-Staff Reporter-
Just when it appeared the Oklahoma Sooners were headed for an 0-2 start in their inaugural SEC season a beautiful, almost surreal thing happened inside of Jordan-Hare Stadium. That thing being…. the first appearance of Sooner Magic in the Brent Venables head coaching era at OU.
There is no way OU should have won this game as they entered this contest with their top five receivers not available. Yet somehow, some way, these gritty Sooners never surrendered. Never made excuses. Just basically kept working while pulling on the proverbial chain until a Kip Lewis late fourth quarter pick six put OU over the top overcoming a 21-10 fourth quarter deficit.
The Auburn faithful appeared shell-shocked as they once again lost to the Oklahoma Sooners and are now 0-3 vs. OU all-time. Rumor has it….’Independence’, the mascot live war eagle contacted Sooner officials after the game to inquire if the NCAA Mascot NIL program would allow him to transfer to OU and sit perched atop of the Sooner Schooner the rest of this season.
I don’t blame Independence for this simple reason….’THERE’S ONLY ONE OKLAHOMA, BABY!!!!!!
But it wasn’t just the Kip Lewis pick six. No it was not…it was Michael Hawkins and this new mindset the Sooners have collectively embraced since he took over for Jackson Arnold in the second half of the Tennessee game.
Since Hawkins was inserted as the starter these Sooners have outscored Tennessee and Auburn 33-27 in six halves of SEC football. Think about my previous sentence….in ninety minutes of SEC play–OU has given up only 27 points. And you know what else has occured….the Sooners haven’t turned over the ball one time.
Michael Hawkins has been turnover free. He has not put the OU defense in bad situations with soft turovers as Jackson Arnold was doing. OU has a really good defense, and if this OU offense can get Deion Burks, A. Anthony, and Nic Anderson back for the Texas game in two weeks this staff reporter feels pretty good about the Sooners’ chances of pulling off a stunner in the Red River Rivalry.
OU’s kicking game was what I would describe as excellent on Saturday. OU’s punt game was superb. Zach Schmidt was 2-2 kicking field goals and the Sooners are 6 for 7 in that category after five games. Last season without the Sooner Magic…Zach Schmidt would have at the least missed one of those field goal attempts.
What Venables has now brought to OU is what Lincoln Riley never acheived…that being, two-way complimentary football with a kicking game attached.
Does this mean I think the Sooners are a Top 8 type of team with this offense playing the way they are currently?
No…that’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is if Michael Hawkins can continue to remain turnover clean with his play these Sooners should get collectively better on the offensive side of the ball as they hopefully get back to full strength health-wise.
But first and foremost you have to have defense and physicality to be elite in today’s college football landscape. OU has both and now the offense needs to improve incrementally every practice, every week. That has to be the mantra of OC Seth Littrell and his offensive coaches.
One last thing before closing this postgame recap piece…loose talk on the internet has it ‘Independence’ isn’t the only mascot seeking an NCAA Mascot NIL transfer. This reporter has it from a ‘reliable’ off the record source that Pistol Pete has contacted Joe C to see if his role could somehow be incorporated into the OU SEC Game Day experience.
Mike J