The Football Brainiacs

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* Zack Sanchez (injury) & Julian Wilson (match-up) – Without going back to check (forgive me, I’m lazy), I feel like I’ve mentioned the secondary in some way or fashion every week so far. I suppose it’s somewhat understandable given how solid (excluding depth) the front seven appears to be, so hopefully my repeated bringing up of the same position group hasn’t become tiresome and/or redundant. For whatever it’s worth, I do feel like each time I’ve brought them up it’s been for different reasons. And I do so again here.

Two things as I mentioned, how much — if at all — does Sanchez’s shoulder injury come into play Saturday night and should/will they make a concerted effort to match up Wilson on Marquez North. My hope on them doing the latter is two-fold. (1) With Von Pearson expected to miss the game, North is easily (in my opinion) Tennessee’s best receiver coming into this game. If you’re willing to accept I know what I’m talking about regarding North, you may then be asking ‘If he’s their best receiver, why wouldn’t you want Sanchez on him?” Which leads me to (2) North’s NFL body — he’s listed at 6’4″ 221 lbs. — and I can’t help but feel having a bigger corner like OU does in Wilson presents a much more favorable match-up than the talented in his own right but much smaller in comparison Sanchez.

However, I’m watched Bob & Mike defenses long enough to know only in the most rare instances — like last year at K-State when they tried to hold Colvin out but were then forced to play him — allow one of their guys to shadow a receiver wherever they go on the field. They generally keep their corners on one side of the field and whoever lines up there is who you’re matched up against. So, in theory if Mike isn’t willing to shadow, it’s a match-up the Vols could try to exploit against a smaller Sanchez also dealing with an injury.

* OU’s front seven – I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m concerned that OU is only tied for 55th in the country (with Tennessee, among others, ironically) with just four sacks thru their first two games, but I’d be lying if I said my expectations weren’t for that number to be bigger than it currently is. Geneo Grissom, Jordan Evans, and Dom Alexander have all yet to record a sack. Eric Striker is only on record for having 0.5 sacks. Charles Tapper only has one sack. And it’s not just about the actual statistic itself, but it hasn’t felt like most of those guys have been as disruptive as I expected….yet.

I know the defense has probably been even more vanilla than their counterparts on the other side of the ball, which is why I’m nowhere near ready to hit the panic button or anything like that. But I am really hoping to see M.Stoops let them loose Saturday night. Especially against what should be a significantly over-matched and green Tennessee offensive line.

* A pass-catcher not named Shepard or Neal – This one isn’t particularly unique as it’s something pretty much anyone who has watched the first two games is also saying, but that doesn’t make it any less accurate. Obviously it would only help this offense and Trevor Knight if a third consistent threat of some sort would emerge. And some might even argue a second as Neal’s inclusion here is really based primarily off one game, the most recent against Tulsa, but the expectation all along was that he’d be the No. 2 guy. So what he did last week hopefully was the first sign of more to come. But back on topic.

I don’t particularly care who it is, but I’d like to see someone other than those two guys step up and have a big game. K.J. Young, Blake Bell, Michiah Quick (I know he’s a freshman, but after all we heard this summer where has he been these first two games?), Derrick Woods, Jordan Smallwood, whomever.

* Steven Parker – Admittedly, this is more of a gut feel type of deal. I see Tennessee trying to spread out this OU defense with three & four WR sets, which based on the first two games means Parker would likely see plenty of action. Meaning if my hunch is correct, I could see Parker having that breakout performance type of game. A bunch of tackles, maybe even an interception (or two). It could be a real coming out party for the incredibly talented true freshman.

* Ty Darlington – Having watched the Texas/BYU game and witnessing what a monster Malcom Brown was/is in the middle of that defense, I wanted to go back and spend some more time focusing on Darlington’s play thru these first two games. I’m only about halfway through the Tulsa game and haven’t really seen anything that concerned me, but Tulsa also doesn’t have anyone even remotely approaching Brown’s ability. To be fair, few teams do, be they in the Big 12 (OU’s Jordan Phillips 0bviously being one of those few) or nationally. But it’s just something to keep an eye on going forward if this team, as it looks to this point, is going to rely heavily on their ability to run the ball.

What can I tell you, the prospect of potentially losing to a lesser Texas team in Dallas for a second consecutive year is not a prospect that excites me very much. Like I said, could easily prove to be a non-issue but just something to keep an eye on.

* The scoreboard – Despite the misguided chiding from some who either don’t know or refuse to acknowledge OU fans don’t want the starters in late in games that are well in hand any more than you enjoy ripping Bob for having them in, it has never been Stoops’ style to run up the score.

So I’m not expecting that to change Saturday night. But given that it’s an SEC team, on a nationally televised game in prime-time, I could see him holding off just a little longer than usual to call off the dogs. That’s of course operating under the assumption that OU plays as well as we’re all expecting and Tennessee proves to be as outmatched as many of us believe them to be.

I don’t think anyone is looking forward to the possibility of having to sweat this one out well into the evening Saturday.

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What will you be watching for Saturday night?