The Football Brainiacs

Image via OU Football Facebook

* The Offensive Line – Not exactly breaking news here in proclaiming the odds are incredibly strong there will be very little of substance to take away from this game with what should be an overmatched Akron team. That said, one of the few aspects of this game in which I feel as though there could be some important will be the play of OU’s offensive line.

From what I’ve been led to believe this week, the strength of this Akron team, at least in this early part of the 2015 season, is expected to be the defense, and specifically the front seven. And while OU returns to veterans up front in Ty Darlington and Nila Kasitati, they will also be trotting out three first-year starters as well. That left side of the line with redshirt freshman Orlando Brown at tackle and sophomore Jonathan Alvarez at guard will be particularly interesting to keep an eye on (signed, Captain Obvious).

So if this group is struggling throughout the game Saturday night to keep pressure off Baker Mayfield and/or opening up rush lanes for the bevy of talented running backs OU will have at their disposal, it could quickly raise some red flags within Sooner Nation. Admittedly it would still just be one game and the first of the entire season at that, but if you’re struggling against a team like Akron it probably doesn’t bode well going forward, one game or no.

* Wide Splits – Sticking with the o-line, if the ever so brief glimpses from practices — be it from pictures or video clips from freshmen posted to social media only to immediately be taken down — we’ve been granted it would appear this OU offensive line is going to employ those wide splits we’ve become accustomed to seeing from some ‘Air Raid’ teams in the past. Now I’ll be the first to admit what little evidence we have isn’t much to go on, so maybe they will come out in a more traditional set and this will be a non-issue altogether.

If they do utilize these wide splits, however, I’ll be curious to see what that means for the run game, both from an effectiveness and scheme standpoint.

* Joe Mixon – Pretty sure this one doesn’t require much explanation.

* Mark Andrews – Even just the idea of having a threat in the middle of the field somewhat reminiscent of what the Sooners had back when Jermaine Gresham was in Norman brings a smile to my face. Little point in rehashing the how/why of a tight end becoming virtually non-existent in an OU offense, I’m just excited that by all accounts it looks to be back and likely to play a prominent role in 2015.

If you can believe what we’ve heard coming out of fall camp, Andrews figures to be big — both figuratively and literally — target in OU’s red zone offense. And at 6’5″ 245 he is an immediate mismatch for every opposing defense the Sooners will face this season.

* Austin Seibert – If you’ve followed things closely enough since even before he arrived on campus, you know Seibert is certainly not lacking in confidence. And for good reason considering he came in this summer, as a true freshman, and won both the kicking and punting jobs.

But it’s obviously one thing to put it through the uprights on the rugby fields and/or an empty stadium, while it’s another thing entirely to do it in front of 85,000 plus. And the danger in having one guy handle both punting and kicking is that having an off day with one could carry over to the other.

Based on whatever you can take away from interview quotes, I feel like it would take quite a bit to shake this kid’s confidence. But there was also a time when the majority of us had unwavering confidence in a guy we used to refer to as Moneycutt so….

* The Underclassmen – Not to be “that guy” and reference my own tweets, but if you’re not on the Tweeter and/or missed these from earlier in the week:

There were a total of 55 players listed on the OU off./def. depth chart released yesterday. Over half (29) are either freshmen or sophomores

— Jordan Esco (@Jordan_Esco) September 1, 2015

If you go strictly by the two-deep, #Sooners have 22 players listed as freshmen/sophomores.

— Jordan Esco (@Jordan_Esco) September 1, 2015

So clearly there will be a number of youngsters on the field for OU this Saturday night. And in a number of instances, the OU coaches need these guys to play well both from a depth and development going forward standpoint.

One in particular you might want to keep an eye on is true freshman CB P.J. Mbanasor. K has a little nugget on this which I’m expecting he will share with you in the next day or two. But you can look at the depth chart OU released earlier this week and see any number of opportunities for several of these underclassmen to see the field Saturday night.

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What will you be watching for Saturday night?