It should be an interesting game in Stillwater on Saturday night as OU visits O State in what is a must game for OU if they hope to slip thru the back door into the college football playoff final four.
The Sooners enter as No. 7 and the Cowboys at No. 21 and on a nice little run with their defense playing much better as of late.
Both teams have a Heisman candidate. OU with Jalen Hurts and O State with Canadian running back Chuba Hubbard. There’s a genuine argument for both being the Big 12 Player of the Year.
Both defenses of late have been making plays which is nice to see for college football fans in this state.
OU’s defense in reality has made season saving plays three weeks in a row when you think about it: 1 The stop on the two point conversion versus Iowa State. 2 The Nick Bonito interception to clinch the win at Baylor. 3 The late pick by Bookie Radley-Hiles to get the clinching stop against TCU. It’s been Alex Grinch’s young guys saving the season week by week with a heavy does of Jalen Hurts usage to keep them off the field as much as possible.
To me…this is very encouraging for the future of the OU defense. Caleb Kelly is back for the remainder of this season and next. Tre Norwood will be back in the defensive backfield after an injury redshirt season. Jon Michael-Terry will be back from injury as well. But most of all OU will return a plethora of young players on the defensive side of the ball who have seen meaningful minutes.
Kenneth Murray will be gone next season, but look for a guy like Ronnie Perkins to step up and become a star. Perkins to me is a key for OU moving forward on this side of the ball. I think as he goes on the pass rush—OU will go the remainder of this season and next.
For O State both wide receiver Tylan Wallace and Spencer Sanders are done with season ending injuries. Dru Brown the graduate transfer from Hawaii has the opportunity of a lifetime to become a rock star for life in Stillwater if he can lead the Cowboys to an upset.
Mike Gundy has calmed down these past few weeks. The press conferences seem less manic with no further talk of double doses of Ambien to get thru the nights. Simple. His team is playing hard for him and doing their best given the hand dealt.
It could be a classic Bedlam or it could much of the same as O State hasn’t won in Stillwater since Weeden’s championship season in 2011.
The games have all been close of late and OU hasn’t blown anyone out since the home win over West Virginia.
Vegas has OU as a 10.5 favorite, but history would tell you to take the points since OU hasn’t covered since the West Virginia game.
OU needs some help even if they win Bedlam. They may need an Auburn win over Alabama, and they definitely need LSU to beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
Mike Gundy needs a Bedlam win…period.
It should be a great week-end of college football.