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Sooners on SI Podcast 377: Oklahoma Hopes to Get Back on Track vs. No. 1 Texas · The Sooners On SI Podcast

0:16
[SPEAKER_04]: What's up everybody, welcome on in.
0:18
[SPEAKER_04]: It is that time of week.
0:21
[SPEAKER_04]: The suitors on the side podcast, take it off here for an Oklahoma and Texas battle.
0:26
[SPEAKER_04]: And it should be a good one or at least one that has a ton of stakes on it as the suitors.
0:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Look to get back in the wind column.
0:34
[SPEAKER_04]: Get their season back on track and look to avoid.
0:37
[SPEAKER_04]: the dreaded three-game losing streak to the Texas Longhorns.
0:41
[SPEAKER_04]: Right, Chapman here, hanging out with you.
0:43
[SPEAKER_04]: We got the band, the legend John Hoover, running point up in the 9-1-8.
0:47
[SPEAKER_04]: John, did you feel graced by the presence of allegedly the Oklahoma City Thunder last night as some members of the team made their way up to the B.O.K.
0:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Center?
0:58
[SPEAKER_01]: It was, first of all, Holly got us some tickets.
1:02
[SPEAKER_01]: She said they were the highest price tickets that were available at the time.
1:05
[SPEAKER_01]: She got them at the last minute.
1:07
[SPEAKER_01]: online official website.
1:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Back row, we had the Miley Cyrus seats where you're literally in the back row, which was cool because I could put my arm around there and then have to worry about hitting somebody's knee and throw my trash behind me.
1:19
[SPEAKER_01]: It was fantastic.
1:21
[SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, boo, what is this?
1:23
[SPEAKER_01]: What again?
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Not, uh, what was the 21.0 lead in the third quarter?
1:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on.
1:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't care who you play for, don't blow a 21.0 lead in the third quarter.
1:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Cannot say I took in a single second of it as the other things occupied my mind you have to say also it's worth the start of like crossover season you got basketball schedules preseason basketball regular season hockey but Carson I think I'm like three weeks away from even being able to like mentally process crossover season much less months away from being like truly locked in on anything outside of football as of about 8pm tonight.
2:00
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no kidding.
2:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's an overwhelming season.
2:02
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a fun season.
2:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Don't get me wrong.
2:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you mentioned regular season hockey, regular season basketball about to start up college men's and women's hoops.
2:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Both of which should be exciting seasons for you.
2:13
[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, it's going to be a fun season, but got to get some rest in before that because that's going to be busy.
2:19
[SPEAKER_04]: No rest for the wicked this week as we know we even had though the great Ryan Avery who was out about at a little bit of fall ball softball until the rain came in.
2:28
[SPEAKER_04]: That's how you know Avery then it's truly crossover season when we're ready to dive into midsweb and fastball schedules and then like the diamond sports do their fall festivities.
2:37
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, they they do that and then the the rain moves in because that's what happens this time of year, but it was a nice to get at least a little glimpse.
2:48
[SPEAKER_03]: Didn't get to see a ton on Wednesday, but wasn't out there, but was following along on Saturday as well, and it seems like goose Hutchins might be able to hit a little bit so breaking news.
3:08
[SPEAKER_04]: Things we thought we do, but got further confirmation.
3:11
[SPEAKER_04]: It is beautiful there.
3:13
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that as we wrote into Texas Week, things we know, but getting confirmation might kind of be the guiding light, the popular thing is we got into Monday night with some of the players getting back off of a by week.
3:29
[SPEAKER_04]: It was a pretty standard operating procedure.
3:31
[SPEAKER_04]: There, the real fireworks I suppose came on Tuesday,
3:37
[SPEAKER_04]: A couple weeks ago, it was the bit our buckle press conference that we thought was going to be and was pretty box office, pretty testy.
3:45
[SPEAKER_04]: This go around, it was rent venables on what is usually kind of a weird week for some of these big games.
3:53
[SPEAKER_04]: She never really knows if he's going to be willing to wax poetic about cosplay pot large, as he's not whole.
3:58
[SPEAKER_04]: If it's going to be no bolts of over cereal, things like that, what we got was something totally different though, John.
4:04
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, let's start with you.
4:05
[SPEAKER_04]: You were the one of us not in the room.
4:08
[SPEAKER_04]: I know that Ryan Carson, Brady and I got a front row seat to basically the roast of Bill Beanbow essentially is what it became, but what was kind of your impression from afar because
4:21
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, it feels like John, we've had moments where Brent vinnables, I think back to after Seth LaTrello was dismissed where he was very, very cutting and honest and things like that.
4:31
[SPEAKER_04]: I can't remember though, a on-staff assistant or other coach getting put to the fire, kind of like Brent vinnables did with Bill Beanbow on Tuesday.
4:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I came away very much to sign feeling about that, uh, the, the set LaTrello situation, uh, that, that what we were hearing from Brent,
4:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like he made it made up his mind going into that Tuesday press conference.
4:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, well, I'm two and two.
4:57
[SPEAKER_01]: This team's going, no, this offense is going nowhere.
5:00
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to get, we got to change things internally or we got to change things externally.
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Something's got to give.
5:06
[SPEAKER_01]: We're getting ready to play the number one team in the country.
5:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I get the feeling that his inner workings of his brain kind of convinced him that honesty is the best policy.
5:17
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the George Washington thing come out there and just be open and just tell him the truth.
5:25
[SPEAKER_01]: He was very, very forward and forefront about his team's inability to run the football.
5:32
[SPEAKER_01]: His team's inability to score points.
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And that kind of surprised me a little bit.
5:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We've been on this road before and we've always heard we've got to get better at everything.
5:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to go back to the drawing board.
5:46
[SPEAKER_01]: We got to get our font techniques and fundamentals.
5:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, we've heard the coach speak regurgitated over and over.
5:51
[SPEAKER_01]: This was different.
5:52
[SPEAKER_01]: This felt like he was like, alright, you know what?
5:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Screw it.
5:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say what I need to say.
5:56
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was refreshing.
5:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations to Brent.
6:00
[SPEAKER_04]: It was interesting, Carson, because you were there on Wednesday night, last Wednesday night, which is the typical by-week check-in, it was pretty just cut and dry, we're gonna look internally, we got to do the review thing, got to heal up stuff like that.
6:13
[SPEAKER_04]: It seemed like though there's been no game, obviously, that's happened since last time, we talked to Britt Venomels, and I don't know if it's just him ramping up the intensity again, because he does it's game week, and we know like the EBS and flows to that, but it was different, and it was a Britt Venomels that wasn't, I didn't think he was testy as in like,
6:30
[SPEAKER_04]: testy with the media with some of the back and forth.
6:33
[SPEAKER_04]: I thought he had a couple of clarifications where he was sure to make sure he was understanding exactly what's being asked.
6:40
[SPEAKER_04]: But once he got the grass, whatever it was, he was kind of just go for it, type of typology from printmentables.
6:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I feel like in my almost two years on this be his best press conferences or when this team's not performing at their top level and obviously that's where this team's at right now two and two through four games.
6:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I felt like there was a lot of honesty like we just talked about with the bill beat them both stuff saying how the offensive line play has not been up to standard obviously a lot of the stuff that all coaches are going to say this is a great team and yes this this week he's right he says that about YouTube can stay he says that about everybody but
7:17
[SPEAKER_02]: This Texas team is really good and he obviously throws that into every press conference, but just I like to the honest assessments of this team where it's lacking guys that could step up.
7:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And the offensive line we talked about about a little bit on our practice report yesterday, that's an area that
7:34
[SPEAKER_02]: even without a guy like Michael Fassou see the last few weeks, who is an outstanding player, was a five star, all of that stuff.
7:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Even without him, you'd expect this unit to be further along than it is.
7:45
[SPEAKER_02]: You'd be able to expect to plug in play a little bit more pre-season, Brent Vennable said he thought they had maybe nine guys who could see significant reps throughout the season.
7:55
[SPEAKER_02]: That has not been the case so far, so especially talking about the line.
7:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought
8:03
[SPEAKER_02]: kind of an accountability process there.
8:06
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't think it's going to suddenly be the better play, which I think we would all agree with that outside of Fassusy coming back and Fassusy coming back and looking healthy.
8:15
[SPEAKER_04]: But right, what do you think has led to?
8:19
[SPEAKER_04]: was it just the directness of some of the questions, but you've seen print-vidables kind of talk about meeting improved offensive line play before.
8:26
[SPEAKER_04]: I mean, it's been five straight years of a failing offensive line to a certain extent outside of maybe year two and the offensive was a bit better.
8:36
[SPEAKER_04]: Why now?
8:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Why is it suddenly now?
8:39
[SPEAKER_04]: Is it finally just the first four weeks and going back and looking retroactively and seeing how poor the offensive line is played and not having to immediately turn the page from a Sunday to a month?
8:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Why was yesterday the day that Britain was kind of had the unofficial like Bill Beanboat Euro up the plane?
8:57
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think it was a combination of a lot of things.
9:01
[SPEAKER_03]: One, like you mentioned, just being able to go back and re-evaluate and take a really hard look at what's gone wrong to the fact that they spent all off season talking about the death and, you know, Carson mentioned it that they were talking about that they could go, you know, really two groups deep and all of a sudden they've got one guy out and they don't have five guys that they're going to run out there.
9:26
[SPEAKER_03]: and really rely on.
9:29
[SPEAKER_03]: And then the other thing is, Brent Vennables, I think has spent a lot of time being critical in private and supportive in public.
9:41
[SPEAKER_03]: And we've heard in talk about some things about John Matier's development or about the offensive line during the off season about all of these areas where they've had struggles with.
9:54
[SPEAKER_03]: where he was really encouraging about public facing.
9:58
[SPEAKER_03]: But at some point when that private criticism or private counseling, whatever, however, formate taste doesn't work,
10:09
[SPEAKER_03]: and you've got to a point where you've either got to be open and honest and tell the truth on some level or you're just seeing as you know completely having your head buried in the sand.
10:23
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think when you don't answer a question,
10:26
[SPEAKER_03]: uh... like the one that uh... you know George stoia asked from sooner scoop yesterday uh... you know leading off the press conference about bill beading bow if you don't answer the way that he does uh... then you start inviting fans and and people on the outside to uh... you know really turn their attention toward you i don't think it was necessarily like throwing anybody under the bus
10:52
[SPEAKER_03]: But it was being a little bit more honest to us and, you know, through that to the fans about what's really gone on and what it been at the crux of, you know, some of their offensive problems over the recent years, but especially this year.
11:12
[SPEAKER_04]: I felt like, um, just call the spade a spade moment and circle it and make that thing happen.
11:18
[SPEAKER_04]: I just kind of wonder, and this is where you get into dangerous territory of trying to get inside the minds of people, but this is kind of as I imagine trying the way that we kind of open up carnival to think about things, he comes on right and right at the tail end of the Lincoln Riley era, Oklahoma as a program had pivoted their recruiting strategy a little bit.
11:41
[SPEAKER_04]: where they had decided, hey, we're cool to take smaller recruiting classes, whether that's 17 guys, 18 guys.
11:48
[SPEAKER_04]: We only want to take the guys that we know are OU guys.
11:51
[SPEAKER_04]: We don't want to take these big development projects, so that we can backfill with the portal.
11:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Brett Vittables comes in and basically says, no, this is not sustainable.
11:59
[SPEAKER_04]: We want to thrive off of our guys that we recruit at a high school side, develop, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, etc.
12:05
[SPEAKER_04]: And that's how you got like,
12:07
[SPEAKER_04]: Brett Bittables first, a full official site in class.
12:09
[SPEAKER_04]: Bill Beanbow had signed four guys, which was like the same number of guys so you'd signed the previous two cycles in total.
12:16
[SPEAKER_04]: And John, I kind of wonder if there was like initially
12:19
[SPEAKER_04]: A patient, so it's going to take a year or two for Bill Beanboater rebuild his numbers and you're going to have to bandate over in the portal, but then suddenly you get to last year, right, where first off, you've got over the last couple years a couple of those guys at a high school have not paned out have been constantly hurt had portaled out.
12:38
[SPEAKER_04]: Yaddiata, whatever, sort of them all out.
12:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Then you get last year, hot seat, only two guys signed again, know what best one of those two guys is coming in and playing a key role.
12:46
[SPEAKER_04]: But it's a spot where it's like, hey, at the end of last year, you had Mike Francisco's Ryan Fotocha, any purely heat-tho side of Jake Michael.
12:53
[SPEAKER_04]: All those guys coming back and the offensive line is somehow worse.
12:56
[SPEAKER_04]: Part of that's injury.
12:57
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's kind of like a last straw moment of trying to be understanding, trying to do this, trying to do that, and understanding the
13:05
[SPEAKER_04]: The here and now, John is for three straight years.
13:08
[SPEAKER_04]: We're not talking about bad rushing attacks.
13:11
[SPEAKER_04]: We're talking about historically bad rushing attacks, and that you just can't survive like that, the SEC.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: No, you can't run.
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't have all the names and years in front of me, but you're right, the guys that have been recruited.
13:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you've recruited local guys.
13:28
[SPEAKER_01]: that couldn't, you know, for whatever reason, injuries mostly, stick it out, you've recruited, you've recruited Texas guys, right, you recruited Bishop Gorman guys.
13:40
[SPEAKER_01]: You have recruited the best of the best and the ones who want to be here and the development of those guys.
13:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, a lot of times due to injuries, a lot of times not.
13:50
[SPEAKER_01]: The development of those guys has been
13:53
[SPEAKER_01]: very small almost minimal.
13:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's at some point, you know, we've when we're trying to remember it had to be, it had to be levy where when levy would struggle run in the football, really be levy's team's my struggle in a game running the football, you know, he would come back with
14:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Not all on the offensive line, backs didn't see the cut, the quarterback didn't see the right re.
14:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He's supposed to throw it on that play or, you know, receiver downfield wasn't getting his block.
14:25
[SPEAKER_01]: There's always somebody else's fault, but it was like the offensive line shouldn't have to shoulder that burden alone.
14:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Completely agree.
14:33
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how football is.
14:34
[SPEAKER_01]: 11 man.
14:35
[SPEAKER_01]: 11 man sport and it takes all 11 doing their job on one play to have a successful play.
14:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Completely agree.
14:42
[SPEAKER_01]: But to hear that over and over and over and over and over and over and over when the common thread through all this is, you know, bill beading bow and an inability to develop blind and burnt talk yesterday, extensively about developing guys develop we have not had that development he said and that's got to be the most.
15:03
[SPEAKER_01]: probably disappointing part because you look at just just quarterback sacks again quarterback sacks sometimes on the receiver for not running the right route not getting open sometimes a lot of times on the quarterback we've seen that lately holds above the hopes of football too long uh... sometimes yet on the offensive line sometimes it's on the runback but sometimes on the offensive line fifty sacks guys remember in twenty twenty four fifty quarter that's five zero quarterback sacks
15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a school record by a lot, which previous record was 41.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year's group gave up 29 quarterback sex.
15:38
[SPEAKER_01]: That's obviously not good.
15:40
[SPEAKER_01]: This year, nine and four games so far, that would be 27.
15:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's a little bit of improvement there.
15:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But then you look at the rushing stats.
15:49
[SPEAKER_01]: twenty twenty four three point nine yrs per carry twenty twenty five three point five yrs per carry twenty twenty six currently two point nine yrs per carry the school record for lowest yards per carry three point three this year's team is averaging two point nine at some point we do have to assign blame for quarterback sacks and in the inability to run the football on the offensive line and the developed the lack of development of those players
16:15
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, and you look at it too, Carson, when you get to other areas, Ben Arbuckles been asked about the running game every single week, basically this year as it's not gotten online.
16:25
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that while on one hand, Ben Arbuckles not going to come in and lay out his playbook and be like this, and this, and that, and here's how we're going to attack Texas.
16:35
[SPEAKER_04]: Don't know what's expecting that.
16:37
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's a little concerning when you're coming up a by week.
16:39
[SPEAKER_04]: You're going to week five and you just play the number two team in the country and now you're going to play the number one team in the country.
16:43
[SPEAKER_04]: We're a bit our book when asked about the wedding game in the office and like it's like we got a fire off the football.
16:48
[SPEAKER_04]: We got to play with physical cat.
16:49
[SPEAKER_04]: I this sounds like my middle school coach trying to like just do the basics of offensive line play and this is Oklahoma going to the cotton ball.
16:57
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like fun.
16:59
[SPEAKER_02]: No, it's a recipe for disaster against a defense, especially up front that is good as Texas is.
17:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you look at Colin Simmons, Hero Kahnu, hope I'm pronouncing his name right, but a heck of a player.
17:12
[SPEAKER_02]: They got some dudes up there and given how much the line struggled.
17:16
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a little bit harder to pin, kind of, to what who was getting, getting at the running backs for not putting up these good numbers.
17:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not sure Nate Frazier, Jayden, but it would be running for many yards in this offense right now, given how poorly this, running this offensive line has played.
17:31
[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean,
17:33
[SPEAKER_02]: of all the games you'd want.
17:35
[SPEAKER_02]: As a get back game, this is about as bad as it gets, Texas's defense.
17:38
[SPEAKER_02]: It is very, very good.
17:40
[SPEAKER_02]: George's defense was very, very good and we've seen that.
17:42
[SPEAKER_02]: We saw that obviously a couple weeks ago.
17:45
[SPEAKER_02]: The sacks may not that number may not be as high this here, but I mean, John Matthier's been pressured.
17:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I think 45 times already.
17:52
[SPEAKER_02]: The 2.9 yards per carries only beating Arkansas.
17:55
[SPEAKER_02]: It astonishes me that there's a team that's running the ball
18:01
[SPEAKER_02]: plug in anybody from this running game, whether it's a way to bond, Tory Blaylock, Jonathan Hatten, no one's been able to run well, and I certainly don't think it's, oh yeah, Jonathan Hatten, Jr. this six foot, 235 pound running back.
18:13
[SPEAKER_02]: He's just not very good, Tory Blaylock who rushed for more than 100 yards at South Carolina.
18:18
[SPEAKER_02]: He's not good anymore.
18:19
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got to think there's still a lot of talent in that room that if even this line could get a little bit better, that would open up a lot of things for this offense.
18:27
[SPEAKER_02]: This is just a horrible,
18:29
[SPEAKER_04]: horrible opponent for that to happen this week, in Carson, you wrote about today, Wednesday on the website, Oklahoma Sooner's on a side dot com, Jonathan Hatton Jr., someone that Brent Minimal's talked about on Monday night, then our Buckel Brent Minimal's harassed about him kind of on Tuesday.
18:43
[SPEAKER_04]: And I'm not saying that Brent or Ben is incorrect in their assessment that is getting better and we, by week, I just feel kind of bad for any of the running backs, play lock, just a sophomore, but a little bit more veteran guy, a lawyer of
18:58
[SPEAKER_04]: It's probably because the offensive line is not capable of opening up the, I don't know what you're the sort of extra supposed to do right behind these guys.
19:09
[SPEAKER_02]: No, and it's hard to say what the best option could be.
19:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Lloyd Oban's been the most efficient guy this year.
19:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And he looks good.
19:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's creating out really high right now as far as finding the light right lanes to run through.
19:20
[SPEAKER_02]: He does a good job in past block situation.
19:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, he's doing a good job.
19:24
[SPEAKER_02]: But his numbers don't really say that.
19:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Given how much this line struggling, I think you could argue that maybe he is one of the guys you'd want in the mix just because of how physically he is, how much of a specimen he is, how fast you can run for a guy that's six foot and two, 35 pounds.
19:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, it would come to your point or me if he doesn't see much playing time against Texas.
19:46
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that's one of their, one of their weapons they can utilize a little bit more even with how poorly this offensive line is playing.
19:53
[SPEAKER_02]: So
19:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Now that he's a couple of weeks removed from that injury, suffered against UTEP, you would certainly think you'd see more carries against the long hordes.
20:02
[SPEAKER_04]: Part of the yet, the big conversation, all this Ryan is, we know this and Brett was kind of asked the rushing stats that come up every year, you know, you Texas, this is a football thing, it's a rivalry game thing, you're just specific to this game, the turnovers, it gets even to a bigger conversation around geometry or his confidence was he able to rebuild it.
20:25
[SPEAKER_04]: It forces everything straight back into job materials hands.
20:29
[SPEAKER_04]: And so I think what we saw a year ago, they weren't efficient by any means, but they were able to run the ball in spots.
20:36
[SPEAKER_04]: I think Xavier Obson getting going in the second half against Ole Miss to help Oklahoma get back into that football game even though they ultimately lost.
20:43
[SPEAKER_04]: Certainly at Tennessee, another big Xavier Robinson moment.
20:45
[SPEAKER_04]: As Carlos alluded to, South Carolina, Tory Blaylock, able to run the ball.
20:49
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like, hey, job materials ability
20:52
[SPEAKER_04]: blow everything up was limited because there were moments that you could take it out of jomits here's hands.
20:57
[SPEAKER_04]: As of now, we saw it against Georgia.
20:59
[SPEAKER_04]: The best method for this offense to move down the field is to give the ball to jomits here more.
21:05
[SPEAKER_04]: Unfortunately, that means whether he's confident or not that also increases the chances that jomits here hands the ball straight back to Texas on Saturday.
21:15
[SPEAKER_03]: Exactly, you've got to, you know, grip that handle and hold on tight in the car because you've got a driver who can be really, really erratic in that driver seat in John material and I think one of the big reasons, you know, going back to what Carson was talking about.
21:34
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, one of the big reasons that Lloyd Avant has been on the field as much as he has is because he's the closest thing to a running back that you can trust in past protection to get those blocks down and they've got to help their offensive lines so much through running backs blocking through tight ends blocking that you know you've got to give up something and I think for a freshman running back a freshman running back in particular.
22:03
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, a lot of times handing the football off and having them take off is I'm not going to say an easy thing because it's not easy for anybody, but it's the most translatable from high school to college, you know, we've seen skill position guys.
22:20
[SPEAKER_03]: They're able to translate because it's just raw athleticism.
22:26
[SPEAKER_03]: But blocking is something that generally takes a while to develop.
22:30
[SPEAKER_03]: And we see it a lot with offensive line.
22:33
[SPEAKER_03]: We see it with defensive line and who can take a little bit longer than a lot of other positions to really develop and learn how to come up those blocks and make plays.
22:42
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think we're seeing that at running back to some degree.
22:44
[SPEAKER_03]: I think they would love to give Jonathan Hatten more run.
22:48
[SPEAKER_03]: But when you don't have anybody that you can really trust,
22:53
[SPEAKER_03]: outside of a loid of hot to lay down a block consistently then you know you've really got a it limits your playbook so greatly and limit your options so greatly so they've got to figure out something else you know obviously you need John material to continue to improve or excuse me not continue to improve you need John material to improve
23:16
[SPEAKER_03]: to be able to be a successful football team, but you've also got to do so many other things that give him the best chance and make him, you know, make it go back to what I spent all off season talking about, which was, John material doesn't have to be great.
23:30
[SPEAKER_03]: He just has to be a little bit better as long as
23:33
[SPEAKER_03]: they're better in, you know, these other three or four areas, well, they haven't been better at any of those other areas except for tight end.
23:41
[SPEAKER_03]: That's the one that's sort of held up there.
23:44
[SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, when you don't improve in those other areas, then you've got to have John material be great and he hasn't been anywhere close to that.
23:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Abraham, when you were talking about getting a grip and hanging on for dear life because you don't trust the driver.
23:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I was, by the first thought was, hey, you weren't even there.
24:03
[SPEAKER_03]: I was actually talking about what am I or thinking of not talking about directly, but thinking of the great late videographer, Damon Fontno, who worked at the Oklahoma and in a couple of TV stations at Oklahoma and driving with him, eventually got to your destination most of the time, but goodness it was an adventure.
24:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You might have had a white hair or two somewhere that you didn't have before.
24:30
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's where the beard came in.
24:34
[SPEAKER_04]: But I think that Carson I we did blackout and go back to Ann Arbor at that moment, but that is a okay if you were there.
24:41
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, it was just us and we won't talk about it.
24:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And I will also add I will also add on my big trip.
24:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I did have a night in Pittsburgh and I was not arrested.
24:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, for driving on the bus lane repeatedly.
24:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I was not arrested for those.
24:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I got in and out under the cover of darkness I don't know if this is good or bad.
25:00
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not distracted driving.
25:02
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just creative when John's behind me Here's here's the the big issue though that that all of this kind of gets to back to the job It's here in the couple of outfits of it all that it is the most concerning part is something that we saw against Michigan, right and
25:18
[SPEAKER_04]: pieces of game plans to make a lot of sense and this isn't rev it in the wheel.
25:22
[SPEAKER_04]: It's not good bad.
25:23
[SPEAKER_04]: Otherwise it's just hey, Oklahoma had some concerns about how are they going to handle that Michigan offensive line or defense a lot.
25:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Excuse me.
25:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Here's what they did.
25:30
[SPEAKER_04]: You go to the screen game, right?
25:32
[SPEAKER_04]: If you can hit a screen or two, then certainly that may be slows down the dot process of some of those defensive linemen.
25:39
[SPEAKER_04]: They have to be more aware of things.
25:41
[SPEAKER_04]: Like that way, here's the issue.
25:43
[SPEAKER_04]: Oklahoma set it up.
25:44
[SPEAKER_04]: Those were actually executed fine up front and then John material the quarterback just couldn't connect on what you would think it's like the easy part of that you get to the new Mexico game and the second interception that was headed to Xavier Robinson the ball at least will it should have gone to Isaiah sat in you that was another screen that it seems that the quarterback just had no idea what was happening there it's going to be necessary right because right and you're right that the Titans have been much improved rocky bears has been a talking point here.
26:11
[SPEAKER_04]: But I think to a certain extent, Texas is probably going to come into this game.
26:15
[SPEAKER_04]: with two thought processes.
26:16
[SPEAKER_04]: One, we saw Michigan do this to great success.
26:20
[SPEAKER_04]: Hey, that Isaiah's a Tanya guy that is the one player on this football team, offensively, that can make something out of nothing.
26:27
[SPEAKER_04]: He's gone.
26:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Two guys, maybe three, let's see if anybody else can pop up and win.
26:33
[SPEAKER_04]: Rocky Beer is kind of showed.
26:34
[SPEAKER_04]: Hey, he can be that other guy that can pop up and win.
26:37
[SPEAKER_04]: Of course, I would be stunned if Wilmush champ doesn't have it.
26:41
[SPEAKER_04]: You don't have to respect anything about the Ilcoma Run game until they prove it.
26:44
[SPEAKER_04]: So I would be shocked if he doesn't sit here and go find Rocky Bears.
26:48
[SPEAKER_04]: Five days a satinia.
26:50
[SPEAKER_04]: If a new character magically emerges, we can get figured that out on the sideline.
26:53
[SPEAKER_04]: But I think that's got to be point A, B, C, D, E on the whiteboard for Texas trying to stop Oklahoma is fine Bears, fine satinia.
27:02
[SPEAKER_04]: If anybody else beats you, cool, that's news to us, type 5.
27:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's got to be the game plan.
27:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you mentioned that the Michigan game, he was very quiet.
27:11
[SPEAKER_02]: That was the same way in the college football playoff game, other than that one touch shouting caught, and I believe it was the second quarter.
27:17
[SPEAKER_02]: For the most part, they eliminated Isaiah Satania.
27:19
[SPEAKER_02]: They did that in the regular season meeting to Tennessee did a good job of that.
27:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of opponents have really found out that he's the guy that's going to make things happen with his sprinter speed.
27:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Georgia gave up a few big plays to him, but obviously that game was so
27:34
[SPEAKER_02]: far out of reach that it didn't end up mattering too much, but yeah, I think that's the best from a Texas perspective, best game plan for them to single out him.
27:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Not having shall hear us in this game is huge.
27:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, he looked really good in both of the first two games.
27:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Not sure we'll see him.
27:49
[SPEAKER_02]: not sure that we'll see him back this year, um, which obviously sucks for him.
27:54
[SPEAKER_02]: He looked like he was definitely worth what they got for trial Harris.
27:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It looked like a really good pick up, but they do have weapons from that standpoint.
28:01
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a team that does have more weapons on the perimeter with a guy like Rocky Bears who's been really good.
28:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Hey, didn't Hanson have that really impressive play against New Mexico.
28:11
[SPEAKER_02]: We've talked time and time again about is it finally Elijah Thomas time.
28:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Is he gonna emerge?
28:16
[SPEAKER_02]: hasn't happened yet but i mean he's been white open several times white open against george all on that fourth and down the second one that material fumbled um he was white open late in the Michigan game it's happened a good handful of times already so i mean
28:30
[SPEAKER_02]: From an OU perspective, even if this defense does lock down on Satania, they're still going to have weapons open throughout this game against this really good defense.
28:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It then becomes, is the blocking even passable in his job material taking care of the football.
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Through four games, neither of those things have happened that a consistent rate and that's got to be alarming.
28:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, and Ben O'Buck was good to point this out.
28:53
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it came from the top of print.
28:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Vinnables is what he was able to point out.
28:57
[SPEAKER_04]: We focus on the rushing stat John.
28:59
[SPEAKER_04]: The turnover battle, the turnover margin, obviously, in any football game, but especially one that has the momentum swings like the cotton ball.
29:05
[SPEAKER_04]: Anyone that's stepped foot around that knows what we're all talking about.
29:09
[SPEAKER_04]: It's a storyline every single year in this game.
29:12
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, it is hard to predict turnovers.
29:14
[SPEAKER_04]: It's hard to predict if Oklahoma's going to be able to be clean.
29:17
[SPEAKER_04]: If not, there's also some versions of what we've seen
29:22
[SPEAKER_04]: If you have an arm punch that's a little bit different than literally handing six points on a platter to the Texas defense and things like that, but it becomes a spot where
29:32
[SPEAKER_04]: If you can at least stay clean in the turnover department and on a couple of these early drives for your pin deep in your own territory, if you can pick up a first down or two, maybe you can play the field position game, John, and get to a point where maybe you build some confidence.
29:47
[SPEAKER_04]: It's kind of what Texas did a year ago, right?
29:49
[SPEAKER_04]: It wasn't a Texas offense that blew the door soft.
29:52
[SPEAKER_04]: It was an archbanging who was able to pick up a couple of first downs in the shadow of his own in zone.
29:57
[SPEAKER_04]: build a little bit of confidence and hold on for dear life up until the pump return that obviously had a bunch of luck in the back.
30:02
[SPEAKER_04]: As you said, so regardless, that's what happened and then Oklahoma, it was insurmountable from there.
30:08
[SPEAKER_04]: I think that there is a path to that.
30:10
[SPEAKER_04]: It's just so hard for us to even construct it and build it and get down that thought process because John material has been so bad at taking care of the football.
30:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and if you just look back at last year's game was a 236 Texas, Meteor was awful turned the football over three times, no touchdowns.
30:28
[SPEAKER_01]: However, that defense was good enough last year to withstand that sloppy John Meteor with the football, because after each one of his three interceptions, I think the only points that were they yielded were the was a fourth quarter field goal.
30:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, so the defense last year was good enough.
30:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if this year's defense is gonna be good enough to duplicate a game where keep your team in the game when you're quarterback's sling in the football all over the place.
31:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Especially, the tier is added fumbles this year, so to his repertoire.
31:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's not good.
31:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't see where Oklahoma runs the football successfully.
31:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's the thing for OU fans to kind of hang on to against this defense now, against this Oklahoma defense, Texas is going to try to run the football.
31:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Texas is against the schedule that they played, they're only averaging like three and a half yards of carry.
31:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're not dominating people, they're not blowing people off ball, it's been so far the archmating show, you know, for a lot.
31:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Black of a better word, it is what it is.
31:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Archmany, I don't know how bad they're trying to get him the highsman, but the kid comes with built-in hype, and so if you boil down those two matchups, they'll climb a defense against the Texas offense, they don't have a deep offense against the Texas defense.
31:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You give Texas a huge advantage, especially running the football.
31:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it that huge, you know, when arches, numbers have not been eye popping, they don't run the flip up particularly great.
32:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's a bit of a push there, and that to me is probably the best Oklahoma fans could hope for.
32:11
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll get into that matchup here in one second before we flip fully over.
32:15
[SPEAKER_04]: I didn't want to ask you this.
32:17
[SPEAKER_04]: We did talk to John material Monday night.
32:19
[SPEAKER_04]: It was I thought if you just like sit there and read through it or listen back a lot of it was what's he supposed to say.
32:27
[SPEAKER_04]: He said, all right, things.
32:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but just as far as the only gauge we've got between now and when Oklahoma and Texas get it on it to 30 in the cotton ball, it was kind of your gauge, your vibe of,
32:40
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you think that job materials kind of found some confidence again, bought back in that he's hunkered down, or is this a guy that's going to look like the guy in the second half of Georgia, which I thought was just not super decisive, pretty gun shine.
32:53
[SPEAKER_04]: It's like, hey, you might not have literally dropped the ball on the floor on the grass, but it wasn't someone that we thought was going to be in any danger of rallying the troops by any means and getting that thing back on the right track.
33:06
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think Jon material said all the right things, which Jon material said all the right things, you know, throughout what happened last year and especially over the off season and leading up to this year.
33:17
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, it's not, you know, splashy to save for a podcast.
33:22
[SPEAKER_03]: or video or anything like that.
33:25
[SPEAKER_03]: But I think the answer is TBD.
33:29
[SPEAKER_03]: Because he said the right things, it's just when he goes out there, you know, it's like the old Mike Tyson thing.
33:35
[SPEAKER_03]: Everything has everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
33:40
[SPEAKER_03]: And when he's got punched in the mouth, he hasn't been able to respond and, you know, do the right things, make the right decisions
33:51
[SPEAKER_03]: him and Oklahoma's offense to be successful.
33:55
[SPEAKER_03]: They're still the talent there, the decision-making ability that I think he's got in some way.
34:04
[SPEAKER_03]: So I don't think it's right him off, and it's never going to work.
34:08
[SPEAKER_03]: But at the same time, it's going to have to be something that he proves on Saturday,
34:13
[SPEAKER_03]: on a Saturday, but especially this Saturday against a really good team or really good defense on the other side.
34:22
[SPEAKER_03]: If he's able to do that, some things can start to unlock.
34:25
[SPEAKER_03]: You take a little bit of a pressure off the running game.
34:28
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, there's a little bit of which comes first, but I think one of the biggest ones is just being able to, uh,
34:36
[SPEAKER_03]: get teams from loading the box consistently and not giving as bad as a running game has been, you know, at least giving it a chance to be successful if you can, you know, block decently up front or get a hole there.
34:51
[SPEAKER_03]: They just haven't had that because defenses don't have to respect the down the field, the throws and the, especially the intermediate
35:04
[SPEAKER_03]: If he's able to still run the football effectively at times, when he needs to, then a lot of avenues start opening up, but for right now, as you know, who've touched on the path to victory.
35:20
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a long checklist where you've got to do every one of these things or all but one of them in order to even give yourself a chance.
35:29
[SPEAKER_03]: And you've got to let that open up and give yourself multiple ways to win football games because when OU has been at its best the last few years.
35:39
[SPEAKER_03]: It's because they've been able to win in different kind of ways.
35:42
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, the defense has been really good, but we've seen some things happen with their offense that, you know, unlocked even if it was just for a gamer too.
35:51
[SPEAKER_03]: But right now, when nothing else is working, your path is only a void turnovers and have your defense either put points on the board or put it into a position where even your inept offense can't mess it up.
36:07
[SPEAKER_03]: And you've got to have, you know, a special teams play or to there.
36:12
[SPEAKER_03]: I think those are the things that they've got to do to have any shot of pulling off.
36:17
[SPEAKER_03]: But, you know, what would be one of the biggest upsets in this rivalry's history?
36:22
[SPEAKER_03]: And the biggest when it comes to, you know, oh, you, being on the other side of it.
36:28
[SPEAKER_03]: Avoid the 75 yard pverturns.
36:31
[SPEAKER_03]: That would be a good idea in the fourth quarter.
36:34
[SPEAKER_03]: And those, yes, a 75 yard pump or turn, or something similar on your side.
36:39
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, currently the path is very, very narrow.
36:44
[SPEAKER_04]: It's thrown across a gorge.
36:46
[SPEAKER_04]: It requires going over a rope grid.
36:48
[SPEAKER_04]: It's kind of the situation.
36:49
[SPEAKER_03]: We have to fight some, you know, run some unusual size along the way.
36:54
[SPEAKER_04]: You have that.
36:55
[SPEAKER_04]: There will be a troll that asks you three questions.
36:57
[SPEAKER_04]: You better know your color, all the things.
37:01
[SPEAKER_04]: The best way for Oklahoma, and this is a big if and about all that fun stuff is if you get a confident job material, I would hope that it shows up in one of those things that you talked about aver, which is job material's leg, that I think that's maybe been the most surprising thing to me.
37:17
[SPEAKER_04]: is it is seemed really since that rush early in the Michigan game or of geometry or head stayed outside.
37:24
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if he was going to have the speed defend off a safety would have to talk about angles stuff like that, but certainly Oklahoma set up in the red zone at the worst, maybe he's in the in zone himself and said he comes inside and it seems like since that moment even the decisive nature of geometry running the football.
37:42
[SPEAKER_04]: has kind of tapered and wavered.
37:44
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that was such a big part of the avenged game.
37:48
[SPEAKER_04]: The local home I had, the one victory underbred when we were so over Texas was randomly, we looked around and were like, holy cow, Dylan Gabriel's gonna be a thousand-yard russure.
37:56
[SPEAKER_04]: He put up, oh, you Texas stats that Jalen Hurts didn't put up, that Kyle and Murray didn't put up.
38:00
[SPEAKER_04]: When you think about some of the more talented, Caleb Williams didn't, he didn't have enough time to do it.
38:04
[SPEAKER_04]: But when you think about some of the more talented guys with the ball in their hands,
38:07
[SPEAKER_04]: and it was Daily Gabriel that it had the three hundred yard pass and one hundred yard rushing so you look at that could that be an option I don't know if it is contingent on course of the Oklahoma defense though can't go out there and have a bad day when you look at David Stone having that by week course it like I know that you was able to get out there against George but David himself was like this was huge for me and get mining right and
38:29
[SPEAKER_04]: You think about another guy that played well against George and Kip Lewis, who was battling through some things, maybe the ability to get some guys back, we'll see on the Wednesday night available at a report as far as that goes, if anything for the Oklahoma defense kind of the right time for a by week for a group that's going to have to play their best game in the last couple of seasons that feels like to go out there and will this thing across the finish line in the cotton ball.
38:52
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38:56
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39:00
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39:06
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39:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That's 405 562 5166.
39:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, sure seems that way.
39:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you mentioned Kip Lewis and David Stone, both of whom got back in the game against Georgia, both of them looked really good in that game, too.
39:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So having one week of rest after that, getting the confidence up even in what was a blow out loss.
39:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that is big heading into another giant game against the number one ranked team.
39:38
[SPEAKER_02]: That's big.
39:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe we'll see if Cole Sullivan's able to go, Michael Boganowski, Jacobi Johnson from from at least what we heard from Brent Vinnables yesterday, it didn't seem overly optimistic about him being able to play so probably more of a Dakota field, Tristan Haynes type of thing there, but just strictly from a health perspective, I think you have to like the by week but we
40:01
[SPEAKER_02]: defense obviously did a lot of really good things in that game.
40:04
[SPEAKER_02]: They weren't perfect or just still ran the ball, Eli Bowen and Gilory both got burned at times in that game, but holistically, the defense played well enough to keep them in that game.
40:14
[SPEAKER_02]: It was just a matter of turnovers, the offense not playing to what should be the standard.
40:20
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think you have to like the biweek from a health perspective of nothing else.
40:25
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, of course, if you locked into like Steve Sarkesian, talked on Monday, you got the like the sect of, oh, you Texas questions that are the typical cotton ball per the new guys set those off to the side, the set of, you know, opponent questions, Oklahoma, yeah, yeah, it set those off to the side.
40:40
[SPEAKER_04]: When Steve Sarkesian was being asked about Texas and talking about Texas, it was a lot of offensive questions.
40:45
[SPEAKER_04]: And he was pretty candid about that over the by week, that's the side of the ball that they feel like they haven't gotten fully up and running yet
40:52
[SPEAKER_04]: How do you like this matchup for Oklahoma and I think is it going to be as simple as this?
40:58
[SPEAKER_04]: You have Cam Coleman and Wingo on the outside.
41:00
[SPEAKER_04]: You've got a really brown and potentially smothers.
41:03
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll see if Hollywood's supposed to make it back in.
41:05
[SPEAKER_04]: These like those guys are going to have their individual wins.
41:08
[SPEAKER_04]: But we've seen this before, right?
41:10
[SPEAKER_04]: There have been moments over these last couple years where Oklahoma's defense, maybe they allow a 30 yard gain, but it's to start a drive.
41:17
[SPEAKER_04]: puts Texas near midfield or opponent near midfield.
41:20
[SPEAKER_04]: They've got time to rally and force a field goal or knock him back.
41:23
[SPEAKER_04]: So I think the difference in this might be, can Coleman's going to have a big play.
41:28
[SPEAKER_04]: Is it a 40 yard touchdown?
41:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Or is it a 30 yard reception to set the long horns up near midfield?
41:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Where Oklahoma's defense has another chance to get out there and and repel the drive and it might be bad field position, but at least it's not points.
41:39
[SPEAKER_04]: That kind of vibe.
41:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you'll get last year's game against Texas, and I mean, the defense again played well enough to win that game.
41:47
[SPEAKER_02]: But there were a lot of missed tackles, Quintravi, on Wyston, or had a really big game.
41:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I felt like there were a lot of things that they had been a lot sharper and were sharper later in the year two than they were against Texas.
41:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's gotta be the same.
41:59
[SPEAKER_02]: The same, they've got to fix that this year, the defense.
42:03
[SPEAKER_02]: It's hard to expect the defense to play perfect.
42:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's not possible.
42:06
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think they have to play even better than they did last year to have a chance in this game.
42:11
[SPEAKER_02]: This Texas offense is flawed to a degree.
42:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Archmany, a good quarterback don't get me wrong, but still mistake prone isn't lighting up the numbers like some of the other quarterbacks in this league are, but still good good quarterback, Relic Brown, Hollywood, Smothers.
42:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, maybe their stats aren't right, but those are two skilled running backs.
42:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, you shake it and the receivers are really good, the offensive lines improved since last year.
42:35
[SPEAKER_02]: So I mean, it's not, it is not yet the high flying offense.
42:40
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not even what George's offense was a couple weeks ago, but it's still a good unit.
42:44
[SPEAKER_02]: The defense has to play really, really good football because I mean, they have just as much offensive talent as about anybody in the country.
42:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So the defense does have to finish tackles better.
42:54
[SPEAKER_02]: That was certainly better against George than it had been in the first three games of the year.
42:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, and he looked a lot sharper, some of the other linebackers, cornerbacks, finished their tackles, more than they did against Utah Michigan, New Mexico.
43:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think you do have to like that trend coming into a team that maybe they don't have their offensive identity, but again, they have all the talent in the world.
43:16
[SPEAKER_04]: Who, what have you made of how Steve Sarkesian has grown into this rivalry game, specifically as a play collar early in one of those maps against Lincoln Riley, we know that things cardinal sins like forgetting that B. John Robinson's on your football team, that did not help him and it allowed one of the craziest days at the cotton ball, but to a certain extent, I think three of the four years against Brett Vinnables, things have been a little bit easier for Sark, one of those years because Dylan Gabriel's been hurt,
43:43
[SPEAKER_04]: One of those years, cause Oklahoma's either gonna have Michael Alken's junior who started or if that didn't work, they're gonna have to go to Jack Snorkel and I'm thinking it was super stress than a year ago, a hurt job material.
43:52
[SPEAKER_04]: It feels like Sark has been able to, as an offensive minded guy who has been aggressive in the past, sit back and acknowledge like, hey, my defense is pretty darn good.
44:02
[SPEAKER_04]: Even a year ago, like, let's see just how healthy job material is, not be too aggressive, not give Oklahoma anything for free and it seems like he's been just,
44:12
[SPEAKER_04]: more happy to be more conservative.
44:14
[SPEAKER_04]: Almost playing these games like rent venibles though.
44:15
[SPEAKER_04]: Like the best rent venibles won't.
44:17
[SPEAKER_04]: He's always happy to go, we'll play field position if we get into, um, stay down towards where that's also.
44:23
[SPEAKER_04]: It seems like Sark is kind of growing into that this game, which I didn't think was going to happen, but could be another factor again on Saturday.
44:29
[SPEAKER_04]: Especially early in the first effort.
44:31
[SPEAKER_04]: I just lived to find another drive type thing.
44:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I will say this.
44:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I went and he was hired at Texas.
44:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I rolled my eyes and said, that's a terrible hire.
44:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got a, you know, former recovering alcoholic who's got a career winning percentage of 5, 30 or 5, 40 or whatever.
44:47
[SPEAKER_01]: It was 54%.
44:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought that what does Texas doing?
44:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Texas talks in Exhaven about Sark, and it became convinced, Crystal County became convinced, hey, this is the guy, he's getting his life back together, piece by piece, he's hell of a coach, he's hell of an offensive mind, and that has proven out.
45:06
[SPEAKER_01]: He has become, in my opinion, he has grown into the role of the Texas head coach.
45:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I mean, USC Washington, you know, sure.
45:16
[SPEAKER_01]: You you step into the 40 acres and the the expectations are even I think even higher than what USC was when he when he was the USC coach I He has he has matured he has He's gotten the two best quarterbacks in the country allegedly, you know and coin viewers and archmaning In their recruited respective recruiting classes and now he's just loading things up with five stars and he's got unlimited NIL money
45:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So things are, things are turning well for him.
45:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I'm, I'm done saying, yeah, but it's Texas.
45:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You have Texas only won.
45:54
[SPEAKER_01]: What, three, four, big 12 championships, three, big 12 championships.
45:58
[SPEAKER_01]: This is, I, I have been very, very impressed with Steve Sarkesian in the way that he's kind of grown up with the program, I guess.
46:10
[SPEAKER_04]: and maybe the most impressive thing Ryan, which is a foreign concept at North of the Red River, Steve Sarketian is an offensive head coach.
46:17
[SPEAKER_04]: He hired a defensive coordinator who was good, really good, got the defense to a certain level.
46:24
[SPEAKER_04]: He still didn't really love how involved he was, so he made a change in while the Mushchamp 2.0 in Austin, still is to be written, right?
46:32
[SPEAKER_04]: Cause there's a lot of PKs guys and things like that.
46:36
[SPEAKER_04]: What a concept!
46:37
[SPEAKER_04]: offensive coach, defensive lead football team.
46:40
[SPEAKER_04]: It is possible.
46:42
[SPEAKER_04]: That's going to blow a lot of OU fans' minds who seem to believe that the offense has nothing to do with preventables.
46:47
[SPEAKER_04]: It's incredible.
46:48
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it really is, but you know, Steve Sarkesian is one of the great examples of the guy that has grown up, and obviously the personal stuff is played a massive part in it and getting things right there, but also just outside of that.
47:07
[SPEAKER_03]: being able to change your approach to life in general, but also change your approach on the football field and be able to realize, hey, we've got to do some things differently here.
47:17
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, that was obviously Bob Stoops didn't have the personal element of it, but just the way that he went about handling the offense when he came in as a big time defensive guy, I think is sort of the, um,
47:31
[SPEAKER_03]: frame work of, you know, some of the the greats who have done those things and, you know, Brent Minibles is still hasn't found that right balance.
47:40
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not going to say figuring it out because, you know, it's just, it's a work in progress there, but also, you know, you've got to realize that you've got to put some focus on that side.
47:52
[SPEAKER_03]: I think just with the defense as bad as it
47:57
[SPEAKER_03]: the pendulum needed to swing back obviously, but you know, you swing past that sweet spot and swing way back over the other side.
48:05
[SPEAKER_03]: And you know, I think they've got to find the right balance, but really like what Steve Sarkesian's been able to do there, you know, I probably wasn't as pessimistic as John was.
48:16
[SPEAKER_03]: When that higher was made, it's just, hey, if this guy can put it together,
48:21
[SPEAKER_03]: you know what kind of offensive mind he is and he could be able to have a lot of success and that certainly borne out over the last few years but we'll see if the Oklahoma can find that right balance and find the right way to run that offense ultimately whether that's under been our buckle or someone else for everyone here was sort of a Carson
48:46
[SPEAKER_04]: How big, oh, you Texas always a big game.
48:49
[SPEAKER_04]: We know that duh, but how big is this specific game when it comes to place and time in the season?
48:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Because on one hand, if you go out there and lose the game, maybe let's not call it blowout, not turn over fiesta.
49:02
[SPEAKER_04]: Texas is just the better to you.
49:03
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't think that would be a shocking situation.
49:04
[SPEAKER_04]: Texas is the better football team coming into this thing.
49:07
[SPEAKER_04]: You're only one game behind where I think a lot of people would have thought while not ideal is a very realistic thing to go to Georgia and lose to potentially lose to Texas.
49:19
[SPEAKER_04]: But it feels like maybe it's just because we've had the the by week and it's been a lot of doom and gloomy feels like this thing's like over dead to 26 right it up is everything kind of riding on this week Carson because it's one of those spots where you would only be two and three but you look up and down and as we look across college football a little bit.
49:39
[SPEAKER_04]: I don't know if you see games like the Florida Missouri game or Mississippi State in some of the ones that they but I don't know if people feel better worse
49:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Certainly, not that no games are winnable, but no real gimmies except maybe South Carolina can Shane Beamer's thanks.
49:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it does come down to how they play.
50:01
[SPEAKER_02]: They could lose this game and I think there's some optimism.
50:04
[SPEAKER_02]: You can take if it was a fairly turnover free performance, offense looks better.
50:08
[SPEAKER_02]: There are some good things on that side of the ball.
50:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you can realistically walk away from that.
50:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, that sucks.
50:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You lost to your archer.
50:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I have one of your two and three.
50:17
[SPEAKER_02]: There is still seven games remaining.
50:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Or this could be a 30 point beat down, Ford's turnover, stuff like that and you're like,
50:25
[SPEAKER_02]: The sooner it might be headed for 39 for an eight kind of season because like you said
50:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Every game is winnable the rest of the year, but every game is loosable, even with Shane Beamer on South Carolina staff, I think that one's still loosable.
50:38
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't have the luxury of playing Arkansas this year, that's really the one I think free win for most teams this year.
50:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone else is loaded with talent, most of the teams are really well coached.
50:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Some of them like Mississippi State, Missouri Florida seemed to be ahead of schedule from where we, we maybe thought they were before the season, so I mean it's,
50:58
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a gauntlet and I think, oh, you need at least a competitive performance this weekend to not go into that back half because I mean Kentucky who they play right after Texas, that's a team, another one that looks far better than I thought they would going into the season.
51:11
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's not an easy game, not an of them are from here on out.
51:14
[SPEAKER_02]: So how they play is massive for the rest of the season.
51:21
[SPEAKER_04]: Friday is this spot where
51:25
[SPEAKER_04]: It might be too early just because of the moronic extension that Joe Harris signed off on that Brock Brick venables another two years.
51:32
[SPEAKER_04]: But this could be a situation where you look at it and you start to go, what is this thing going to look like?
51:38
[SPEAKER_04]: Especially because it could turn and spiral become, if nothing else, 2027 is a rerout of 2025, as far as nine months of Brick venables hot sea, what is the recruiting class look like?
51:50
[SPEAKER_04]: Sick it, yaddy, yaddy, yaddy, yaddy.
51:51
[SPEAKER_04]: It feels like that's very much on the table
51:55
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, no doubt about it and that's one of the things that we've spent.
52:01
[SPEAKER_03]: the last few seasons talking about is they need to to even out and be able to build some momentum.
52:06
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's not like where it's, you know, bad year, good year, bad year, good year and you're just bouncing back and forth and yes, sprint minerals as obviously in the the centers of obviously performed well when they've been in those situations and the hot sea talk is kicked up, but you've got to be able to make a push going forward.
52:26
[SPEAKER_03]: to be able to build some positive momentum and they haven't been able to do that.
52:31
[SPEAKER_03]: So not that, I mean, heck, even if they go 500 this year, let's say, and just keep that bolstery alive and the records look exactly the same as their other down years.
52:45
[SPEAKER_03]: I think certainly you can start building some sense of momentum that can take it into next year and
52:54
[SPEAKER_03]: If things fall apart, it can get, you know, really ugly, really quickly, one because of the problems that they have and how those can snowball.
53:04
[SPEAKER_03]: But, too, just because of the schedule that they have and how difficult it is, you know, like we've talked about, you know, they lose this game.
53:12
[SPEAKER_03]: Their record on its surface isn't
53:16
[SPEAKER_03]: very much worse than we thought was certainly possible even if they were playing well, but certainly the momentum and the vibes wouldn't be positive at all given what they've been through to this point.
53:29
[SPEAKER_03]: So they've got to figure something out and start building on this thing, otherwise it could fall apart and even with
53:37
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, y'all have talked about South Carolina.
53:39
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, they're the easiest team on the schedule.
53:41
[SPEAKER_03]: I think by four, but you know, we saw South Carolina give Kentucky all kinds of heartache last week before the Wildcats figure things out and ultimately pulled that one out at the end.
53:52
[SPEAKER_03]: So you can't write anything off with what's going on with this Oklahoma team right now.
53:58
[SPEAKER_01]: agree over and if you're if you're living in Steve Sarketian skin you never hated OU right growing up you never hated him as a player you never hated him as a insistent coach but you get to Austin Texas you don't hate him there's no there's no you got nothing against OU but you hear from your boosters and you hear from those donors and you hear from your administration pretty soon you hear from fans and you hear from me to media
54:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to beat Oklahoma.
54:20
[SPEAKER_01]: You got to beat Oklahoma at Oklahoma's doing this on the recruiting trail Oklahoma saying this about you Oklahoma is dominated 17 10 since 2000.
54:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma and pretty soon.
54:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Texas is going for it on fourth and four from the 16, you know, with a minute and a half left because they want more points on the scoreboard.
54:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think this rivalry has kind of has taken a little bit of a turn.
54:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know exactly which direction it has turned, but it feels like it's turned a little bit.
55:04
[SPEAKER_01]: More towards Texas.
55:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And this particular game, I don't mean to give anybody any false hope.
55:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But this game this year where Oklahoma comes in I think the line opened at six six and a half it's now up to eight and a half it was seven most of the week, but I think it's up to eight and a half now.
55:22
[SPEAKER_01]: This kind of reminds me of that year, I think it was 2013, where OU came in heavy favorites, 13. favorite, and they ended up losing by 16.
55:32
[SPEAKER_01]: That was the case McCoy game, where he comes in and he just throws, you know, Hail Mary's and his receivers caught him all, and they ended up losing by 16.
55:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the following year, I think, 2014, the tables were turned.
55:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma, I'm sorry, Texas was a big favorite and Oklahoma ended up winning that game.
55:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of what this reminds me of.
55:50
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm kind of going both ways there about how you think Oklahoma could be in danger of getting blown out.
55:57
[SPEAKER_01]: If Sark wants to, I think he has the talent to do that.
56:02
[SPEAKER_01]: But this game, guys, we've seen it over and over is so damn crazy, things happened, unexpected heroes, plays that you've never seen on a football field before.
56:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Roy Williams, 25 years celebrating that bad boy.
56:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Things happened, and the next thing you're immortalized because you somehow won the game for your team.
56:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think either of those things could happen.
56:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm leaning more towards the first one,
56:28
[SPEAKER_04]: The problem is that Brent Reynolds has put himself into what late Mac Brown and what Charlie strong had to do, which was coming every year's heavy underdog, and again, part of that is due to health quarterback that to a
56:43
[SPEAKER_04]: Certainly it gets back to offensive line play.
56:46
[SPEAKER_04]: I think it's no coincidence that the streaked at Oklahoma hat of Baker not really miss in most games.
56:51
[SPEAKER_04]: Maybe a second half against TCU.
56:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Kind of being healthy.
56:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Jayle Hurts being healthy.
56:55
[SPEAKER_04]: It coincided with good offensive line play.
56:58
[SPEAKER_04]: We're
56:58
[SPEAKER_04]: they got to dictate the hits that they were taking as opposed to getting blindsided stuff like that.
57:04
[SPEAKER_04]: But you look at it and right now, it too many times for Brent Vittals has he come in and we're talking about this rivalry's crazy guys.
57:10
[SPEAKER_04]: Remember that that's not what is going to say she ate the Oklahoma fan base.
57:14
[SPEAKER_04]: And even if you go out there and you log a very, very famous victory at the end of the day, it doesn't mean everything's fixed.
57:20
[SPEAKER_04]: And I think that that's kind of the
57:27
[SPEAKER_04]: Texas is not an invincible team that this is a get-up game if you go out there and don't turn the ball over play good defensively this is not like an insurmountable task but how many times did we go down to the cotton bowl and Oklahoma was the touchdown favorite year over year over year a decade almost of Texas just being like well you know Texas is gonna show up in the cotton bowl you were kind of waiting on that for Oklahoma the one time they'd had a healthy quarterback it has happened right that's the one preventables win in this rivalry but it looks like
57:54
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll have to see this is going to be one where is it becoming fewer and far between us?
57:58
[SPEAKER_04]: This is a situation where Brett Vittable start to his tenure, no you Texas has been kind of blinded by the fact that this is what the second time he's had his starting quarterback healthy and then you had the Michael Hawkins jackson on where neither of those guys really liked it on fire even if they were both healthy and it would be interesting to see.
58:15
[SPEAKER_04]: As far as that goes, we'll get after it at 2.30 down in Dallas, April be there.
58:20
[SPEAKER_04]: Cars to be there, Brady will be there.
58:22
[SPEAKER_04]: All be there, Pat Cow's there.
58:23
[SPEAKER_04]: John will be running point from back in the 918.
58:26
[SPEAKER_04]: Make sure you think it's up there.
58:27
[SPEAKER_04]: Should be an extravaganza per usual.
58:30
[SPEAKER_04]: It always is this time of year and can't wait to get down.
58:33
[SPEAKER_04]: But let's go ahead.
58:35
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll leave that there.
58:36
[SPEAKER_04]: We'll talk to you from the press box at the cotton bowl on Saturday afternoon.
58:41
[SPEAKER_04]: Evening is the sun sets over fair park.
58:44
[SPEAKER_04]: It should be a fun.
58:45
[SPEAKER_04]: A big thank you to Abar and Carson who've as always for taking some time out of their busy week to sit down and chat about the football.
58:53
[SPEAKER_04]: Be sure to the website.
58:54
[SPEAKER_04]: Oakland winners on SI dot com.
58:55
[SPEAKER_04]: Oh, you Texas coverage all week long.
58:58
[SPEAKER_04]: coming atcha and we will continue to roll through all the way in the Saturday and beyond here at Sooner's on SI, but for the podcast we'll talk to you guys, Saturday night recap and everything with Sooner's and the Longhorns we'll talk to you then.
59:12
[SPEAKER_04]: See ya.