Happy Monday, friends and fans!

Former Oklahoma Sooners QB Landry Jones made his XFL debut on Sunday and led the Dallas Renegades (1-1) to a 25-18 win over the Los Angeles Wildcats (0-2). There’s a lot of rust still left to knock off the joints, but down the stretch the 30-year-old gunslinger delivered on a number of clutch plays. Check out this 39-yard bomb to move the offense out of dangerous field position in the third quarter.

Late in the fourth, Jones finally connected on the first passing touchdown of his Renegades career when he found TE Donald Parham Jr. for a three-yard score.

After the game, OU’s all-time winningest head coach Bob Stoops celebrated with his team upon earning their first victory of the season. Among those credited in his postgame speech was Landry Jones, who ultimately received the game ball. It’s been a long road back to gridiron glory, but things are looking up in Dallas for him and the rest of the Renegades organization. Jones was also rewarding himself with an ice-cold Bud Light Seltzer, as did many of his teammates. This has become a common theme across XFL locker rooms, as there’s a major sponsorship deal involved.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! Sooner Baseball moves up the rankings, former OU hoops stars shine on the court in Chicago, Brodie finds CP3 for a *checks notes* dunk and more!

OU Links

• Not all QB scrambles are created equally. Just observe how Landry Jones decided to finish this run. Instead of getting to the sideline, sliding, or taking on the defender, he went with the old play dead maneuver. He’s no Kyler Murray with that slide, but hey, he didn’t take any damage or lose the ball, so it’s a win in my book. I’m just glad he didn’t break any ribs.

• For his Herculean performances as of late, senior forward Kristian Doolittle was named the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. If Oklahoma can make the NCAA Tournament, his play potential is good enough to win this team a game or two during the opening weekend.

• Speaking of which, even after the big loss to Kansas on Saturday, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm still projects Oklahoma as an 8-seed in his latest Bracketology update. Meanwhile ESPN’s Joe Lunardi sees the Sooners as a 9-seed going into the second half of February.

• OU Baseball is off to a fine start to the 2020 season. After dropping the opener to Virginia on Friday in Pensacola, the Sooners swept Saturday’s double-header to clinch the series over the Cavaliers, 2-1. Check out these highlights from the rubber match that saw Oklahoma come away as the victors.

• With the opening weekend of games across the nation now in the books, Baseball America has updated its top 25 rankings. After taking two of three against Virginia in the Wahoos Classic, Oklahoma moves up three spots from No. 19 to No. 16.
• OU Softball fell in walk-off fashion to Long Beach State at the Hillenbrand Invitational, but quickly bounced back to defeat No. 4 Arizona in extras on its home field. The Sooners are now 8-1 on the season. Below are highlights from the exciting game and finish from the aforementioned top-five matchup.

• On Saturday night, Sacramento Kings sharp-shooter Buddy Hield rose to the occasion for NBA All-Star weekend in the Three-Point Contest, and in classic Buddy fashion, he delivered buckets of entertainment en route to a clutch victory over Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker.

• It was a memorable Sunday night for Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young, who in just his second year as a pro started the NBA All-Star Game. In total, he tallied 10 points and 10 assists, including this ice-cold punctuation mark from half-court.

• Need some motivation to get you through the work week? Have no fear, cornerbacks coach Roy Manning is here. It’s funny that bright and early doesn’t even apply to this man because it’s always early in the morning, but it’s never bright outside. Keep ‘em coming, Coach!

• Oklahoma will enter the 2020 college football season ranked No. 3 in ESPN’s initial football power index (FPI). I honestly couldn’t tell you how this order of teams is devised, but seeing both Texas and Texas A&M well within the top 10 tells me it’s not all that scientific.

• Not many college football programs saw more success from their alumni than Oklahoma did in the NFL during the 2019-20 season. Check out this Year in Review collection that highlights the amazing accomplishments and milestones reached by those who once donned the Crimson & Cream.

• In case you missed it, Saturday night was an extra special one for many of the fathers on the OU Football staff. This is wonderful content, young ladies and gentlemen.

Around the Sports World

• I doubt anybody predicted this alley-oop combination during Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul threw down a lob he received from Houston Rockets point guard Russell Westbrook. OKC fans everywhere probably shed a tear when they saw this. Well, after they regained consciousness, of course.

• The Elam Ending in the NBA All-Star Game made for one of the most exciting finishes in the event’s history. So is this something the league should consider adopting into actual games in the future?
• On Monday, the Cleveland Browns terminated the contracts of four players to free up more than $13 million in additional cap space.
• Three-time AL MVP and eight-time MLB All-Star Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels shares much of the same sentiments as fans across the nation when it comes to the Houston Astros and the punishment (or lack thereof) the team received for stealing signs during their 2017 World Series run.

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