Open Post | Monday, September 17th By: TFB Posted on: September 17, 2018

Peyton Powell | Quick-Hitter
– Super K

As you know, 2019 DB target, Peyton Powell did not make it in for his scheduled official visit for the OU vs. FAU game. Apparently, he was banged up after his high school game. He’s fine now.

I checked with Powell, recently, and he mentioned that he does not have his OU visit rescheduled as of yet. We’ll check in again next week as the Sooners make their way back to Norman to finish out September.

 

 

Boom News | Defensive End Jacoby Jones Commits To Sooners
– Charlie S

*** As you all know by now, the number one JUCO Defensive End for the 2019 cycle, Jacoby Jones, committed to Oklahoma yesterday.

Jones visited for the ChampU BBQ back in July and took an official visit for the FAU game in early September and it seemed as though his commitment was only a matter of time.

Earlier this weekend, our graphics guy worked with Jacoby to finalize his commitment edit.

Turned out pretty good!

When we first broke the news of Jacoby visiting for the ChampU BBQ back in July the post included an Insider Note which talked about him choosing to head to Norman for the BBQ as opposed to making his scheduled visit to Austin. From that point forward, OU really took the lead and kept stretching it out through multiple visits and a load of attention from staff letting him know that he was a priority for the Sooners.

With this commitment, the Sooners now have 18 verbal commitments for the NewWave19 class.

We will have a full write up on his decision in the near future.

 

 

One Hale Of A Post Game | Iowa State
– Guest Contributor James Hale

James Hale has been a fixture on the Sooner beat for over 30 years. It is our pleasure to welcome him as a guest contributor for TFB. James has deep ties to the Sooner football program and he will be providing us with his thoughts and sourced updates throughout the season as we continually seek to provide you with as much information as possible on your Sooners.

You can also catch James Hale’s show “Total Sports” on Monday – Friday 11 am to 2 pm on 99.3 FM, SportsTalk 1400AM or statewide on sportstalk1400.com

*** *** ***

Sooners defeated Iowa State in Ames this weekend…

*** Oklahoma was one happy football team to get out of Ames, Iowa with a win Saturday afternoon. Playing in front of a great crowd of 58,479 enthusiastic Cyclone fans on one of the hottest days in Ames that many Iowans could remember (90 degrees) the Sooners made big plays when they needed too and got the win 37-27.

*** The game did not go as I thought it would and I should have known better, but I just didn’t think this Iowa State team was very good after watching their 13-3 loss to Iowa. Considering how the Cyclones played against OU, they are now kicking themselves because if they had played Iowa like they played OU they would have beat Iowa by two touchdowns.

*** As it was, OU could not put the Cyclones away until late in the fourth quarter and quarterback Kyler Murray showed that he is a force to be reckoned with this year, on a day where the defense reverted back to their non-tackling ways, they did make enough plays to help the offense win the game.

*** It was another great effort on special teams and Austin Seibert came up huge against Iowa State. The Sooner punt coverage units were on also on point.

*** Despite the fact that OU has a big edge in the series, even Sooner greats remember tough games in Ames…

*** OU went into the game an 18-point favorite and if their defense had tackled better they would have covered. As it was, thanks to the heat and humidity, the Sooners were worn out after the game, they managed to escape Ames with the win which was the Sooners 17 consecutive win on the road.

*** “That was a tremendous road win,” said Coach Lincoln Riley after the game. “We knew that it would be. We had some chances to separate there in the first half and then we gave them some momentum with the fumble (Calcaterra) and that was a big play because we had it rolling pretty good. Iowa State is a good enough team that if you leave them any room they’re going to capitalize on it, and they capitalized on some of the mistakes that we made today.

*** “It was obviously a very competitive ballgame. I have a lot of respect for them and what they’re doing for their program like I have said for the last couple of years. They’ve done a tremendous job and they’re a tough out and there’s no doubt about it. Our kids really wanted this one there is no doubt. This was an important game for us and even before the season, we had this one circled a little bit, because of what happened last year. You just knew that the way the schedule fell that this one was going to be critical. We have a lot of new guys in a tough venue against a tough opponent, and it’s the first Big 12 game and there was just a lot riding on this game.

*** “Our guys rose up and made the big plays when it counted, and again we got contributions from all three sides of the game. Our special teams were outstanding and we did a really good job on our punt team. Austin Seibert was awesome as he kicked every kickoff out, he made all of his field goals including one there at the end that was a big play for us, and then he punted just lights out. I am not sure what else he can do, he was awesome.”

The elephant in the room…

*** The groaning you can still hear from the Sooner faithful today is probably over another missed tackle. It seems OU missed more tackles than they made on Saturday and that kept several drives alive for the Cyclones because they had so much YAC yardage.

*** “Defensively we made some plays, but we did not tackle like we wanted to,” said Coach Riley. “That is kind of the big glaring disappointment from the day because we have got to tackle better. We did tackle better in the second half. Give Iowa State credit the young quarterback (Zeb Noland) came in and made some really nice throws. Other than the one double move we covered the majority of the day pretty well.

*** “They made a lot of competitive catches and competitive throws. Give them credit there, and I loved it there at the end when we had to have it we got it. We got pressure and Curtis (Bolton) got the chance to pick the one-off and then P-Mont (Parnell Motley) came back and got the next one. So when we had to have it we made it.”

I will get back to the defense in a little bit…

*** The big story for the Sooners was once again the play of Kyler Murray who showed off his overall skill set running and passing the Sooners to 519-yards total offense to Iowa State’s 447. I hear he can play baseball too!

*** “Offensively we did some good things there in the first half. We had a couple of stalled out drives and the fumble (Grant Calcaterra 2nd quarter) was a critical play. I am really proud of how we executed at the end of the half and at the end of the game. To have that long drive, and even though we didn’t score a touchdown, we ate up a lot of clock and got the field goal. Then the touchdown before half you can’t execute any better than that. We scored with five seconds left

*** “I am proud of our team. We still have a long ways to go and we have to get a lot better. However, this was a big step for us and a very…..very nice win.

*** Murray was spectacular finishing 21-29 for 348-yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions while also leading OU in rushing with 77-yards on 15-carries at 5.1-yards per carry despite losing ten yards of rushing on two sacks.

*** “He played well,” said Coach Riley. “He had a real calm demeanor all day. He really saw what was happened and he really saw how we wanted to attack it. He threw the ball extremely well and made some big plays where it counted. He’s going to get into some scramble situations, and I think for the most part we protected pretty well the whole day, but you are going to get some scramble situations against teams like that. He’s growing there is no doubt. He can play better, but he is leading our team, he’s leading our offense and doing a pretty darn good job.”

*** Again the Cyclones used an umbrella defense as they rushed only three most of the day and dropped everybody back, but still had seven or eight guys within 10 to 12 yards of the box. With that being the case, Murray’s ability to run the football become a major factor for the Sooners and Coach Riley dialed a couple up for him to keep the Cyclones loose.

*** “We called a couple for him, but some of them just come out of scrambles,” said Coach Riley. “We called a couple of extra for him but not many. He’s going to run around some because that is what he can do and he’s dynamic with what he can do. He had some explosive plays in the run game and even with the sacks against us at the end he still averaged over five yards per carry. He would have had a lot more if not for those last couple.

*** “He did a great job and he’s really close on the field to popping a couple of those. I still think a couple of those are getting ready to go instead of 15 to 20-yards they’re getting ready to go 50-to-60. He’s doing a nice job. We had some nice stuff schematically and the guys made it work.”

*** Murray walked slowly into the media gathering after the game and I asked him how he was feeling and he said he was one tired dude, and that he could not wait to get back to Norman to go to bed. In the first two games, Murray was not asked to run much but he had his moments, but he knows with Rodney Anderson out for the year that he will be called upon to run the ball more in the future.

*** “It is okay with me if they want me to run the ball,” said Murray. “I’m going to do whatever they feel we need to do to win the game, and if they feel I need to run to win the game then that’s what we are going to do. I scrambled quite a bit today and got us some extra yardage and I was  doing to quite a bit and the Coach Riley would call a quarterback run pay, and I am like ‘oh coach I am so tired’, but hey I just executed what they called and if they need me to run for us to win then I will run all day”

*** OU is still posting big numbers. The Sooners are currently 12th in total offense at 551.3 yards per game and 10th in scoring offense at 49.7-points per game. Many expected the Sooners to experience a big drop off with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield gone, but this offense keeps chugging along with Murray at the helm.

*** What I have learned about Coach Riley is that when it comes to his offense, they don’t rebuild they just reload and keep scoring points, but make no mistake it took the entire Sooner team to beat Iowa State

*** “We are not building this offense back up, you just start and build it the best that you can”, said Coach Riley. “That’s the mentality that we have. That is the whole team, and not just offensively we responded as a whole team. When they made plays and they got momentum and not just offensively but we responded as a team. When they got close we separated back out and we had contributions from all three sides. I think we will take confidence in that and I think we are growing as a team. Our team knows know that they can win in adverse conditions in a place like this against a good football team will do nothing but help.”

Life A.R. (after Rodney)…

*** We were all wondering how the Sooners would recharge the running game with Anderson out and like many thought, Trey Sermon got the start and did a nice job rushing for 74-yards on 13 carries while scoring one nifty touchdown from 22-yards out on a run which Iowa State wanted no part in tackling the big fella. Marcellias Sutton was the second back in and never did really get going, finishing with 21-yards on nine carries. Freshman T.J. Pledger got one carry for one-yard.

*** However, in my opinion, what is glaring is that OU does not have an Anderson type talent on the current roster. Sure Sermon is very good in his own way and we don’t know enough about Pledger or Kennedy Brooks to know if they are game changers are not. Sutton is a good, but not great back and Sermon is very good, but I am not sure he is a difference maker either.

*** I also felt that the OU offensive line was again good but not great against Iowa State. I still feel this unit can play so much better as OU averaged 4.4-yards per rush and 7.6-yards per play. Now JY knows more about offensive line play in his little finger than I do, but I think they can play better.

*** Jonathan Alvarez started at center but was replaced by redshirt freshman Creed Humphrey in the second quarter and played the rest of the way. We were told after the game that Alvarez got dinged up, but he’s fine and should be ready to play against Army Saturday.

Ok back to the defense…

*** I personally don’t blame this one on Defensive Coordinator Mike Stoops because he made the right calls and the guys were in position but they just didn’t finish for most of the day, giving Iowa State a ton of YAC yardage which kept Cyclone drives alive.

*** That was never more evident than watching the Sooners try to tackle and slow down Cyclone 6’6 receiver Hakeem Butler who ran through and over the Sooners for 174-yards and two touchdowns of 51 and 57-yards.

*** “In the second half we finally started to double Butler from the middle of the 3rd quarter on,” said Coach Stoops. “When we singled him they moved him around a little bit and they were tough match-ups for us across the board. Then we did not tackle very well in the secondary. I thought it was very poor, but we did control the run.

*** “I thought up front we did some good things but there were a couple of times that we lost the edge. The ball bounced around on us a little bit and again we didn’t tackle all that well and they made some plays. We controlled their run game pretty well (87-29-3.0) and really never let (David) Singletary get loose on us (21-82-1 TD).”

*** “Our third down pressures were there and we did a good job there (5-14), but they maxed protected all the time and it is impossible to get in there (one sack and five tackles for loss) when they keep their running back and two tight ends in. We blitzed a lot on third downs, and we were very aggressive on 3rd downs. The one time that we didn’t blitz them was when we had them in a 2nd or 3rd and long and we have a drop eight concept and he gets between our linebackers. We didn’t use that call all day and I thought it was a good time for it and they their quarterback did a good job hitting up in the crease.

*** “We challenged Butler and their receivers at the line of scrimmage quite a bit, but they were throwing up 50-50 balls and winning most of them. Usually, we get a good deal of those but today we only got a couple. Butler won the majority of those 50-50 balls and that was tough. His catch radius is crazy, but we made a big play when we needed it at the end of the game and we got the win,”

*** One thing to watch going forward, in my opinion, is how OU uses their personnel on defense.

*** In the first two games OU played Tre Brown as the third corner with great success and in the first game, OU played Robert Barnes at free safety as he alternated with senior Kahlil Haughton. Barnes missed the UCLA game as he was in concussion protocol but was able to practice all last week and we were told that he would be in the game a lot against Iowa State.

*** Barnes did not see the field against the Cyclones and this on one of the hottest days that OU will see this year.

*** Brown got four or five snaps at corner despite the fact that Motley and Tre Norwood struggled at times.

*** Also on a day that junior Mark Jackson (6-tackles) was visibly dragging at the end of the game at the “Jack’ OU did not play Jon Michael-Terry and they announced after the game that they are considering redshirting junior Caleb Kelly and that is why they did not put him in the game.

*** The decision to redshirt Kelly is puzzling to me because if you feel you are a national championship contender don’t you want all hands on deck? The fact they could play Kelly at the ‘Jack’ and alternate him with Jackson would make the defense stronger wouldn’t it? That news was shocking to me because Kelly had indicated to me that he was coming out after this year because he wanted to take care of his family. Well, the best-laid plans don’t ways come to fruition and I’m told they are going to make a definite decision this week on whether to redshirt Kelly or not. Kelly will have something to say about it so it will be interesting to see what they want to do.

*** I’m told that OU feels that Kelly needs to move inside to the “WILL’ because that is his best pro position. That transition has not been easy for Kelly and he has been slow to pick up the position based in large part, in my opinion, on missing the spring with an injury. He is making strides but he is a natural pass rusher and would be good backing Jackson at the ‘Jack’.

*** That is going to be an interesting decision to keep an eye on this week.

*** I am also curious who is going to be the scout team quarterback this week who gets the defense boned up on the wishbone of Army. It is going to be a redshirt receiver or DB I am going to guess, but that is going to be a big story this week as well.

*** The OU vs Army game will be the first evening kick at 6:00 PM