The Football Brainiacs

Weekend Visitors | Houston Week
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 5, 2024

The Sooners host Houston this week and they will also be hosting some unofficial visitors this weekend.

Among those that OU plans on hosting:

’27 WR – Boobie Feaster – DeSoto, TX
’26 OU TE Commit – Ryder Mix – Frisco, TX
’25 OU OL Commit – Owen Hollenbeck – Melissa, TX
’26 OL – Noah Best – Midlothian, TX
’26 WR – Mason James – Norman, OK
’25 OU EDGE Commit – Alex Shieldnight – Wagoner, OK
’25 OU EDGE Commit – CJ Nickson – Weatherford, OK
’27 OU EDGE Commit Zane Rowe – Denton, TX
’25 OU LB Commit – Marcus James – Oklahoma City, OK
’26 EDGE – Kevin Ford – Duncanville, TX
’27 DL – Joseph Graves – Tulsa, OK
’26 DL – Tahj Overton – Owasso, OK

There will be additional visitors and some on the list will inevitably not make it in.

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Sunday Brunch | Strap on the Feed Bag and Bring Some Antacids
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 1, 2024

Happy Sunday!

Come on through as I will serve up the first Sunday Brunch of the 2024 season!

The Sooners easily dispatched the Temple Owls by the score of 51-3. While the scoreboard was grossly in favor of Oklahoma, some of what we saw in regard to play on the field was rather…well…gross.

Do not get me wrong, the Sooners did a lot of good things on the field against Temple, particularly on the defensive side of the ball…and that’s an article in and of itself for later on. The offense also gave you some good stuff to sink your teeth into such as the play of quarterback Jackson Arnold who was decisive and accurate while protecting the football. You also saw nice things from new offensive standouts Deion Burks and Bauer Sharp. Both of those guys will be major contributors for the Sooners offense this year. Then you had the stable of running backs, each of whom had a good moment or two in the game but it was young Taylor Tatum who stole the spotlight as he excited the crowd with some really nice runs that he made look easy on what was a rather pedestrian rushing night overall.

Then you had a couple of glaring issues on the offensive side of the ball, and that’s what we are gonna talk about as the main course of this brunch…so get the antacids of your preference ready.

First, let’s get the wide receiver room concerns out of the way. OU came out firing and early in the game, Jackson Arnold, while getting hit, dropped a dime to Jalil Farooq which went for the largest chunk play of the night for the Sooners. It was a beautiful pass on a great route from Farooq who caught the ball in stride for a 40+ yard gain. Things were looking great in that aspect of the game. Then…Jalil Farooq broke his foot. He will be out from 6-8 weeks and the problem is, his replacements just didn’t get the job done.

OU was already down Jayden Gibson who had surgery early in fall camp on a knee injury, so he was out. Nic Anderson is suffering from a lower-body injury, so he didn’t suit up. Then you had the Farooq injury and in a blink of an eye, OU was down three starting-caliber wide receivers.

JJ Hester and Brenen Thompson got their shots at securing their positions on the depth chart. Neither one did anything of note to help their cause. Hester had a bad drop on a slant that was thrown perfectly and could have resulted in a really big gain, if not a touchdown. Thompson, with all his speed, had problems getting open and when he did, he had directional problems which included traveling east and west rather than north or south on third down.

Here is the deal with the wide receiver room ahead of the Houston game: OU needs to get Andrel Anthony and Nic Anderson healthy and up to full speed. If that means resting them again against Houston, so be it. But if they choose to rest Anthony and Anderson, OU needs to find out what they have with their youngsters in Zion Kearney and Ivan Carreon outside. Perhaps move Jaquaizie Pettaway outside this week and coach him up. Whatever you choose to do, do it now, this week, so they will have a chance to be prepared to make the most of their opportunities. Now is not the time to just rely on Hester and Thompson as they already had one chance, nobody should get unlimited chances with the talent OU has in the program.

Which brings me to the offensive line. What a mess that was on Friday Night. The starting group that ran out there was Jacob Sexton at left tackle, Geirean Hatchett at left guard, Branson Hickman at center, Febechi Nwaiwu at right guard and Michael Tarquin at right tackle in place of Jake Taylor. Ok, not bad, starting the game you think OU could get away with that group and be in a pretty good position. Wrong. Branson Hickman gets hurt on the second drive. Hatchett slides to center, Sexton slides to LG, Tarquin flips to LT, and Spencer Brown enters at RT. What a disaster that turned out to be.

I have so many questions and concerns about how things played out after the Hickman injury that I have no idea where to begin. I guess I will start at center. What the hell was Geirean Hatchett doing getting second-team reps at center? It wasn’t because Josh Bates was injured as Bates came in to play later in the game. I respect and admire guys who go out of their comfort zone in an effort to help the team and I tip my cap to Hatchett for giving it a go, but after the game, I asked a source how long Hatchett has been taking reps at center and source said “Not long”. I asked for some clarity and was led to believe that Hatchett’s foray into the center position only really got serious once fall camp ended. He looked every bit like a guy who was not comfortable at center as it appeared like he was so focused on each snap that he forgot he had to actually block people once he accomplished the feat of snapping the ball.

Then we can have a look at ol Spencer Brown coming in at right tackle. I understand that Taylor was banged up and wasn’t going to play, but if you don’t move Hatchett from guard, you don’t need a right tackle as Tarquin, YOUR STARTER at RT, would still be over there. Hickman goes out, Bates comes in, easy peasy, right? Wrong. Instead, OU moves everyone not named Febechi Nwaiwu around and inserts Spencer Brown at RT. That just didn’t work out well for anyone, including Brown who looked like an old man with arthritic knees who was just too stiff to bend.

Meanwhile, you moved your best OT to guard and replaced him with a guy who was starting at right tackle and in reality, probably shouldn’t even be playing tackle at this point. As the game progressed, the offensive line did not. Things never looked right, as I said yesterday in the comment section, you appeared to have 5 guys doing 5 different things at the same time. Throughout the majority of the game, you saw little push from the OL, you saw miscommunications, you saw missed assignments, you saw lazy uninspired play and you saw an offensive line that just did not progress throughout the game.

My concern…why were there no adjustments made when it was clear after even a couple of drives that this offensive line was not going to cut it? You know my thoughts on Bill Bedenbaugh and how I view him. He is easily a top 5 offensive line coach in football in my opinion and that is not just college football, that is all of football. However, on Friday night, I think he did his room no favors by not making additional changes when he clearly had the opportunity to do so.

I can only speculate why he did not make the changes I have in mind, but I won’t speculate on that reasoning right now and that may be something I write about next Sunday morning if we don’t see some substantial improvement OR some significant changes in the lineup.

Either way, after the game was well in hand on Friday night, changes were made and you saw the young guys come in. Howland, EPL, Bates, and Ozaeta all got some reps in and to be perfectly honest, Logan Howland looked like the best tackle the Sooners ran out there (because Sexton played the majority of the game inside). Eddy was getting tremendous push off the line and Bates was snapping the ball effectively and with some tempo on it while also realizing he needed to finish the play and block someone. The second line looked markedly better than the starters and I understand they were going against the Temple twos, but what we saw was potential. Each of the young guys has the potential to be better than the vets in front of them. They are clearly more athletic and physically talented than guys like Tarquin, Brown and Hatchett and their ceilings are much higher.

OU and coach B do not have the luxury of sitting on their hands at this point. That’s how bad the OL was against Temple. This is not a one-game reaction post, this is a post about the future and potential for Team 130. As I did last year with Dillon Gabriel after game two, based on what I’ve seen and what I project, I have to make the call to say I have seen enough after just one game to believe that OU would be better off moving away from the Tarquins/Browns/Hatchetts of the world if the need and opportunity presents itself. Well, against Houston, the need and the opportunity absolutely does present itself. It’s time to see what the youngsters can do in a game setting. Houston is no better than Temple after what I watched last night, so you have nothing to lose and very, very little risk.

Yes, there is a chance and a likelihood, in fact, that the vets will get better the more they work with each other, but to what ends? Their ceilings will only allow them to get to a certain point. We know what the guys above can do, and it isn’t good enough at a place like OU, particularly when you have guys with higher potential who could deliver the same level of play right now. Why not run out a starting line that lets those guys sit on the bench to start the game while seeing what some of the younger guys can do? You can always bring them in should the young guys put out a stinker of a quarter or something.

I know Coach Bedenbaugh values experience more than anything else. In this case, for me at least, even only after the first week, it is already a matter of “Been there, tried that”. Last year, one of the things I said quite frequently was: “Jackson Arnold can do everything that Dillon Gabriel is doing on the field right now, but there are things that Jackson Arnold can do that Dillon Gabriel cannot do”. It’s time for Bedenbaugh to revert back to his earlier days when he was forced to put the young guys out there. Heck, that’s how he built his best line ever. I hope to see him reach into his bag of tricks and come out with the best five he has against Houston…because if he picks out the best five he has, a couple of the guys that were out there on Friday won’t be out there this week. Some of those young OL guys can do the same things that the older guys are doing right now, but they also can potentially do some things that the older guys cannot do.

There is no time like the present (game against a bad Houston team) to see what ya got in a live game setting when it comes to the depth at offensive line. After all, it really cannot get any worse than it did against Temple and it can only get to a certain level with the guys that ran out there last Friday night.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and see ya in the game thread for tonight’s matchup!

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Position Group Progress Report | ’24 Game 1: Temple
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 2, 2024

Happy Labor Day!

Checking out how the position groups performed in the Sooner’s season-opening victory over Temple! Entering their first season in the SEC, OU was a substantial favorite over the Owls and they covered the spread by a score of 51-3.

This will be the first 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 Temple.

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QB: Low 4*

Arnold came out hot and played turnover-free while hitting on 17 of 25 passes for 141 yards and four touchdowns. Those numbers were impacted by at least four dropped passes, including some perfect throws on what would have resulted in chunk plays. Arnold showed solid pocket presence and was very good about not putting the ball in harm’s way aside from one pass that I recall. Really solid start for Arnold and it could have and should have gone better statistically if he got even a little help from his receivers. One big negative, he was hit often and ran the ball too much for my liking. Have to protect him because Mike Hawkins is still developing as a QB and Casey Thompson did not take a snap.

RB: 4*

Sneaky good game for the OU running backs in regard to production throughout the entire stable. Freshman Taylor Tatum and transfer Sam Franklin each averaged over 10 yards per carry (Tatum 5 for 69 for 13.8 ypc and Franklin 4 for 45 for 11.3 ypc). Starter Gavin Sawchuk was the only back who was really contained as he had 6 carries for 15 yards but Jovantae Barnes looked very good in his return as he went 5 for 33 for a 6.5 average. Now, to be fair, Sawchuk and Barnes were running when the OL was really a mess (they settled in a bit as the game wore on), but yeah, it’s gonna be a battle all year if the offense goes by the plan of sticking with the hot hand. Taylor Tatum just looked different out there, very interested in watching hm this week.

WR: 3*

I mean, Deion Burks was great! Three touchdowns in his Sooner debut and it looked like Arnold and him have a nice chemistry between them. Jalil Farooq had the lone real chunk play of the night prior to getting injured and Brenen Thompson was the only other WR with multiple catches. Problem is he had a few directional struggles and disappeared far too often. JJ Hester had a couple huge drops and Andrel Anthony also had butter fingers as he returned to action. The WR room which was thought to be a strength entering the season suddenly looks a bit shaky and scary thin as the Sooners await Nic Andersons return and Andrel Anthony getting back up to speed. Without Burks’ contributions on Friday, this would be a 1* rating.

TE: High 3*

Bauer Sharp had a memorable debut for Oklahoma as he hauled in five receptions and scored the first touchdown of the season for the Sooners. No other tight end recorded a catch on the night, but Jake Roberts did some nice things in the run game. I could have called this a four star rating, but I didn’t like what I saw from Sharp in the blocking game. Probably should still call it four star, but I’m erring on the side of caution to see how bad the blocking issues actually were on a deeper level. Still, nice night receiving wise for the OU TE room (Sharp right now in that respect) and hope to see them clean up the blocking game.

OL: 1*

There are 5 positions among the OL. Only one of them played worth a damn for the majority of the night, and that would be Jacob Sexton. Everyone else among the starters was ‘meh’ or ‘ew’…mostly ‘ew’. Logan Howland, Heath Ozaeta, Josh Bates and Eddy Pierre Louis were the best part of the night after Sexton. Easily could have handed out the first Nebula of the season, but I figured it would be wise to leave so room…

DT: 5*

New year, new system. In the past I have lumped the ends and the tackles together, but not this year. Based on my intrigue and concern about the EDGE room, I think it is only fair to rate the interior guys on their own. So to start out the year, the DTs grab my highest rating of the year and why not throw them a 5* rating? I thought Damonic Williams was steady and he helped engrain a terrific mindset among all the interior guys. Jayden Jackson got the start and he gave a great account of himself. Gracen Halton stole the spotlight with 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble and Markus Strong wrapped up a dominant DT performance by making the most of his three snaps as he recorded two sacks to close the game out. Ashton Sanders flashed with .5 of a sack and DaJon Terry had a steady and impactful night. Heck, Davon Sears made his presence felt. The OU IDL did exactly what they were supposed to do against Temple as they totaled 4 sacks and consistently collapsed the pocket. They earned a 5* rating but they still have room to grow as well.

DE: High 3*

R Mason Thomas and Ethan Downs were your starters and they were both solid on the night. Downs recorded a sack, forced a fumble and played well against the run. R Mason Thomas had 3 tackles and one tackle for loss. After that…I mean…I didn’t see much. Trace Ford had a pass defense but on this night, the EDGE room really wasn’t asked to do too much and they didn’t log many stats. I guess not hearing much about them is better than noticing them for the wrong reasons, right?

LB: 4*

Solid night for the backers as Stutsman and Lewis were your starters. Danny led the team with 6 tackles and Kip added 4 of his own. Lewis also had a couple missed tackles, but nothing egregious. I thought Kobie McKinzie played well in his most extensive action in a regular season game and Lewis Carter flashed his talent with 4 tackles of his own. Jaren Kanak picked up a pair of tackles as a linebacker and he added a scoop and score on a special teams play (yes, special teams will get credit for that). Best part about the linebacker play? I cannot recall scratching my head while watching bad angles and a plethora of missed tackles. Solid night for this group.

CB: 4*

Not hearing about your corners absolutely is a good thing, and you didn’t hear much about the OU corners on Friday. Kani Walker and Dez Malone got the starts as Woodi Washington was held out and Gentry Williams saw limited snaps. Walker hauled in an interception off a tip from Kendel Dolby and he pretty much locked up his side of the field. Malone was steady and Jacobe Johnson played well in his opportunities, Devon Jordan and Jeremiah Newcombe got their feet wet and looked good in doing so.

S (Includes Cheetah this year): 5*

Why waste time in putting out the second 5* of the year. This safety group is filthy. They really are impressive. From Billy Bowman to Peyton Bowen (your starters) to Robert Spears Jennings, Kendel Dolby, Jaydan Hardy, Michael Boganowski, Sammy Omosigho, and Reggie Powers…these guys have all the weapons. All of them. You have smart players who are physical freaks and ball hawks who love to hit people. I thought Bowman was in complete control of the backend and RSJ showed off his physical attributes well and he was credited with a forced fumble. I guess my biggest surprise was Peyton Bowen having a relatively quiet night but Jaydan Hardy had an interception and Boganowski was out there trying to hurt people. This is going to be a really fun group to watch this year. Kendel Dolby at Cheetah is a cheat code when it comes to coverage and he is not afraid to throw his body into the fray in run support.

ST: 5*

Breaking news: OU may have found a kicker! Tyler Keltner went 3-3 on field goals and that included a 50 yarder!

Jaren Kanak had a scoop and score on a fumbled punt!

Punt returns were not a circus!

Kickoffs were great!

What more can ya ask for?

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The SEC is Tough
– Super K – Posted on: September 3, 2024

I’ve been watching this SEC for a long time. And I know that it’s common knowledge that the SEC puts out of lot of NFL talent and is elite across the line of scrimmage.

But did watching the SEC this week knowing that OU will be playing these teams remind any of you just how good they are at the line of scrimmage?

I know folks are point to the TAMU loss and the LSU loss and saying, what are you talking about?

But, frankly, I don’t care. Both of those teams have players on the line and it’s obvious step up from the Big 12.

Consider that TAMU is a team that had a lot of defection, a new coach and still made life tough for a blue blood program.

Lincoln Riley has been financed to the hilt both in terms of players and staff and still LSU (which isn’t the SEC of old) had multiple opportunities to put them away.

Again, I’ve been watching the SEC for a long time. The Sooners are accustomed to entering almost every game with better talent. But these big boys at Bama, LSU and even Arkansas and TAMU are going to require maximum effort and resilience on a weekly basis.

It was a reminder of what the Sooners are getting into. I told Charlie over the weekend, it was a reminder why, if you do emerge out of the SEC, you’re likely to win the national championship.

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Know Your Opponent | Houston – 2024
– Charlie S – Posted on: September 4, 2024

Head Coach – Willie Fritz (1st at Houston)
Offensive Coordinator – Kevin Barbay (1st at Houston)
Defensive Coordinator – Shiel Wood (1st at Houston)

The Houston Cougars are coming off a season that saw a lot of change following their entry into the Big 12. The Cougars have a new staff as Houston went out and poached Willie Fritz from Tulane to replace Dana Holgorsen as the head coach. Fritz has his work cut out for him as the roster had a lot of turnover and he is basically rebuilding the program from the bottom up. Houston opened the season last week with a 27-7 loss to UNLV. Their offense struggled at best and their defense could not do enough to keep the game against UNLV competitive for the most part.

On offense…

The plan is for the offense to run a balanced attack. New OC Barbay has been a rapid riser in the coaching field, but he really hasn’t had any sustained success at any one place as his ascension has been so sudden. Houston has decent skill personnel as Donovan Smith was thought to be one of the better QBs in the Big 12 coming into the season and they have some talent at wide receiver. The major problem is that their offensive line was gutted and they got off to a shaky start in game one.

QB #1 Donovan Smith
RB #23 Parker Jenkins
TE #13 Jayden York

– Donovan Smith is a talented cat. Dual threat guy who can cause defenses some real issues when things are going right.

– Smith was 15-31 for 135 yards in the opener with 2 picks and he ran 12 times for negative 24 yards (was sacked 5 times and UNLV had 10 tackles for loss)

– Jenkins only carried the ball two times for 17 yards, but in all, the Cougars rushed the ball 26 times for a total of 38 yards.

WR #0 Joseph Manjack IV
WR #4 Jonah Wilson
WR #5 Stephon Johnson

– The Cougs did have 209 yards in the pass game and 10 different receivers caught passes.

– However, 90 of those yards came on their last drive of the game against the UNLV backups.

– #83 Mekhi Mews is a guy not listed as a starter, but he had the best day as he caught 3 for 57 and Manjack caught the lone score for Houston.

LT #77 David Ndukwe
LG #66 Peyton Dunn
C #59 Demetrius (PANCAKE) Hunter
RG #72 Tank Jenkins
RT 75 Jake Wiley

– The Cougars had a stout offensive line last season and basically, all the good parts up and left for one reason or another and this years group is on the struggle bus. Big time.

– Houston struggled to get anything going for 55+ minutes against UNLV offensively and you can trace that ineptness right back to the OL.

– Ndukwe and Wiley are solid (generous characterization) in pass pro at tackle and the interior is better in that respect as well…when it comes to run blocking, ain’t nothing good going on.

On Defense…

New DC Wood is bringing a new look on the Cougar defensive side of the ball as he will move the defense away from a 4-3 base and into a 3-4 look. Wood uses the catchphrase of every defensive coordinator in the country as he indicates the desire to be multiple. Basically what you will see when it is all said and done is pretty much a 4-2-5 look with one of the DL being a smaller pass rushing type EDGE. Against UNLV, this group posted 1 sack and 4 total tackles for loss.

DE #5 Keith Cooper Jr.
NT #92 Carlos Allen
DT #18 Anthony Holmes Jr.
EDGE (Called DOG) #4 Brandon Mack

– Mack and Allen are solid players and they recorded 6 and 5 tackles last week respectively with Mack also having one TFL

– Cooper added 3 tackles and had the Cougars lone sack.

– Overall, UNLV found a good amount of success in the run game as they averaged around 4 ypc and racked up 195 total on the ground.

MLB #25 Jamal Morris
WLB #44 Michael Batton

– Good to see former Sooner Jamal Morris finding his groove. Morris led the Cougars in tackles last week with 7 tackles, one TFL

– Batton matched Morris’ tackle total with 7 so both the backers are active and willing.

NB #21 Juwon Gaston
LCB #12 Ajani Carter
SS #8 Kentrell Webb
FS #2 A.J. Haulcy
RCB #1 Latrell McCutchin Sr.

– Webb is the standout in the defensive backfield. Good player who came to Houston along with Willie Fritz. Very familiar with the scheme and a guy who likes to be physical. Susceptible to the big play though due in part to his aggressiveness (Think Key Lawrence here).

– Look over there at the right corner and you will find the well-traveled former Sooner Latrell McCutchin. Kinda bummed that OU is not at full health at WR cause the optics could have been something.

– As a whole, this group was not tested much as UNLV only threw 14 passes on the opener.

Overall thoughts…

– I’m gonna say it, even though it likely goes against the grain for many of you…OU should mud-stomp this team and do so in a more impressive fashion than what they did to Temple.

– I see a slow, small, Cougar defense that should get pushed around by the Sooners second unit on offense, let alone the first group. They just are not good and I would not be shocked to see them on the same statistical level as Temple defensively by the end of the year.

– Offensively, again, OU has the overwhelming advantage physically and depth wise and the OU defense should feast here. If UNLV can grab 5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss, I expect the OU numbers to be significantly higher. I don’t see a difference-maker outside of Smith’s potential that can consistently cause OU problems (so long as OU comes to play).

– Donovan Smith can pose some problems if he gets loose in the second level, but OU should not be in a position to have to deal with that scenario much at all as the game goes along.

– I expect OU to be able to experiment with personnel as this has all the makings of a lopsided game on Saturday Night.