How’s it going, friends and fans? It’s game day in Norman! The No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners welcome the No. 8 Texas Tech Red Raiders in what should be a colossal contest between two up-and-coming squads from the Big 12. A win tonight for either team would look great on an NCAA tournament resume. And you can help, too, Sooner fans! Check out Coach Lon Kruger’s message for what you can do tonight:

Trae Young echoed Coach Kruger’s sentiments and wants Lloyd Noble to be loud! Show out!

So again, if you have a ticket, be there early and be loud — always. If you can’t make it, please allow someone else to go in your place so these Sooners can feel the full strength of this fan base’s support. Yes, the game is at 6 p.m. on a weeknight (BOOOOO Big 12 BOOOOO), but it’ll be a fun one if you can make it.

As for today’s edition of Hot Links, Trae Young’s father played for the Red Raiders back in the day, Oklahoma football finishes 3rd in the AP Poll, defense still wins championships and more!

OU Links

• Tonight marks the first time Trae Young will play Texas Tech, his father’s alma mater. It’s quite the interesting storyline in an already intriguing top-10 matchup.
• Oklahoma concludes the football season at No. 3 in the AP Poll, its highest finish in 13 seasons. UCF finished sixth and received four first-place votes.
• The King has spoken.

• In a recent interview, Brian Bosworth also talked about defense winning championships, but mentioned that in order to get to the big game, it’s doesn’t happen because a team relies solely on offense. Also, Bosworth doesn’t have a problem with Baker Mayfield’s expressive style.
• I second this, Jeff. In case you were wondering, Davin Bellamy, the guy who told Baker Mayfield to humble himself after the Rose Bowl, wears No. 17.

• With the early departure of Du’Vonta Lampkin, the number of Sooners who are forgoing their remaining eligibility is now three. Lampkin joins Orlando Brown and Mark Andrews in that respect, and it remains to be seen if any others decide to go pro. The deadline to declare for the draft is January 16th, a week from today.
• SB Nation’s Dan Kadar projects three Sooners to be selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
• Here are the early odds to win the whole thing next season. Oklahoma has the best odds of any Big 12 team, of course. Texas has 25/1 odds on account of the fact that Texas is Texas.

Around the Sports World

• Just by looking at the décor, I knew the direction this one was headed from the jump:

• Check out these New Year’s Six bowl projections for the 2018-19 season. For the record, I hate the argument that if not for a couple plays throughout a season, a team would have won X amount more games. What about the close games said team does win? If not for a play or two or three, that team could have lost even more than it did. I’m looking at you, Texas.
• Speaking of UT, I simply cannot take any poll seriously when the Longhorns are in it, especially this high. In this case, it’s a mashup of a bunch of different polls as well as Vegas odds (which we already covered) Losing 27 games in four seasons should be the biggest red flag, but sure, bring on the hype.
• When you think about it, LeBron James and Alabama share similar narratives in regards to their respective postseasons.
• This Victor Oladipo gif is now a meme on social media and I’m here for it.

• So Japanese kayaker Yasuhiro Suzuki spiked his rival’s drink with a PED so he could be disqualified from a race, but later admitted to his transgression. Is Kayaking that big of a deal or am I missing something? Next there will be a kayaking movie ala Dodgeball. C’mon dude, take your ‘L’ and go home.

Stick to Sports!

• Now I’ve seen it all. I mean, I guess I never really thought about it, but if the water freezes over, there’s only one way to get some air. Alligators just boop their snouts through the ice. Nature, you so crazy!

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