Happy Friday, friends and fans!

Things are feeling mighty nice these days at the Palace on the Prairie, and the man who used to run the best show in town is having himself a great time as well. On Thursday, Bob Stoops appeared on ESPN’s College Football Live to discuss Jalen Hurts’ record-breaking performance in the Oklahoma Sooners’ season opening win over the Houston Cougars, plus his takes on the weekend’s top matchups.

First of all, it’s always great seeing Stoops out here living his best life. I’m glad he’s finally committed to the beard game, too.

Aside from all the OU-related talk, what he said that I thought was most interesting was his quick breakdown of the big game between No. 6 LSU and No. 9 Texas. Stoops is now on record for backing the Longhorns in this one. It’s honestly no surprise considering his well-documented (ahem) opinions about the SEC, plus his respect for the Big 12 Conference.

Speaking of which, determining which team to root for has become sort of a hot topic among Oklahoma fans this week. Should you want Texas to win so that a potential win against them in October carries more weight? Or should you want LSU to win so that you can rub it in UT’s face? Personally, I want to see Texas lose purely for the memes, but I understand the possible merits for OU should they win. Really, no matter what happens in Austin on Saturday night, it’s a win-win for the Sooners, but it probably doesn’t matter as much as people think in the grand scheme of things.

Now on to this week’s Friday edition of Hot Links! Bill Bedenbaugh has built a lasting culture at OU, Curtis Bolton is down but not out, the Antonio Brown stuff appears to be nearing some sort of conclusion and more!

OU Links

• Buddy Hield was on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt to discuss his foundation geared towards relief efforts in the Bahamas following the wake of Hurricane Dorian. Buddy has always been a loving and generous professional, and any aid that you can offer to help restore his home country would be greatly appreciated.

• Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh has earned a reputation of being one of the nation’s top assistants when it comes to recruiting and developing talent. Not only is he churning out top flight O-line units, he’s created a culture of shaping boys into men, writes Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World.
• Former Sooners LB Curtis Bolton revealed that he suffered a torn ACL a few weeks ago and will miss the entire NFL season. It’s especially unfortunate for Buzzy, because he was coming on strong as a potential starter for the Green Bay Packers.

• Now that the 2019 NFL season has officially kicked off, a total of 37 Sooners are on Week 1 rosters. If you want to feel really old, realize that Adrian Peterson is the oldest former Oklahoma player on a team currently. Yeah, time sure does fly. Boomer!

• In a perfect world, Oklahoma would never schedule an FCS opponent, but like this upcoming Saturday, sometimes it just happens (and there’s a reason for it). In the past, what have the Sooners learned (if anything) from playing such overmatched competition?
• In case you missed it, Allen Kenney broke down some of the new wrinkles shown by OU’s offense against Houston. It appears Lincoln Riley has the options to play big while also retaining the O’s versatility.
• Speaking of Allen, he and his bro “The Skinny” have once again made their weekly gambling picks on the Blatant Homerism Podcast for the biggest and most intriguing college football matchups of the weekend. You already know Allen is on top of his stuff, so make sure you check out this episode so you’re in the know before all your friends!

• While I’m on the subject of podcasts, if you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and catch yourself up on the latest Oklahoma Breakdown Podcast with Jack and Kamiar. The guys reviewed the Houston game, then were joined by South Dakota writer Brian Haenchen from the Sioux Falls Argus Journal to preview the Coyotes! As usual, it’s a lot of fun, and as a reminder, there is some NSFW language on the pod. Please don’t be a nerd about it though.

Around the Sports World

• The Kansas City Chiefs have signed WR Tyreek Hill to a three-year, $54 million contract extension. He and Patrick Mahomes create one of the more prolific pass-catching connections in all the league.

• No. 23 Stanford starting QB K.J. Costello has been ruled out for this Saturday’s game against USC due to concussion like symptoms. The Trojans will also be led by a back-up quarterback after sophomore JT Daniels was lost for the season during the opener.
• It’s been one long, dramatic saga ever since WR Antonio Brown left the Pittsburgh Steelers and signed with the Oakland Raiders. After this latest incident with GM Mike Mayock, are both sides better off parting ways, or is that option even logistically reasonable?
• Using his own resources, New York Jets offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum has gone above and beyond to help repair the water crisis happening in Newark, New Jersey. Great stuff, man.
• Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Graham scored the first touchdown of the NFL season against the Chicago Bears on Thursday night. Actually, that’s the only touchdown that’s been scored so far this season. Meh, okay then. Packers win, 10-3.

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