Let's not bury the lead. Mullen momentum is fading day by day. Give Jimmy Sexton credit, he used the OU need of an established OC to build the necessity for other P4 programs to go after Mullen.

Dan Mullen: As stated above, the momentum is fading by the day. Parker was spot on with the coach in waiting being a "possible" necessity in contract negotiations. It seems Dan Mullen does not want to wait too long to get back at the helm of a P4 program. If this is the holdup I do not think OU will heed to the coach in waiting as being part of the deal. Simply because it puts BV in a bad spot during 2025 and it also puts Mullen in a bad spot if he is successful, simply because BV won't be on the hot seat more than likely. If Mullen can't find a spot that he likes, he would not mind being the OC at OU, but he would only like a one-year contract with certain safety nets in place. On top of that there are other P4 suitors that are contacting Mullens and his agent Jimmy Sexton to be the coach in waiting or other head coaching opportunities, both at the P4 and G5 level. The other issue on the OU side is Mullen is wanting to wait until after conference championship week to see what is going to be open. OU does not want to wait that long. If we don't hear anything about Mullen being the pick by the end of this week, I would venture to bet Mullens could be out of the race.

Ben Arbuckle: Communication with Ben Arbuckle has picked up substantially since the week began. OU feels like the Mullen situation could drag out and they don't want to wait much longer as stated previously. Again, I think it will be very telling if we do not hear anything in regards to Dan Mullen taking the position by the end of this week. The impression I got from sources is if there is not an answer from Mullen this week then assume the ball will be in Arbuckle's court by next week. Right now I would say the focus is squarely on Ben Arbuckle.

Mack Leftwich: I was able to confirm through two reliable sources, that there was contact made with GJ Kinne and Mack Leftwich. GJ Kinne was contacted in regards to Mack Leftwich. I'm getting the feeling if all else fails, Mack Leftwich would be a last-ditch hire. I would say he is over Spavitol in the "search" . What I can confirm is that OU is enamored with Leftwich as a recruiter and QB developer. But they believe Arbuckle has a better body of work than Mack Leftwich at this point.

Joe Craddock: Now I'll throw my dark horse. Based on what I've heard, I don't think the door is closed on Craddock just yet. BV is really pushing his previous relationship with Joe Craddock. He is trying to make the appeal that OU has better pieces to be successful with right away than any other OC position open. Like I have said previously Craddock really wants to bring one staff member from Tulane with him. And that is Dan Roushar. Except Craddock wants him as o-line coach, but BV has not been able to allow that because of BB, but he has been willing to allow him to coach tight ends if Joe John Finley is fired. Which is expected and Joe John will more than likely try to pick up a G5 school to call plays at or even a low-end P4 School. Roushar has plenty of experience and in an ideal world, in my opinion, you let him coach tight ends and give him the title Co-OC, simply because he has NFL experience coaching o-line and tight ends and quite a bit of experience at the college ranks as well.

If you were to ask me right now who the next offensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma would be, my answer would be Ben Arbuckle. I think if Arbuckle doesn't take it and it falls through along with Mullen falling through, I think they throw the kitchen sink at Joe Craddock before they go after Mack Leftwich.

Boomer Sooner!

I don’t fault our players who are following a highly paid captain who seems to have lost his way.

The failure of this team is squarely at the feet of the staff. The coaching staff has failed to prepare this team properly. They failed in recruiting because they failed to evaluate and adjust to the new NIL world of college football.

Some have voiced frustration with Jackson Arnold. The blame is with the coaching staff who failed to provide the necessary training to improve his skills. He and Hawkins don’t have a genuinely qualified QB coach who can teach them the fundamentals to be effective. Arnold looks like the same QB he was a year ago. With training his pocket awareness improves. With coaching his ability to protect the ball improves. With coaching his abilities to read defenses and release the ball quicker improves. His fundamentals improve with proper coaching. It’s obvious he’s not improving and looks distressed.

IMO, the staff is not being held accountable for the lackluster performances on the field. It’s obvious certain players do not have the necessary talent or skills to perform athletically and those players consistently fail while on the field. Why do they continue to play each week? Because the coaching staff failed to evaluate them and have no replacement. Again, the failure is the staff.

The players must execute the play called but the player has to have the ability to do that. Too many players don’t, can’t, or haven’t been trained to do it correctly.

No need to continue to beat a dead horse. The answer is obvious and would be expensive to correct currently.

As fans we’re going to have to bite our tongue and watch the most embarrassing three weeks in Sooner history play out.

Wholesale changes are needed in several areas on the staff. And a magnificent dose of Sooner Magic to hold onto the recruiting class.

I hope it OU can get back to playing winning football quickly.

According to the top opp Steve Wilftong, he said based on what he’s hearing he expects Fasusi to stick with OU.

He is the only coach on the market that could rejuvenate this offense in one off-season. These rich donors have to do everything in their power to make it happen. If not, it's going to be a long season next year as well. Crossing my fingers it's him and not the arbuckle kid who's only been coaching in the college ranks for a couple seasons.

I would love to mix it up but Thompson just wouldn't have had enough reps to be helpful IMO.

Thoughts?

Get ready for 3 and outs and bad time of possession and soft football.

Ughh


Shoulda Gone all in for craddock

Rumor has it that Craddock prefers OU and tried to leverage a potential move to FSU as a bargaining chip to bring his OL guy Evan Mckissack with him to OU. It seems that BV is set on keeping BB as OL coach (which I am glad about).

Craddock should bring Evan Mckissack in to coach TE's (which he coached at Troy a few years ago) and make him Co-OC (a title he holds now at Tulane). He gets a pay raise at OU, and he will have a lot of influence on the OL/Run game as TE coach with all the 12 personnel they run.

Thoughts?

If you need more OC and Fasusi talk Oklahoma breakdown with Gabe and Teddy talk about it for about 10 minutes at the start of their podcast. Probably the same stuff BD and PT have heard on both topics.

I’ve received a lot of new insight and clarity throughout the day in conversation with a multiplicity of sources.

With that said, though I acknowledge there’s still plenty of time for this process to take a twist on us, I think I’m ready to call my shot. Consider this a FutureCast for the offensive coordinator position, if you will. PERSONALLY, I think it’s gonna be…

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You guys know the drill. If you've got a take or a question on football/basketball/softball, hit me with it.

Any mutual interest between OU and Eric Morris? 500 ypg, identified Cam Ward and Mateer. Chandler Morris is balling this year. I know I’ve heard his name brought up

What are your guys bold projections for the next few week and into the off-season? What are some things you wish will happen for Oklahoma football?

All right. More intel today after conversations with a number of sources in the last few hours.

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If Freeman were to bolt for the NFL, what effect could that have on the guys we’re looking at?

With the initial signing date first week of December and the opening of the portal the following week, OU’s ability to retain current players and recruits, and its ability to obtain immediate help from the portal will be known shortly after. We will see the players (current and future) response to the new OC, and probably learn of other changes with assistants, if any. I hope we get lots of positive feedback.

Daniel just committed to Florida, are they brothers or related in anyway? Parker has been hinting at transfers and the only big person I think who will leave is PJ but if they are related then maybe him too.

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does this up the chances for mullen or still snagged bc of the “head coach in waiting” thing?

I’ve thought about this alot, there is absolutely no way we should have rolled into this season with two unproven qb’s we were depending on. As much as I hate Sark and Texas, he would never do something like that. If we were going to start Jackson, we needed a playable veteran back up. What exactly was the purpose of Casey Thompson? Why did we not get a portal qb with experience that we actually felt comfortable playing so at least Hawkins could have been protected? These are the things that make me seriously question if BV is the right guy.

Week 12 is in the books, and so is the 2024 rendition of the OUI Survivor Pool. This year, we had 214 entrants. By Week 12, only 45 were left standing, and only 10 had an undefeated team left in their chamber. With BYU's loss to Kansas, we were only a Wisconsin field goal away from our total chaos scenario, in which all 45 survivors would have been eligible for a giant tie-breaker. However, the Ducks pulled through, providing clarity, and three undisputed champions.

Congratulations To Our Winners:

• @BoomerHoops
• @melodicmarc
• @NotSchmittyBuilt

Well done, and hope you guys all come back to defend your crown in 2025. No one has ever pulled off back-to-back Survivor Pool wins. Will you be the first?

And, as is tradition...

A Salute to the Eliminated:

• Cuffed by the Cougars (7) - @Akio, @chasejamy , @Colorado_Sooner, @jeff4Ou, @kappasigmaraider , @MileHighSooners , @OUS00nerfan22
• Ran Out of Picks (35) - @19lifesooner71 , @agreen39 , @bigred'78 , @BMini , @bmmitchell44 , @braylin4 , @Coach_A_6 , @codyvs6 , @devons0530 , @Dinko Sooner , @DP90185 , @esnogood , @ImABigOUFan , @INTERSTATEJERRY , @JFraz2 , @JKlein823 , @Klsparks11 , @nisakat2 , @seahopp , @SoonerBarbs , @SoonerMag1c , @Soonerpilot2001 , @Tclipper , @TrojanHorseDev , @walters44

Thanks to everyone that gave it a shot this year. Big numbers are part of what makes it fun. Look for the 2025 Survivor Pool to drop once we're two weeks out from Week 1.

Here's Fatty!

the Dallas cowboys want him after the season

Not sure if sark is listeninf

Watching him play now. We need to open the NIL bag for this kid and if Arbuckle gets him here, go get Arbuckle. Mateer is very good!