I would say we’re going to find out on Saturday inside the Cotton Bowl.
He’s got that Barry Sanders shift of gears. Plus, like Sanders he finishes his runs after contact.
Last season with fired Tom Herman as the Longhorn coach…Bijan never got more than fifteen carries in a game. On Saturday vs. TCU he got 35 carries from Steve Sarkisian and a total of 37 touches in the game.
To put this in perspective…OU’s Kennedy Brooks has 53 carries the entire season.
Barry Tramel asked about this at Lincoln Riley’s presser today. Too much of a load on Bijan or just right?
Load management or old school?
Good questions. Why doesn’t Tramel ever do this at a Thunder presser I ask myself aloud?
Lincoln Riley and Mike Gundy get a gazillion times more scrutiny than anyone involved with the Thunder not named Russell Westbrook.
That was all rhetorical…btw.
With temps expected in the 90’s on Saturday inside the Cotton Bowl… I wouldn’t expect Bijan to carry the ball 35 times, but he is the heart and soul of this Texas offense.
I would expect Sarkisian to mix it up…maybe even use Bijan as a misdirection decoy at times.
Depending on who wins the game… I feel either Bijan or Spencer Rattler get back in the Heisman discussion after this game. Maybe both.
Over-under on Bijan touches on Saturday?
I’m going 28 touches for Bijan in the Red River Rivalry if the game doesn’t go beyond regulation.
I didn’t watch the Thunder preseason game against the Charlotte Bobcats because of the Chargers vs. the Raiders game last night on MNF. I like watching events where both teams are trying to win.
And of course—the Thunder lost last night.
But in looking at Josh Giddy’s highlights on the internet this morning he looked good. He had an 18 point, 7 rebound, 3 assist night in what was essentially his NBA debut since he didn’t make it past the five minute mark in the Summer League before getting injured.
His athleticism was better than I anticipated and his body development was further along than I thought it would from seeing him on video in Australian League hoops.
My approach with the Thunder this season will be low key because they’ve been built by Sam Presti to intentionally lose somewhere between 55-60 games this season.
One preseason game doesn’t mean a corner was turned or anything, but it was nice to see Josh Giddy doing things against an NBA team which indicate he could be a pretty nice NBA player down the road.
Since I’m primarily going to be following six NBA teams, Miami, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Memphis, Sacramento, and the Lakers this NBA season, who are all trying to win games–my blog coverage will be on them…not the Thunder. Plus…I’m jacked about following OU, O State, and even Texas with new coach Chris Beard in Big 12 hoops.
I mean…why would anyone cover any sporting event which was rigged beyond the Harlem Globetrotters? There is no competitive legitmacy to what Sam Presti is doing. He’s basically tanking because NBA free agents don’t want to come to Oklahoma City.
But still I have to admit I’m curious as to the development of Josh Giddy and Poku this season.
The Daily Thunder is basically owned by Sam Presti nowadays…so I would suggest that blog to follow the Thunder loss by loss in what will be the internet equivalent of getting Michael Cage’s hot takes on the Thunder television network.
There was a nice writeup by someone named Jaden Rule on Josh Giddy’s bebut on DT which I thought all things considered was pretty solid.
In closing…a promising start for Josh Giddy in Oklahoma City. One game doesn’t make Josh Giddy the next Larry Bird or Luka Doncic, but he looked good.
I saw some bullshit Big 12 Poll with all fourteen teams today on the internet which must have come either from the Big 12 office or the O State athletic department.
The ratings were nonsense to some degree, but I like the premise of adding Cincy, BYU, UCF, and Houston to the poll while OU and Texas are still in the league.
This is how I would rank the teams 1-14 heading into Week 6.
1 OU (winners of 13 straight heading into RRR)
2 Cincy
3 BYU
4 O State
5 Texas
6 Iowa State
7 UCF
8 Baylor
9 K State (with Sklar Thompson)
10 TCU
11 Texas Tech
12 Houston
13 West Virginia (Big drop from me when you lose at home to Texas Tech)
14 Kansas
O State’s schedule is set perfect if Spencer Sanders could ever turn the turnover switch off. They get an off week before playing Texas after the Horns come off of the RRR. Then, O State gets OU in Stillwater to close out their Big 12 schedule.
All Spencer Sanders needs to be doing at this point is manage the game, move the chains with his legs, and go say 16-28 with a couple of chunk plays and no interceptions.
I don’t know if that would be enough to beat OU with Spencer Rattler pulling it together and Lincoln being more creative….but it might be interesting.
It would be a great last chapter to my book Mullet King: The Boone Pickens-Mike Gundy Saga.
Hell…I’ve got Gundy promoed (word?) on my blog cover with Boone. I need O State to win for the book to have any sort of climatic ending.
Oh, boy. This is the week. My ritual as an OU fan is to play Eyes of Texas on Sunday evening to start the process of getting my game face on for Saturday.
I wear my Beat Texas hat as part of the zen-like pre game-day process. You’d be amazed how the hat resonates with others when you wear it in public. No one tanks in this game. Can you imagine anyone in either state thinking about tanking in this game?
I don’t think so.
I worry about my son Chris every year at this time. As a family we’ve encouraged him to stay at home and watch the game in the privacy and safety of his own home.
Kirk Herbstreet does a six team Top 6 poll. I don’t think that’s enough given we all assume it won’t be long before we have a twelve team playoff at some point.
We have Iowa vs. Penn State next week-end plus Texas vs. OU. So next week’s Top 12 will be in flux just like this week when four Top 10 teams lost…Oregon, Florida, Notre Dame, and Arkansas.
What a Saturday of college football! In part I think I watched twelve games and part of the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 loss to the pathetic Chicago Cubs.
Before I get to OU’s 37-31 road win at K-State..I’m giving out my No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 helmet stickers.
No. 3 goes to Texas running back Bijon Robinson who is back on my Heisman watch list after his scintillating performance over TCU on the road. I sincerely hope the OU linebackers understand what they have in front of them next Saturday in Dallas. The tackling will need to be much better than it was in Manhattan.
No. 2 goes to Cincy QB Desmond Ritter who got his team a Top 15 resume win on the road in South Bend against Notre Dame. Kudos to that young man and the entire Bearcat program.
No. 1 goes to Auburn quarterback Bo Nix who was one of the very reasons beyond El Boutte that I picked LSU to win in Death Valley. Bo Nix after being benhed last week for his abysmal performance against Georgia State and then being benched again last night for a period of time responded with one of the guttiest performances I’ve seen in a while in college football.
Nix brought his team back from a 13-0 hole on the road in the toughest stadium in the country to be playing a road game. LSU fans are noriously nasty. I wouldn’t surprise me a bit if most of them have ‘Hang Mike Pence’ T-shirts in their trucks. But Bo Nix on this night was my Player of the Week in college football.
His father was crying in the stands as the final seconds ticked off and it was a reminder of what competition is supposed to look like in college football beyond the transfer portal and NIL deal.-
I gotta tell you…it put a lump in my throat. You saw in the father’s face how tough the past week was for the entire Nix family.
Now…OU’s 37-31 road win over K State. First off it was Lincoln Riley’s first win over Wildcat coach Chris Klieman… so that’s a positive.
In fact I would describe most of the second half as positive with the exception of Tyrese Robinson’s boneheaded personal foul penalty which gave K State the opportunity for that last kickoff return touchdown. Stupid football plays won’t get it done in Dallas. Just an incredibly stupid football play. There’s a time and a place to hit someone in the mouth. That wasn’t the time.
As Pat Jones said to Garrett Limbrick back in ’88 when his team choked in Bedlam, ” Son…you can’t play like an unchained idiot out there.”
Otherwise mostly positives:
Spencer Rattler was sharp and played like the best quarterback in the Big 12.
Kennedy Brooks ran like he did two years ago before missing last season to COVID precautions.
Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line played its best game of the year. I think it helps that Raym and Morris now have more defined roles at center and tackle.
Gabe Brkic was excellent as usual.
WR receiver Mike Woods continues to evolve and Marvin Mims became a factor again in the offense.
Jaden Hazlewood’s block on the goal line took out three Wildcats and enabled OU to score an impressive late rushing touchdown.
Lincoln finally seems to be of the thought Eric Gray is a finesse runner and receiver outside the the tackles while Kennedy Brooks will be the main guy between the tackles running back.
It was nice to Jeremiah Hall see get involved carrying and catching the ball again. He needs to be a sigfificant piece of the offense moving forward. I would love to see the wheelhouse route out of the backfield in Dallas for an early touchdown.
I thought Brandon Willis made a few big catches as well. Spencer Rattler will need both Brandon and Austin Stogner to bring their best games of the season in Dallas in the Red River Rivalry.
For all of you who booed because Caleb Williams didn’t replace Spencer Rattler last week…how did you feel when Caleb couldn’t catch a somewhat tough snap on the one yard-line and in essence gave K State four points. Would you have booed him if this game was in Norman?
The game in Texas like it used to be back in the Wilkinson, Switzer, and Stoops days will literally be the crossroads game for this OU football season.
The one thing which I cling to most is that Texas got gashed on the ground to the tune of 330 rushing yards in their loss to an Arkansas team which got tossed around like little girls in Athens yesterday.
It should be a great game and possibly a preview of the Big 12 Championship Game at Jerry’s World showcasing the two best quarterbacks in the conference in Spencer Rattler and Casey Thompson.
I would think OU will be somewhere around a Vegas 2.5 favorite. Spencer Rattler has played in this game…Casey Thompson hasn’t. That’s where I get the 2.5 point spread otherwise I would call it pick em’. You’ll recall Spencer had a few Bo Nix moments last year in Dallas which caused Lincoln to sit him for a bit of time.
The last positive is that despite not hitting on all clyinders—this OU team to date has shown an ability to make plays late in games in tight fit one possession games. Plus, OU has the best placekicker in college ball. So there’s that.
What a glorious day in Deer Creek. Another half inch of precip hit the rain gauge just before dawn. The first real football weather day of the season so far in Oklahoma with temps in the lower seventies.
I plan on watching wall to wall college football today into the night. Cooked omlettes for both me and Pauli this morning. I’ve upped my cooking game since COVID quite a bit. I became an addict watching some of those cooking shows…primarily Simply Ming and A Chef’s Life with whatsername in North Carolina…Vivian Howard ..I think is her name. She had me at hello with her fried sprimp burger with cole slaw.
Potentially crossroad games in every conference today with the exception of the ACC which is looking at the real possibility of being the worst football conference among the Power 5 this season. Advice to Dabo…buddy, nobody in this day and age can’t take players from the transfer portal. You’ll have to change that mindset if you want to become big boy relevant again. Even Gundy goes to the portal. Just saying.
Iowa appears to be the real deal. They create points off turnovers like no one else so far this college football season. Ole Miss at Bama. Arkansas at Georgia. Auburn at LSU.
Since it’s my birthday tomorrow and I’m an old person…Chris Jackson has agreed to give me three picks today to his two.
No. 1 Auburn at LSU… A game of two Tigers. Max Johnson seems to be getting better every week hitting his star WR ‘El’ Boutte. To me that’s primarily the game. LSU at home has a big league big play threat. I’m taking LSU.
No. 2 Texas Tech at West Virginia… West Virginia at home versus a porous Tech defense which gave up seventy points to the Longhorns. Plus, Tech QB Tyler Shough is down for a month with an injury. I’ll take West Virginia.
No. 3 Ole Miss at Alabama…I’m taking Bama at home and giving the 14. I would think the winning QB becomes the Heisman frontrunner in this one.
I’m staying away from the Arkansas vs. Georgia. I don’t want to sweat out point spreads. I just want to relax and watch the two premier SEC games of the day while I’m watching OU at K State as well.
For me in Manhattan today… no way would I get near this game. I actually think though the hostile crowd might help OU wake up a bit. Big game for Lincoln Riley and his Sooners. If OU wins the coin toss they should take the ball and not defer. First OU possession needs to be a touchdown statement.
Have a great day watching college football out on your back decks and patios. Autumn has finally arrived in Oklahoma..
We’ve got some great college football games coming up tomorrow, plus the major league baseball playoffs get started with the wild card games.
I mean…Arkansas at Georgia and Ole Miss at Alabama is about as lit as you can get in Week 5. Kudos to Arkansas for what they’ve done so far…but here’s the thing with their schedule…it’s tougher than who the Denver Broncos have played in their first three games. Georgia, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU, Alabama and even Auburn are still in front of the Hogs. Miss State with Leach and maybe Auburn with Bo Dix appear to be the only reasonable games left on their schedule. Sam Pittman…hang in there.
I’ve pretty much pulled back on writing about Donald Trump. Why even bother?
But this came across the wire this morning and as an objective non partisan who’s a complete non-ideologue… I thought to myself…why not put this on the blog as I try to figure out these SEC point spreads.
Putting politics aside…SEC football is something, the Big 12 is a backup band…that’s for certain. OU has some work in front of them in the next two years as far as recruiting physicality on their offensive and defensive lines.
This song is dedicated to my sister-in-law Kathy who is about the nicest person alive. But I just today after all these years found out she’s a closet Biker Girl.
Lincoln should play this for defense before they take the field for their first possession tomorrow. Maybe it would fire them up so the ‘Cats don’t hold the ball for the first ten minutes of the game. Rain expected in Manhattan, Kansas tomorrow. Rain and an iffy situation with QB Sklar Thompson…stay away from that game would be my thought.