This morning we shared the link to The Beef answering a few questions for Crimson & Cream Machine in regard to tomorrow night's Mizzou-Oklahoma game. I also sat in on last night's C&C podcast for a little while. The good folks at C&C were kind enough to answer a few of The Beef's questions as well.
The Beef: So let’s get the Realignment question out of the way first. What is the current mindset of OU fans about what has happened this week with the Pac-12 shutting its doors (however temporarily)? Is there a blame game going around for potentially trying to make a move without a guaranteed spot or have people already resigned themselves to being around Texas for another 5-7 years?
C&C: Its pretty obvious that Oklahoma president Davis Boren got some bad information. Personally I think he was lied to but that’s neither here no there at this point. Many Sooner fans are frustrated, disappointed, frustrated and even embarrassed about the way it went down.
Who knows what will eventually turn out. It appears that the Big 12 appears to have once again been salvaged but whatever happens the one thing that is painfully clear is that Oklahoma and Texas are still married despite the fact that they may never have hated each other more than they do right now.
The Beef: Let’s look at a couple of issues coming from the Florida State game before finally moving on to the matter at hand. Talk to me about the fact your kicker had to boot 3 FG’s inside 31 yards against Florida State, and how has 4 on the year Where are you in regards to the red zone offense you have seen so far this year?
C&C: I think that the bigger story here is that Oklahoma is actually perfect on field goal attempts this season (hang on, let me find some wood to knock on). The Sooners have struggled in place kicking the last few seasons and while you never want to settle for a field goal (especially inside the red zone) its good to see 100% accuracy there.
As for the offense itself, Oklahoma was very vanilla against Tulsa and found plenty of offensive success, at least enough to please the fanbase, in a game that was never close. Florida State is a bit of another story where they were shut down in two trips inside the red zone with the outcome of the game very much still hanging in the balance. Part of the problem there is that FSU may have had the most physical and talented defensive line Oklahoma will play all season. The second issue was that the play calling was very tight. This disappointed a lot fans because on of the major complaints against Kevin Wilson was that he was predictable and tight inside the red zone.
The Beef: Landry Jones had an OK (no pun intended) game against FSU on the stat sheet, going for just about 200 yards. 180 of those yards went to Kenny Stills and Ryan Broyles. Assuming Broyles is going to see a TON of attention in almost all games this year, can OU survive with just one additional weapon? Who is the most likely to step up to help and/or who has disappointed the fan base by not playing a bigger part to date?
C&C: One person on offense who has been notably absent in Oklahoma’s first two games is Roy Finch. He’s making a bit of a transition from running back to slot receiver and has struggled to get on the field. The coaches have implied that he hasn’t earned his playing time yet. Regardless he’s so talented its hard to reason why he isn’t on the field.
As far as other targets go, FSU did a good job at taking away the tight ends and Trey Millard out of the backfield but they also paid the price for it. In doing so they had to leave Kenny Stills on single coverage for the majority of the night which resulted in a seven catch, 125 yard performance including a game winning 37-yard scoring catch. You really do have to pick your poison when defending the OU offense.
The Beef: Finally to this week against Mizzou. Last year, the Tigers were able to create some turnovers and were surprisingly good running the ball on their way to the upset win. You held FSU very much in check on the ground after giving up a little yardage to Tulsa and Mizzou comes in with only one experienced RB. Feeling pretty good about your chances, or great about your chances?
C&C: I think its important to note that I really don’t think there’s a running back on the FSU roster in the same category as Henry Josey who will be the the best running back Oklahoma has faced to this point of the season.
Now, with that said, Oklahoma’s linebackers and defensive tackles are much more physical this year than even a year ago. Add that to the fact the Sooners are playing at home and are a completely different team in Norman than they are anywhere else on the planet I’m feeling really good about Oklahoma’s chances. Just in case, I’d still rather them just kick the ball out of bounds on the opening kickoff.
The Beef: It is 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. What will you need to have seen from the last three and a half hours to be happy with your squad? What does the scoreboard say? What are you drinking?
C&C: This is a conference game against a team that beat the Sooners last year. I’m satisfied just with getting a win. For the reasons stated above I believe that Oklahoma wins this game comfortably by a score of 41-14, sorry. My game day drink of choice (and every other day as well) is fresh brewed homemade sweet iced tea.