Happy Monday, friends and fans!

Don’t look now, but Kyler Murray just might be leading the Heisman conversation heading into Week 4. With the Oklahoma Sooners humming right along on offense, much of the credit belongs to Murray for his production and composure.

With the loss of Rodney Anderson, more will be asked of Murray as the season progresses, and so far he’s done nothing but deliver. Also, a few fellow Heisman contenders around the nation did not stand out in Week 3. West Virginia’s Will Grier didn’t play due to a game cancellation, and Houston’s Ed Oliver and Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor both suffered defeats.

We’ll continue to monitor the lay of the land, but as long as Murray keeps taking care of business, Oklahoma has a great shot at back-to-back Heisman poses.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! Jacoby Jones commits to Oklahoma, Dede Westbrook torches the Pats, Marquette King is the NFL’s most interesting punter and more!

OU Links

• Jacoby Jones, JUCO’s No. 1 strong side defensive end, announced his verbal commitment to Oklahoma on Sunday night. Reinforcing the D-line continues to be a priority, and with Jones’ commitment that appears to be paying off. Jones officially visited Oklahoma for the FAU game and had been considered an OU lean long before that. The Sooners now have 18 commitments (nine on defense) and sit at sixth nationally in the 247Composite Team Rankings.

• Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray and Austin Seibert claimed the Big 12 Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Week honors, respectively. This is the second such honor for Murray in as many weeks.

• Now that Oklahoma has played three games, where do the players that can still redshirt stand under the new redshirting rules? Four games is the new limit before a redshirt is burned, so it’ll be interesting to see who the coaches play and don’t play against Army this week.
• Speaking of Army, thanks to Oklahoma’s trip to New York against the Cadets in 1946, the Sooners received some big time exposure from the media-hub of America. That game ultimately ushered in the era of OU Football prominence.
• After two games of the regular season, it’s becoming clear that the Cleveland Browns are on the cusp of respectability. Perhaps now it’s time to begin the Baker Mayfield era and get over the hump.
• In other Sooner in the NFL news, Dede Westbrook applied the final nail in the coffin as the Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the New England Patriots, 31-20.

• In case you missed it, the Sooners will host the Baylor Bears at 2:30 p.m. on September 29th for Game 2 of the conference schedule. The broadcast will be televised by ABC. I’m sure Lincoln Riley is glad it’s not another morning kick.

• Through three games of the 2018 college football season, does Oklahoma belong in the exclusive group of elite teams? Also, just how many elite teams are there this year? Bill Connelly explores these ideas.

Around the Sports World

• The college football battle for land is heating up. Here’s how the nation is split up among teams after Week 3. Oklahoma has a chance to claim Hawaii with a win this weekend.

• A Friday night bout between UCF and FAU is one of the marquee college football games highlighting Week 4. What’s the line on that game and other notable Week 4 contests?
• North Texas ran a sweet fake punt return against Arkansas to perfection, but just how elaborate was this operation? SB Nation caught up with the people who made it happen to discuss what all went into preparing for this highlight moment.
• Cleveland Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez had a not-so-awesome day with his placekicking duties en route to a very close loss against the New Orleans Saints, so naturally some high-spirited fans wanted to express their feelings about his performance to him directly. The problem? Lots of fans mistakenly sent their mean tweets to a baseball coach with a similar name. I guess Browns fans tweet like their team plays.
• Denver Broncos punter Marquette King went up against his former team, the Oakland Raiders, on Sunday, and came away with the win. Shortly after the victory, King uploaded this video. I’m not exactly sure what it means yet, but I feel an epic diss is coming in future part(s).

Stick to Sports!

• Elon Musk wants to send tourists on a trip around the moon. It’ll be a private journey for the selected citizens, but it’s the beginning of the next big venture in space exploration. Pictured below is a rendering of the shuttle that would house the passengers. For as much as I would want to go, I’m also a bit of a wuss on things like rollercoasters, so I don’t know if I could even handle something like this.

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