After an impressive victory over an offensively talented and well coached Kansas team last week in the friendly confines of the Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium, the Oklahoma Sooners travel north to play the Kansas State Wildcats in Manhattan in what some pundits feel is the proverbial “trap game” for OU.
One can certainly ask the question after playing the likes of TCU, Texas, and KU in three of the past four weeks are the Sooners due to mentally have an “off day?” Will last year’s road woes return and become problematic for Stoops’ Troops?
Without question the Sooners have practiced hard and with intensity this week while keeping in mind that championship caliber teams win the road games that they are supposed to win. Yeah, I remember Colorado last year. I wasn’t able to change the TV channel as I was there and saw the Sooners play without intensity allowing the home team to make some plays therefore giving the home crowd a reason to have hope and to emotionally invest in the game. It wasn’t an enjoyable trip that day to the Rocky Mountains and all the “Banquet Beer” and John Denver tunes combined couldn’t fix what went wrong that afternoon for this fan.
Is the table set for a road shocker this weekend with yet another unique, or are they even unique any longer, starting time of 11:30 Saturday morning in the “Little Apple” on Fox Sports television?
The short answer is, “highly unlikely” but the reality of it is that it is that it obviously could happen. It could happen if the Sooners come out flat and uninspired while K-State gets a hot hand early, gets their crowd involved, and can make some big plays in non traditional ways.
Kansas State has a strong special teams unit that leads the national in blocked kicks with 7. Any time the Sooners punt Saturday it will be a potentially momentum changing play and not simply because Ryan Broyles or Dominique Franks are past due to take one to the house. The Wildcats have scored 5 special teams touchdowns compared to none for the Sooners.
Special teams seem to be an even bigger issue when a favorite goes on the road to play a team who is only a play or two away from having “hope” and all of the sudden truly believing that they can win. Let’s hope OU’s special teams continues to improve this week after another solid week of working on refining their game for a unit that saw several new faces, many starters, seeing action last week against KU.
K-State’s defense, which ranks 101st in the nation this season, has given up 58 points to Tech, 30 to A&M, and 38 to Louisville so Kevin Wilson’s offense would seem like they should be able to move the ball, make first downs and score come Saturday even without WR Manny Johnson who should be back before crunch time returns this season. No team on the Sooners’ schedule is going to be able to totally shut down this offense unless there are multiple implosions on a given Saturday by Bradford’s Bunch but I just can’t see that happening.
The Sooner offensive is a machine and it gets healthier this week with the return of #83 Brody Eldridge who has been regarded as one of OU’s best players and no one will argue that Eldridge is likely Oklahoma’s toughest athlete.
RB’s Demarco Murray and Chris Brown both had stout days last Saturday and hopefully the offensive line will be in a sustained, gnarly, nasty, imposing mood in Manhattan when it comes to running the ball and keeping Sam’s uniform clean. If the offensive line can dominate for 4 full quarters this one could get really ugly…..and in a good way. The Wildcats have been more like “Mildcats” when it comes to stopping the opposition’s running game and are giving up an average of 190 rushing yards per game.
So that brings us to the often maligned Sooner defensive until which apparently disappointed the gamblers last week that laid the 19 or so points on OU and saw their money leave their clinched fists on that last KU TD. Not to rub it in, but check last week’s blog and see our prediction, OU by 14. I’m just saying….
I really like OU’s defense and am no defensive “hater” but I also don’t gamble. I love the Sooners aggressive nature, their team speed and the fact that despite losing vastly underrated middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds, who by the way is getting his 3rd surgery on October 30 and his no plans whatsoever of not coming back to the team next year, this team, with the exception of a small handful of plays, played the Jayhawks talented and complex offensive extremely well last week. I’ve watched last week’s game 3 times and each time when focusing on the defensive efforts liked what I saw.
Without question, this team can tackle better specifically wrapping people up after the initial contact. But the point is that several players are usually around the ball and the pressure the D-Line put on Todd Reesing last week was impressive. However, K-State QB Josh Freeman is no Todd Reesing….in many ways.
Freeman is 6’6”-250 pounds and allegedly has many NFL scouts salivating over the junior’s potential. Freeman is K-State’s leading passer with a 150 QB passer rating, has thrown 12 TD’s to only 2 interceptions not to mention that he leads the Big 12 with 13 rushing touchdowns. Obviously, big #1 is the focal point of the K-State offense and whether it be passing or running the ball, Josh Freeman must be dealt with aggressively and with no apologies. No arm tacklers need apply this Saturday against the super sized signal caller who is averaging almost 5 yards per carry.
Will OU’s other “dilemma”, field goal kicking, be corrected this week? Jimmy Stevens demonstrates amazing accuracy in practice even from 40-46 yards or so but not unlike hitting golf balls at the local driving range doing one’s thing when a bunch of folks are watching is what separates the big time kickers from the kickers from the others who eventually fade into obscurity. Stevens has the skills but needs to make a few three pointers to build his confidence. We cannot allow this phase of our game to bite us on the backside this season where every game is a “must win” affair.
Strange as it may sound the buzz around Norman this week for this game isn’t significant. The people who are usually more than ready to discuss Sooner Football seem to be more preoccupied with the Rays in the World Series or the schizophrenic economy. I’m thankful that none of these individuals I speak with are playing this Saturday.
This team seems to have excellent chemistry and leadership within the confines of the locker room. Better than last year in my humble opinion. The coaching staff remains outstanding and many of them know full well, on a very personal level, what perils await them in Manhattan.
K-State gets a TV game thanks to OU, a full house thanks to OU and the Wildcats own Homecoming (rooms in the Manhattan area are virtually non existent), and let’s not forget that K-State knows how to beat a top notch team like the Texas Longhorns, most recently, on the field that “personable” Bill Snyder built.
This is not a must win game for K-State as it relates to a BCS Bowl game but they will be playing loose, will use their entire playbook which will include obligatory “Trickeration”, and will hope to have early success to engage their potentially, emotional packed house. For OU, every game is a “must win” if our goals are still to win the Big 12 South and eventually play in a BCS Bowl Game which they are. (By the way, ESPN, Rivals, and CBS Sportsline all predict that OU will play in the Fiesta Bowl again in January 09 with two of them predicting our opponent to be Penn State.)
The only date on my football calendar that concerns me as of today is this Saturday October 25. My instincts tell me that OU will roll Saturday if their passion matches their talent. We will know early in this one if that’s the case.
The journey on this potential amazing season in the making continues on the road in the Big 12 as I see the Sooners winning by 3 TD’s in a high scoring game.
My personal thanks to all that have tried our “J.R.’S Family BBQ Restaurants” in Moore, just south of the Warren Theatre on the west side of I-35 at the 19th street exit and our original store in Norman at I-35 and Main on the east side of the interstate. We now have $5.99 lunch specials Monday thru Friday, great tailgate packs for your football needs, catering for any and all occasions and have several flat screen, HD TV’s that always have plenty of games airing. But most importantly we prepare slow smoked, hickory flavored BBQ the old school way and invite you to enjoy it along with friendly service and a menu that has few items priced at over $10. Please come see us and…..
Boomer Sooner!
J.R.
www.jrsbarbq.com
