Happy Monday, friends and fans! So SB Nation’s resident college football guru Bill Connelly has been running through literally all 130 teams in the FBS this offseason, and now it’s time for his in-depth breakdown of the Oklahoma Sooners. Connelly’s findings say that the Sooners are currently favored in every game on the schedule this season, with only the trip to TCU being within a touchdown.

I’m an self-proclaimed, unashamed college football junkie myself, so stuff like this gets my adrenaline flowing. I highly recommend studying up on Connelly’s preview of the Sooners, along with the rest of his collection as we inch closer to the 2018 season.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! Lincoln Riley was gone fishin’, De’Vion Harmon is a Team USA U17 finalist, J.R. Smith’s jersey from Game 1 of the NBA Finals is now being auctioned and more!

OU Links

• Lincoln Riley spent Father’s Day doing what I wish I could do every day. I guess when he’s not reeling in the recruits, he’s reeling in the fish.

• After being the president of the University of Oklahoma for only 13 months, David Boren wasn’t heavily involved with the hiring of John Blake, who went 12-22 in three years before being let go. Luckily, the next guy Boren and crew brought in was Bob Stoops, and the rest is history.
• Class of 2019 guard commit De’Vion Harmon has been named a 2018 USA Men’s Under-17 World Cup Team Finalist. Congratulations, De’Vion!

• Class of 2019 four-star cornerback Isaiah Rutherford out of Carmichael, California has narrowed his list of tops school down to seven, and Oklahoma makes the cut.

• Don’t forget to check out the latest installment of our Countdown to Kickoff. With just 75 days remaining, I took a look back at the 1975 national championship winning Oklahoma team, and also highlighted current starting right guard Dru Samia!

Around the Sports World

• J.R. Smith’s game-worn jersey from Game 1 of the NBA Finals is being auctioned off, and that’s a fitting end to one of the biggest blunders in Finals history.
• Brazil goalie Alisson Becker popped a balloon with his cleat during Brazil’s World Cup match against Switzerland, and it turned into a meme. Here’s one of the gems:

• The city of Volgograd is the site for the World Cup match between England and Tunisia, and swarms of mosquitos and other flying insectoid pests are ruining all the fun.
• There’s been some spying going on in the World Cup, so South Korea’s coach used an ingenious trick to throw off the competition. During practices, the South Korean players switched jerseys around, so determining who was who from far away was more difficult. You can’t make this stuff up, guys.
• SB Nation’s Geoff Schwartz says the Arizona Cardinals and the New York Giants are both poised to exceed expectations in the win column this season.

Stick to Sports!

• Renowned rock musician Jack White is coming to Tulsa to perform at ONEOK Field on September 17th. If you recall, there was some controversy between White and the OU Daily in 2015 after an article was written about White’s tour rider demands and contract stipulations. In particular, there was a lot made out of a guacamole recipe. It was meant as a lighthearted joke to break up the monotony, but it quickly turned into a vicious war of words between the two sides. Luckily for Oklahomans, Jack White’s group has stated that they still enjoy making tour stops in the Sooner State, so if you’re interested in checking him out, here’s your chance!

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