#12 OKLAHOMA 44 #6 BAYLOR 34
“I do believe that the
rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”
– Doc Holiday
On Saturday night, the Oklahoma
Sooners walked into a ‘blacked-out’ McLean Stadium and knocked off Art
Briles and his upstart, unbeaten and unabashed Baylor Bears 44-34. With the victory, the Sooners vaulted themselves
back into the playoff mix, and in doing so, sent a message to the two time
defending Big 12 champs that Bob and the boys from Norman are back.
SCATTERSHOOTING….
“You can’t drink all day
if you don’t start in the morning…”
&
“You can’t win ‘em all if
you don’t win the first one.”
That one was huge. I don’t mind telling you, it’s been a long
time since I wanted the Sooners to win a game as much as I wanted them to win
last Saturday night. Judging from the
attitude and swagger the Sooners exhibited, the feeling was clearly mutual. The Sooners didn’t back down from the fight,
in fact, they seemed to be the ones initiating it. How physical was OU? At one point during the
second half, Baylor had so many players seeking medical attention on the
sideline, that Jeff Lebby had to put on some scrubs and pose as a trainer on his
own sideline.
Love me some pylon cam…that was cool.
What a difference a year makes. Instead of having his
corners line up 15 yards off the ball, Mike Stoops gave cornerback Jordan
Thomas the chance to shut down Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman…and he
did. Jordan held Coleman to 3 catches
for 51 yards, essentially making Coleman a non-factor and putting an end to the
Corey Coleman for Heisman talk.
Saturday
was the 4th time that Baylor has been involved in a game when ESPN’s
College GameDay was on hand. It was the 29th
such experience for the Sooners, which is more times than the rest of the Big
12 schools combined.
Speaking
of Mike Stoops…hats off to the much maligned defensive coordinator. It’s been
said here that he was incapable of coming up with a scheme to stop an offense
the likes of which Baylor has…and I stand by that. That’s because Mike Stoops didn’t come up
with some whacky, mad-scientist, gimmicky scheme to stop Baylor. He didn’t send out a defense with seven defensive
backs and no linebackers. He didn’t move
a defensive end or a safety to linebacker.
He wasn’t trying to make last second adjustments that had our defense
staring at the sideline as the ball was being snapped. No, Saturday night, Mike Stoops didn’t try to
build a blender with old toaster parts…he simply just let the OU defense go out
and play…defense. Bottom line, it all added up to the Sooners holding the
nations #1 scoring offense to 34 points, which is 23.4 below their
average. Now, let’s just all hope that
helps get Mike a job somewhere else this off-season.
I
can’t even believe I’m about to say this…but our offensive line played pretty
damn well against the big, physical Baylor front. In fact, Oakman and Billings combined for
only one tackle and spent much of the second half getting attended to by
Trapper John, MD on the BU sideline.
It
wasn’t all sunshine and good times for the Sooners. I thought Bob Stoops was
going to have a coronary with all the personal foul penalties that extended
drives, ejected players and turned Baylor field goals into touchdowns.
I’m
sorry…I know he made the game clinching interception late in the fourth
quarter, but is Ahmad Thomas really the best safety we have to put out
there? #13 is seemingly always late with
deep help and whiffing while trying to tackle running backs. Just sayin’
There
is no doubt that the Sooners caught a break facing freshman Jarrett Stidham as
opposed to Seth Russell, who’s a much better running QB. The beat-up Stidham was reduced to sliding
once he was forced from the pocket...something that TCU’s Boykin (if healthy)
and the OSU QB tandem of Rudolf and Walsh won’t be doing.
There
were three…what I like to call “Crown Royal Moments”, in the game Saturday night. Crown Royal moments are basically key situations in a game, that
should the Sooners not step up, then my intake of Canadian blended whiskey
likely will…which can lead to things getting out of hand pretty quickly for
both of us.
The
Sooner offense was able to sustain drives and score points on three separate
crucial occasions in the game Saturday night.
The first was when Baylor went 85 yard, in
8 plays on their first drive of the game to take a 6-0 lead. If the Sooners go three and out on ensuing
possession, they’d likely find themselves down 2 scores the next time Alex Ross
returned a kick to his own 19. Instead, OU
answered with an 11 play, 65-yard drive of their own to take a 7-6 lead…OU
would never trail again.
#2: But they would be tied. The second
half started much like the first with the Bears going 75 yards in 9 plays to
tie the game at 20. But instead of wilting
in front of 45,000 re-energized Baptists and giving Baylor the ball back with a
chance to take the lead, the Sooners punched Baylor in the mouth…going 74 yards
in 8 plays to regain the lead 27-20.
The gutsiest drive came in the 4th
quarter. The Sooners were up by only
3. There wasn’t a single person in the
Sooner Nation who thought things would end well if Baylor got the ball back
down only 3. But 10 plays, 78 yards, and a Heisman moment later…it was all over
but for the Sooners celebration.
Call me Captain Obvious…but the
Sooners big 3 of Mayfield, Perine & Shepard were absolutely amazing. Words don’t do justice for how clutch Shepard
has been this year. Perine had his size,
balance and speed on full display…and Mayfield…all I can say is wow. The kid is the heartbeat of this team…if this
new Baker Mayfield for Heisman video doesn’t give you chills…well, then you must
be a Longhorn fan.
Next Up: TCU
Stoops has got to make sure he gets
the team refocused. No more celebrating Baylor or getting caught up in all the
talk about playoffs. TCU is beat up, but I promise you Boykin plays and they
still very dangerous with him on the field and Patterson on the sidelines. The Sooners win over Baylor means nothing if
they don’t take care of TCU at home Saturday night.
Sorry about the length of the update…but
it was the best win for the Sooners in years!
Boomer…
Just the opinion of one mildly
interested guy
The Overweight Armchair Sooner
Buddy Putty
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