Oklahoma Sooners Football Hot Links: Austin stays weird

Whats good?

Look, I don’t mean to overreact, but we are one day away from being one week away from Week 0. It is basically game week.

Phew, we made it, congrats guys!

Texas somehow has stepped in it again. Take a drink.

I don’t know how they keep doing it but they do. Late on Thursday night, rumors began to surface that Hudson Card was going to be named the starter in week 1. Let’s start here - I have no idea if that was actually true. If you notice I am not linking to anything because I struggle to find a source I believe actually knew. BUT. That was the rumor. Texas fans were handling it well.

If you have been keeping up with this battle, it seems it has been a tight competition, and not necessarily in a good way. Card and Ewers both having high points but plenty of blah plays as well. Making the choice hard for Sark. So much so that two weeks prior to kickoff, the QBs are still splitting snaps. Sound like last summer to you, as well?

So Card gets rumored, and then the Texas fan base implodes. You can guess the reaction, most of it not good or helpful. People calling for Ewers... then... this:

I’ve had the joy of covering college football for more than seven years. I CAN NOT TELL YOU HOW WEIRD THIS IS.

Naming a QB is important. It is a huge, exciting day. It is a day when you rally the team around one guy. Naming a starter by the SID just announcing it as everyone is packing up their backpacks and laptops... not exactly any of that. It frankly seems forced.

Look, I have no idea what happened and we never will. I will tell you that this seems to be another case of pocketbooks pushing their way into the Longhorn coaching office. Just a hunch (but not exactly unprecedented).

Can’t wait to watch this train wreck in real time again this year. Kansas by a billion.

OU Links

• Baker Mayfield: Known “immature child” per the moral compass that is the Cleveland Browns. Well. Here is this. Hmm. Seems different than that guy in Cleveland yesterday if you ask me.

• Big news since Monday? Oklahoma is expanding their private tailgating areas. I will do my best to hold my tongue on the issue because at this point we all know college football is not about the kids or the fans. It’s about your wallet and how to extract as much as possible from it. Instead of me ragging on a University that I frankly need to keep a positive relationship with... I will let my friend Josh Pate do it for me.

• If you caught Brent this week he was asked about who has impressed him the most on defense. The answer might surprise you. No, not Ethan Downs the Big 12 media day rep. No, not the entrenched starter and lock down corner in Woodi Washington. No, not the man who has lost weight like we all dream too in David Ugwoegbu. It was Billy Bowman. That is right. Jayda Coleman’s boyfriend. Here is a write up on the topic courtesy of Ryan Chapman.
• Oklahoma’s biggest game in the non confrence schedule is Kent State, obviously the second is Nebraska. Looks like we know their starting QB and its a familiar face in Casey Thompson. Moment of vulnerability? I had no idea this fake competition was still going on. How very Lincoln Riley of Coach Frost.

• I drove a 2007 Jeep Wrangler for almost 10 years. I bought it right out of college, and I loved that car. The first purchase I made was swapping the normal, boring-people headlights for some snazzy LED lights. AND NO, they were not the ‘shine directly into the eyes of oncoming traffic’ kind. Those are the worst. Seriously, how inconsiderate... anyway, the Sooners put some new headlights on their stadium. Now that one night game in conference play a year Joe C gets from the Big 12 will be electric.

• I don’t honestly take much of anything from the OUDNA show on ESPN+. It was fun if you don’t have a twitter account, but honestly we had seen most of those clips prior to the show. One thing I did think was worth talking about? True freshman Jaren Kanak was one of the three players interviewed. I have to assume that means we are gonig to see THIS speed on the field early in his OU tenure.

• Good news for our guy Porter. Moser got his waiver for George Washington transfer guard Joe Bamisile. I would plug him directly into the starting lineup if I was a betting man.

• ESPN put out their top 100 college football players in 2022. Alabama snags the top 2 spots. Ohio State takes spots 3 and 4. Oklahoma? Marvin Mimms lands at 64 just before Antonio Johnson the saftey from Texas A&M and right after the DT from Clemson Tyler Davis. Gabreil lands at 70. Only 1 spot behind Michigan State QB Payton Thorne. Ya, the man striking fear in your heart himself. Payton Thorne. Last year Gabriel was listed at 33. Steep drop for one collarbone. Seeeeeeemmmmss harsh.
• Here is one of the best Big 12 previews I have seen this year here, courtesy of The Athletic. Worth the pass through and starts with the right question. How does Baylor lose the Big 12? Because they probably should be the favorite. * ducks * no seriously * ducks * GUYS THEY WON IT LAST YEAR! Okay fine, fine. Just read the piece.
• Are you under the age of 40? Do you have memory loss? Did you drink one too many on a Saturday and can’t remember your first name? Maybe a history lesson on college football will help. Oklahoma appears at No. 5 in this list. Maybe... take a drink first before you get there though.
• Remember Neville? You know? The Canadian Bulldozer himself? Ya, he might be taking a step this year for the Dallas Cowboys. Goodness knows they need it along that defensive line. I mean check out this rep against the Chargers.

Is anything else going on?

• I don’t know what you think about the direction of college football, frankly, I don’t care for it much. Losing the bones of the sport in pursuit of pocket books, specifically, the TV companies pocket books. Now, that Italian Job style of hiest has gone well. I mean just look at what the Big 10 did this week with FOX. Well one change might be coming sooner than we thought... Pete Thamel from ESPN (I still want to type Yahoo) annouces that college football is looking at not allowing thier 3 year old toddler to drive anymore in the NCAA but turning the keys over to a new driver. The College Football Playoff committee. Thats right. There is a new sherriff in town.
• ‘adult’ Deshaun Watson has settled with the NFL on a 11 game suspension. Ya know, I could write 5000 words on why this is a complete joke. 10,000 words on how this is the wrong ending to the story. I will choose to leave you with this... highly reccommed you read this.
• Just the hourly reminder of why NFL players and myself should be considered two different life forms. How does this guy and I share the same bones and muscle structure? Like holy cow Javon Kinlaw. Chill bro.

Am I allowed to post other stuff? Ya know what, ask forgiveness not premission.

I provide you, and I mean this, dozens of hours of content. Just watch the quote tweets (if you have Twitter).

I will include my personal favorite. This one used to make me roll in college. I wouldn’t turn the audio on in a public setting but worth a watch.

Be Kind. Be Dope. Talk to you knuckle heads on Monday.