The Football Brainiacs

Oklahoma is not trying to downplay the importance of Friday’s game with West Virginia. They know exactly what is on the line, which is a trip to the Big 12 Championship and a possible spot in the College Football Playoffs.

“It’s always different playing a physical game then wake up and practice the next day,” safety Robert Barnes said. “We all know what’s at stake here. We all know what we have to do to come out on top in this game. Everybody woke up yesterday with the right attitude, came focused and ready to go.”

Tight end Grant Calcaterra agrees with Barnes.

“There is a lot of pressure around the game,” Calcaterra said. “Obviously, it’s high stakes, two of the better team in the Big 12. We know that we need to win this game if we want to accomplish the rest of our goals. I think today we were all a little more jacked up during practice.”

Rivalry game?

Since joining the Big 12 in 2012 Oklahoma has amassed a 6-0 record against WVU. The Sooners have reached the 44-point mark in at least five of those contests.

So when linebacker Curtis Bolton was asked about the intensity of the rivalry, he had a hard time giving it that distinction.

“I wouldn’t call it a rivalry. But they get rowdy over there. There’s not much to do in West V. I just know last time I was there their fans talked mess more than anybody else. Their players are rowdy. It’s a smash mouth football game. I like those. I like when teams come out rough. I’m just excited for those game. They talk a lot. They’ve got a good squad.”

Chippiness

While the record between the two teams doesn’t indicate a rivalry, the attitudes of the players do.

“I think they have a chip on their shoulder, just like we do,” Calcaterra said. “We both play hard. They’re a good team, we’re a good team. For the most part, we always battle it out. It’s kind of an unspoken rivalry, maybe.”

“I know last year, there is always somebody in pregame that we’re always butting heads with,” Barnes said. “Just doing their little taunting or whatever before the games. This year I feel like both teams have a lot on the line. I know it’s going to be a physical matchup.”

Tackling still a concern

The Oklahoma defense took a lot of heat after their 55-40 win over Kansas Saturday. Most of that was due to the poor tackling display they put on.

“I thought we were moving in the right direction in that aspect of the game,” Bolton said. “We came out then and didn’t tackle well. That goes back to what we have to do during the week. Now we’re focusing on our tackling, not that we didn’t last week or the weeks before that, but that wasn’t the biggest issue that we needed to work on. Obviously, after last week, it’s still an issue we need to work on.”

In other words, effort

“I’ve always said tackling is a byproduct of hustling to the ball. At the end of the day you have to hustle to the ball better,” Bolton said. “Tackling, a lot of forms issues. But we need to run to the ball better before we start talking about form tackling. That’s the second half. We have to do a great job of policing each other. You see a guy not running to the ball, I’m not going to tolerate that. I know every play I line up I’m trying to make a play. I expect nothing less from the other 10 guys out there.”

Confidence Defense will be better

Despite a pair of poor defensive outings, Barnes believes his unit can improve.

“For me, I know the guys I’m playing with,” Barnes said. “I grinded with these guys all summer, all fall camp and all that. So I’m very confident that when we step out there it’s going to be more physical, but we’re going to make those plays. Everybody on that field will do their job.”

Sooners expecting a physical game

“We just have to play physical. One thing that coach (Lincoln) Riley is really emphasizing is physicality,” He challenged us about that yesterday,” Grant Calcaterra said. “In practice, we’re really trying to focus on being more physical than the guy in front of us.”

High scoring affair

Oklahoma leads the nation in total offense with 576 yards per game and 71 total touchdowns. West Virginia is No. 10 with 502 ypg and 51 TDs. But wideout CeeDee Lamb knows how important the other side of the ball will be in determining who wins.

“We have to depend on our defense at some point,” Lamb said. “We know what we have in here and we’re a brotherhood. As far as us going out there and putting up numbers, we’re going to do what we have to do as far as scoring. And we’re just going to have to depend on our defense.”

Even more Brooks?

Riley said earlier in the day that he didn’t know if Trey Sermon of T.J. Pledger would be available Friday to play at WVU. If not, that would mean another heavy load for tailback Kennedy Brooks.

“He’s a great running back overall. He can run the ball, he can catch the ball, and he can block. He just does all the right things and he can get the job done,” Lamb said. “I heard about Kennedy Brooks since high school. He was putting up crazy numbers and for him to do that in college, for his game to transfer over… If you’re grinding the way he is, it doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

Left off the list

The three finalists for the Biletnikoff award were announced Monday and they didn’t include Marquise Brown, who was a semifinalist, or Lamb. The three finalists are Andy Isabella (UMass), Jerry Jeudy (Alabama) and Tylan Wallace (Oklahoma State.)

‘It is what it is,” Lamb said. ‘At the end of the day, it’s an award that I would love to have or somebody from Oklahoma like Jet (Brown). We still have to go out there and do our thing. You just have to forget it and move on. I wish them guys the best of luck.”

Winning the Big 12

To win the Big 12 title a team has to play every team in the conference. There is no escaping a strong squad like in some other conferences. For Bolton, that means a lot.

“It truly lets it be known who the powerhouse of the conference is. We have three rings, we’re the powerhouse of the conference,” Bolton said. “Through the years we’ve had slip-ups. We had a slip up this year. At the end of the day, we beat teams more than they beat us. We come out with the rings in the end. I don’t expect anything less. People can say what they want but at the end of the day, we come out with Ws.”