Oklahoma Sooners Football: Taming the Snydercats (and Other Final Thoughts)

Happy Friday, fellow Sooners! We are now two weeks removed from that wretched September, and whaddaya know, the Sooners are on a two-game win streak. After surviving the roller coaster that was the 2016 Red River Showdown, I’m just as thankful to have made it home safely after my friend’s bachelor party last weekend in Austin. I cracked my phone screen on Friday night, unable to take any pictures of the weekend’s activities — thinking back, probably a good thing — and got a combined 10 hours of sleep through three days. And oh yeah, my flight from Austin to Dallas on Sunday evening was delayed three hours because of a plane malfunction, causing many passengers including myself to miss our connecting flights and extending an already-long weekend even longer.

With itineraries finally rescheduled and time painfully crawling by, I luckily found some company with whom to kill time in a couple of mild-mannered ACL-goers, who were on their way back to to Minneapolis after enjoying a sunny weekend of live music. While watching Giants-Packers in the airport, I naturally felt the need to educate them on all there is to know about the great Sam Bradford, and by the end of the evening had them yelling “Boomer Sooner!”…Perhaps that last part was an exaggeration, but boy are they pumped about Sam. There are some really nice folks up in Minnesota.

I finally departed Austin and arrived in Dallas around 10 p.m., only to learn there were no available hotel accommodations for us poor displaced souls disgruntled first-world travelers around the DFW area that evening. Somehow, the American Airlines staff seemed rather surprised that anyone would find these developments the least bit upsetting. So, naturally, they made it all up to us in the form of…DUN, DUN, DUN: meal vouchers. Yep, meal vouchers — $12 to be exact, which typically buys you about a half a bagel in a f***ing airport. We were also provided some blankets and cots lawn chairs made for tall people to sleep away our madness until flights would resume again early Monday morning.

It goes without saying that this incredibly dehydrated, and possibly delirious, Sooner was more than relieved to get back home when my 8 a.m. boarding time finally arrived. THANK YOU, YE FOOTBALL GODS FOR THE RED RIVER VICTORY! Any other result and I’d have likely died three times during that trip.

I’m extremely excited for a change of pace this Saturday, which hopefully begins with a smooth Oklahoma win over Coach Bill Snyder’s bunch. I’m pumped to wake up early sleep in like a teenager, go for a run sit in a chair and hydrate, before turning on The Franchise pregame and hear Rufus Alexander give his keys to victory (and bag on Sam Mayes). Our very own Graham Dudley did a great job breaking down the Manhattan Wildcats from the Little Apple earlier this week, and we all know how pesky Snyder’s litter of Wildcats can be. So I’m sure Bob’s instilled an edge in this group throughout the week, knowing it’s time to end K-State’s recent luck in Norman with a decisive win for the home team.

I expect to see a steady dose of the run, but it won’t be as easy as last week against the conference’s top defense. I also see DeDe going DeepDeep, and Mark Andrews getting back on track. I will also be paying attention to special teams when OU kicks or punts to the visitors, as big-play wide receiver Byron Pringle certainly has the wheels to flip a game. If you have a minute, read this story on Coach Snyder giving this kid a second chance after a checkered past could’ve led him down an entirely different path altogether.

As long as the Sooners don’t sleepwalk into the early kickoff, they should walk out with a comfortable W. OU 38, K-State 21

Here are the other games on my radar this week:

• (2) Ohio State @ (8) Wisconsin... Camp Randall is Week 7’s GameDay hangout. Urban Meyer’s teams have had the habit of underperforming, particularly on offense, in at least one conference game a season. The spread (-10.5) is too high, and a meeting with a very good defensive Badgers squad indicates that this could be that game in 2016. That being said, after witnessing the onslaught in Norman, I’m not sure it’s sane for any of us to pick against Ohio State when they play anyone not named Alabama, Clemson or Louisville. And Urban Meyer is undefeated on the road (19 straight) since arriving in Columbus. I’m with Jack — this one stays close, but there’s just too much talent in the scarlet and gray for a Badger upset. Buckeyes 30, Badgers 24
• (1) Alabama @ (9) Tennessee... The ‘Tide have been tested and look every bit like the nation’s no. 1 team. The Vols are on a brutal stretch of conference play and may not keep it close past the third quarter. But this Tennessee team has brought theatrics all season. ‘Bama pulls away late to win by 10 in Knoxville.
• Kansas @ (11) Baylor... I’m callin’ it! After letting TCU slip by last week, the Jayhawks beat Baylor on Saturday by a sc---…wait, what? Oh, it’s still not basketball season, yet? Bears, 42-17.
• (12) Ole Miss @ (22) Arkansas... Two ranked teams, couldn’t give two sh*ts.
• (21) Utah @ Oregon State…. UPSET — Beavers smother the Utes in Salem. Oh, beavers. Can’t wait for their annual date with the Trojans. Yep, still funny to me.
• Stanford @ Notre Dame... Talk about a stadium full of condescending assholes. The pretentiousness that will emanate from South Bend this weekend is only unprecedented by the week that Notre Dame plays Notre Dame, or Stanford plays itself, in some ultra-snobby parallel universe. Maybe prominent Duke donors get invites to this one, just for fun, and turn the douchebaggery up about eight more notches. Pompous Assholes Team A will defeat Pompous Assholes Team B by a score of go f*** yourselves. (This doesn’t go for you, Christian McCaffrey. You are a badass, man.)
• Arizona State @ Colorado... Battle of Two of the Nation’s Best Party Schools. There’s a good chance students forget there’s a football game to be played around what might resemble Woodstock ’16 this weekend. Can you imagine the scene in Boulder if enough Sun Devils make the trip north? I choose not to, primarily because of the depression that will hit knowing I’m not 21 anymore, and I live in Oklahoma. Score: Sun Devils - Pretty Drunk, Buffs - Quite Stoned. EVERYONE WINS!

And finally...

• The much-anticipated Big 12 “Expansion” meeting is on Monday. I now view the phrase “Big 12 Expansion” as an oxymoron. In the upcoming future, I’m going to write up a little something on the imaginary (and spectacular) matchups that a Pac-16 would gift us. This will be quite a bit more enjoyable than witnessing what transpires over the next [insert short-term time frame here] before this entire conference consists of Kansas, Ball State, North Texas, South Dakota State, North Dakota S— scratch that, they’ll be in the Big 10 by then — Northern Iowa, The Toronto Argonauts of the CFL and Tulsa. Tulsa will be conference champs in 2018, while OU exacts sweet, sweet revenge on Oregon in Eugene for 2006 (We’ll never forget, Ducks.). On a side note, if we are to take little brother from Stillwater with us (which they take for granted by the way) out west, they have to agree to leave behind a one T. Boone Pickens — or at least, his talking privileges. Here’s the latest from Jake Trotter on the Big 12 Dumpster Fire.
• The electrifying Lamar Jackson is back in action tonight on ESPN as the No. 7 Cardinals take on Duke in Louisville. Just sayin’. Check out some of his high school highlights, just for the sake of incredibly fun football. I’m still picking up my jaw from the floor. So many scouts should head back to scout school after missing out on this kid — a three-star, seriously?
• Fun stuff from Oklahoma high school football, as ESPN recognized this crazy play Sand Springs pulled off against No. 1 Muskogee as the top play on last night’s Top Ten, with USA Today calling it the play of the year. This is pretty wild:

Now, all that’s left is to tame some Snydercats in Norman. Boomer Sooner, friends!