Happy Tuesday, friends and fans!

Jalen Hurts was bound to bring a little bit of former head coach Nack Saban with him to Norman. The first indication was his reaction to what had happened on the field, expressing the fact that he wasn’t satisfied with his record-breaking performance. However, Hurts took it to another level on Tuesday by invoking Saban’s ‘rat poison’ analogy.

There’s still plenty of ‘Bama left in Jalen Hurts, and that certainly isn’t a bad thing.

If you subscribe to the ‘rat poison’ theory, there is certainly plenty of it lying around after Sunday’s game. After Hurts’ debut performance for the Oklahoma Sooners went over incredibly well, he now leads ESPN’s Heisman Watch going into Week 2.

Having the kind of night Hurts had will have that sort of effect. The senior completed 20-23 throws for 332 passing yards and three TDs, plus he added 16 carries for 176 rushing yards and three more scores. For that to have been his very first outing in a brand new offense with the entire college football world watching, it surely had to help vault him to the top.

Not even Baker Mayfield nor Kyler Murray were leading the Heisman conversation until later in their trophy winning seasons, but it seems clear that Hurts is the national front-runner at this stage. Ironically, the QB that replaced him in the national championship against Georgia is back to trailing him, but I wouldn’t expect Tua Tagovailoa to fade out of the picture any time soon. There's a reason he’s in the hunt, so it’ll be interesting to see which of these crimson leaders can finish ahead when it’s all said and done.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! Alex Grinch gets a game ball, Nick Saban is happy for Hurts, Texas is dangerously thin at RB and more!

OU Links

• Just for the fun of it, check out these highlights from Oklahoma’s 49-31 win over Houston on Sunday night, accompanied by the voice of OU Football, Toby Rowland.

• Following the game, Lincoln Riley awarded game balls to the standouts of the game as usual, and one of those game balls went to defensive coordinator Alex Grinch for the work he’s done to prepare his players. The culture change is happening right before our eyes. Enjoy the ride, folks.

• Speaking of Riley, it appears that three verbal commitments are coming down the pipe after he dropped a series of tweets culminating in this beautiful masterpiece. This weekend was a massive recruiting coup for the Sooners, and I imagine we’ll find out who these eyes belong to in due time.

• Although Jalen Hurts maintained his high standards for himself and the team following the win over Houston, he feels comfortable and welcome with the Sooners. Also, he admits that he has a lot that he still wants to prove with his game.
• Nick Saban and current Alabama players were happy about Jalen Hurts’ successful debut at Oklahoma, and none of them were the least bit surprised about what he was able to do.
• Many fans and writers expected Oklahoma’s offense to drop off after losing Kyler Murray, Marquise Brown and four of five starting offensive linemen. I’ll admit, I thought there would be at least a bit of a dip, too, but from an efficiency standpoint, I don’t know if the difference will be statistically significant this season. After the opener, OU is once again way ahead of the pack.

• Redshirt freshman RUSH DE Jalen Redmond is happy to be back on the field after overcoming blood clotting issues over the past year. His return on Sunday showed how he could make a major impact on Oklahoma’s defense.

Around the Sports World

• Texas A&M OL Jared Hocker calls his shot and says the Aggies will upset the Clemson Tigers this Saturday. The game is at the reigning national champions’ house.

• The injury bug has plagued the Texas Longhorns’ backfield just one week into the 2019 season, as highly touted true freshman Jordan Whittington has been sidelined with a torn groin muscle. UT is now down four running backs, and has had to move a linebacker to the running back rotation as an emergency measure.
• Stemming from the aftermath of Andrew Luck announcing his early retirement, the Indianapolis Colts have signed QB Jacoby Brissett to a two-year contract extension worth $30 million, with $20 million guaranteed.

• Chace Numata, a minor league catcher for the Detroit Tigers organization, passed away on Monday after sustaining a head injury while skateboarding. He was 27.
• If I could have Tiger Woods follow me and fist pump whenever I do something amazing (or just kind of cool), that would be stellar. Rafael Nadal knows exactly what that’s like. Just check out this stupid point against Marin Čilić that shouldn’t even be humanly possible.

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