Oklahoma Sooners Football Hot Links: Baker Mayfield is ready for Ohio State

I certainly hope you all had a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend. Before I get into the links, I want to wish a happy 34th birthday to the youngest head coach in the FBS, Lincoln Riley! And congratulations on your first of many wins as the Sooners’ head man.

Now onto the links, where you’ll find out how both the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oklahoma Sooners are preparing for the big showdown on Saturday, how part of Oklahoma’s stadium broke off, how a band instrument was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and much more!

OU Links:

• In case you missed yesterday’s presser, Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield shared some of his thoughts on the big game versus Ohio State this weekend. I don’t know about you, but the young man seems more focused than ever.

• This fired me up. Baker Mayfield has held an incredibly high standard for himself ever since Oklahoma’s last loss, which came against Ohio State in 2016. He and the rest of the team are dialed in and are ready to face the challenge that awaits them on Saturday in Columbus.
• Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer prepares for OU after a slow start against Indiana last Thursday. Even though his team looked less than stellar in the first half of their season opener, they looked like the dominant team they are expected to be in the second half.
• The Buckeyes opened this week as a nine-point favorite against the Sooners, but that spread has already started to decrease.
• If you haven’t heard by now, Ohio State boasts one of the nastiest defensive lines in all of college football. They’re big, fast, talented, and destined for NFL. It’ll be an epic matchup between Oklahoma’s offensive line, which is the nation’s best o-line, and the Buckeye’s d-line.
• In 1977, OU traveled to Columbus to face a Buckeyes squad in a matchup of top-4 teams. To win the game, Oklahoma kicker Uwe von Schamann made arguably the most famous field goal in Sooners history. Here are some fans’ takes on the historic kick.
• Looks like he’s at it again:

And an interesting posted by class of ‘19 4-star WR Trejan Bridges shortly after he retweeted Coach Riley’s tweet. We’re officially on “Boom Watch”, y’all!

• Amidst all the excitement at Oklahoma’s season opener against UTEP, a chunk of the stadium broke off and nearly hit a fan.
• The Carolina Panthers released former OU CB Zack Sanchez on Friday after Sanchez suffered a groin injury in the Panthers’ last preseason game.
• In case you missed it, here’s a quick look back at all 30 instances in which an OU game was featured for ESPN’s College GameDay.

National Links:

• While the Alabama Crimson Tide took care of business Saturday night against the Florida State Seminoles, the win didn’t come without a couple defensive losses. Linebackers Terrell Lewis and Christian Miller both suffered season-ending injuries, according to head coach Nick Saban.
• There have been plenty of overreactions this weekend across college football. The truth is that most of it won’t stand to be true in only a matter of weeks or by season’s end. Is the Big 12 doomed to miss the playoffs again? Is the Big Ten the best conference top to bottom? Are Florida State’s playoff hopes dashed? Your questions may or may not be answered here.
• If you are a marimba or any other marching band instrument, keep your head on a swivel:

• Also from the game seen above, Georgia Tech rushed for over 500 yards and held the ball for over 41 minutes . . . and LOST?! Find out how in this breakdown of a college football conundrum.
• Anybody who paid any attention to college football this weekend knows Texas lost to Maryland. What you may not have caught before that game kicked off was this touching feature on College Game Day about Maryland DE Melvin Keihn reuniting with his mother in Liberia for the first time in 14 years. I’m going to be completely honest, this story hit me right in the feels, hard.

‘Stick to Sports!’:

• Looks like Hurricane Irma, another massive storm like Hurricane Harvey, is heading towards the southeastern part of the country soon. If you or somebody you know is in the area, please take (or make sure they take) the necessary safety precautions.
• On Saturday, Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to Earth after completing her third and final mission. She holds the American record for spending the most days in space with a total of 665 days. For perspective, it’s been 668 days since Texas last defeated Kansas.

Follow Crimson & Cream Machine on Twitter!