Weekend Open Post | December 6th – 8th
Posted on: December 6, 2024
Post Game Thoughts | LSU
– Charlie S – Posted on: November 30, 2024
The Sooners took it on the chin tonight in the final regular season game…17-37 in a loss to LSU.
For my post game thoughts I’m gonna point to the Know Your Opponent | LSU – 2024 write up earlier in the week…
“Overall thoughts…
– Styles make fights, right?
– Last week the Sooners demolished Alabama by beating them up in the trenches on both sides of the ball. OU sought to stop the run and establish their own running game. They executed their plan to perfection.
– A few weeks back, LSU was absolutely beaten silly by Bama 42-13 as the Tide ran all over up and through the LSU defense for more than 300 yards while holding the Tigers offense in check and limiting Nussmeier to 239 yards passing on 47 attempts.
– So one could look at those results and think OU would likely be a substantial favorite, right? Not so fast my friend.
– The OU defense has proven to be very good against the run (which was Alabama’s supposed strength). OU was able to stop Bama as Milroe and the Tide struggled in the passing game. Milroe was only 11 of 26 and his receivers dropped a handful of balls. The 26 passing attempts were more than Bama would have liked, but OU forced their hand into trying to throw the ball. The thing is, they converted on several chunk plays in the passing game on 3rd downs which is a bit of a concern heading into the LSU game.
– I do not expect LSU to even be the slightest bit concerned about running the ball. I fully expect LSU to come out and try to throw the ball 50 plus times. The run game will come into play a bit, as LSU is capable of running it, but they will not rely on it if it is not there early.”
***OU simply could not find any consistency on the offensive side of the ball, as we have come to expect. We knew the Sooners would have to limit the LSU offense and maybe get a score or two defensively, and they did get one.
***The problem was…the defense was not able to contain the LSU offenses passing attack…as we talked about earlier in the week up above.
***Giving up the special teams kick return was just a gut punch immediately following the lone real drive from OU offensively and that’s kind of how things have gone for OU under Brent Venables.
***Last week against Bama, the Sooners looked like world beaters…this week against LSU, they looked like what they are, a bad football team that has holes on both sides of the ball and did not appear to get overall better as the season went on.
***Yes, certain aspects of the team got better throughout the season…while other aspects of the team regressed. I mentioned it in the comment section of one of the game threads…OU is like the kid by the dam…plug one hole, and another one pops up. Plug that hole, two more holes pop up elsewhere.
***Tonight we saw the inept offense we have come to expect, while the glaring hole in the dam tonight was the secondary and their issues in, you know, coverage.
***The Sooners needed everything to go right tonight. They didn’t come close to making or even allowing that happen.
***Right now OU is a boat just floating around out there in the open ocean…kind of aimlessly.
***The Sooners will get a new offensive coordinator shortly, they will gain some players and lose some players to the transfer portal in the coming days. They will sign a recruiting class.
***The thing is…does anyone on the boat know the coordinates of the intended destination?
***Lastly, earlier this week, I wrote a post about “What is acceptable” in regard to the results of the LSU game. Speaking for myself…this result tonight would fall into the ‘Clearly not acceptable’ category.
Hello, it’s Me…
– Super K – Posted on: December 1, 2024
As Charlie mentioned, I’m overseas for this upcoming week. But, I should be back pretty soon.
I didn’t get a chance to view the game. However, I spoke with a long time friend who is a massive OU supporter.
He has also been a long time supporter of BV, as well.
I spoke with him and that support finally broke tonight. So, I can only imagine how bad it was for the OU fan base and maybe the group that were holding out hope in BV.
He described the game to me and essentially it sounded like a BV type game within a BV type context. Sometimes the offense was good. Then the defense not so good. Then the defense was good and the offense not so much. Then special teams made an appearance and it wasn’t so good.
And all this is within the backdrop of OU fans once again having the rug pulled out from under them.
After the Alabama game, the Sooners allowed themselves to believe again. But after this week their hopes were dashed, one more. Like last year, when the Sooners won the Texas game, only to give up infinity scoreboard to Kansas and Oklahoma State.
***I know that the scenario that seems most likely right now is BV hires an OC (perhaps Arbuckle) and they pour a ton of money at the program to make sure they have all the players in place. I’m not necessarily going to go against that from a sourcing point of view but it just doesn’t make sense to me…
***On BV, I’ll be interested to see just how clean all of this is. If my friend’s reaction is any indication, there are going to be some hard questions coming from the money people tomorrow. Will they be asking if BV is the right fit? I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if many are.
***But even if what appears to be happening, happens – that BV simple hires an OC. Are they really going to be supportive of a 29 year old air raid OC to save BV’s tenure? I’m not saying it isn’t happening but, man, it just doesn’t make much sense to me.
Glaring Deficiency | Pass Catchers
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 1, 2024
The Sooners were hit hard by injuries in the wide receiver room this season, but the incompetence level at the end of the day was quite astounding.
Bauer Sharp TE – 42 – 324 – 2 TDs
Deion Burks WR – 31 – 245 – 3 TDs
Jacob Jordan WR – 22 – 207 – 1 TD
Brenen Thompson WR – 19 – 230 – 2 TDs
Jovantae Barnes RB – 17 – 203 – 1 TD
J.J. Hester WR – 14 – 315 – 1 TD
Xavier Robinson RB – 11 – 95
Jake Roberts TE – 10 – 95 – 1 TD
Zion Ragins WR – 6- 48
Zion Kearney WR – 6 – 62
Sam Franklin RB – 5- 18
Taylor Tatum RB – 5 – 41 – 1 TD
Jaquaize Pettaway WR – 5 – 87
Gavin Sawchuk RB – 3 – 17
Ivan Carreon WR – 3 – 17
Jalil Farooq WR – 3 – 38
Jackson Arnold QB – 2 – 16 – 1 TD
Kaden Helms TE – 1 – 9 – 1 TD
Andrel Anthony WR – 1 – 4
***Jackson Arnold caught as many touchdowns as Zion Ragins (303), Jacob Jordan (215), Zion Kearney (214), Ivan Carreon (113) and Jaquaizie Pettaway (91) COMBINED. Those 5 wide receivers played a total of 936 snaps.
***True freshman walk-on wide receiver Jacob Jordan caught more passes (22) than his true freshman scholarship classmates (Kearney, Ragins, Carreon, Daniels) caught COMBINED. That group caught 15 total passes.
***5 players recorded more receiving yards last year than this year’s yardage leader (Bauer Sharp) recorded. Sharp led the team with 324 yards. Last season Stoops (962), Anderson (798), Farooq (694), Anthony (429), and Gibson (375) all had more yards receiving than Sharp did this year.
***Deion Burks, who played less than half the season, led the team in touchdown receptions with a grand total of 3. Last season Anderson and Stoops each had 10 and Gibson had 5 on 14 catches.
***Carreon, Kearney, and Ragins were each 4* recruits on one service or another, and Daniels (who did not play) was a consensus 3* recruit. These guys were coveted by other programs and for them to have the lack of impact they had is rather stunning.
***In a game against Oklahoma State in 2017, Marquis Brown had 9 receptions for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns. That performance accounted for more yards than any OU wide receiver had over the entire 2024 season and his 2 touchdowns in that game would have been second on the team for the entire 2024 wide receiver room as only Burks had more…and he had 3 total.
Position Group Progress Report | ’24 Game 12: LSU
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 2, 2024
Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooners regular-season finale against LSU.
Oklahoma was a 6.5 underdog and the Tigers easily covered in a 37-17 route of the Sooners.
This will be the twelfth progress report of the season. I will include the previous week’s ranking at the top of each position group’s report in all subsequent progress reports!
Let’s see how things shook out against LSU.
QB: 3* (Last week: 5*)
One thing nobody can say about Jackson Arnold is that he lacks intestinal fortitude. Guy is a gamer, a leader, and a tough son of a gun.
Arnold got virtually no help from his supporting cast while trying to will his team to success.
He finished 14-21 for 110 yards and ran the ball 17 times for 75 yards with no turnovers.
RB: 1* (Last week: 4*)
Xavier Robinson averaged 2 yards per carry on his 10 carries and Gavin Sawchuk averaged 2.8 yards per carry on his 4 carriess.
Sam Franklin averaged 10 yards per carry on his 6 carries, but they all came when the game was already decided.
When it mattered most, the RB room just could not get it going.
WR: 1* (Last week: 3*)
JJ Hester had one catch for 50 yards.
Highlights over there.
Jacob Jordan had 6 catches and Zion Ragins had one reception.
Thats it. That’s all the WRs contributed…aside from a few drops.
TE: Nebula (Last week: 2*)
Was the Bauer Sharp interception the final image we will have of him in the Crimson and Cream? We will see.
Just a terrible game at the end of a terrible year for this position group.
But hey, Davon Mitchell traveled, so that was fun…for him.
OL: 2* (Last week: 5*)
Again, left side, best side…right side…Spencer Brown.
Brown was a turnstile in pass blocking and many members of our community would have found success in rushing the passer against Brown if they laced up the spikes and suited up.
Despite Brown seemingly playing for LSU, Arnold was able to dodge the pass rush most of the night until the 4th quarter when LSU got to him 4 times.
Howland and Ozaeta continue to develop and that’s a positive, but yeah, it wasn’t acceptable and Brown was the main culprit but not the only culprit.
DT: 4* (Last week: 5*)
I thought they started out really well and Gracen Halton had the exclamation point of the night with his strip sack that forced a fumble which was returned by R Mason Thomas for an OU touchdown.
From game one till game 12, this unit was the best unit on the team for the Sooners and they really had a solid game against LSU.
I thought Williams, and Jackson were very good and sound and DaJon Terry is a guy who just continued to get better week to week and he left it all out there on the field.
Really was a pleasure watching this group play throughout the season.
EDGE: High 3* (Last week: 4*)
R Mason Thomas was terrific. He found success against a very, very good pair of tackles and he was strong throughout the entire game. Loved to see that.
Ethan Downs, Trace Ford, and PJ Adebawore…not so much.
On Saturday night, RMT was a difference maker, the rest of the room was kind of missing in action in regard to having a positive impact on the game.
There is a lot of talent in that room which has really not come to the surface this season. I have said it before and I will say it again…the best development for that room this season has been RMT being healthy.
LB: High 4* (Last week: 4*)
Danny Stutsman likely played his last game as a Sooner on Saturday night and he left everything he had on the field.
I thought he played a really strong game and Kip Lewis, Kobie McKinzie, Dasan McCullough and Sammy Omosigho all represented the room very well.
Gonna miss Danny, but the LB room looks to be in fine shape going forward.
CB: 1* (Last week: 4*)
When your best corner starts to get picked on, things are not going well. Young Eli is getting some negative press of late and that’s a shame as he is still so young and clearly the most effective CB that OU can run out there right now. He will get better and he will learn from these lessons.
Aside from that, the LSU game was a culmination of the issues we saw against Missouri and their high school level QB…and Nussmeier is no high school level QB so he pretty much took what he wanted when he wanted to.
Going to be a lot of turnover in that room I believe.
S: 3* (Last week: 4*)
Woodi Washington pulls this grade down, but lets face it…as a whole, this group underperformed expectations this year.
I thought Billy was OK. I thought RSJ was OK. I thought Peyton may have been the best of the bunch on Saturday night, but he was really just OK.
The talent in this room never got to the point of taking over games except for a few fleeting plays here or there.
Billy Bowman likely lost money by coming back as he never looked like HIM as he did last season and RSJ was inconsistent while Bowne could never seem to get his footing for one reason or another throughout the season and Saturday night looked like much of the rest of the season did. Kinda ‘meh.’
ST: Nebula (Last week: 3*)
Allowing touchdown returns is no way to go through life as a special teamer.
Boo.
Coach Wants to See You, Bring Your Playbook
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 2, 2024
Exit meetings are underway as you would expect.
With that being said, as Brent Venables himself noted, some tough decisions will be made.
As those decisions are conveyed, you can expect to see more players announce their intention to enter the portal.
Projected Early Enrollee’s
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 3, 2024
Tomorrow the signing period is upon us!
From Wednesday to Friday recruits will be signing with the school of their choosing.
In anticipation of ‘making it official’, I know many are wondering which commits plan on enrolling in January.
Here is a list of those who plan on being at OU at the start of the new semester:
RB Tory Blaylock
WR Emmanuel Choice
WR Cortez Mills (At OU or Nebraska)
WR Elijah Thomas
TE Trynae Washington
OL Darius Afalava
OL Michael Fasusi
OL Ryan Fodje
OL Owen Hollenbeck
DL Trent Wilson
DB Courtland Guillory
DB Maliek Hawkins
DB Trystan Haynes
DB Omarion Robinson
DB Marcus Wimberly
Not confirmed to be enrolling early at this time: LB Marcus James, EDGE CJ Nickson, EDGE Alexander Shieldnight.
Signing Class Superlatives | Class of 2025
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 4, 2024
Oklahoma Recruiting Class MVP: Offensive Lineman, Ryan Fodje
– Fodje was a high school JV EDGE player when Bill Bedenbaugh found him and offered him. He not only has the potential to be a star on the field, but he was a rock for this class and never wavered.
Oklahoma Recruiting Class Best Athlete: Corner Back, Courtland Guillory
– Guillory can play anywhere on the field for OU but he will be a cornerback in Norman. He is a multi-sport star and he is a well-rounded athlete who has size, speed, and plenty of elite athleticism.
Oklahoma Recruiting Class Most Underrated: Offensive lineman Darius Afalava
– If you looked in the dictionary while looking for the definition of a ‘Bill Bedenbaugh type offensive lineman’ you may very well just see a picture of Afalava. Kid is massive, plays with violence and an edge, and he is already very, very strong. I absolutely love his upside and he is very underrated in my opinion.
Oklahoma Recruiting Class Instant Impact: Safety, Omarion Robinson
– It would be easy to go with Michael Fasusi here (as long as he signs with OU) but I have a sneaky suspicion that Robinson will have an instant impact for the Sooners next year. It may come at the safety position, but it also may come in the return game as he may turn out to be quite a special teams weapon early in his career.
Oklahoma Recruiting Class Hidden Gem: Wide Receiver, Elijah Thomas
– Thomas is well known to OU fans, but every time I watch his film I am left wondering why there was no major push on a national level for him. He is a dynamic playmaker and has a great build and frame. He may not be hidden from the OU fan base, but the national folks missed out on trying to pry him away. I think he may have a long and prolific career.
Quick Reminder | Staffing
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 5, 2024
Yesterday during his signing day presser, Coach Venables reiterated that the plan is for Ben Arbuckle to work with the existing offensive staff.
Just wanted to remind the community that there were no staffing changes last cycle until January 4th when Ted Roof was relieved of his duties. 9 days later, OU officially announced the hiring of Zac Alley as his replacement.
The coaching carousel will pick up here in the coming days and now that signing day has passed, a lot more pieces will be moving around the country.
Next Up – Portal Season
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 5, 2024
***With signing day in the books, the attention will shift to the NCAA transfer portal.
***The portal officially opens for business on December 9th and the window closes (for entry) on December 28th.
***To get ahead of a couple of inevitable questions:
***Yes, transfers within the SEC (from SEC team to SEC team) are eligible to play next season as long as the transfer is initiated and completed in the winter portal window. Players are not allowed to transfer within the SEC in the spring window and be eligible for the ’25 season.
***No, there is no specified time by which a player who entered the portal has to sign/enroll with his new school. Once you are in the portal, you can stay there until you find a home…could be for the January semester (as most hope they find a home for next semester) but it could take the player to spring or even summer to find a home, and sadly, many never do find a home.
***As for OU’s roster…I think I have been very clear, since mid-season, that there are folks coming for OU’s roster. OU is supposedly aware of this and they are playing defense. How effective they are in holding off the poachers is something we will find out. but I have repeatedly noted that there will be some losses that sting and impact players at positions of priority are going to be tampered with at a high level. Everybody wants young, impact trench players. OU needs to do what is necessary to hold onto theirs.
***As for OU filling needs via the portal…With QB1 Jackson Arnold already announcing his intentions to enter the portal, QB is the first and top priority. Back on November 19th, I dropped a sourced note which said:
In this case, I got a note from a source not affiliated with OU which said “Check on John Mateer and OU”.
***Obviously, with Ben Arbuckle moving from Washington State to OU as the new OC, QB John Matter would make sense, and having a source three weeks ago tell me to keep an eye on OU and Mateer lines up. So, OU may have a plan, but now they need to execute said plan.
***Other spots to keep an eye on for OU…source says that TE is a priority (captain obvious here) and OU will be looking for impact players at DT, EDGE, OL, and CB. The stated goal from sources at OU is to ‘Get better where we can”.
***Of course, 95% of the programs in college football will be focusing on OL and DL help so the price of shopping in the portal will be high. Is OU ready to go head-to-head in that arena? Well, they did so with Deion Burks and Damonic Williams last year, so I think it is safe to say OU will spend when they believe it to be beneficial or filling a crucial need.
***IMO the ‘crucial needs’ are TE, EDGE, and CB for impact players and I think DT and OT could use SEC-level players. OU needs TE, EDGE, and another CB to be impact-type players. The DT and OT spots don’t necessarily have to be stars if you do a good job of retaining your roster, but they need to be along the Walter Rouse/DaJon Terry levels to make sense.
News From the Portal | OU Entries | Kalib Hicks – Emeka Megwa
– Charlie S – Posted on: December 5, 2024
Will keep a running post of Sooner players who enter the transfer portal and bump it each time a new player enters…
***First up, WR Jaquaizie Pettaway. Pettaway has 16 receptions in his two years in Norman.
***2nd entry…QB Jackson Arnold. Arnold spent 2 years in Norman and absolutely laid his body on the line for the program this season.
***3rd entry…WR Nic Anderson. Anderson was injured for the majority of the ’24 season. Previously, he set an Oklahoma freshman record with 10 touchdown catches in 2023.
***4th entry…RB Kalib Hicks. Hicks made no impact aside from being the talk of fall camp in his two years in Norman.
***5th entry…RB Emeka Megwa. Aside from a few garbage time carries, Megwa did absolutely nothing in his two years in Norman. Nice story and, surprisingly to some, OU medical helped him recover from a devastating knee injury.
