Open Post | Tuesday, October 19th

Quick Postgame Thoughts | TCU
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 16, 2021

Just a couple notes from the Sooners 52-31 victory over TCU

***Have to start at the top with Caleb Williams. The kid shined. While it was quite obvious Riley was going to start him, I still give him credit for seeing it through. Despite what Lincoln says, this was not a ‘pleasant situation to be in, but he ripped off the bandaid and his team will be better for it. So while we bag on coaches for the moves they don’t make, I’m tipping my cap to Riley for making this move which had some many different layers to it.

***Williams was statistically impressive obviously. 18 of 23 for 295 yards and 4 touchdowns is impressive enough, but when you consider two of those 5 incompletions were dropped touchdowns for 50+ yards, you begin to get the full picture of his passing game. His running game is next level and while he still needs to be more aware of down and distance, he has runners instincts you cannot teach. He finished with 9 rushes for 66 yards and another touchdown.

***Kennedy Brooks had another big night and that was largely overlooked due to the excitement around Caleb. Brooks ran 20 times for 153 yards (7.7 YPC) and 1 touchdown.

***Jadon Haselwood had a career night with 3 TD catches and Mims and Woods each had chunk plays and drew multiple pass interference calls. Trevon West had a nice catch and run early in the game as well.

***The offensive line looked okay on first watch, didn’t look imposing consistently, but they had their moments.

***Overall the offense looked explosive and dangerous when Riley was engaged and on his game in respect to calling plays. There were a couple of ‘WTF” drives in the 4th quarter, but it felt like both teams were just going through the motions at that point. I;m not excusing it and I would hope not to see that again, but it was what it was.

***Defensively…I don’t even really want to get into that tonight too much. They were just bad at pretty much every level.

***Felt like the linebackers were ‘ok’ most of the night and Asamoah flashed at times (Big 4th down stop and couple really decisive plays) but I mean…nothing really stood out.

***The defensive line was not consistently getting pressure, but TCU game-planned it well in getting the ball out quickly. My concern there for this game was it felt like the TCU OL pushed them around more than we are used to seeing in the run game.

***The secondary was terrible for most of the night. Felt like they did Bowman dirty and you have to hope he learns from his time at cornerback and doesn’t go into a shell. Kid is a good player, you don’t want to see every ounce of confidence stripped away.

***Yes they were missing players and yes it’s supposed to be ‘next man up’ but I have to finally say it…Pat Fields is given opportunities that other players are not afforded for having poor performance and that has to come to an end.

***Latrell McCutchin and Josh Eaton got zero snaps (at first look) in the first half. They both made plays that looked like they knew what they were doing on the football field in the second half…which is more than most of the secondary was doing throughout the evening.

***Jaden Davis was not good by any means, but we did see him have an important PBU…which right now is something to cheer about I guess.

***The Kansas game will be a welcomed respite for this team as they will be able to rest some guys and get some other guys valuable experience, but man I do not know how the secondary can be salvaged without some changes in personnel and coaching. The coaching doesn’t make magic happen in a week, but something has to change and that responsibility lies with Riley and Grinch on how to help that unit get their feet under them. OU has highly coveted players in the DB rooms. Something has to change to get them to elevate their play. We will get into that more this week.

***Overall, that was probably the most impressive win on the year for the Sooners and the entire team seems to feed of Caleb Williams’ energy. The offense looks lie it is going to only get better each week…we need to see something against Kansas to restore some form of belief that the defense can be salvaged and at least be respectable on the backend. The front 7 I have confidence in…the backend…not so much.

***Enjoy the night, it was a solid win at the end of the day. The team has all their goals in front of them and they can still fix/address some of the defensive issues!


Rileys Quarterbacks First Starts
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 17, 2021

Last night, Lincoln Riley started his fifth ‘QB1’ during his tenure as offensive coordinator and head coach at Oklahoma.

While the circumstances were different for Caleb Williams as he started his reign as QB1 midseason, I wanted to give you all a look at how each of the previous starting four quarterbacks faired in their opener.

2015: Baker Mayfield: Redshirt Sophomore: vs Akron: 41-3 OU Win

Passing: 23 of 33 for 388 which was good for 11.8 yards per attempt with 3 touchdowns and a 69.7 rating

Rushing: 6 carries for 8 yards which was a 1.3 yards per carry average and 1 touchdown

2018: Kyler Murray: Redshirt Sophomore: vs Florida Atlantic: 63-14 OU Win

Passing: 9 of 11 for 209 which was good for 19.0 yards per attempt with 2 touchdowns and a 99.6 rating

Rushing: 4 carries for 23 yards which was a 5.8 yards per carry average

2019: Jalen Hurts: vs Houston: Senior: 49-31 OU Win

Passing: 20 of 23 for 332 which was good for 14.4 yards per attempt with 3 touchdowns and a 97.6 rating

Rushing: 16 carries for 176 yards which was an 11.0 yards per carry average with 3 touchdowns

2020: Spencer Rattler: Redshirt Freshman: vs Missouri State: 48-0 OU Win

Passing: 14 of 17 for 290 which was good for 17.1 yards per attempt with 4 touchdowns and a 97.8 rating

Rushing: 4 carries for 1 yard which was a 0.3 yard per carry average

2021: Caleb Williams: True Freshman: vs TCU: 52-31 OU win

Passing: 18 of 23 for 295 which was good for 12.8 yards per attempt with 4 touchdowns and a 96.5 rating

Rushing: 9 carries for 66 yards which was a 7.3 yards per carry average with 1 touchdown


Baker had the most passing yards in his debut.

Kyler had the highest rating in his debut.

Jalen had the most rushing yards and rushing touchdowns in his debut.

Spencer and Caleb had the most passing touchdowns in their debuts.

Caleb was the only true freshman of the bunch and he had a much tougher first opponent than any of the guys before him.

I would say he stacked up very well.


Sourced Official Visitor Notes | Thomas and Kanu
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 18, 2021

***First on Azareyeh Thomas…source said Thomas and his family, mom in particular, were very impressed by the atmosphere and the hospitality, as you would expect.

Was told by source who was with Thomas during the game that Thomas was paying close attention to the secondary and said “I could do that better’ on multiple occasions, which indicates he can see an early path to the field at the very least.

Source said that they felt OU’s position is bolstered by the issues at LSU (new head coach) and the performance from Florida and more numbers in their safety room.

OU is very confident on this one and at this point and we believe the only thing left is a date…

Antonio Banderas laptop reaction GIF - GIF on Imgur

***On Hero Kanu it’s about not getting over the tips of the skies based on what we have heard.

Source indicated that Kanu and his camp loved everything about the visit.

OU feels like they did a very good job of fully inserting themselves into the situation and will likely have a seat at the table at the end of the day.

Source around OU mentions they are very aware of the additional visits he has lined up and they will continue to work on Kanu and his camp in an effort to keep this visit on his mind.

It will be all about keeping the Sooners at the forefront of their minds as his schedule progresses.


Position Group Progress Report | Game 7: TCU
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 18, 2021

Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners win against TCU. Coming into the game, OU was a 13.5 point favorite over the Horned Frogs and they wound up winning 52-31.

This is the seventh progress report of the season and I will include the previous game’s ratings for each unit.

Let’s see how things shook out against TCU.

QB: 5* (Last Week First Half 2* Second half High 4*)

Talk about delivering on a very big stage under some very right lights…true freshman Caleb Williams was brilliant in his first start for Oklahoma.

There are very few times in the life of football fans when hype-driven expectations are not only met, but exceeded by the actual performance…this was one of those rare cases.

Williams had a terrific stat line on the night, but even that did not provide a clear picture of the impact he made on the program on Saturday night.

Williams passed 18 times with 23 completions for 295 yards and 4 touchdowns. He ran 9 times for 66 yards while adding another touchdown.

Two of those 5 incompletions were dropped touchdown passes which would have given him 50+ yards and another score on his ledger.

His performance had national pundits placing him in the Heisman Trophy race (I do not agree with this, he should not be considered, but I will get into that another day) and he left the country talking about him with nothing but praise and adulation.

For me, the most impressive part of his debut was how he handled himself before, during, and after the game. He looked like a dude who loved what he was doing and wanted to share it all with everyone around him.


RB: High 4* (Last week high 4*)

Once again, Kennedy Brooks ran the ball incredibly well.

He had some really timely first downs and just made everything look so easy while seemingly playing in slow motion.

The guy just gets it done. Love it.

Brooks had 20 carries for 153 yards which was good for a 7.7 yard per carry average and 1 touchdown.

Eric Gray only got 6 carries and he dodn’t do much with them as he gained only 11 years and Jeremiah Hall recorded no carries.

Hall and Gray each had a reception on the day, and they did well in pass protection for the most part.

Solid outing by the unit, but let’s face it, this one was all about Brooks and Williams running the ball.

Positon group didn’t hit the 5* mark, but it was close.


WR/TE: Low 4* (Last week high 4*)

Jadon Haselwood had a big night as he caught 6 passes for 56 yards and 3 touchdowns. That was a helluva night for Haselwood who was seemingly rewarded for all the blocking he had done throughout the season. Not saying it was intentional to specifically target Haselwood, but his persistence paid off and he had a really impressive night.

Woods and Stogner dropped touchdown passes…cannot have that. Flashback to last year when the OU receivers had a serious case of the dropsies.

9 different players caught passes from Williams and 4 of them averaged over 25 yards per reception (Woods, Mims, West and Gray).

Have to wonder what’s going on with Stogner who was expected to have a breakout year. It has been anything but a breakout for him and as mentioned above he dropped his only target on the night which happened to be in the endzone.

Willis caught a couple of passes from the more traditional TE spot (as opposed to Hall at the HB) and I could easily see his reps increasing, even more, going forward.


OL: 4* (Last week low 4*)

Gonna keep this unit at the 4* ranking as once again they looked to grow.

The OL really only had one week (WVU) where they were bad this year and each of the prior weeks they had grown.

The biggest thing I took away from them this week was Rayms development. This was the first game where I felt he was in ‘good control’ of his calls and his play.

The group looked very cohesive against TCU and while they did have a couple issues with pass pro against the talented TCU ends, they did a really nice job overall and looked to be getting to the point where they are beginning to impose their will on the opposition.

Felt like Harrison has moved from ‘eh’ to ‘yeah’ and while Robinson struggled early, I don’t know how much that had to do with some sort of injury. Swenson filled in nicely. We will check on TRobs injury situation throughout the week.

The last drive of the game could have bumped them to the high 4* range and Marquis Hayes stood out at that point, but I want to see a bit more dominance from them physically before I elevate them that high.


DL: 3* (Last week High 4*)

Average night from what has been an above-average group.

Through my first two watches of the game, Downs, Grimes and Bonitto were the guys that stood out to me.

Felt like Thomas and Winfrey were held in check pretty well and it looked like they got a bit discouraged as the night wore on from their lack of success. Saw a lot of getting stood up and holding their blockers instead of attacking. Yeah they had a few moments, but there was no consistency from them and OU needs them to produce regularly.

I will add…over the last two years, following the Texas game, the DL has had a habit of sleep walking for a couple games. Two years ago, after registering 9 sacks against Texas, they went several games without much statistically (zero sacks against WVU and 1 sack against KSU). Last year, following a 6 sack performance against Texas, their level of play dropped for a few games (6 sacks against Texas – 5 combined against TCU and TTU)

Let’s hope this no sack performance was a one time occurrence this season and they come out firing and padding some stats and regaining some confidence against Kansas.


LB: Low 4* (Last week 4*)

Saw a lot of talk about this group from the community.

I thought they played pretty well actually.

David Ugwoegbu really looked like a different player than we had been seeing, Asamoah was very active and pretty assignment sound, and DaShaun White was solid and if he didn’t get greedy and try to force that fumble return for a score, he would have had a much more favorable look on the night.

Felt like there were a couple of times they got caught in a bad position, but the LB group were the best tacklers and were decent in coverage on the night.

Not the unit I would be pointing the fingers at in this one.


DB: 1* (Last week 1*)

The best defensive plays by a defensive back on the night were the forced fumble by McCutchin and the PBU/Interception attempt by Josh Eaton who ended up getting ‘Mossed’.

The other best play was by a defensive back who never saw a defensive snap as Bryson Washington called for a fair catch on an onside kick attempt by TCU and not only caught the ball but drew an interference call at the same time.

That’s it. Those are the highlights.

I don’t have the energy to write any more about this group aside from mentioning that Billy Bowman should be moved back to nickel before every ounce of confidence is stripped from him through a desperation move looked at as a quick fix at corner.

(Key looked fine at safety, Broiles looked ‘ok’ at NB as well, I will give them that)

Probably could have given them a 2* but I’m still salty, so 1* it is.


Special Teams: 2* (Last week 4*)

Brkic was 1 for 2 on the night.

Turk didn’t get one blocked.

Kick Return and Punt Return were fine.

Did not like the Kick Return coverage aside from Bryson Washington. Felt like TCU was close to breaking one a few times.