:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/41738820/457066242.0.jpg)
- Happy Monday, Sooners fans! Mmmm mmmm mmmmmmmm, don’t the smell of beating Texas just feel like the richest ambrosia?
- I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. (Usually I feel lucky if I even have a glass.) With all the doom and gloom surrounding the game, I thought I’d spend some time in these bulletpoints giving you some things to think about that might give you a brighter perspective. I’m not saying you won’t still shank Josh Heupel with a sharpened toothbrush if you run into him in the grocery store, but just keep a few things in mind….
- Both the TCU and Texas games were oddities in terms of establishing rhythm. Against TCU, penalty flags flying on every other possession made it tough for both teams to really get their identities going. Against Texas, the KO return and pick-six basically took two offensive possessions away from us. Not that we mind, but of course the stat sheet is going to look bad when you don’t have possessions. Points on the scoreboard tend to be a pretty important stat.
- Three penalties for 20 yards. Easily the best we’ve done in that department in a while, and a clear sign of progress.
- Next week will be the first game in Norman in five weeks. Early September was the last time we’ve enjoyed our friendly confines.
- Get used to our drives starting at the 25, because nobody’s going to want to give Alex Ross a chance. Kid’s a flat-out burner, and his upfield vision is outstanding. He’s starting to emerge as the best special teamer we’ve had since Antonio Perkins was fielding punts.
- Keith Ford will be coming back soon. The importance of this cannot be overstated.
- Zack Sanchez went a whole game making great plays without making an equal number of bad ones.
- Blake Bell has proven to have terrific hands. Good to see him get used more. He’s quietly becoming a reliable third target behind Shepard and Neal. We need this to continue, but kid made some big catches.
- Bob Stoops has ten wins against Texas. You want to know how to make a Longhorns fan feel soul-crushing despair? Casually walk up to him at the water cooler and say, "Hey, Dan, did you hear Bob Stoops is retiring after this season?" Watch him run to his Google machine to search for news articles. After five minutes, walk back up to him and say, "Just kidding." Watch his soul deflate to the sound of a thousand trombones going "Wanh wanh waaaaaaaaanh."
- But I’m not a total Pollyanna, there are some definite negatives that bear mentioning….
- This is easily the shallowest wide receiver corps in Stoops’s tenure, and it’s showing. Some big drops over the last couple weeks really hurt. After the Ray Rice fiasco, it may be said that we dodged a bullet by not getting Dorial Green-Beckham eligible this season, but Jay Norvell’s unit is becoming a liability.
- Sterling Shepard isn’t doing much at all with punt returns, and I don’t think there’s a better option out there right now. Zack Sanchez was doing it during the Spring game, and I don’t see the coaches making that switch.
- If I’m an opposing offensive coordinator, I walk up to my quarterback and tell him, "Whoever Ahmad Thomas is guarding? Throw the ball to that guy." The kid has just looked like he’s not ready all year now. It might be time to give Steven Parker a start to try to shock some competition into the kid.
- Katy Perry hasn’t given Jameis Winston her digits.
- For any other nostalgic Gen X’ers out there, check out this kid accompanying Super Mario Brothers on the violin. Remember when having a Nintendo made you the cool kid? (Well, I remember having an Atari and being the coolest kid, but still.)
- I really wish that Parkour had been a thing when I was a kid, because I totally would have done it. Actually, on second thought, I’m really glad that Parkour wasn’t a thing when I was a kid, because I totally would have done it.
- Your non-football University of Oklahoma link for the week: THE OU CAMPUS IS TOTALLY HAUNTED.
- So next up are the Kansas State Wildcats. (Or, as I like to call them, "Purple Kansas.") Sez Wikipedia: "In 2006, K-State dedicated the Biosecurity Research Institute. The BRI, in Pat Roberts Hall, is a safe and secure location in which scientists and their collaborators can study high-consequence pathogens." So if any Sooners players come down with that pesky Ebola thing, the FBI investigation should start in Manhattan, not Dallas.
- Their head coach is Bill Snyder, whom I think was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. You’ll run out of superlatives trying to describe what a great football coach Snyder truly is: Barry Switzer, on the topic of the rebuilding job he did at Kansas State, said, "He's not the coach of the year, he's not the coach of the decade, he's the coach of the century."
- My surname is Lockett. Don't hold this coming Saturday against me.
- Fun little factoid I found while researching this piece: when Snyder retired in 2005, he had an overall record of 136-68-1, for a winning percentage of… .666. He famously returned after the Ron Prince experiment, and currently boasts an overall record of 182-91-1, for a winning percentage of… .666. Everyone have their Halloween decorations out?
- Peace and love, Sooners fans. It’s Monday, October 13th, and Texas sucks.