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The Hidden Statistic That Will Make or Break the Sooners · Sooner or Later Sports

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  Speaker 1: Going into the 2026 season, Oklahoma Sooners need to replicate
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  Speaker 1: what they did last year in a specific statistic that
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  Speaker 1: not only need to replicate it, but they need to
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  Speaker 1: do even better at creating the opportunities to get there.
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  Speaker 1: There's only one room, in my personal opinion, that can
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  Speaker 1: fix that. We're going to talk about who that is.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to show you the stat. We'll walk through
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  Speaker 1: all of it like we always do. Because if you
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  Speaker 1: know me, if you've been here long enough, for the
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  Speaker 1: new folks, big numbers guy. And that stuff, to me,
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  Speaker 1: always finds a way to correlate how your season can go.
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  Speaker 1: Let's dive into that. Before we do that, welcome to
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  Speaker 1: Sooner or Later Sports, part of the Unfair Sports Network.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your boy, Jay. Thank y'all for pulling up to
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  Speaker 1: the channel. This video is powered by our partners at PrizePix.
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  Speaker 1: New users play five, get $ 150 in bonus lineups if
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  Speaker 1: you win. So looking at how Oklahoma performed last season,
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  Speaker 1: one of the best parts about going into this season
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  Speaker 1: is there's a lot of returning production, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: returning players, especially on offense. You got your line who
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  Speaker 1: actually improved as the season progressed. You can look at
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  Speaker 1: the grades. A lot of people are high on this
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  Speaker 1: line because it got better and better as the season
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  Speaker 1: got went forward. And because of that, there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people that are very high on Oklahoma. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they should be national people. I'm not talking about myself.
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  Speaker 1: I'm a fan. So, of course, I'm gonna be high
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  Speaker 1: on the squad because I believe in what this staff
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  Speaker 1: is doing. But the national folks are seeing it as well.
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  Speaker 1: And they've been pointing out lately. Todd McShay's talked about it.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen from David Pollak, D.J. Josh Pate's even talked
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  Speaker 1: about Oklahoma should be a playoff team. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: people have been bought in pick six. My guy over there,
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  Speaker 1: Brent Ciencia has talked about how Oklahoma to him is
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  Speaker 1: a sec championship caliber squad plus a playoff team because
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  Speaker 1: he is, he believes in the key components of it.
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  Speaker 1: The defense is going to be stout. The offensive line
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  Speaker 1: will be improved because they're returning just about everybody, but
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  Speaker 1: one and the improvements they've done around everything to help
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  Speaker 1: with that. Well, This stat right here, about to show
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  Speaker 1: you all, to me is the one stat that says,
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  Speaker 1: if Oklahoma figures this part out, promise you, they're going
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  Speaker 1: to be dominant. That is the red zone. So for Oklahoma,
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  Speaker 1: what Oklahoma did very well last year was getting points
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  Speaker 1: every time they go to the red zone. They had
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  Speaker 1: the highest percentage in the country at just under 97%.
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  Speaker 1: So they were 96.88% conversion in the red zone. Even crazier,
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  Speaker 1: they were 100% on the road. They converted more on
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  Speaker 1: the road than even at home, and the time they
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  Speaker 1: didn't convert at home was early in the season against Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: So that was Tate Sandell's only miss. But Oklahoma, when
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  Speaker 1: they got in the red zone, they converted and scored.
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  Speaker 1: They got points. They got money. Look at them here
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  Speaker 1: on the chart. Now you see them in the top left.
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  Speaker 1: That's where the problems lie. Up there in the top
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  Speaker 1: is good. Five points scored per red zone trip. That's
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  Speaker 1: that average. Like I said, it's up there. It's high.
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina State, Georgia. Honestly, Arkansas. They did well too. Washington, Utah.
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  Speaker 1: They're at the top. Oklahoma was at the top at
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  Speaker 1: getting there. Their biggest problem was they didn't go to
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  Speaker 1: the red zone often enough. Their red zone rate of
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  Speaker 1: possession was low. Just over like 22%. Ew. So they
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  Speaker 1: didn't want to get in there. That's where the problems lie. Now,
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  Speaker 1: there is a room on this team, to me, that
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  Speaker 1: will fix that this season. Let me explain. Before we continue,
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  Speaker 1: One of the lines I just go ahead and threw
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  Speaker 1: in there. It's one from the feed. You can actually
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  Speaker 1: see what everybody else is doing. So I kind of
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  Speaker 1: submitted this W feed over here with Alicia Gray going
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  Speaker 1: with more on the three-pointer attempts. Angel Reese, who's been
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  Speaker 1: killing it. 31.5 in points and rebounds. Why not? Kaitlin Clark,
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and give me 23 points, girl. You can
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  Speaker 1: do it. Jackie Young, Ariel Adkins, as well as Kiki.
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  Speaker 1: out other people's picks. Follow me at Unfair Sports. You
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  Speaker 1: in all the green areas, you can check them out. So,
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  Speaker 1: Go do that and always gamble responsibly. So if there's
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  Speaker 1: a room on this team that I feel like Oklahoma
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  Speaker 1: needs to have that big year is the rooms that
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  Speaker 1: we talk about the most. I'd say two, but I
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  Speaker 1: really think it's one that's going to change it all.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the running back room. Dillon McCullough's got some
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  Speaker 1: work to do. He's going to have to go out
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  Speaker 1: there and bring Oklahoma back to the glory of having
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  Speaker 1: a strong run game. And to me, a strong run
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  Speaker 1: game is going to help everything else lead us into
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  Speaker 1: getting into the red zone on a regular basis. Because
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  Speaker 1: that was the one thing. When Oklahoma got there, they
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  Speaker 1: only didn't convert one time in the red zone. Once.
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  Speaker 1: Only one time Oklahoma didn't convert. That's huge. That's huge.
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  Speaker 1: Roughly a 96.88% or 97% conversion rate in the red zone.
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  Speaker 1: It's massive. And if Oklahoma does that, again, they were
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  Speaker 1: 100% on the road. Like that hard to kill mantra,
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  Speaker 1: that's where that comes from. That's where that road warriors,
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  Speaker 1: those road dogs, like they were able to, when they
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  Speaker 1: got the pressure really put on them, they still found
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  Speaker 1: a way to make it happen. Big. Now, Oklahoma didn't
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  Speaker 1: get a lot of explosive plays last year. That's something
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  Speaker 1: that's going to have to improve desperately. But to me,
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  Speaker 1: having a stronger run game, And being able to force
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  Speaker 1: defenses to pull up will help with the pass game.
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  Speaker 1: Materia's going to get the ball there. Not that concerned
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  Speaker 1: about that because I've seen him layer passes. He'll get
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  Speaker 1: calm and be able to do it because the line
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  Speaker 1: will be better. But that run game is going to
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  Speaker 1: force defenses to change to some of the things they do.
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  Speaker 1: And by doing that, we should be able to see
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  Speaker 1: a very much higher execution rate of getting to the
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  Speaker 1: red zone. And then when you get to the red zone,
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  Speaker 1: do I think they can maintain a 97% conversion rate? Nah,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think it's possible. I think they can do 90%,
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  Speaker 1: but I don't think it's going to be able to
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  Speaker 1: do a 97. That's going to be really, really hard.
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  Speaker 1: But because they're returning so many of the players that
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  Speaker 1: were participants in getting into that high of a conversion rate,
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  Speaker 1: you still got Tate Sandell, right? Oklahoma should be able
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  Speaker 1: to see a massive improvement when it comes to going
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  Speaker 1: to the red zone. And so if Oklahoma does that,
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  Speaker 1: this team has a chance to take a massive leap
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  Speaker 1: And not only replicate that 10-2, but even push into
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  Speaker 1: an 11-1 type season. Red zone's critical. And Oklahoma showed that.
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  Speaker 1: That's how you get to 10-2. Executing in the red zone.
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  Speaker 1: The thing for them was they just didn't get there enough.
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  Speaker 1: If they got there more, they probably would have had
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  Speaker 1: more blowout wins. They just weren't getting there enough. So
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  Speaker 1: the defense is going to play their complimentary side. The
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  Speaker 1: offense needs to add to that. And by adding to that,
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  Speaker 1: it's running the ball, getting some big runs, burning that clock,
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  Speaker 1: pushing down the field, and getting those field goals. Now,
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  Speaker 1: on top of your running back room and Dela McCullough
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  Speaker 1: doing this, we're going to need a lot from these
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  Speaker 1: tight ends as well. They're going to be the ones
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  Speaker 1: that's going to really push this run game going because
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  Speaker 1: they're going to be those blockers, those additional blockers. That
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  Speaker 1: will make it so much easier for any type of
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  Speaker 1: run play to be ran from outside zone to split
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  Speaker 1: zone to do whatever. You name the play, you have
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  Speaker 1: tight ends that can block, works. And then of course
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  Speaker 1: that gives Mateer another person to throw to because he
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  Speaker 1: likes to throw across the middle. That's actually, he has
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  Speaker 1: a very high percentage in the middle, which is very
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  Speaker 1: fascinating to see as a quarterback that is considered quote
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  Speaker 1: unquote shorter. And not having the mechanics everybody likes. But
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  Speaker 1: everybody's really praising Byron Brown right now over there at Auburn,
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  Speaker 1: which is interesting because he has like the wildest mechanics.
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  Speaker 1: But I digress. It's all about consistency. Former tier, do
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  Speaker 1: his part. But if we get good blocking from this
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  Speaker 1: offensive line and the run game goes out there and executes,
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  Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, that red zone number should go up.
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  Speaker 1: That is the stat to me that will define Oklahoma
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  Speaker 1: finishing the year the same as they did last year,
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  Speaker 1: if not better. Let me know what y'all think. Hop
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  Speaker 1: in the comments. Want to hear your thoughts. That number
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  Speaker 1: to me, the stats are here. Coming in at 96.88
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  Speaker 1: is crazy. Still 100% on the road. Wow. 2024, 75.
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  Speaker 1: They weren't doing very well. Georgia is another one. They're
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  Speaker 1: in the 90 percentile. They always stay up there. And
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  Speaker 1: they were converting the red zone. Oklahoma, though, one of
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  Speaker 1: the teams that converted quite often that should be huge
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  Speaker 1: going into the season. So I definitely want to hear
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  Speaker 1: from you all. Shout out to our partners there at PrizePix.
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  Speaker 1: New users, play five, get $ 150 in bonus lineups if
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: you win. We're a week away, baby. Let's go. We'll
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  Speaker 1: talk soon. Peace.