1 . . .
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Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-1, 0-0) |
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Oklahoma Sooners (3-0, 0-0) |
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September 28th @ 11:00 a.m. |
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The Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium – Norman, Oklahoma |
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Oklahoma -24 |
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FOX | FOX Sports Go |
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Scattered Thunderstorms, 85-71. |
Oklahoma is 3-0 and one of the best teams in the nation, both statistically and otherwise. The only indication of a weakness thus far is allowing 31 to Houston to open the season. Lincoln Riley did change things in the offseason, hiring former Washington State defensive coordinator, who had a cup of coffee in Ohio State for a year, Alex Grinch. In things that you probably didn’t know, Cale Gundy is the co-offensive coordinator, but probably like the coordinators for Texas Tech, receives no recognition for whatever he actually does for Oklahoma because Riley is thought of the innovator and driver of the offense. Really, Riley has had a charmed life in the college football world, not that he hasn’t had issues, but he took over a very good and very talented program and I don’t believe that he’s done anything to diminish it.
2 . . .
I honestly wasn’t sure if Jalen Hurts would be as accurate as Kyler Murray, but he’s exceeded that expectation plus some. Hurts has been absolutely deadly, completing 49 of 61 passes, for 80% with 9 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, while running for 373 yards on 38 carries and 4 touchdowns, which leads the team by over 100 yards. Hurts is the offense, the machine that drives basically the program.
The only thing where one might feel a bit bad are the scholarship quarterbacks who thought that they might actually see meaningful playing time rather than Riley just accepting transfers, but that’s probably the only criticism.
Charleston Rambo and CeeDee Lamb are the receiving stars, Rambo has 11 catches for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Lamb has 9 for 229 and 3 touchdowns. They both average over 22 yards a catch, so it is big plays and big catches. The only part of the offense that may not look like its shining is the running game, but don’t worry, the Sooners are averaging 8 yards a run, so they may not be the power running team right now, when they do run its devastating. And it is largely by committee, Trey Serman, Rhamo Stevenson, and Brooks Kennedy all have between 27 and 17 rushing attempts, all about 180 yards and average about 60 yards a game. It’s a rotation.
3 . . .
Defensively, Kenneth Murray is leading the way for the Sooners with 22 tackles, and 3 tackles for a loss. I’m not sure as to the identity of the defense if you want me to be completely honest. The Sooners are getting to the quarterback at a decent rate, 26th in the nation, but when you play from a position in the lead, you know teams are going to pass to try to catch up. But the Sooners are allowing teams to complete 64% of those passes, which is 96th in the nation and they are 71st in yards per attempt at 7.
Jalen Redmond and Ronnie Perkins are the 2 guys who are getting behind the line of scrimmage, while Parnell Motley may be the best cornerback (4 pass defended).
4 . . .
Oklahoma is so far ahead of the game offensively it is pretty ridiculous. They average, yes average, 10.5 yards per play and 670 yards a game. Oklahoma is an offensive juggernaut and I’m still trying to figure out how to slow them down.
5 . . .
Oklahoma is celebrating its 125th birthday playing football and are 896-325-53 for those 124 prior seasons. The winning percentage of .724 is the 5th best all-time and only 13 losing seasons at all.