the Sooners can get pressure with four rushers. They've been doing it all season.

I'm tempted to pick someone for my DPOG besides David Stone. If pressed to do so, I'd say R Mason Thomas, a guy who shows up big in big moments. However, I'm committed to Stone and his ability to disrupt right up the gut. He demands double teams and then is able to beat them. That's like having an extra rusher right there. Huge. 

THE SCORE

OU is bringing it's most complete football team to Dallas since the early 2000's. Those games featured OU teams with a superior quarterback and a better defense. This team is both those things plus, as we saw last week, difference makers in special teams with Sategna and quality punting and kicking. 

With Mateer being hopefully OK, Hawkins being a sub-optimal solution if not, and Arch Manning on the other side, the Sooners have what it takes to gut one out if need be. If OU can force punts at close to the rate they have all season and Sategna can flip the field position, the Sooners have a kicker and defense that can win a knife fight.

The fact the Longhorns are favored shows the extent of texas bias amongst pollsters and prognosticators. The Sooners should win this one.

Sooners 20, Longhorns 17

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

texas

Once again my friend(s) the red river rivalry is upon us. The preseason top ranked longhorns have slid all the way out of the top 25 and our beloved Sooners have steadily inched up the polls to number 6. As has been true in so many disappointing seasons of the past, everything we are playing for is still in front of us and still in our hands. While today’s game won’t do as much to help should we win, it certainly could hurt to lose to an unranked team, even if it is texas. I would much prefer that texas was coming off of a win this week. I never like playing the team with something to prove. No doubt they are talented and with the rivalry this is almost always a coin flip anyway. 

Much has been made about arch manning being a bust. I’m of the opinion that he will still be a stud. HS to college is a big step and he has all of the skills. I think he simply needs more time before he figures it out. I’m hoping that “more time” includes this week. No doubt the D will be revved up and trying everything they can to make his day miserable. Let’s hope that he and R. Mason & Co., aka the dog pound, get acquainted with young arch early and often. 

Speaking of D, texas has one of the best ones in the country. What we can manage against them will tell the tale today I feel. Which brings us to the question that has pervaded the consciousness of all of Sooner for nation for the last (rubs eyes, thinks a minute) 2.5 weeks, will Mateer play? As of the time of “publishing”, he is listed as probable.  Which leads me to a second question I didn’t expect to be asking, will he be effective if he does play? 

Oh daddy, so much intrigue. I’m amped for this one. 

Offense

As I said before, this is the crux of it all in my opinion. Who steps up, who makes that big play to put points on the board? I’m going to defer fucking around and just say it, it’s Mateer. I think he plays, I think he plays well, I think he leads the Sooners to a W and I think he never pays for a drink on Oklahoma for the rest of his life. 

Defense

It’s an odd feeling to be excited about a Sooners defense. They’ve been very tough all season, especially up front. I think the front four/eight (it’s a deep unit) gets after Arch Manning all day and gets his pants a nice burnt orange on the inside. I like my man, R. Mason Thomas today to terrorize. 

Score

This is going to be a tough one and my picks are all predicated on a Mateer performance. If he is unable to play, this all goes out the window (we won’t even discuss that mess). I think texas comes to play, I think they have a lot to prove and really nothing to lose. That’s a dangerous club. But I think the D is stiff when it matters and I think Mateer gets enough done in the clutch. Sooners escape 31-27. 

Boomer to the Motherfuckin Sooner 

Kent State vs. Oklahoma

The Sooners take on hapless Kent State on a gorgeous sunny day in Norman today. This will be the first game for the Sooners since learning that John Mateer suffered an injury in his throwing hand that required surgery in the Sooners victory against the Auburn Tigers.

Making the playoffs, much less winning a championship, requires more than a complete team. You have to avoid injuries and you have to have some luck. The Sooners have a good, mostly complete team. The timing of Mateer's injury seems to be lucky. The injury should take approximately four weeks to come back from. It seems plausible that he would try to come back on the aggressive side of a 4-6 week timetable. But for the Sooners, what a gift to have week 1 of the injury be on a bye week and week 2 against Kent State, at home, a chance to let Ben Arbuckle and Michael Hawkins, Jr. try to get some work in together before SEC begins, in earnest, with the Red River Rivalry coming up next week. 

The Sooners will be (spoiler alert!) undefeated going into Texas. Let's hedge and say Mateer does not make it back for that one or the matchup at South Carolina the week after. The Sooners will still be in terrific shape for the stretch run if they can go 2-1 without Mateer and get back home on October 25th sitting at 6-1 or 7-0 against Ole Miss. I'd love to see Mateer against Texas. But if Michael Hawkins can show some competence and poise while managing Ben Arbuckle's game plan, I'd be thrilled to see the return of a healthy Mateer at home against Ole Miss.

That's the mission at this point. 

OFFENSE

Speaking of Michael Hawkins, what we've seen in limited action thus far would indicate he is not John Mateer or even close. He's run-first and does not seem to keep his eyes downfield while scrambling. He's an athletic freak, but the magic of Mateer is his ability to keep both a play alive and his eyes downfield.

The key today will be for Hawkins to reign in his instinct to tuck and run. One would hope the Sooners O-Line can provide enough cushion to allow Hawkins time to work on going through his reads quickly, being decisive and running as a last resort. 

Secondarily, today really needs to be used to develop the running game. Every armchair quarterback who's watched the Sooners this year has lamented the lack of a consistent running attack outside of John Mateer. Rumor has it that Jayden Ott might see more action. One is also left to wonder, "Wither Taylor Tatum?". 

The key today though, and my OPOG, is Jaren Kanek. Kanek has been such a pleasant surprise and primary security blanket for Mateer. He will find himself playing on Sundays if he doesn't watch himself. If he and Mikey Hawkins can get on the same page, Kanek can go a long ways towards helping Hawkins get settled in. Kanek needs to hang onto the ball, but by and large he's sure handed, great after the catch and can get himself open a lot. He's brilliant at getting chunk plays when the Sooners need one. I think he'll be huge today. 

DEFENSE

Mateer gets a lot of credit for his part in making the Sooners one of this season's biggest positive surprises thus far. It's the Sooners defense, however, that is carrying the day. They're 3rd nationally in scoring defense and 2nd overall in total defense. 

Perhaps the weirdest statistic in college football this year is that the Sooners are tied for 128th in the FBS in turnover margin. They have yet to get one. They've had chances and you have to trust that they'll come and when they do it will be in bunches. 

Maybe it starts today. Eli Bowen is back and healthy and will get his first action of the season. He is probably the better of the Bowen's which is saying something. If he's fully healthy and the Sooners decide to get him a lot of snaps to work him back into playing action, then it's conceivable this defense just got better. 

For my DPOG I'm summoning my inner Natey, though,  and starting to really like what David Stone brings to the table. He is a menace. This defensive line is something else. I'm claiming my spot on the Stone Bandwagon until it looks like it's parked at a Mumbai station and I'm squeezed off by the crush of so many other Philistines.

THE SCORE

The Sooners will crush today. Kent State has played some ranked teams (Texas Tech and Florida State), but they are about to get feasted on, the extent to which they are not prepared to handle. I will be interested to hear how Kent State compares the Sooners overall to these other quality teams they have faced. Mind you, interested to hear is not to be confused with ambitious enough to actually look.

The Sooners are favored by 45.5 as of press time and the over/under is 53.5. I will take those odds and the over. 

Sooners 63, Kent State 7

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Kent State

 After an off week, filled with some truly terrible news, our Sooners return to the field this week to take on a 1-3 Kent State team. The awful news, of course, is that John Mateer had to have surgery on a broken throwing hand last week that appears will keep him off the field for at least a month. He is unquestionably our most indispensable player on the entire team. The good news, if there is any, is that he misses a bye week last week and an effective bye week this week against Kent State. Beyond that, things get dicey. I know nothing about Kent State but I'm fairly confident that the abortion of a QB that is Michael Hawkins can at least lead us to victory in that one. There is a lot to digest regarding Mateer's availability down the road, but we'll save that for the next week. As it is, not much to say here other than let's TCB, hopefully avoid further injury and get ready for Red River.

Offense

Hawkins was pretty terrible last year, just really overmatched basically at all times. The OC's were dreadful, sure, but he really didn't look capable of leading a team to victory vs a big time opponent. As such, I'm staying away from him and all WRs this week. I think the ground game "gets right" this week and pounds this one into submission. I like Tory Blaylock again. Dude is a stud.

Defense

I won't mince words, it's Kip Lewis this week. He flies all over the field and is generally just a badass. I like him to rack up tackles this week and maybe even force a turnover (remember those?). 

Score

The spread is something absurd like 49.5. I don't see the offense scoring anywhere near that amount so I think it'll be a tough cover. I like the Sooners to take this one 38-6. 

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Auburn Tigers vs. Oklahoma Sooners

 Good Saturday afternoon, Sooner fans. How are we feeling about our football team this week? I'm a little more than cautiously optimistic as the Sooners head into SEC play against Jackson Arnold, Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers.

The Sooners took care of business (TCB) last week in Philadelphia last week against an overmatched Temple team. There could have been a let down but there was not. Now, the Sooners have a confident, violent defense and an offense whose confidence is growing week by week. 

Tigers fans will get a warm welcome in Norman today. Jackson Arnold will not. That's unfortunate as I don't feel much of what happened last year was on him. However, 100 out of 100 armchair quarterbacks would take John Mateer over the mustachioed Arnold. Sooner fans will make life hell on him today.

OFFENSE

Kirk Herbstreit called what Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer are doing is the top story in college football. Folks are getting very bullish on our boys. 

Mateer obviously has some extra moxy that separates him from others. His ability to throw on the move. He has a pre-snap calm. The dude gets it. 

I expect today we will see more growth in the run game. Maybe Taylor Tatum makes an appearance. Tory Blaylock is the man in the backfield though. The Sooners need to continue to find ways to open him up. He's fast and fearless and can take a lot of pressure off Mateer.

Also keep an eye out for Isiah Sategna III who is proving to be a guy who, if given space, can get yards in chunks and make people miss. I'll go with him for my OPOG today.

DEFENSE

What more can be said thus far about this group. They lead the SEC so far in total defense. Will it last? We've seen enough to say that it could. If it doesn't, we still know this group is competent enough to keep the Sooners in games. Teams are going to struggle mightily to overcome a two score deficit.

Today, they are going to sell out to stop JA's read option game. They'll show it a number of different ways, but they are going to shut that down. He is not a great passer.

It is wild that the defense has not gotten a turnover this year. Hopefully that changes today, as JA was more than capable of throwing dumb interceptions as a Sooner. 

I'm going Kip Lewis for my DPOG today. I'm hoping he gets some shots on JA and separates JA from th the ball once or twice.

SCORE

Sooner Nation is coming alive and will have all the motivation they need to spur the Sooners on today. It's a beautiful day in Oklahoma. The Sooners are feeling good and confident. 

I don't know that the Sooners win big, but I like a score of about 34-21 today.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner

Auburn

 Well, here we go. Conference play officially starts today with a tilt against the unbeaten #22 ranked Auburn Tigers. Thankfully the Sooners get to start the slate on home turf. OU has gotten off to a great start, but 3-0 is really nothing in the scheme of things and it's no secret that the schedule is an absolute gauntlet of mostly the nations best teams. There will need to be a lot of breaks go the Sooners way to get to the playoffs, but you have to take it week by week and none of it happens without a little TCB at home today. It's still so early in the season that I have no idea if the Michigan win is a huge game, or if they'll end up being a very average team thus taking a bit of the luster off. I do know that Auburn is good, and this will be a really tough test at home.

The defense once again looked very tough last week. That is really the crux of the entire year in my opinion. If this defense can continue to look as elite as they have so far, then I think OU has a chance to make those coveted playoffs. The offense still looks shaky to me. Matter has been nothing short of a revelation, but the run game has to get going. We all know that SEC football frequently turns into a slugfest and relying on one guy to carry you just isn't going to work against top defenses. Today is a nice litmus test so to speak against a tough SEC team. Let's start by winning the turnover battle today, hm? OK, fine.

Offense

Last week I felt like an RB would have to step up and take some pressure off of the passing game. And while it was much better than the first 2 weeks, it still needs to get more consistent. I guessed Javonte Barnes. An early TD by him had me robustly patting my own back. Alas, he might as well have showered and gone home after that (maybe he did) as he was scarcely heard from again. However, Tory Blaylock really stepped up and thus far has been the most consistent back. The frosh has been really good and the run game has continued to improve. I think that continues today. At the risk of just picking a hindsight guy from last week, I'm going with Blaylock today and say he keeps it going at RB. 

Defense

So many good players on this side of the ball so far this year. It's been strange to see. I'm still very much waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak and see a team just expose us. Oh how I would love to be wrong about that, but history has jaded me just a touch. I don't really know a ton about Auburn, but aside from the usual need to stop the run, I think pressure on the QB will be essential to get off of the field today. I went with him before and whiffed, but I still believe R. Mason Thomas is due for a breakout game and I think it's today. He's my DPG.

Score

OU currently sits at -6.5. I think personally think this is lofty. I think this will be a bit of a grind and will really come down to the final few drives. I think Mateer and the offense do enough in the clutch to get out of here with a win. Sooners stay unbeaten 27-24.

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Oklahoma Sooners vs Temple Owls

 May there be no letdown in Philadelphia today. The Sooners showed the country last week that they have enough pieces to be a complete football team. They dismantled Michigan and really could have inflicted more damage if not for some self inflicted errors on special teams. The Sooners have had some decent wins in the Brent Venables era, but Sooner fans have been waiting for a team like this for well over a decade. 

The Sooners have an aggressive defense that can get pressure with the front four. They can fly to the ball and hit hard. They have some lockdown corners. This is a unit that can make life miserable if you get down two scores on them. 

And the Sooners have a quarterback in John Mateer who has some moxie and can put his team on his back. He is mistake prone, but if his O-line can gel and they can develop some balance in the run game, this team should be in every game they play. 

The test today for the Sooners is can they bring the effort and attitude to Philly against a crappy Temple team after coming off the high of last week. Can they be sharp and avoid self inflicted penalties and errors?

OFFENSE

The offensive line looked much improved last week and they had four new starters on the unit. Freshman Michael Fasusi started at Left Tackle and played real well. That is a fantastic sign for the future, both short and long term. 

The key today is to continue to develop chemistry across the board and to find some wrinkles to continue to get the running game going. The qb run game is solid,but opponents need to know the Sooners can run the ball 

That said, how beautiful was the 16 play, 9 minute drive to ice the game in the 4th quarter. Love that shit. 

For my OPOG I’m taking John Mateer. I know it’s low hanging fruit and I won’t do it next week. Today though I think it’s especially important for him to come out with some energy to lead this team and avoid a letdown. 

DEFENSE

It’s the same story with energy here. Can these guys have near the same level of focus they brought last week. If yes, then we’ve got a group that realizes they haven’t done shit yet and probably realize they have a ways to go before any mountain tops are summited. Great teams come out and take care of business in games like this. 

I’m taking Jayden Jackson for my DPOG. Dude was a menace last week. What a luxury to be able to get pressure with your front four. When was the last time the Sooners had that?

THE SCORE

I think Mateer has his side ready to go. I think BV has his side ready to go. Sooners win going away, but not too crazy. 

Sooners 42, Owls 6

BOOMER TO THE MOTHERFUCKIN SOONER