@BPrzybylo - We have reached Championship November. Are we sick of that phrase yet after the last two weeks or nah?
Think the interesting thing with Baylor is were the Bears caught looking ahead to OU last week? Or is Chandler Morris that good and just didn’t matter?
Clearly, the college football playoff committee decided the latter, only dropping Baylor from No. 12 to No. 13 in the latest rankings. Really, giving OU a shot in the arm in the process.
A week off, two weeks to get healthy, OK, no more excuses for Lincoln Riley’s club. If being 9-0 and ranked No. 8 didn’t irritate the guys in that locker room, then what will?
OU can be full of all the motivation in the world but won’t make this game any easier. This will be a tough one because of the physicality Baylor brings to the table.
I don’t think anybody is worried about how Caleb Williams responds to any sort of negative play or the atmosphere or anything like that, but he’ll have to show once again that he’s ready for these moments as a true freshman.
The big thing is a rested Kennedy Brooks means the running attack should get back on track. It felt like Brooks was tired – not hurt – but tired during OU’s wins at Kansas and vs. Texas Tech. He’s gonna need 20-25 carries and a strong 20-25.
Let Brooks open up the rest of the offense and find a way to get 2-3 big chunk plays. Sounds like a solid recipe for success.
Time to let Nik Bonitto loose, too. Let him do what he does, and let’s see that defensive line cause the disruption that was oh-so expected.
Williams accounts for four touchdowns. OU gets two takeaways and does enough to move to 10-0 and earn its first signature win of the year, with more in play down the road.
OU 38, Baylor 33.
@Eddie_Rado - And we're back. The Waco experience has been fun -- in a sense. Talk about memorable games over the last decade or so and most of those discussions begin with trips to McLane Stadium. 2015 was the start of something special. 2017 was a Baker Mayfield statement game. And who could forget the comeback that occurred during the Sooners last trip to the Brazos.
So begins Championship November. Oklahoma is healthy. Oklahoma is coming off a BYE week. Oklahoma better be ready to make a statement. The time has come. As "bad" as the season has been everything is still there for the taking. Believe it or not.
Defensively this is as healthy as we've seen Alex Grinch's group all season. I wouldn't necessarily expect Woodi Washington to start but I do think he'll be in uniform. He'll play. He'll contribute. Had you asked me if that was going to be the case a month ago I would have thought you are crazy. Add Jalen Redmond, D.J. Graham and Delarrin Turner-Yell to the mix and I'm cautiously optimistic.
That leads us to Caleb Williams and the offense. The next three weeks are going to be challenging. I think we start there. Get it out in the open. Accept the terms. There's going to be peaks and valleys. How many plays can this freshman make? How much more unbelievable can this storybook takeover become? Does it end with Williams bringing home the hardware from New York City?
We begin finding the answers to all of these questions come Saturday afternoon. If Oklahoma can finish this four game gauntlet undefeated they'll be headed back to the College Football Playoff. If we're talking about that come mid-December I think we're talking about an Oklahoma football team that is peaking at the right time. First things first, however. It all has to start with a win in Waco. A place that has started the run before.
Oklahoma: 31
Baylor: 27
@Josh_M - Oklahoma's back to work on Saturday and it's one of the most interesting matchups of the 2021 season for Oklahoma. Baylor is a team that will be able to throw some curveballs at the Sooners offense that has been clicking for much of the time since the emergence of Caleb Williams.
I think Baylor's run defense will be huge in this game if they can force Oklahoma to be one dimensional with their aggressive style of play, then this thing gets really dicey really fast for the Sooners.
If Oklahoma can keep Baylor honest and attack with their passing game against a secondary playing on it's heels? Then the doors can open offensively.
On the flip side of the ball, this is going to come down to the edge play of Nik Bonitto, Reggie Grimes, and Isaiah Thomas amongst others. If they can turn the Baylor run game back inside and force a more narrow attack, I struggle to see Gerry Bohanon and the Bears offense consistently moving the ball if their run game isn't setting the table on the perimeter.
In short, this will need to be the best game Oklahoma's front seven has played, possibly all season. This is a legitimate test on both sides of the ball and while part of me thinks this team just won't hit the right notes, I think some health and a bit of time to refocus may have been a bit of a magic elixir.
There's a serious feel to me in this game that either Oklahoma kind of pulls away or Baylor wins, I'm not sure I'm that sold on other outcomes.
Oklahoma 38
Baylor 24
Think the interesting thing with Baylor is were the Bears caught looking ahead to OU last week? Or is Chandler Morris that good and just didn’t matter?
Clearly, the college football playoff committee decided the latter, only dropping Baylor from No. 12 to No. 13 in the latest rankings. Really, giving OU a shot in the arm in the process.
A week off, two weeks to get healthy, OK, no more excuses for Lincoln Riley’s club. If being 9-0 and ranked No. 8 didn’t irritate the guys in that locker room, then what will?
OU can be full of all the motivation in the world but won’t make this game any easier. This will be a tough one because of the physicality Baylor brings to the table.
I don’t think anybody is worried about how Caleb Williams responds to any sort of negative play or the atmosphere or anything like that, but he’ll have to show once again that he’s ready for these moments as a true freshman.
The big thing is a rested Kennedy Brooks means the running attack should get back on track. It felt like Brooks was tired – not hurt – but tired during OU’s wins at Kansas and vs. Texas Tech. He’s gonna need 20-25 carries and a strong 20-25.
Let Brooks open up the rest of the offense and find a way to get 2-3 big chunk plays. Sounds like a solid recipe for success.
Time to let Nik Bonitto loose, too. Let him do what he does, and let’s see that defensive line cause the disruption that was oh-so expected.
Williams accounts for four touchdowns. OU gets two takeaways and does enough to move to 10-0 and earn its first signature win of the year, with more in play down the road.
OU 38, Baylor 33.
@Eddie_Rado - And we're back. The Waco experience has been fun -- in a sense. Talk about memorable games over the last decade or so and most of those discussions begin with trips to McLane Stadium. 2015 was the start of something special. 2017 was a Baker Mayfield statement game. And who could forget the comeback that occurred during the Sooners last trip to the Brazos.
So begins Championship November. Oklahoma is healthy. Oklahoma is coming off a BYE week. Oklahoma better be ready to make a statement. The time has come. As "bad" as the season has been everything is still there for the taking. Believe it or not.
Defensively this is as healthy as we've seen Alex Grinch's group all season. I wouldn't necessarily expect Woodi Washington to start but I do think he'll be in uniform. He'll play. He'll contribute. Had you asked me if that was going to be the case a month ago I would have thought you are crazy. Add Jalen Redmond, D.J. Graham and Delarrin Turner-Yell to the mix and I'm cautiously optimistic.
That leads us to Caleb Williams and the offense. The next three weeks are going to be challenging. I think we start there. Get it out in the open. Accept the terms. There's going to be peaks and valleys. How many plays can this freshman make? How much more unbelievable can this storybook takeover become? Does it end with Williams bringing home the hardware from New York City?
We begin finding the answers to all of these questions come Saturday afternoon. If Oklahoma can finish this four game gauntlet undefeated they'll be headed back to the College Football Playoff. If we're talking about that come mid-December I think we're talking about an Oklahoma football team that is peaking at the right time. First things first, however. It all has to start with a win in Waco. A place that has started the run before.
Oklahoma: 31
Baylor: 27
@Josh_M - Oklahoma's back to work on Saturday and it's one of the most interesting matchups of the 2021 season for Oklahoma. Baylor is a team that will be able to throw some curveballs at the Sooners offense that has been clicking for much of the time since the emergence of Caleb Williams.
I think Baylor's run defense will be huge in this game if they can force Oklahoma to be one dimensional with their aggressive style of play, then this thing gets really dicey really fast for the Sooners.
If Oklahoma can keep Baylor honest and attack with their passing game against a secondary playing on it's heels? Then the doors can open offensively.
On the flip side of the ball, this is going to come down to the edge play of Nik Bonitto, Reggie Grimes, and Isaiah Thomas amongst others. If they can turn the Baylor run game back inside and force a more narrow attack, I struggle to see Gerry Bohanon and the Bears offense consistently moving the ball if their run game isn't setting the table on the perimeter.
In short, this will need to be the best game Oklahoma's front seven has played, possibly all season. This is a legitimate test on both sides of the ball and while part of me thinks this team just won't hit the right notes, I think some health and a bit of time to refocus may have been a bit of a magic elixir.
There's a serious feel to me in this game that either Oklahoma kind of pulls away or Baylor wins, I'm not sure I'm that sold on other outcomes.
Oklahoma 38
Baylor 24
