Month: November 2025

OU’s unprobable Hunt for Red November is in the books with the Sooners going 4-0 in what were four elimination games.

In 2000, when the Sooners won their last national championship, it was the Hunt for Red October as the Sooners took down ranked Texas, Nebraska, and K State all in the same month. This Hunt for Red November is more impressive in my view as OU had to beat ranked Tennessee and ranked Alabama on the road back to back, then deal with ranked Missouri, and an LSU squad which was ranked as high as third in the nation after the first five weeks of this season before their self- imposed implosion.

With OU’s first home game victory ever versus LSU in the books…the Sooners’ all-time record versus the Tigers is now 2-3. This was the first time OU played LSU in a non-southern redneck venue where OU actually had a homefield advantage. So there’s that as well for all you OU haters and doubters.

My game ball goes to OU safety Peyton Bowen for his excellent clutch play in this game. It was Peyton’s endzone oskie in the first period which saved the Sooners from giving up any points following John Mateer’s almost disastrous first interception of the game.

Then it was Peyton’s very smart play on the fourth down stop in OU territory which in essence clinched the game for the Sooners. Both Peyton and younger brother Eli have been clutch for the Sooners in this four game run. Absolutely clutch.

So with relative ease I feel good giving Peyton my lone game ball.

My two helmet stickers go to the other side of the ball to Isaiah Sategna and John Mateer. When it had to be done these two guys for the second week in a row delievered the game winning touchdown play which was absolutely electric for those of us Who Bleed Crimson.

Isaiah had a huge game with nine catches for 120 yards, the game winning TD, and a forty yard punt return as well. Without Isaiah’s stellar play the Sooners would not be advancing. On the season, Isaiah now has 950 receiving yards and has clearly emerged as the Sooners’ most dangerous playmaker.

John Mateer gets my other helmet sticker. Despite John’s three interceptions…he did not fold coming down the stretch and threw a third period TD pass to Deion Burks. John had 319 pssing yards on a very windy day as well. *Of note…this was Dion’s first touchdown since the Michigan game.

To Deion from MJ…nice play,… but we’ll need more of this from you if the Sooners are to keep advancing. You and Javonnie Gibson should both be getting open with the other team’s defenses focusing on Isaiah. Same thing as well to hybrid tight end Jared Kanak…you made some nice plays down the stretch, but more will be needed to get this OU offense where it needs to be. Circle Deion, Javonnie, and Jared moving forward.

That’s it for me on this Sunday. I’m beyond thrilled for these players and what they just accomplished. They lost their best player (R Mason) in the first quarter at Tennessee and never surrendered or made excuses.

They just FOUND A WAY EVERY WEEK FROM DIFFERENT GUYS.

That’s a team, guys. That’s what that is.

MJ

It wasn’t pretty with these Sooners. Same old thing…never surrender, never betray the belief, run the gauntlet against Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU. Piss on the odds of this happening.

It looked bleak at best after John Mateer threw his third interception mid-way in the third period.

But these guys don’t quit. They carry Coach BV’s DNA in their football souls.

The mantra is FIND A WAY…ANYWAY. And that’s exactly what happened again this afternoon/evening on a windswept Memorial Stadium Field in front of another standing room only ocean of crimson.

I’m just so happy for these guys and how they’re now going to the College Football Playoff. It doesn’t matter to me where they play their first game because defense and the kicking game travel.

The Sooners will now get three weeks of rest to get healthy and probably play either Notre Dame or Ole Miss in the first round.

It just doesn’t matter.

Xavier Robnson and Tory Blalock get three weeks to get healthy again. Same with the offensive line. And even if R Mason is done this season….that doesn’t matter either.

Just find a way, baby.

MJ is happy and too exhausted right now to hand out game balls and helmet stickers. Maybe tomorrow.

MJ

For me, these two Thunder wins in the Emirates NBA Cup Group A-West were the two most interesting Thunder games of the season minus the double overtime thriller in the season opener versus Houston.

On Wednesday night in OKC, the Thunder finally at the end wore down the turnover prone Minnesota Timberwolves in what I felt like was a playoff game atmosphere. Anthony Edwards and his mates hung around, but when mental toughness, execution, and basketball smarts took over, so did the Thunder as they won their 10th straight game of the season and improved to 18-1.

Minnesota called a timeout in the waning minutes with a chance to win and then promptly turned over the ball on consecutive posessions to in essence hand the Thunder the game. That type of execution will simply not get it done.

Donte DiVincenzo, dude, take care of the basketball. You know they’re coming–take care of the ball.

I wrote it last season here on the blog and I’ll jot it down again…Rudy Gobert is the most annoying ‘player’ in the NBA and I feel almost certain Anthony Edwards will never win a championship with this guy as his center.

The Wolves could very well win a round or two with Rudy Gobert, but I can’t see them winning four rounds and sixteen games with this basketball slug. Isaiah Hartenstein should have just punched him in the face on Wednesday night.

So tonight (Friday), the Thunder played the surprisingly decent Phoenix Suns at PayCom with the winner moving on with a 4-0 record in Cup play and a place in the quarterfinals.

From my view, it was a great regular season Emirates Cup game with the Thunder holding on for dear life with a 123-119 win their 11th straight victory and a league best record of 19-1.

JDub returned and was rusty as one would expect, but not to fret Shai, Chet, and others picked up the slack. Isaiah Hartenstein was a DNP and that hurt the Thunder. With Isaiah and Chet in that double big lineup…I feel the Thunder can in essence become a totally different team with a different basketball personality.

The Thunder can play small, they can play big, or they can play Forty Minutes of Hell… whenever they need to depending on the opponent and the game situation. Denver without Aaron Gordon, and with Jamal not at his peak level… will not beat these guys in a seven game series. The Thunder are too diverse and too deep. WAY TOO DEEP.

Shai was incredible as usual with 37 points and 15 points in the 4th period. But my game ball goes to Collin Gillespie of the Suns. I absolutely loved the way he played and competed in this game…and of course at one point in his basketball journey he was an unknown member of the Denver Nuggets organization.

So the Thunder now advance to the quarterfinal round of the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup of which they are a considerable favorite to win in my estimation unless Shai doesn’t show up for one of the Cup games.

That’s it for me this evening. I need my sleep for what I’m certain will be a stressful afternoon of football in Norman versus LSU. Nothing comes easy in the SEC. I hope my Sooners can finish this last step and advance to the College Football Playoff as a reward for their amazing grit and toughness down the stretch.

Peace.

MJ

I’m starting X-Mas music two days early this holiday season. No stress whatsoever with the beleagered O State football fan yesterday at the Wellness Center Gym. He seemed to be in a better mood with the naming of Eric Morris as the next O State football coach. I left it alone and said nothing of the eighteen straight conference losses.

So everything is beautiful.

Hope evryone has peace and serenity this holdiday season.

Mike J

In the very dysfunctional world we now see ourselves in America…and especially in college football–it’s kind of nice to see someone like Brent Venables having this success at OU as a head coach.

But it shouldn’t be a surprise considering his previous coaching tree. Bill Snyder during the amazing turnaround at Kansas State. Then working for Bob Stoops at OU as linebackers coach for the national championship team. Then becoming D-coordinator on so many of those Big 12 championship teams at OU which made it to BCS Championship games as well. Then of course, the two national championships at Clemosn as defensive coordinator for Dabo Sweeny.

Is it really all that big of a surprise the Clemson program has dropped to its current level without Coach BV? I don’t think so.

BV just brings so much mental toughness and positiivity to whatever team he’s involved with. His teams take on his personality and character and just basically find a way.

And that’s what all this is about right now with this OU, that being, finding a way.

It’s a shame the 134th ranked of 134 in FBS… O State Cowboys haven’t been able to find a coach like BV. This award winning blogger, at this juncture in his life, especially as a Stage 4 survivor wonders if in his lifetime he’ll ever witness O State win a single conference football game again in the passive-submissive Big 12 in his lifetime given these past two seasons of complete football futility in Stillwater.

But enough of that.

MJ needs to the hit the terrain bike and see if he can eclipse the 3.5 mile twenty-seven minute time he rang up last workout after exchanging words with the little orange tatted earring dude who so splendidly exemplifies the average O State fan according to recently fired Coach Gundy as far as mobil homes and unpaid utility bills.

I’m 68 and I’m a man.

Have a wonderul Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Beat LSU is the singular mantra for OU Nation. Do not look ahead. Totally focus on a talented LSU team in Norman on Saturday at 2:30pm on ABC with my guys Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy on the call.

Love and kindness. Live the Golden Rule even if the MAGA lost humans play the part of fools 24/7. Always be the best version of yourself if possible.

MJ

• Editor’s note: OU has actually won eight national championships in that they won a coaches poll national championship in 1973 as well when the Sooners went 10-0-1 in Coach Switzer’s first year as head coach in Norman. AP went to another team.

I need to give more print on the blog in relation to Isaiah’s big play role on this OU offense which is quite frankly…still challenged as we head into the LSU game this coming week-end in Game 12.

Basically…Isaiah is the Sooners big play threat both as a receiver and punt returner.

He is the one player who has given this Ben Arbuckle offense the capability to strike at any moment. Without him…the Sooners would not be playing for the No. 8 seed in the College Football Playoff this Saturday in Norman.

Having written the previous ‘graph’…I think in time Javonnie Gibson will evolve into that type of player as well. A big touchdown catch from Javonnie as well in the Missouri game. It would help OU immensely to beat LSU and advance to the Notre Dame game if a second wideout could evolve into a consistent big play threat as well. I consider Deion Burks as a dunk and dink type of threat. Deion needs to be more assertive in the Sooner offense as well. It can’t just be John Mateer and Xavier Robinson.

Isaiah had a very tough fourth quarter fumble in the close loss to No. 5 Ole Miss, but otherwise he’s been excellent coming down the stretch to help the Sooners amass those ‘hidden yards’ Coach BV always alludes to in his pressers.

Hidden yards are special team return yards, pick six yards, and scoop and score yards. Think about that. R Mason’s scoop and score at Tennessee. Eli Bown’s pick six at Albama, and Isaiah’s punt return versus Alabama. Think of those yards which don’t go to the offensive stat sheet, yet lead to scores as ‘hidden yards’ per Coach BV.

Anyway… a great stretch of games from Isaiah in the last three games and more will be needed if the Sooners hope to keep advancing against LSU and beyond.

BOOMER!

The Thunder schedule has been very, very easy 18 games into the defense of their ‘first’ NBA title…that much is certain. Of OKC’s 17 wins… only four have come against teams with at least a .500 record. Those four being Houston without Fred VVL, the Lakers without Lebron, the Warriors, and the Atlanta Hawks.

Every other Thunder win has come against a cupcake. And despite this I would say the Thunder have in reality shown they are clearly the prohibitive favorite to repeat…even without JDub.

And the reason of course is Superman. This young man has shown eighteen games into this season he is completly focused on a repeat and another mano y mano battle with Nikola Jokic for the regular season MVP.

No JDub whatsoever and it has mattered nil. The only thing to date it has proven is how good Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, and Ajay Mitchell can become if needed.

When you consider the Denver Nuggets have now lost Aaron Gordon for at a minimum 4-6 weeks with another hamstring injury, and Houston has that point guard issue… if anything during JDub’s absence I would say their chances in the West are even stronger than when this season started with JDub sitting.

Add to that…this vastly improved chemistry between Chet and Isaiah Hartenstein has blossomed when they’re on the court together in the Thunder’s big lineup.

Even without JDub…the Thunder can still run Dort, Wallace, Caruso, and Wiggins out there to defend the other team’s best offensive guard or forward. And one could add Kenrich Williams to that list as well when he returns from his injury.

And by April one could even possibly add the rookies Brook Barnhizer and Chris Youngblood to that list. And it seems clear to me while Ajay Mitchell isn’t what I would call an elite defender, he could very much evolve into an elite guard on the offensive end of the court.

And when you consider the condition of the Eastern Conference with a Detroit team which to date has still never won a playoff series in the Cade Cunningham Era…MJ would say if Superman stays healthy this might not even be all that interesting once we get to mid-April.

The one good thing for Denver is that they don’t have to play OKC until early February. The bad news is they just lost to the pathetic Sancramento Kings to fall to 12-4…and in reality the Nuggets without a fully healthy Aaron Gordon aren’t going to beat the Thunder in a six or seven game series.

I have no idea when JDub actually makes his return, but I don’t even think it matters right now. It would matter if Shai went down, but otherwise… Shai is Superman, and that’s all that matters in November.

The Thunder are massively deep with wing players who can defend, and in all candor that might in itself along with Chet and Isaiah be enough for a repeat.

The rest of the league isn’t the Thunder biggest threat to a repeat…only an injury to Shai or team complacency can bring these guys down.

Love, mercy, and peace.

Have a great Thanksgiving week.

MJ

It didn’t take a miracle finish by Joe Washington. In fact, after a bumpy start—the Sooners pretty much dominated this game in every facet of the game after Missouri’s intial possession.

After that first Missouri drive of the game…OU’s defense basically shut down the best running back in the SEC. It was vintage Coach BV defense.

Satenga’s 85 yard catch and run was the big play needed. John Mateer wasn’t great, but he was clutch when he needed to be. Tate Sandell made his only FG attempt. I wasn’t happy with Miller’s punting though. He struggled with several what should have been pindown punts.

Xavier Robinson is beat up, yet like Mateer, did what needed to be down when it needed to be done.

This wasn’t pretty, but then again these Sooners aren’t a pretty team. They’re a gritty team who’ve taken on the personna of their coach. I was glad broadcaster Sean McDonough took the time to tell BV’s life story during the telecast.

BV’s players love him and understand the very tough journey life he traveled to become the OU head football coach. It’s a life of perserverance. A life of sticking by his mom and siblings. It’s a life of being a standup husband and father. It’s a beautiful story given the overall cultural dumpster fire our country is currently mired in.

My helmet stickers go to the entire team who for the 11th straight quarter of play did not have R Mason Thomas available and overcame several murky flags by the zebras in the game. It just didn’t matter though because this team isn’t a piece of art or a beauty contest winner. It’s a team with a bulldog mentality.

It’s a team which reflects the soul of their coach…and that’s a good thing if you noticed all the coaches currently in college football who’ve either bailed on their teams or failed to provide role model leadership on and off the field.

I’m happy. A quiet happy, but with some music blaring and a hot cup of coffee. When you’re Stage 4, man…you savor these type of moments. You do.

I’m going to enjoy this game before I even think about LSU next Saturday in Norman.

Great job, guys.

Find a way. That’s the mantra. Nothing else. Find a way.

MJ

These early kick-offs require a little bit more of what I would call ‘mentally bearing down’ and making sure the focus is completely in the place it needs to be.

I’m sure Coach BV has stressed this all week long with the nation’s best running back coming to town to try to spoil this run of the Sooners’ these past several weeks.

You cannot allow this guy to get to his fourth or fifth stride. You cannot allow space. Tackling needs to be efficent. Tackling in space in this game is critical for the Sooners defense.

I could care less which quarterback Missouri plays today. Neither is of the caliber of the kid from Tennessee and Simpson last Saturday. Put the f–king heat of their quarterback and drive him to the ground within the limitations of a penalty.

It’s always about physicality in the SEC. Always. Win the line of scrimmage on both sides.

Missouri is a good team, not a great team. But a solid team capable of winning this game if the Sooners forget what got them to this game.

But most of…John Mateer and his offense need to pull their link on the chain today and moving forward. John Mateer and Xavier Robinson need to be solid. Satenga needs to keep making big plays.

That’s it for me. I’ve had my coffee. I’m going to go hit the bike and calm myself down a lttle bit.

BOOMER!

MJ

Holy shit. This isn’t even fair at so many multiple levels. Surely there has to be some politically correct group which looks out for slow, white Mormons even though the Jazz players aren’t necessarily slow, white Mormons.

Add to that…I never saw a shot of a chippy Mitt Romney talking shit from the stands either as this rout slowly evolved after the first twelve minutes of play. In fact…if Mitt Romney were smart he’d probably be living in Portugal or Spain far away from the MAGA crazies in his state.

Back to the game. But still… there are provisions in what used to be our constitution in regards to cruel and unusual punishment.

This was stunning. The Thunder gave up 44 points in the first period to the slow, white Jazz who were led by a Kevin Love flurry of threes in that first period. I honestly didn’t know Kevin Love was still in the league. At one point—the Thunder were down by 18. Jot that down and do the math.

Then that Nolan Richard-like 40 Minutes of Hell routine I constantly blathered about last season took hold of the Mormons in the arena.

I mean what do you even write after the defending champs bludeoned the Jazz in the game’s final 36 minutes for what ended up being a 144-112 rout and an amazing +50 turnaround which in reality shouldn’t have shocked anyone who’s been paying attention these last two NBA season.

My three helmet stickers go in this order..1 Superman, 2 JWill-Ark, and 3 Caruso who has a six year-old jersey wearing fan in Greenwood, Colorado named Robert Jackson. I don’t think he was up late enough though… to see this game, but surely his father, my son, will tell him about Caruso’s play on the drive to Saturday’s ice hockey game at the U of Denver.

The Thunder are now 16-1 and with Denver’s 112-109 win over Houston last night it seems fairly obvious the defending champs and the Denver Nuggets will at some point collide with one another multiple times this NBA basketball season.

BTW…Nikola and Jamal went for a combined 60 points last night. See what I’m talking about with the Rockets…they only scored 99 points against a Denver team which at times is somewhat soft defensively. To beat the Nuggets or the Thunder… more than Reed Shepperd and Aaron Hoilday will be needed.

I closing for tonight, if you look at the Thunder’s scedule from now to Xmas it is not crazy talk whatsoever for me to write they could possibly have a record of 28-1 after the Christmas Day game versus the young, still evolving Spurs.

I need to log off. Tomorrow’s football game in Norman will most likely be another SEC grinder.

My sleep music is imperative.

Later.

MJ