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.

Bedlam: The Final Chapter

Happy Saturday, Sooner fans. The Sooners did not follow my gameplan last week and now find themselves in a familiar position, having to win out and get some help in order to back door their way into the playoff conversation.

The Sooners took a massive hit in Kansas as Danny Stutsman, the heart and soul of this defense, injured his ankle/knee and his status is questionable coming into this one. Offensively, the Sooners are already down Andrel Anthony and now just this week Jalil Farooq got himself arrested during a traffic stop. 

Meanwhile, the Cowboys are on a four game win-streak and have the nations leading rusher in Ollie Gordon II. If you thought Kansas was motivated to beat the Sooners, wait until you see the atmosphere in Stillwater. 

The best example of my hopelessly dumb homerism is my belief that someday the Sooners will understand that when opponents play Oklahoma it's the biggest game of their life, and that the Sooners will meet and exceed that effort level because they know if they lose the opposition is going to cry for joy, rip down goalposts and have stories they'll tell their grandchildren. Every time. 

I am telling you, today, it's the same situation in Stillwater and I have my doubts the Sooners will meet the moment.

OFFENSE

Last week Jeff Lebby's gameplan was conservative to say the least. They ran the ball 16 straight times at one point. Everything they did was telegraphed. The Gavin Freeman jet sweep needs to be ripped out or redacted from the play sheet. Not once did the Jayhawks defense look like they were on their heels. This is unacceptable. 

First, hopefully, Tawee Walker returns after getting banged up last week. He showed he's RB1. Second, I will lose my goddamn mind if Nic Anderson doesn't get six targets. Third, the Sooners have to try and go vertical. 

It's staggering to me to watch this offense not find ways to scheme their playmakers to an open part of the field to let them make plays. 

Finally, clock management has to be addressed. If the Sooners find themselves in a two-minute situation in the first half again, with all their timeouts, and they run out the clock, well, it's time for a change of some sort. What the fuck is that shit? Pull your nuts out of your throat and get aggressive. The Sooners cannot score enough points to feel secure in a game. 

I am hoping to will into existence some schemes for playmakers to make plays and, as such, am picking Nic Anderson as my OPOG. That guy is going to play on Sundays and Lebby and Dillon Gabriel need to get him the fucking ball early and often.

DEFENSE

This defense has shown that they are good most of the time, great some of the time and almost always their own worst nightmare. Their ability to keep themselves on the field via penalty is staggering. They can't have that shit today. 

More than the potential loss of Stutsman, the Sooners need to have Gentry Williams at corner. Things go downhill fast when he gets hurt (and he gets hurt almost every game). 

Beyond dumb penalties, the Sooners need to either rush the quarterback or play pass defense. No pass rush and no pass defense equals disaster. The Sooners have been proving that too often of late. 

Oh and they also need to tackle this Ollie Gordon II fella because he will run rough shod on the Sooners and do it six ways from Sunday if it appears we didn't wear our tackling pants today.

I'll pick Dasan McCollough today for my DPOG. He looks like he's getting real comfortable and ready to make a leap.

THE SCORE

Did I mention how nervous I am about this one? The odds of the Sooners having their act together in all phases of the game are non-zero but not much better than that. Trouble lurks everywhere so the Sooners really need their shit together in the following areas:

• No cute bullshit in the running game. Give it to Tawee Walker and let him run north-south.
• Find ways to get Nic Anderson the ball in space and give Jaden Gibson some chances one-on-one to make a play.
• Limit, reduce or, gasp, eliminate dumb fuck penalties on defense.
• Blitz
• Make field goals
• Learn clock management (coaches)

If the Sooners find a way to do these things I believe they can win by two scores. I doubt they do though and they get hit in the mouth, find themselves down early with Little Brother losing their goddamn minds. If that happens hopefully the Sooners can buck up and find themselves having a chance to win by a field goal.

I'll take the Sooners here 37-34 in a fitting thriller to end this Big Brother-Little Brother rivalry.

Boomer to the motherfucking Sooner.