Open Post | Wednesday, October 19th
Posted on: October 19, 2022
Quick Post Game Thoughts | OU vs Kansas
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 15, 2022
The Sooners picked up a much needed win today as they beat the Kansas Jayhawks 52-42.
The effort wasn’t pretty necessarily defensively, but offensively the Sooners basically took what they wanted.
The one thing about the defense that I will say is that OU actually did one thing effectively for the most part of the day.
OU ran a lot of 4 man front and effectively took away the running game of the Jayhawks who were one of the top running teams in the nation coming into the game.
The pass defense game…was a different story as Kansas’ backup QB shredded them.
So…at least you got somewhere to start today with the effort against the run.
The Sooners got a couple turnovers as well, but also left a couple others on the field.
The linebackers were hit and miss…Ugwoegbu played well, Stutsman did not.
Offensively, Dillon Gabriel being at the helm made all the difference. Having a competent QB opened up the entire offense for the Sooners.
Eric Gray had 20 carries for 176 yards and Jovantae Barnes added another 20 carries for 78 yards. Gray was incredible.
Marvin Mims and Brayden Willis went over the 100 yard mark receiving.
The offensive line had another good day and kept Gabriel pretty clean aside from a bust or two.
One other main point about this win over Kansas…this should put the ‘talent’ issue to bed. OU won because they had more talent. Kansas played their hearts out but just could not keep pace with the more talented Sooners.
It’s also a helluva lot easier to tell recruits we’re close and we need you when you are doing some things of a positive nature and OU can count the offense as a positive today and the run defense as somewhat of a positive.
Position Group Progress Report | 2022 Game 7: Kansas
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 16, 2022
Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners win over Kansas. Coming into the game, OU was a sizeable favorite and they won the game 52-42.
This will be the seventh progress report of the season and I will be including the prior games ranking for each position in their header.
Let’s see how things shook out against Kansas.
QB: High 4* (Last week: Nebula) – What a difference one part of the equation makes when it comes to the offense for the Sooners. Against Texas, the Sooners passed for a grand total of 38 yards…Dillon Gabriel had more than that many passing yards 4 plays into the game on Saturday.
Gabriel had a stat line that read: 29-42 for 403 yards with 2 touchdowns and his 1st interception on the year.
The three turnovers keep him from getting a 5th star (although one fumble was not his fault) but he had his best day for the Sooners and it could not have come at a better time for OU.
He made things look easy for the OU offense which put up over 700 yards against the Jayhawks.
RB: 5* (Last week 3*) – Eric Gray was a man on a mission. He had 20 carries for 176 yards and 2 touchdowns while averaging 8.8 yards per carry. He added a pair of receptions as well.
Gray was explosive in the open field and the Jayhawks really had no answer for him. One of the more entertaining sequences of the entire season came when a 2o or so yard TD run by Gray was called back due to a penalty and on the very next play he went 28 yards on basically the same play for the score.
Jovantae Barnes added 21 carries for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns of his own as the 1-2 punch of the Sooners run game was more than the Jayhawks could handle.
Stellar performance by Gray and a solid job by Barnes.
WR/TE: 5* (Last week 4*) – Marvin Mims and Brayden Willis each went over 100 yards on the day for the Sooners. While Gabriel found those two early and often, Theo Wease, Drake Stoops, and Jalil Farooq each caught four balls of their own and Gavin Freeman had a 41 yard reception on his lone target of the day.
The group as a whole hauled in 403 yards worth of receptions and had little problem getting separation and creating space.
There were a couple drops that stood out to me on the day (LV Bunkley Shelton – Daniel Parker) but for the most part, the WR corps was outstanding in what has been a rather impressive season long performance by the unit.
Right now the rotation may not be deep, but the guys in the game are generally making plays and getting the job done.
Brayden Willis, again….cannot say enough about him in all facets of the game. Physical and dominant in the blocking game and making plays as a receiver…believe the young man made himself some money by coming back this year.
OL: 5* (Last week 3*) – The best and most consistent unit on the offense all season had a banner day. The OU offensive line absolutely dominated the Jayhawk defense. They paved the way for a 700 yard offensive outburst by the Sooners. They limited their penalties (including a phantom holding call on Murray) and kept Gabriel pressure free for most of the day.
Wanya Morris did get beat and gave up a sack on a speed rush to a DB, but that is about the only bust that sticks out.
I thought the left side of the line was nails. Felt like Raym played under control and Murray and Morris did well on the right side.
Another high quality performance from Bedenbaughs group which has been been the case throughout the season despite some of the fabricated noise from early on where people were just looking for something to complain about.
DL: Low 3* (Last week Nebula) – OU went with a four man front against Kansas and that was nice to see for sure. However, the defensive front really had a nondescript day.
Ethan Downs, who only played the first half due to injury, had the best day of the guys up front. Reggie Grimes, Jonah Laulu, R Mason Thomas, and Marcus Stripling may have played, but I really didn’t notice them (in part because you couldn’t see the numbers I suppose), but there wasn’t like a ton of pressure on Bean.
The interior was kind of just ‘there’ as well in regard to rushing the passer as I noticed Redmond only a couple times and one of them was due to penalty. Felt like Coe was decent.
The group DID do a good job in helping contain the run, but they were average/slightly below average on the day in my opinion.
LB: 2* (Last week Nebula) – The inconsistency at this position once again was on display. David Ugwoegub had a really good game from what I saw and he led the team with 8 tackles and had the Sooners lone sack on the day. He also got pressure a couple of other times and was solid for the most part in his run fits.
Danny Stutsman was not as good on the day but he did flash a few times. Stutsman was actually in decent position in coverage a couple times, but one of the lasting images of the game is when he was in coverage on a TD pass to the TE and the ball went basically right through him as he didn’t turn to spot the ball and the receiver pulled it in for the score. There were also times when he was out of position in his drops in the zone that just shouldn’t continue to be happening.
There were signs that the unit got better…Kansas is not an easy read for the linebackers, and they did not have many egregious busts…so I guess that’s a positive?
Cheetah: 4* (Last week 2*) – One series basically bumps him from a 3* to a 4*. White was solid all day, but the PBU followed by the interception sequence was the highlight for him on the day.
He looked like he knew what he was doing out there and that is half the battle. Brents defense will get you in the right place at the right time if you allow it to, and yesterday, White allowed it to.
He finished the day tied for the team lead in tackles, had a PBU and an interception to go along with .5 tackles for loss.
Good day for DaShaun.
DBs: Low 4* (Last week 2*) – Difficult to score this group on what could have been a banner day for them with the turnovers and PBU’s.
They just left sooooo many plays out there. The first Kansas score could have/should have been picked off by Broiles if he simply played the ball and undercut the route in the end zone. It was right there.
Key Lawrence also inexplicably dropped a pick when he made a nice play on the ball. You can see Keys instincts starting to take over, which is a great sign,
I thought Woodi and Jaden were both solid, but the CJ Coldon highlight reel interception stole the show! What a tremendous athletic play for CJ…who was actually a bit out of position as he could have/should have sunken a bit deeper in the zone which would have made the pick a little less dynamic, but man that was pretty!
Overall it was a good day but it could have been a great day.
ST: 3* (Last week 2*)
Kicks were made.
Coverage was fine.
Punts were caught.
Average day.
Sunday Brunch | I’m Mr Brightside
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 16, 2022
The Sooners snapped their 3 game losing streak yesterday as they beat then 19th ranked Kansas 52-42.
Oklahoma heads into the bye week on a positive note.
Do not be fooled, this was a badly needed notch in the win column, even if it was ‘just Kansas’. Truth be told, Kansas isn’t the same Kansas as years passed, but still, the optics of a home loss, to Kansas, on homecoming, in that spot for OU would have been horrific.
Good job to the team for taking care of business.
With the bye week ahead of them and Iowa State waiting in the wings in two weeks, I wanted to note some of the positives that can be taken away from yesterday.
***Lets start with the QB position. Dillon Gabriel came back from a week and 3 quarters on the sideline due to concussion protocol and looked sharper than he had in any of the previous games he played in this season. Weird to say that as he threw his first interception and was charged with 2 fumbles, but it’s true. Perhaps that had something to do with less pressure as all of OU’s goals for the season are pretty much out the window? Maybe the play calling was a little more aggressive? Not sure, but either way, Gabriels play yesterday has to be filed in the positive bin.
***Then you look at the performance of the offensive line. They did a tremendous job again yesterday coming off a solid performance against Texas who knew they were one dimensional and yet they still were able to pave the way for nearly 200 rushing yards. Yesterday they dominated Kansas to the tune of a 700 yard offensive outburst with 300 on the ground and 400 through the air. This group has been the best unit on the entire Sooner team this year and the early season hullabaloo around them was largely exaggerated. They are tremendous in pass pro and have picked up their run blocking each week. The majority of the sacks they have given up can be chalked up to the QB being overly cautious (see Gabriel earlier in the season) or just bad (see Beville against TCU and Texas). For some reason people still feel the need to come up with some mysterious knock on the unit. They have been good all year, and they haven’t really even put up a ‘bad’ game to this point.
***The running backs, tight ends and wide receivers have played well across the board and I don’t think it is a stretch to say that while Dillon Gabriel is the ‘Most Valuable Player’ for the Sooners in regard to them succeeding, Eric Gray has been their ‘Best’ player overall. Marvin Mims and Brayden Willis would likely dispute Gray’s claim to ‘Best’ overall, but OU is in a good position to have 4 guys in the discussion as that means they are all having very good years. Jovantae Barnes is the freshman who has really stepped up as he has claimed RB2 as many of us predicted he would in the preseason by the time the Texas game rolled around. The two freshman wide receivers both received a lot of praise leading up tot he season, but to this point they have been non-factors. Work to do there. TE Jason Llewellyn has burned his redshirt and has been getting increased opportunity and appears to be coming along nicely. Overall, the skill positions have largely been good to very good for OU.
***Talking about the defense leads you to many fewer ‘positives’ but if you look hard enough, there are some in there.
***Much like Dillon Gabriel is the ‘most Valuable’ player on the offensive side of the ball (and really the entire team) Billy Bowman is both the ‘Best’ and ‘Most Valuable’ player on the defensive side of the ball and him being out with an injury is really hurting the Sooners. Bowman is not only one of the best athletes on the team, but he is a guy the coaches can put out there and not worry about him doing his job. Bowman really grabbed hold of the secondary, was able to line guys up properly, and was consistently making plays. While the popular narrative has Bowman back after the bye, there is no doubt that he will be a question mark for the next 3 or 4 weeks still as you never know how or when a guy will heal sufficiently to play up to his capabilities. OU is hoping the sooner the better for his return.
***Robert Spears Jennings has been getting more reps as the games pass and yesterday, he made one of the more physical plays for the OU defense over the last 4 weeks or so when he simply put a solid hit on the Kansas QB as he was near the sideline. Seeing RSJ, Jaren Kanak, Gracen Halton, R Mason Thomas, Gentry Williams and a few other young defenders have their moments is a positive.
***Of late you have seen more impact from Jonah Laulu, Trey Morrison, and CJ Coldon. All guys that OU pulled from the portal. The positive here, in my opinion, is that the staff knows what they are looking for in the portal and they know what players will help them. Thats good evaluation of both your talent on hand and the talent you are seeking. No, none of the transfers to this point have been huge difference makers, but they all have pretty much played well and are starting to make their cases for more playing time. Kani Walker has a future in the OU secondary and he has been a bit dinged up throughout the year. Jeffery Johnson has been solid, not spectacular in the middle, but overall, nice work in the portal by the Sooner staff…they will need to be on their game again this year as well.
***The biggest positive I take away from watching this defense play is that you can see it…you can see what Brent is trying to do at times and when it is all clicking, they can, and have been very good. The problem is, not everything and everyone is clicking consistently, at all, and they have looked like doo-doo for the better part of the last 4 games, but yesterday should give you some hope. The reason I say yesterday should give you some hope is not because the defensive line is all of a sudden going to become difference makers or all the bad angles and such from the linebackers and some DBs are going to be fixed over night…but you saw something you rarely saw over the past 5 years and last 3 weeks…you saw guys in position to make an impact. Brent went with a 4 man front and that had some impact on slowing a VERY GOOD running attack from Kansas down. You don’t need to be world beaters to play assignment sound football. You saw DBs in position…which resulted in two interceptions and the opportunity for at least another 2. That was because the guys were in position. That’s a positive because that is not something you have gotten used to saying as a Sooner fan. Just being in the right place is half the battle and you saw some gains made there against Kansas. Baby steps I guess, but still positive.
***The bye week comes at a good time. OU got a win under their belts, and they are likely feeling better about themselves and gained at least a little confidence defensively. Offensively…phew lads…if OU can play close to the level they played yesterday, and execute at the same clip going forward…y’all could see them put up a lot of points. That offense you saw yesterday was better than ANY offensive performance in the last 2 and a half seasons, by a large margin, that the Sooners have put on the field. Felt like the days of Murray and Baker, they were that good.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and focus on the positives for a bit, y’all deserve a break from the crazy train!
By The Numbers | Kansas | Game 7 of 2022
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 17, 2022
Let’s take a look at some of the PFF numbers from the Sooners win over Kansas…
Offensive Snap Counts: 101 Total Offensive Snaps
1 Andrew Raym #73 – 101
1 Anton Harrison #71 – 101
1 Wanya Morris #64 – 101
1 Dillon Gabriel #8 – 101
1 Chris Murray #56 – 101
6 Marvin Mims #17 – 85
7 Drake Stoops #12 – 84
8 Brayden Willis #9 – 74
9 Robert Congel #66 – 60
10 Jalil Farooq #3 – 57
11 Eric Gray #0 – 55
12 Daniel Parker Jr. #22 – 49
13 Jovantae Barnes #2 – 45
14 McKade Mettauer #72 – 41
15 Theo Wease #10 – 37
16 Gavin Freeman #82 – 9
17 LV Bunkley-Shelton #6 – 6
18 Jason Llewellyn #87 – 2
18 Savion Byrd #59 – 2
Top 5 PFF Offensive Grades:
1 Anton Harrison – 86.9
2 Brayden Willis – 85.9
3 Eric Gray – 81.3
4 Gavin Freeman – 78.2
5 Andrew Raym – 77.7
Botton 5 PFF Offensive Grades:
1 Daniel Parker Jr – 48.2
2 LV Bunkley-Shelton – 51.3
3 Savion Byrd – 59.6
4 Jason Llewellyn – 60
5 Marvin Mims – 61.1
Surprised me:
Dillon Gabriel was given a ‘Bottom Six’ grade of 62.5 in what was his best performance in Norman…go figure…I guess that is PFF for you. Another surprise…101 offensive snaps is by far the largest number of the year for the OU offense, and having only 18 guys take snaps shows you how much OU knew they needed to win this game. Not a lot of rotation, they stuck with the 1’s for the most part. Not really a surprise based on the outcome and stats, but only 2 Sooners were given “orange’ grades which are ‘below average (LV and DP) everyone else was in ‘Yellow’ or above. Not sure how Willis and Gray didn’t score in the 90’s to be honest. But again, will we ever understand PFF grading? Doubtful.
Defensive Snap Counts: 64 Total Defensive Snaps
1 DaShaun White #23 – 64
2 Danny Stutsman #28 – 63
3 David Ugwoegbu #2 – 58
3 Woodi Washington #0 – 58
5 Key Lawrence #12 – 56
6 Jaden Davis #4 – 50
7 Justin Broiles #25 – 46
8 Reggie Grimes #14 – 38
9 Jalen Redmond #31 – 37
10 Jonah Laulu #8 – 29
11 Isaiah Coe #94 – 27
12 R Mason Thomas #32 – 23
13 C.J. Coldon #22 – 22
14 Marcus Stripling #33 – 20
15 Jeffery Johnson #77 – 19
15 Jordan Kelley #88 – 19
17 Ethan Downs #40 – 18
17 Trey Morrison #6 – 18
19 Kelvin Gilliam #44 – 12
20 Robert Spears-Jennings #3 – 8
20 Josh Ellison #90 – 8
22 Jaren Kanak #7 – 7
23 Cedric Roberts #8 – 4
Top 5 PFF Defensive Grades:
1 Jaren Kanak – 80.4
2 Justin Broiles – 75
3 Key Lawrence 73.8
4 Jaden Davis – 70.8
5 Ethan Downs – 70.6
Bottom 5 PFF Defensive Grades:
1 Trey Morrison – 47.3
2 C.J. Coldon – 54.4
3 Cedric Roberts – 57.6
4 Kelvin Gilliam – 57.7
5 Marcus Stripling – 58.6
Surprised me:
Really starting to think PFF had issues seeing the numbers and assigning snap counts and grades. CJ Coldon as a bottom 5 and Justin Broiles as a top 5 are head scratchers. Cedric Roberts got in the game so that’s pretty cool. RSJ grabbed a top 7 grade at 68. Was surprised to see Justin Harrington on the no defensive snaps list once again, still being haunted by TCU it appears. DaShaun White (82.4) and Key Lawrence (81.7) had the highest tackling grades and they were closely followed by RSJ (79.7) and Jaden Davis (78.5) so solid tackling by the secondary on the day.
The Latest | Peyton Bowen
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 17, 2022
Over the weekend, in fact, during the Sooners game, I had my source close to the ’23 Safety Peyton Bowen recruitment reach out to me unsolicited.
Source once again affirmed their position that Peyton Bowen is likely to end up as a Sooner. Source already said they were ‘doubling down’ a couple weeks ago, so now I guess they would be considered ‘tripling down’?
I asked what prompted the call in regard to Bowen and Oklahoma in the middle of their game and source said “cause I just got the call a few minutes ago and wanted to pass it along”. Pretty much to the point hahaha.
In my most recent update on Bowen HERE I noted that I could only call this race 50/50 at that point.
‘So this is where we are at. I am being completely transparent with you all as I mentioned I would be when I said I would be combing through all the info we had gathered on Bowen.
I never bought Texas A&M being a major threat. Even when we reported the sourced info on the NIL, it still didn’t resonate with me, and then when I had another source come over the top and double down on Bowen to OU, I largely discarded the A&M threat.
I can no longer disregard that threat after what went down today. I know every situation is different, but sometimes the same old feeling creeps in.
So in resetting the Bowen recruitment, I have to have it at 50/50 at best should he indeed flip from Notre Dame, but the 50 percent for the Sooners is based largely on him fitting with OU in every category aside from astronomical ‘NIL’ deals.
After seeing Hicks, a kid who we never heard as being enamored with the ‘NIL’ deals get flipped 10-15 minutes before he announced and after he had already committed to OU…I cannot rule anything out with Bowen who has already had some Aggie ‘NIL’ overtures thrown his way.
I will continue to give you guys anything and everything we pick up on this one as the days go by, but as I mentioned above, there could be an announcement any time now and this is not one where I would wager any money on any of the potential outcomes.’
So while my source on Bowen ‘tripled down’ and sources in Norman still feel good about the possibility of landing Bowen, I’m still viewing this as 50/50 due to the nature of the beast.
The ‘beast’ being Aggie and their so called ‘NIL’ deals.
I just thought it was something of note to pass along to you all about the source hitting me up during the game and expressing their added confidence around Bowen and Oklahoma.
Kayden McDonald | Rates his Visit to OU
– Super K – Posted on: October 18, 2022
As you know, the Sooners were previously in hot pursuit of 4-star GA DL, Kayden McDonald (North Gwinnett). McDonald even visited OU a while back.
Then everything went relatively quiet. Even though the Sooners remained in his ‘Top 5’, word was that he had narrowed things down even further and OU was not among the top schools.
Then it emerged that the Sooners were the leader for the number one DT in the country, David Hicks (btw I don’t think that’s done just yet).
McDonald made his way to Norman this past weekend for an official visit. He’s generally pretty quiet but he did give me a rating for his OU visit which lines up with our sense of how things went.
McDonald gave it an 11 out of 10.
Given that, we are going to turn our attention back on McDonald because it sounds like the Sooners are firmly back in this one.
Kansas Visit Updates | McDonald and Akana
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 18, 2022
***As you all read in Super K’s post this morning (HERE) Sooners ’23 DL target Kayden McDonald (6’3 310) out of Suwanee, GA, gave his visit to Norman an 11 out of 10 ranking. That seems good.
‘McDonald made his way to Norman this past weekend for an official visit. He’s generally pretty quiet but he did give me a rating for his OU visit which lines up with our sense of how things went.
McDonald gave it an 11 out of 10.’
Last night I spoke to a couple of sources, one who was around McDonald this weekend and another who provided the OU take on things.
First, the source around McDonald told me the visit “Could not have gone any better. K (Kayden) really took in the full experience and fit right in. Looked like he was part of the program already and things just were really easy with him”.
McDonald spent a lot of time with OU DL commit Derrick LeBlanc and OU QB commit Jackson Arnold was able to be in his ear throughout the visit.
The OU side feels things went very well, as you would expect, and the sense that the second source got was that OU fully inserted themselves into the equation and this one will come down to OU and Clemson. Todd Bates and Brent Venables spent the weekend painting a picture of where McDonald would fit into the Sooners plans going forward and they stressed that there was an opportunity for the big man to make an immediate impact.
McDonald is scheduled to visit Clemson this weekend and one perceived huge advantage that the Tigers have in their favor is geography. Source did say that the trip to Norman from Atlanta went smoothly and OU felt that the process of getting to Norman for Mcdonald’s family was relatively simple so that may have negated some of that geographical advantage.
Obviously, the Clemson visit this weekend looms large as McDonald is looking to wrap things up here in the next couple of weeks.
It should not be lost on anyone that while Clemson holds the geographical advantage, the Sooners hold the early playing time advantage and Clemson already holds commitments from three highly rated interior defensive linemen.
Sounds like it was a good decision by the Sooners to hold McDonald’s official off from the ChampUBBQ in the summer till last weekend as they gave themselves a fighting chance to slow Clemson’s momentum and give him something to think about which will be fresh on his mind as he approaches his decision.
***OU also hosted ’23 EDGE Tausili Akana (6’4 225) out of Lehi, Utah.
Spoke to a source who was around Akana throughout the visit. Source mentioned that Akana and his family were a bit more reserved than McDonald and they approached the trip in a more business-like fashion.
Akana spent a lot of time with the staff and was really interested in OU’s development plan for him. Source said they were watching the game ‘intensely’ and were very focused on the action taking place on each and every snap, including the offensive snaps.
Another source said “OU really rolled out the red carpet for Akana and his family. The staff made a tremendous impression on them and he has been one of Venables’ priorities since his days at Clemson and that relationship reminds me of how the Venables and Kanak recruitment went down”.
Akana has one official visit left to take and that is to College Station to see the Aggies.
Source felt that OU came away feeling like they were in a very good position for Akana going forward. We will continue to monitor this one as the A&M visit comes and goes, but right now, source is optimistic that the Sooners are at or near the front in this one.
TFB Sooners Radio Ep. 9 | Hello, Win Column!
– CJ Vogel – Posted on: October 18, 2022
Oklahoma is back to their winning ways and Charlie and Ryan are back on the mics discussing the win over Kansas, as well as what changes and adjustments are still needed.
