Happy Monday, friends and fans!

A major decision from the Big 12 regarding the format for the upcoming college football schedule is expected this evening as the league’s university presidents are meeting to determine an official plan for the 2020 season. The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel recently broke down the possible verdicts that could come out of this meeting, and what it all could mean for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Coming into Monday, the scenario with the greatest odds in its favor was a plus-one model that features the typical nine-game, Big 12 slate round-robin style plus one non-conference contest. If this turns out to be the case, you can probably expect OU to hold onto its season opener against Missouri State and move the Army game to a later season. The Athletic’s Jason Kersey believes this to be a likely outcome, and for the reasons he states, I tend to agree.

One thing I do not think the Big 12 wants to do is to only play the nine conference games because that puts the league at a severe disadvantage from a pure numbers standpoint compared to the rest of the Power Five leagues. A 9-0 Big 12 champion will almost surely be looking up at a 9-1 champion from the Big Ten or the ACC as far as the College Football Playoff committee is concerned, but that’s for a discussion we’ll hopefully be having in the next three to four months.

Something else to monitor is how strange Oklahoma’s schedule could wind up looking if the Big 12 indeed moves towards a plus-one model. If the Missouri State game is kept and maintains its Aug. 29 date, the Sooners could be waiting five weeks before playing its first conference opponent, since as of now the Baylor Bears are OU’s Big 12 opener scheduled on Oct. 3. Clearly there’s a lot that needs to be figured out in a relatively short amount of time, so stay tuned.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! No Sooners have chosen to sit out the 2020 season, Oklahoma’s latest 2021 commit speaks highly of Lincoln Riley, New York’s Judge is on fire and more!

OU Links

• Check out these sights and sounds from the first weekend of fall camp at Oklahoma. Lincoln Riley has been meticulously preparing his players and staff for this moment every step of the way, and so far the team appears to have hit the ground running.

• Speaking of Riley, in a recent video sent out to the media, he mentioned that none of his players have opted to sit out the 2020 season. That’s positive news for Oklahoma, but with so much left to be determined around the college football landscape, it’s something to keep an eye on in the coming days and weeks, writes Sooners Wire’s Steven Plaisance.
• According to the Bovada sportsbook, redshirt freshman QB Spencer Rattler is tied for having the third-best odds to win the 2020 Heisman Trophy behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields. Texas Longhorns QB Sam Ehlinger and Oklahoma State Cowboys RB Chuba Hubbard are also in the top 10.

• 2021 five-star QB commit Caleb Williams recently participated at the QB Collective camp held just outside of Indianapolis, and several of the NFL coaches and executives in attendance were blown away by his performance and ability.
• Speaking of OU commits, 2021 three-star CB Damond Harmon was recently interviewed about his decision to verbally pledge to Oklahoma, and one of the major factors for him was the amount of care and attention Lincoln Riley and the Sooners’ coaching staff showed him as an individual. Boomer!

• Tulsa World’s Eric Bailey wrote about the potential fallout from college football’s ‘Armageddon scenario’. What would happen if the 2020 season was canceled outright and teams had to wait an entire year for games to finally return? I shudder to imagine such a reality.

Around the Sports World

• Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac reportedly suffered a torn ACL during his team’s 132-116 win over the Sacramento Kings. The Magic are one of several teams inside the NBA bubble who have yet to clinch a playoff berth, but with the loss of Isaac, that obviously becomes much more challenging.

• Through the first eight games of the 2020 MLB season, the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge has sent six baseballs out of the park, and has a dinger in each of the past five contests. Needless to say, this dude can straight up hit. On Sunday, NY defeated the Boston Red Sox, 9-7, securing the weekend series sweep.

• Detroit Tigers pitcher Tyler Alexander tied the AL record by throwing nine strikeouts in a row as a reliever. He was one shy of tying the MLB record, set by Tom Seaver when he was with the New York Mets in 1970. Unfortunately for Alexander and the Tigers, they fell short twice to the Cincinnati Reds in Sunday’s double-header.

• Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic. The 52-year-old is entering his fifth season as Philly’s front man.
• Former WWE superstar and current Hollywood action hero Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is reportedly part-owner of the XFL after a group he’s invested with purchased the pro football league for $15 million. I think I can smell what he’s cooking, and it smells pretty good.

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