With premeditated malice to deliever a clean hit…that’s what this hit on Brock Purdy was in yesterday’s 28-21 win in Norman. On the day…I think OU had eight QB sacks, several other TFLs (tackles for losses), and many other hurries or disruptions. This is the passion and violence which had been so acutely missing from OU’s defense since in reality the second half of the Red River Rivalry.
This is football, boys. This is how we play the game. Maybe me playing the Mike Leach video lit a fire under some of you..I don’t know for sure. I’ll be playing the video again Wednesday that’s for damn sure just in case. I worry about Lincoln’s passivity at times. But I know this…Sixty Minutes of Hell for the once turnover prone Spencer Sanders needs to be the mantra this week in practice. That plus, dropping all ball carriers in open space so there’s no AYAC (additional yardage after contact).
If you read my blog, you’ll learn the anacronyms used by coaches—that will be for certain. If you want to read some sissy boy fanboy piece of trash….then click onto the Daily Thunder piece of junk.
As you can tell it’s only Sunday evening and I’m pretty well already stoked for Bedlam which in essence is an elimination game for the Sooners.
I can’t imagine anyone involved with the Sooners should be feeling any tinges of anything remotely resembling passivity at this point.
Simply win the line of scrimmage for sixty minutes and be the smarter football team. That’s it, boys.
What a perfect Sunday. My Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota in the early game. Porter Moser’s basketball Sooners will be tipping at 2:00pm in the finals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational vs. Utah State…and then maybe a day of coffee. Then–I’ll have a glass or two of red wine, some Tony Bennett, then mull my Top 12 Poll for this evening… then maybe finish reading the final chapters of the book I’ve been reading this week–The Afghanistan Papers by Craig Whitlock. Great book by the way if you’re not a Trump illiterate and you actually read something beyond Tucker Carlson’s crawlers on Fox.
And let me clarify that last snarky part of the preceding paragraph…I’m the last standing human on the earth who would defend the far left wing of the Dems, but to you Trump-Fox illiterates…. five words of life it’s ownself advice from Mike Jackson, those being, “Please grow the fuck up.”
I’m proud of the way OU competed yesterday. I’ll have OU at No. 8 on my poll and I will have Oklahoma State at No. 4. Tell me I’m not the fairest Libra walking the face of the earth.
HELMET STICKERS:
1 Mike Gundy’s entire football team with an extra helmet sticker for Jim Knowles
2 OU’s defense with Perrion Winfrey getting an extra one for the hit on Brock Purdy
3 Kirk’s Buckeyes for actually deserving the No. 2 national ranking I’m giving them tonight
and
4 Mike Leach for just being there for me when I need to curse ad nauseum at the OU defense.
Bucket List…to sing with Carrie Underwood in a karaoke bar.
OU hung on to beat Iowa State 28-21 in Norman on Saturday. Meanwhile in Lubbock… O State’s trending defense shutdown Texas Tech by a 23-0 count to setup a potential Bedlam for the ages next Saturday in Stillwater.
This should be great stuff. Put aside OU leaving for the SEC side story, this matchup with O State’s elite defense coupled with OU freshman QB Caleb Williams trying to calibrate his decision making in the pocket will make for an intriguing must see college football game.
Heck, if OU can win Bedlam I, we’ll get to see Bedlam II the following Saturday in Arlington.
The postgame presser with Lincoln after the Iowa State game was excellent. All the better sports writers in this market who don’t waste their time covering the Thunder currently were there. All questions asked were what I would describe as relevant questions asked in a thoughtful professional manner.
OU’s defense for the ‘most part’ played great with some real physicality and ‘get after it’ on Saturday. The fake punt which lead to the second touchdown wasn’t their fault. That’s totally on the coaches for having their heads up their asses considering time, score, and where the ball was when it was snapped.
The OU defense was in Brock Purdy’s face most of the day. Perrion Winfrey’s collision with Purdy will be iconic in Sooner lore. That my friends, was what Vince Lombardi was talking about as in football being a collision activity. Two helmet stickers alone just for that hit.
But most of the questions dealt with QB Caleb Williams’ reluctance to run the ball even after his 74 yard touchdown run in the first half.
Why was Caleb holding onto to the ball so long and not hitting his passes on time or simply not flushing the pocket and running?
It was a very interesting press conference from Lincoln in relation to when he wants Caleb to hang on to the ball through his progressions versus when he wants him to flush the pocket like Kyler Murray.
So that’s why I have the Secretariat video above with the greatest finisher of all-time finally turning it loose at the Belmont Stakes in the movie without the overthink and just running.
Lincoln…turn him loose for God’s sake.
I’ll play the Lincoln presser in the morning. It was excellent.
Then I’m pretty much going to get my early chores done and settle in on the Sooners’ championship game at the Myrtle Beach Invitational at 2:00pm in South Carolina.
First thing before I get into College Game Day…I want to shout out to Porter Moser’s OU Sooners for beating both East Carolina and Indiana State to advance to the finals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational. The team is getting better every game and while I don’t think OU has a ceiling any higher than maybe 4th or 5th in the Big 12… I have a good feeling in my heart about this team and the manner in which the team as a whole is working to improve every game.That’s all you can ask of a team…to get better every game.
OU plays Utah State on Sunday at 2:00pm for the tournament championship.
Also to the tanking OKC Thunder…I watched every minute of their game last night against the defending world champion Milwaukee Bucks. I was impressed with the Thunder even though they lost the game. Aaron Wiggins is going to be another solid piece. Poku is starting to come around. JRE has natural basketball instincts. Giddy’s rebounding, smarts, and passing should counter his murky outside shot. Mike Muscala and Kenrich when allowed to play the minutes they deserve are balling.
My problem with the Thunder aren’t the players themselves, but more to the point with Sam Hinkie-Presti’s vision of what ‘sustainability’ in Oklahoma City is NBA-wise.
I will never dog any of these Thunder players on my blog because they’re doing the best can given the cards their GM has allowed them to play with. I’ll write about the Thunder on Monday and give my Top 10 Thunder players so far this season looking into the team building core future.
As far as Game Day…I’m tired of begging Lincoln Riley and his team to show up for sixty minutes in a game against anybody this season. Here’s the thing though…on the first poll I had OU somewhere between 4-6 nationally. I never had them winning the national championship because of five reasons.
Here are those five reasons… 1 Creed Humphrey, Kansas City Chiefs, 2 Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots, 3 Tre Norwood, Pittsburgh Steelers, 4 Trey Brown, Seattle Seahawks, and 5 Ronnie Perkins, NE Patriots.
There you go. Those five guys who were OU’s most impactful players last season are all now in the NFL. And let’s not kid ourselves about OU’s super soft defense and what it’s looked like without Ronnie Perkins carrying the energy load with his motor. This OU defense for the most part plays like a collective group of pussies who at the most haven’t played more than forty minutes of sustained high quality football in a single game this season. Evidently…Ronnie Perkins was their heart. Their heart now plays for Bill Bilichick.
And then add to the mix OU unlike in the days of Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts hasn’t gotten consistent quarterback play for the first time in the Lincoln Riley Era in Norman.
For the first time in the Lincoln Riley era his quarterback situation is cloudy heading into the stretch run in November.
As far as the game in Norman today….OU is a three point favorite and I wouldn’t touch this game with a ten foot pole. Matt Campbell’s team has covered the spread vs. OU five out of the six times he’s coached against Lincoln Riley… and almost covered a sixth time.
I’m 12-14 verus the spread this season which isn’t awful, but it’s not to my standard. Chris van Pelt and Chris Jackson are having banner years beating the spread. I need to pick it up in a very big way starting today.
Today I’m taking K State at home versus Baylor at even. I’m taking Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide at home -19 versus my Arkansas Razorbacks. And in my bonus game I’m still thinking about it. I need more time to reflect. I’ll be back.
As far as Lincoln Riley going to LSU for $12 million a year…whatever. If LSU is stupid enough to pay that money to a coach who in reality has done a C+ level job of coaching his team so far this season…then I guess Lincoln Riley and LSU deserve one another. If Lincoln is smart…he’ll stay with Joe C.
As far as Caleb Williams goes…I would assume he and his coach had a nice private chat sometime this week about who’s the OU quarterback this season. I would hope that conversation went something like this.
Mike Gundy is headed into Week 13 riding high in this week’s Big 12 Power Poll as the No. 1 ranked team in the conference with Baylor for the moment holding the No 2 spot and Oklahoma at No. 3 after their listless offensive performance in Waco.
When Alex Grinch was hired with a $1.8 million dollar salary to somewhat restore order to the Sooner defense…the thought was that if OU could just hold teams to 24 points a game then surely Lincoln Riley’s new world offense would top that every week of the college football season.
Truth be told…without Ronnie Perkins, Tre Norwood, and Trey Brown this OU defense isn’t nearly what it was last season and the offense has been all over the radar screen.
Twice in this Big 12 season so far OU’s offense hasn’t cracked the twenty point barrier with two of the best defenses in the conference still in front of them.
With all the drama which went on with OU and Texas announcing their decision to leave the conference before the season…what has transpired since when OU roared back from a 28-7 hole in the Red River Rivalry is a wonderul conference race to see who emerges as the two teams in Jerry’s World on the first week-end of December.
The two survivors won’t be Georgia vs. Alabama, but for sheer college football enjoyment this Big 12 race is going to be fun.
The wacky Big 12 where the conference lost two teams then gained four teams then lost Gary Patterson and Matt Wells from the coaching ranks has been a roller coaster trip.
For a conference which used to give us ping pong scoring marathons like 62-59 a funny thing has happened. The quarterback play throughout the league has dropped significantly and teams like O State, Baylor, and Iowa State have all for the most part played defensive football like back in the Big 8 days of Switzer and Osborne. These three teams actually tackle opposing ball carriers and harass enemy quarterbacks.
Who saw defense coming the Big 12’s way back in 2019?
Track meets for the most part have been rare. Baylor just held OU to 14 points which was the lowest offensive output in the Lincoln Riley era.
O State has the third ranked defense nationally and a back seven which is loaded with experienced players who stayed that extra year due to Covid. O State would be even deeper in their back seven if they hadn’t lost safety Tre Sterling to wrist surgery earlier in the season.
Plus, O State rather than OU has gotten more out of the transfer portal this season with running back Jaylen Warren emerging as one of the best backs in the conference.
Iowa State at 6-4 has been a downer, but keep this in mind as the Cyclones head to Norman this Saturday…they more than any club in this league have had Lincoln Riley’s number the past three years and came within a play of beating the Sooners in last year’s Big 12 Championship Game.
Bryce Hall started slowly for Coach Matt Campbell this season, but of late has re-emerged as perhaps the league’s best running back as Bijuan Robinson is done for the season due to injury.
In the last four games in this series the Cyclones are 2-2, have won once at Norman and had a chance to win at the end in all four games.
The Big 12 has three potentially wonderful games on tap this Saturday starting with OU as a 3.5 home favorite over the Cyclones in what is probably a must win game for the Sooners to advance to Arlington.
The second game of the day is a dead even pick ’em in Vegas right now with 8-2 Baylor at 7-3 Kansas State. Talk about a trap game for the Baylor Bears. This should be a great Big 12 game.
BTW…OU’s 37-31 win at K State is resume wise OU’s best win of the season to date. The win over Texas isn’t resume worthy. When a team gives up 57 points at home to Kansas and it isn’t in a basketball game…that team becomes non-resume worthy in my polling system.
Then in the third game we get my No. 5 team in my national poll the Oklahoma State Cowboys with that defense listed as a 10.5 road favorite in crazy Lubbock over the Red Raiders.
The last time the Cowboys played in Lubbock in 2019 Spencer Sanders turned the ball over five times and O State lost 45-35.
But of late these last three games…Spencer Sanders has been turnover efficient and as a result the Cowboys have taken thier offensive game up a notch.
So here we are with a new Big 12 that plays some defense, has some great running backs, and some murky quarterback play at times from O State, Baylor, OU, and Iowa State.
Maybe Joe C and the new OU head boss should see if they could stay in the Big 12 and send football cellar dwellers Texas and Kansas to the SEC West instead.
I’m sure Porter Moser and Mike Boynton would go for that.
The TNT Showcase Game of the Week was a dandy…for a half. Then the MVP caliber of play by Steph Curry wore down the Brooklyn Nets into submission as the Warriors breezed 117-99 at the Barclays Center.
Steph was simply brilliant scoring 37 points and moving the ball like the generational B-Ball wizard he truly has become for those of us still lucky enough to be around watching him play.
On my first MVP ballot of the season I have 1 Steph, 2 Jokic….not sure who I would have as my three just yet.
Any doubts about where Steph and Kevin curently rank among this generation of stars was wiped away with a display of ball which shows who’s team the Warriors truly are.
These Warriors are still without Klay and second year center James Wiseman…but even without those two the Warriors have been the class of the West one-sixth of the way into this NBA season.
Kudos to Warriors GM Bob Myers for the rebuild. These aren’t the injury decimated Warriors which lost to Toronto in their last Finals appearance. This is a rebuilt team with depth galore into the second unit and perhaps into a third unit as well.
Klay is now playing five on five in practice, but when he eventually comes back he won’t have to be a full-time Splash Brother is my take. He can be a Mini-Splash Brother who in my fertile mind should not have to be playing more than 22-24 minutes a game to contribute to this version of the Warriors.
For those old enough…think back to when Bill Walton’s injury riddled legs were at the end of his illustrious career with the Boston Celtics. That Bill Walton wasn’t Portland’s world champion Bill Walton, but there was still enough left in Bill Walton’s gas tank to help the Celtics win a championship as their Sixth Man playing lighter minutes.
God…I wish we had guys like Bob Myers and Steve Kerr in Oklahoma City….I’d be a regular again at the Peake if that were the case. I wouldn’t have to sit in the stands and cheer for teams from San Francisco and Miami….. and dream one day we in Oklahoma would once again have a team which is more than a AAA developmental squad subsidized by Adam Silver to move players to other locales in the league.
Klay doesn’t have to be the bulldog anymore. There’s Gary Payton Jr. to be the defensive bulldog and there’s Jordan Poole to help with scoring. There’s the two rookies in Moses Moody and Johnny Kuminga who make the Warriors future burn even brighter.
If you watch the video I posted above…please note #00 for the Warriors…that’s rookie Johnny Kuminga who was the 9th player taken in this past draft and generally recognized as perhaps the player in the draft with the most raw athletic potential.
Some say he could be the next Kawhi who was the 15th player taken in his draft class or the next Giannis was also the 15th player taken in his draft class. Johnny Kuminga went at No. 9…three picks after Sam Hinkie-Presti decided on the non-athletic Josh Giddy at No. 6.
We could have had Johnny Kuminga, but instead the only Johnny we have is the ‘once’ great Johnny Thunder on the abysmal Daily Thunder blog.
I think in closing that pretty much says why the Warriors are who they are and why the tanking Thunder are playing the putrid 1-11 Houston Rockets tonight in the least desirable NBA game on this season’s slate so far this NBA season.
Tonight’s over/under for Mike Muscala minutes is set at 7.5 minutes per okcthunderground.com. Can’t play him too much if the Thunder are to have any chance at losing this game to the feeble Rockets.
This is an interesting presser since all around are rumors swirling on Lincoln Riley possibly headed to LSU as the next head football coach at LSU.
I guess that’s an interesting thought. The leash is very short at LSU for losing games and if you think back both Les Miles and current lame duck coach Ed Orgeron were both shown the door when the Tigers couldn’t win enough to satiate their crazy fan base.
But you can definitely win a football national championship at LSU for certain. Nick Saban, Les Miles, and Ed Orgeron all won national championships in Baton Rouge.
I’m not losing sleep over it either way. That’s not my concern. OU has in my estimation the best athletic director in the country in Joe Castiglione.
I have faith in Joe C’s judgement. While at OU he’s only had to hire two head football coaches. The first was Bill Snyder’s defensive coordinator at K State and then Steve Spurrier’s defensive coordinator at Florida when they won a national championship.
A guy by the name of Bob Stoops. At OU…Coach Stoops won a national champonship and played in three other BCS National Championship games during his sixteen season tenure as the Sooners’ head coach. Bob Stoops hired Lincoln Riley from East Carolina as his offensive coordinator then ended up retiring to allow Lincoln’s ascension to the head coaching job.
Lincoln has done a great job, but if he leaves…he leaves. It’s the same stuff I wrote when Kevin Durant decided to leave for San Francisco. When you’re at the top of your profession you’ve earned the right to pursue happiness for your family beyond sweating out wins every week in Norman or Baton Rouge.
If I was Lincoln’s friend I’d say, “Dude, you can probably go anywhere, but why would you go coach at a school with an even more irrational fan base than Oklahoma? You have a wife and two kids…money isn’t everything even if they do pay you more?”
I’d take the USC job before I took the LSU job. Great weather. Fan base isn’t as crazy due to being down for so long. Only one team in your conference in Oregon who would be difficult to beat. A coach like Lincoln could be the next Pete Carroll is the way I see it. He could be the next West Coast guru like Bill Walsh was with the Niners.
So who would Joe C hire if Lincoln Riley did leave for another school?
One of the guys I would have on my list would be Baylor’s Dave Aranda who for the third time in the last three years this past weekend basically shut down Lincoln Riley’s offense.
I mean, let’s be blunt–OU was down 24-7 in the fourth when they scored their second touchdown with 3:40 or so left in the game.
Dave Aranda has owned Lincoln Riley to date. Plus, I’m guessing his buyout is very modest considering Baylor is his first head coaching position at a Power 5 school.
Fun fact…Steve Sarkisian’s buyout at Texas is $40 million dollars. Holy shit. You could but a couple of Longhorn Networks with that kind of cash.
Joe C is generally bright about his coaches. Oklahoma is a top six job in college football. If Lincoln leaves it would sting, but I mean two years ago OU was hearing Lincoln would be the next head coach of the Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys.
When you have a hot coaching commodity it comes with the territory.
As far as the Iowa State game… who could possibly know at this point what OU will do on the playing field in Norman on Saturday.
The Committee now has the Sooners’ at No. 13 and I have the Sooners either 11th or 12th. No team in the history of the College Football Playoff era has come back to make the four team playoff from any further back than No. 9 this late in a season. Plus, in looking where the Committee ranked both Baylor and O State this week it appears the Committee isn’t all that stoked about the Big 12 in general.
Hope OU finds some focus in their final home game of the season.
Here’s one …if Iowa State beats OU this Saturday for their third win in their last five games against the Sooners… and Lincoln leaves for another job…would Joe C have Iowa State’s Matt Campbell on his short list?
Think about that one.
Mike’s short list so far… 1 Dave Aranda, 2 Kellen Moore, 3 Dr. Strangelove at Mississippi State, 4 Matt Campbell if they beat OU this Saturday. Hell, if you’re not going to make the Playoff…then hiring a new coach is almost as much fun.
This is the first time I’ve seen this video. Don’t click unless you’re prepared for a f–kfest. I tell you what though…maybe something like this needs to occur within that OU locker room given all the passive and unfocused football play so far this season. Football isn’t a gentle activity.
Lombardi once said this and remember you won’t ever read this on any other blog in this market….”Dancing is a contact activity, football is a collision activity.” Jim Traber doesn’t even have that quote in his bag of tricks. I like Jim, but he’s never used that quote because I grew up worshipping the Packers while he grew up worshipping the Steelers.
Mike Leach was Bob Stoops’ first offensive coordinator in Norman. He’s winning games in the SEC West right now with arguably the weakest program in the West. I mean… Mike Leach is the dude who in essence fathered Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid offense. Crazy as it sounds…it’s not altogether crazy. The pressers would be iconic.
But to close on…I would be happy with OU beating Iowa State and Lincoln staying on as the OU coach all things considered. Boring me.
I love this song. Being that I was born in nearby San Diego… I should have probably been a Cali kid in retrospect. This is for Russell Westbrook… our Thunder LA kid. I’ve written some harsh things about his decision making of late…but I always wish the best for Russell.
Originally…I was going to enter something on Jordan Poole from the Golden State Warriors on my NBA Journal this week, but after seeing Duncan in person last night for the first time…I think I’ll do Duncan then get to Jordan Poole.
I see real potential in some of the Thunder’s younger players once they’re combined with the right mix of veterans as far as team building.
Every player in the NBA has had his unique path to becoming a player who can stay in the league.
For some it’s a daunting journey of resilence and resolve… and finally an affirmation of self belief thay can play at this level.
When you consider the dual paths of Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson to the Miami Heat it’s amazing the difference each traveled to become star NBA players.
Normally…. me attending a Thunder game traveling from Deer Creek to Bricktown wouldn’t qualify as a travel blog entry, but this was a special night for me so I’m putting it on Mike’s Travel Blog side of the blog.
Plus, there’s no real need in this market for anybody writing Thunder recaps except for the Thunder employed paid puppets under the reign of Sam Hinkie-Presti.
What a night for me in the stands at the Peake. This was actually the first Thunder game I’ve attended since the Chris Paul season when the Thunder went dark on that fateful Rudy Gobert evening which signaled the national onset of Covid protocol.
But after talking to that kid with the Tyler Herro jersey yesterday…I decided to make the trek south and see in person the fabulous Tyler Herro and his three point bombing buddy Duncan Robinson in person for the first time.
Tyler Herro was the 13th player taken in his draft class and Duncan Robinson like Lu Dort was undrafted from his college days. So in essence, two of the three best players on the floor Monday night weren’t drafted and Tyler was only the 13th player taken in his NBA draft class. Take that as you may in regards to tanking.
Jimmy Butler and Bam were healthy scratches for the Heat since they were playing the tanking Thunder, but their absence didn’t diminish the night for those of us there to witness the Miami Splash Brothers .
I easily got a lower level ticket and entered the building with my vaccine card. I actually like the Thunder’s Covid protocol since it weeds out some of the Trumpier lower level rabble from the arena and creates an arena feel more in line with NBA crowds across the league instead of feeling like you’re at an LSU game in Baton Rouge with a hangover.
I had a great time and there were Miami fans there just like me applauding every basket Tyler and Duncan made in the game. But we weren’t obnoxious in that we politely applauded made baskets by the young Thunder players as well. When you as a fan enter another team’s building you need to win with class and set an example for the Durant haters of how to behave at an NBA game.
Tyler’s per NBA.com line and not what this homemade video listed was 28, 7, 6, 2, and a floor best +28. Tyler was easily the best player on the floor and an anticipated matchup between Tyler and Shai never materialized because in a word Shai was brutal. Shai was actually the fourth or fifth best guard on the floor this night behind, Tyler, Lu Dort, Duncan, and maybe even rookie Josh Giddy.
This is what I fear for Shai if Sam Hinkie-Presti keeps the tank death march in place too long, that being, his basketball competitive soul will wither at some point amidst all the intentional losing….and his game might regress.
From a Thunder glass half-full point of view there were some bright spots. I thought Lu Dort played well for the fourth straight game. JRE, Poku, and Aaron Wiggins showed some flash here and there. Giddy played decent minus his shooting woes. He needs a shooting coach. His release and footwork seem to be awkward to me. Tre Mann could be a player of consequence. Time will tell.
Anyway…great night from the Peake if you’re an NBA fan who can live beyond the glory days of Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.
But I will write this …there are some players in place who can turn into something if they would be allowed to have guys like Mike Muscala and Kenrich Williams play real rotational minutes every night.
Hopefully…these kids keep their heads up and won’t embrace losing too much as the schedule gets tougher with sixty-nine games remaining this season.