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- Happy Tuesday, Sooners fans! Feels like I was just here.
- The Baylor win was good enough, I wanted to give it its own airtime. But equally important? We’ve got the TCU Spiky Amphibians upcoming this Saturday in Norman. So I hope our boys enjoyed Sunday, because break time’s over.
- If I’m TCU, here’s my thinking: you really, really, really don’t want to play us right now. Oklahoma has gotten some mighty good press these last couple days, and the shine is back on. If I’m Gary Patterson, I’m asking the copy department to blow up and laminate all of OU’s press and post it all around the locker room. I’m making sure that everyone on my squad knows that TCU has fallen behind OU in national perception. I’m making sure that every one of my kids knows that the world is telling them that they’re too young, too hurt, too not-intangiblsed. (That's a real word, honest.) I’m making sure they know they’re the peasants and OU are the lords.
- If I’m Gary Patterson, I’m telling my team that the world thinks an OU win is a fait accompli (actually a real term this time), and they should just be happy to be there. If I’m Gary Patterson, I’m also reminding them that this is a team that lost to the Texas Longhorns, and TCU is orders of magnitude better than that squad in Austin.
- TCU is that team that began the year as preseason champion darlings, but a host of injuries has eroded confidence in them. The Horned Frog injury list stands at seven players on the preseason roster lost for the year, with a few more questionable for Saturday night. In OU’s last NC year in 2000, we were really lucky with the injury bug. TCU and K-State are the Big XII teams who can rightly say, “If only…!” Difference between the two, TCU is still 8-1. Gary Patterson has done an amazing job these last several years. Don’t expect that he won’t for this game.
- (For a fuller analysis, please visit our colleagues at The Frogs of War for their post on TCU’s injury woes.)
- As of this writing, I’m betting that both Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson will play. For my case, I hope they do and hope they’re at 100%. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
- And let’s not fool ourselves -- these guys, at 100%, are elite. When I say “elite,” I’m not talking about the way Joe Flacco talks about himself, either, they’re the real deal. Boykin has everything you want in a quarterback: big arm, accurate, elusive, and can run with speed and power.
- Patterson is seeing guys step up in practice this week with their two superstars questionable: “I can already tell the difference in our football team, yesterday in the hour of practice we have on Sunday, them understanding the urgency if either one of those guys don’t play,” Patterson said.
- Among the many shakeups Oklahoma went through this past offseason, one of the biggest was the hire of Coach Kerry Cooks from Notre Dame. Zack Sanchez’s ability to change possession has been well-documented, but Steven Parker, Jordan Thomas, and Ahmad Thomas (seriously!) have really huge strides from last season. The good folks over at soonersports.com have a nice little piece on Coach Cooks that’s worth the watch.
- Defensively, Patterson’s 4-2-5 is based on stopping the run and creating multiple disguised blitz options. Injuries and graduations have thinned what has been an all-conference caliber squad, but TCU has the schemes to try to mimic the ways that the Longhorns used successfully against OU.
- One thing that I notice through all of my scrolling through opposing fans’ websites? They hate “Boomer Sooner.” I mean, they really hate “Boomer Sooner.” They hate “Boomer Sooner” a lot. I’m totally okay with that.
- Another fun little moment from Stoops’ press conference yesterday: “A 7 o'clock game gives [fans] an extra hour to get charged up, if you know what I mean….” The sly wink-and-a-grin in his voice with the words “if you know what I mean” leads me to believe that the beer vendors on Campus Corner shouldn’t hurt for profits on Saturday night. (The press gang had a good chuckle.)
- Saturday night is more than just a bigtime football matchup with national implications: it’s Senior Night. So let’s go out and cheer for Devonte Bond, Ty Darlington, Derek Farniok, Nick Hodgson, Eric Hosek, Nila Kasitati, P.L. Lindley, Durron Neal, Frank Shannon, Sterling Shepard, Josiah St. John, Eric Striker, and Mitch Tate. Let’s thank these young men for having been a part of the Sooners family, and cheer ‘em on to a win.
- Peace and love, Sooners fans! Let’s go make like Doc Hopper this weekend.