Kansas State At Oklahoma - Things I'm Looking For

Initially I though having two byes in three weeks may have been a good idea for Oklahoma because of the way the way their schedule set up. Now, I'm not so sure. I still believe that its great for the program to be able to make adjustments before their first conference game and then to adjust again with an extra week to prepare for the trip to Lubbock. However, what I undervalued was what it would do to the fans.

I don't know about you but I'm going bat crazy waiting for 6:50 to get here! I am on the verge of going into complete Sooner football withdrawal and my only fix in a three week span comes tonight. Once I'm in the stadium with the sights and sounds of Oklahoma football going on around me all will be right in the world again. Those emotions will put the opening kickoff at the top of the list of things I'm looking for tonight.

Opening Kickoff! I agree with Bob Stoops. The crowd noise should be epic tonight. It should be deafening at Kickoff and continue well into the game. If for no other reason than the fact that we haven't seen the Sooners since Sept. 8th and won't see them again until Oct. 6th. Add to the fact that we've got a Top 15 opponent coming to Norman tonight and we should see a crowd much like 2008 Texas Tech.

That is still one of my all-time great moments at an OU football game.

Containment by the defensive ends. I can't express how crucial this is to Oklahoma stopping the Kansas State offense. "Don't let anything outside of you" should have been stated to OU's defensive ends so many times over the last two weeks that they actually hear it in their sleep. Now we've got to see it happen on the field.

A solid #2 emerge at receiver. I tabbed Justin Brown for this during our roundtable discussion this week, while Jordan and Rich went with Trey Metoyer. I don't really care who it is as long as it happens. Tonight's the night where someone steps up.

Fundamental tackling. I'm a firm believe in spending a day or two working on fundamentals when you have two weeks to prepare for a game. Hopefully the defense will be able to funnel everything to the middle which means the linebackers and safeties should have a heyday when it comes to tackles. They've got to be fundamentally sound though.

Play-action passing. I'm not ready to say that Oklahoma's rushing attack is back just yet, but I'm really close. Regardless, you've got to respect what the Sooners have done on the ground through the first two games and that should open OU up to enjoy success tonight with the play-action pass.

Defensive tackles getting a push. This is the game that will tell us exactly where Oklahoma stands at the defensive tackle position. They've got to be able to hold their ground and get a push into the offensive backfield or the conference schedule is going to get extremely interesting.

Well, that's it for me and the things I'm looking for tonight. What about you and the things you're looking for?