texas longhorns vs. Oklahoma Sooners - The Red River Rivalry

Happy Saturday, Sooner fans. Our Sooners, 2-2 overall and 11th in the SEC are fresh off a bye week and an exasperating loss at Georgia two weeks ago. The Sooners were hoisted by their own petard yet again as John Mateer turned the ball over 3 times in the resulting blowout.

The bye gave the Sooners the opportunity to make any number of changes to try and get the season back on track. Brent Venables instead made no personnel changes and is pinning his hopes on his offense, his coordinator and his quarterback miraculously improving.

The only material change for the Sooners was the length of the injury report, which one might have expected to get shorter. But no, not only are key players like offensive lineman Michael Fasusi and Eddy Pierre-Louis still likely out, but the Sooners lost Eli Bowen to an "ankle" on Wednesday. 

I know I said this last year and possibly the year before, but losing players to injury in practice is not bad luck. It's bad coaching, and with this team, it's systemic and really needs to be challenged.

OFFENSE

There is a non-zero chance the Sooners and John Mateer in particular, can hang onto the ball and perhaps put together something resembling a competent offense that is designed to create and exploit weaknesses against the longhorn defense.

There is a much higher probability that Ben Arbuckle will stick to what he is most comfortable with in hopes that John Mateer won't shit the bed. 

Best case scenario for the Sooners is they have some early success moving the ball and can, at minimum, flip the field and give the defense a fighting chance to force a punt. 

If the Sooners can get a little confidence and energize the team and the crowd, anything can happen in this one. But so help me if the first couple of drives result in 3rd and long situations, 3 and outs, and short fields for the longhorns. 

Undoubtedly the Sooners will look for ways to get Isaiah Sategna the ball, most likely with predictable jet sweeps. But I stand in solidarity with Natey and refuse to pick Mateer for my OPOG, so I'll go with Sategna, the most electric of anyone on the offense. And maybe he does something big on special teams. 

DEFENSE

You know these guys will do the best they can with what their dealt. I just hope for their sake that they find themselves with a fighting chance, meaning a one score game, in the 4th quarter. I would love to see them at their most hyped, with a chance to finish the longhorns off. They deserve a good result.

Eli Bowen out is a major blow to the secondary though, and you better believe Steve Sarkisian is going to let Arch Manning take shots over the top early and often to see if the next man up can handle Cam Coleman.

This is a matchup between the best offensive play caller in college football against the best defensive play caller. If the Sooners offense could hold up their end, this could be a thriller.

I've got to go with my man David Stone in this one for DPOG. I want to see him pissed, fired up and blowing people up. I want him to get Arch throwing off his back foot. 

These guys are going to have to overcome the Sooners offense and hang in there. They cannot commit stupid penalties to extend drives. Courtland Guillory cannot have more than one pass interference. 

THE SCORE

I'm going full reverse jinx for the second week in a row. I am resigned to the idea that Brent Venables and the entire offense, coaches and players, have learned nothing in the last two weeks. They are who they are. They do what they do. QB draws out of empty backfield shotguns. Jet sweeps. Two yard runs off tackle.

I think the Sooners can score. I think the D will play lights out. But the Sooners offense is just too inept and stubborn to do enough. And god do I hope I'm wrong. 

Sooners 13, texas 24

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner. 

texas

 Buckle up Sooner nation, this one could get ugly in a hurry. Two weeks after getting our pubes shaved off and fed to us at the 50 yard line by Georgia, we face texas who happen to be ranked higher than said pube feeders. It has been a long time since this game looked so lopsided on paper. At least with us being the bitch bois to the top ranked horns. I'm probably just flexing my old man brain (read: forgetting several obvious things) but my mind goes back to the fall of 1996 when mitch and I were just fresh faced pups at OU enduring a rather intense pledgeship and fully into our beloved Sooners even though they really stunk. We made the trip down to Dallas and with no money and a mouthful of braces admirably fending off any female advances, I found myself in a hotel room watching our, at that point, winless Sooners taking on Ricky Williams and the top ranked Longhorns. Hopes were low, but we stepped up as those pesky underdog rivals are known to do and ended up winning that game against all odds. 

While I don't expect a repeat of that miracle, my point is that these things can happen. The Sooners have been absolutely atrocious on offense this year. I don't expect that to change, but if they can get some big stops and hang around, stranger things have happened.

Offense

Whew, this is really becoming a demoralizing area to pick. The offense is just so inept in all phases. Mateer is a disaster. He looks completely lost when trying to read a progression, his accuracy sucks and apparently he just fumbles unprovoked now. Anyway, I'll go with the X man, Xavier Robinson for no good reason. 

Defense

I gotta go with my guy Taylor Wein. He's a monster. He's our best defender and we will need everything from him if there is any chance of an upset. 

Score

I have no idea how it can happen. But that's usually how things go when a rivalry game gets weird. I think we hang around and get texas tightened up enough that they make some mistakes. Manning is a great player, but I think he gets a little "chokey" at times when momentum swings away from him. Sooners turn the tables on texas  this year, 24-23. Long live the ghost of James Allen!!

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

Georgia

 Hello Sooner fan(s)! Coming off an, ahem, uninspiring win against New Mexico where our Sooners mustered up a staggering 14 points, the crimson and cream go on the road today where the gauntlet begins at UGA. Georgia is one of the best teams in the country, and we are, well, not. Ben Arbuckle's seat is nuclear reactor core at this point. Venables towed the company line in supporting him, blah blah blah, but I'll be surprised if Arbuckle is our OC at the end of this season. The defense has been good enough, no question, but they can't do it alone. If only we could combine our teams from 2015-2021 or so, we'd have an undefeated team and a winless team. Alas...

Offense

I'll be surprised if we score 10 points on offense today. We just execute poorly designed plays shittily, it's a bad combo. But, I have to pick someone and that someone is Rocky Beers, for no real reason. 

Defense

The defense is going to need to make some huge plays to prevent this game from being a laugher. The front is where it starts but the secondary needs to get a pick or two and my man to get one today is Courtland Guillory. I think he makes a pick and some key pass breakups today.

Score

Last I looked, the line is -13.5 for Georgia. That is both embarrasingly long for a conference game between two supposedly good programs and also shockingly low for a Sooners team that couldn't score against New Mexico. The only way we hang around with a shot in this thing is defense and special teams scores. I'll borrow Mitchy's glasses today and say we get it done in the upsettiest upset that ever upsetted, Sooners win this thing 17-14. 

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner.

Oklahoma Sooner vs. Georgia Bulldogs

 Good Saturday, Sooner fans. The weather in OKC this morning was rainy and gloomy, a perfect match to the current outlook of this Sooners football team. The Sooners are coming off a, shall we diplomatically say, uninspiring win against the New Mexico Lobos.

Confidence is not high. John Mateer turned the ball over. The offensive line had no push. The offense is a disaster. The Sooners now take the show on the road to perennial power Georgia. The question is, can the Sooners make enough improvement to keep it close? I don't think so.

OFFENSE

14 points against the New Mexico Lobos is just unbelievable after an off-putting performance against Michigan. What can the Sooners do? Ben Arbuckle has to go. I will be shocked if he's still calling plays by the Kentucky game.

Alas, today I think the Sooners best bet is to utilize multiple tight end sets. Go big with extra blockers and run a lot of play action with some boots for John Mateer. He runs for his life anyways. He can't go through a progression. Get him in situations where Georgia defenders have to choose between spying on the running QB or defending a RB or TE in that second level. 

I'll take Rocky Beers today because he has been a bright spot. Fire Arbuckle on the spot if he runs an empty backfield shotgun QB draw or jet sweep on a 3rd down.

DEFENSE

The problem today for this defense is not getting off the field or having the personnel to match up with Georgia. It's whether or not they can win turnover margin. Unfortunately, Mateer puts them in a real bind that's tough to overcome. The next three weeks are going to be brutal for these guys.

Today, I bet Owen Heinecke continues to do his thing. 25 tackles through three games is pretty tough.

THE SCORE

Look, I'm not suggesting the Sooners are going to wave the white flag against Georgia today and Texas in two weeks. It would be a season changer to go 1-1. But I do fear Arbuckle just isn't a guy who is going to do anything other than continue to try to jam a square peg through a round hole.

It's too much to expect the playcalling to become competent, the offensive line to suddenly own the line of scrimmage and your quarterback to be able to work through progressions and not make at least two dumb passess per game. That's just what we have. 

Best case, Arbuckle's headset is turned off and someone else is running the show behind the scenes. We get through the next two game and cut Arbuckle loose and try to make something of the rest of the season.

Georgia 28, Sooners 6

Prove all us haters wrong, boys.

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner. 

New Mexico

 What a mess last week was. Our Sooners looked absolutely impotent on the offensive side of the ball. And the D softened just enough to let the sad Michigan offense get some points. It helps when Mateerrible throws an absolutely brutal pick in a tie game that led to an easy 6. This is year two of the Arbuckle Mateer experiment and so far it's been bad. The play calls generally range from unimaginative to completely head scratching. And aside from the first three or four games last year Mateer has looked, well, like ass. His accuracy is mostly terrible and he's caught the same virus that Jackson Arnold and Landry Jones had where the QB is absolutely unable to look anywhere beyond his first read. In short, he stinks. NM comes in to town and I know really nothing about them. But honestly, and I really hope I'm wrong, the season looks like a lost cause already. We have a murderers row of conference games and the fact that we couldn't win the non-conference "test" against a clearly bad Michigan team does not bode well. We basically can afford (maybe) to lose one more game. I don't see that happening. On to the optimism!

Offense

Mateer is officially in my doghouse and I refuse to pick him again. Granted I will at times pick receivers which he is directly involved with, but not him. Today I will go with Lloyd Avant. He's been very good when given an opportunity. Unfortunately, he's been the victim of Arbuckle's "if it ain't broke, let's go ahead and fuck around with it a bit". Maybe today he'll get a more extended opportunity. 

Defense

Taylor Wein is awfully hard not to pick. Dude is just a great player. But I really like David Stone today. He's been extremly solid up front and I think he gets to the QB today.

Score

I didn't bother looking at the spread but this feels like a game where we look good enough that everyone has some since of hope going into Athens next week, where we will get smashed. Sooners win this one in convincing fashion 27-7. 

Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner

New Mexico Lobos vs. Oklahoma Sooners

Happy Saturday, Sooner Nation. The Sooners are fresh off a disappointing 17-10 loss up in Ann Arbor. It was a game decided in the trenches for the Sooner offense. The offensive line was dominated and the Sooners lost the turnover battle 2-0. One turnover resulted in a red zone offense opportunity that the Wolverines capitalized on.

Is it the end of the world? No. But most disheartening was the play of the offensive line and the lackluster offensive game plan in general. 

OFFENSE

In week 1, the Sooners put John Mateer under center, they used a fullback in the eye formation and they often times used 2 or 3 tight end sets. Against Michigan, the offense regressed to their comfort zone. QB shotgun draws  with 0 tight ends or backs for extra blocking. They completely bungled an opportunity to try and get some points before halftime, albeit a long field goal attempt. 

On one hand, we should expect the Sooners to rebound against what is presumably an overmatched Lobos defense. I expect to see a crisply executed, competent game plan. On the other, it will be maddening to watch knowing that they could have done the same thing in Ann Arbor.

I think I'm over Ben Arbuckle and Bill Bedenbaugh. Arbuckle in particular demonstrates a complete lack of grasp of in game management. He seems to be unable to adjust on the fly and is hell bent on calling plays he enjoys running. He's completely predictable. Bedenbaugh hasn't been able to keep his guys healthy or establish any real depth for the entirety of the Brent Venables era. It's inexcusable.

Anyway, I don't see anyone really busting out today. I guess I'll say Mateer, simply because he needs to get some confidence before heading to Athens next week.

DEFENSE

These guys played competently enough to win the game last week, but they have some room to improve as well. If the offense is going to be hapless, these guys have to force some turnovers. They missed on two opportunities in Ann Arbor. 

I expect them to be steady and to set the tone today. However, I worry that they will start to get frustrated by the offense. 

Today I'll go Jayden Jackson for my DPOG. He seems to be lost in the mix of all the hype surrounding the players around him. He's a stud and I think he plays lights out today. 

THE SCORE

There is no way in hell the Sooners can put up more than 50, but they damn sure better put up 35. I'll take the Sooners 42, Lobos 10 

Oklahoma Sooners vs. Michigan Wolverines

 The Sooners (1-0, 0-0) head north this week to The Big House in Ann Arbor Michigan to take on the Wolverines (1*-0). The earlier in a pair of blue blood matchups this Saturday, the other being Ohio State and Texas. 

Michigan is fresh off an undeserving win against Western Michigan that had the Wolverines gifted an extra down to throw a hail mary which was caught for a winning score. The Wolverine co-eds then, embarassingly, stormed the field as if they had just punched their ticket to the playoffs. To reiterate, the Michigan Wolverine fanbase stormed the field after a last second victory against Western Michigan. 

Anyhow, you can say the Wolverines were looking ahead. You can say they now have their heads snapped on straight. But you can also say that the Oklahoma Sooners come in having handled their business against UTEP in a 51-0 shellacking and they were not looking ahead. You can also claim that the Sooners have an advantage with continuity in the system across the board. Whereas Michigan has a new coach and, regardless how esteemed he might be, cannot have his unit fully dialed in to this point.

OFFENSE

The Sooners did some really encouraging things last week. Multiple tight end formations, John Mateer under center, the use of a fullback. All fantastic. They also were able to run the ball. The Colorado State transfer, Lloyd Avant, looked outstanding. He has outstanding acceleration through the hole (that's what she said). 

John Mateer made some really nice throws. Isaiah Sategna had a punt return and a TD reception. A total beast.

The souls of the Michigan players will be seen visibly leaving their bodies and fogging the lights of the Big House if the Sooners meet with early success running the ball. The Sooners also put some things on tape that will really make Michigan have to work on play action and with the tight ends out in coverage. 

For my OPOG, I think it'd be easy to take Sategna as he is clearly one of the best players on every field he steps on. However, I'm going to ride the hot running back hand this week and go with Avant. I am really excited about his game.

DEFENSE

UTEP missed three field goals in the shutout loss last week, so it maars what looks like an otherwise perfect report from the D. It was still a great game by the Sooners. They were locked in througout. UTEP threw every play in the book at them. What jumped out at me was in the 2nd half how the Sooners just had fresh body after fresh body to throw out there. It was relentless and overwhelming.

Michigan is a completely different challenge, but the point is the depth. Bryce Underwood has not done much after having been so balleyhooed out of high school. He's a fine player. But he is going to make some mistakes with having so much, so intensely thrown at him for the entire game.

In fact, this will be what gets the Sooners through the gauntlet this entire season. This has the chance to be an amazing defense and you can tell Sooner Nation is here for it. 

For my DPOG I'm going Taylor Wein. We need a DE to get home a couple times in this one. His size really jumps out at you on TV. 

THE SCORE

I think the Sooners have good reason to feel very confident going into this one. I'm interested to see how Michigan reacts after last week. Were they looking ahead? Are they still getting their sea legs under them?

The Sooners are the better team today so I'm not sure it matters. Still, I think it'll be real tough to win in Ann Arbor.

Sooners 27, Michigan 21

Boomer to the motherfuckin Sooner