Tag: Florida State Seminoles

4-Star RB Daylan ‘Hollywood’ Smothers signs with the Oklahoma Sooners

There’s a new Hollywood in town. Daylan Smothers has officially signed with the Oklahoma Sooners

The early signing period is underway, and the Oklahoma Sooners’ [autotag]2023 recruiting class[/autotag] is beginning to put pen to paper.

[autotag]DeMarco Murray[/autotag] procured another one. Daylan Smothers signed with the Oklahoma Sooners, joining a very young and talented running back room.

247Sports has Smothers ranked as the No. 20 running back in the class and the No. 12 player in the state of North Carolina.

Hailing from West Charlotte High School, Smothers is the lone 2023 Sooner signee from North Carolina.

After visiting OU in June, Smothers committed to the Sooners on July 14 in what was a very good month of recruiting for Brent Venables’ staff. Smothers also had offers from Florida State, Alabama and N.C. State. He visited the Wolfpack program earlier this month.

The young running back is 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds. He was named North Carolina High School Player of the year after his sophomore season.

Javonte Barnes ended up getting the ball quite a bit as a freshman at Oklahoma. Will Smothers earn the same treatment?

Players who use the moniker “Hollywood” seem to have a good track record in crimson and cream.

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4-star wide receiver Keyon Brown signs with the Oklahoma Sooners

Keyon Brown has officially signed with the Oklahoma Sooners

The early signing period is underway, and the Oklahoma Sooners are beginning to put pen to paper with their [autotag]2023 recruiting class[/autotag].

Before the Oklahoma Sooners exploded into the top ten of the recruiting rankings, they were sitting much lower, with only a few commits to their name for the 2023 recruiting cycle. [autotag]Keyon Brown[/autotag], a wide receiver from Tallahassee, Fla., was one of those commits.

After being committed since Jun. 5, the four-star wide receiver put pen to paper, officially becoming an Oklahoma Sooner. Brown also had offers from Auburn, Alabama and Florida State.

Brown is yet another OU signee that ran track in high school. He ran the 4×100. He brings a good amount of size, clocking in at 6-foot-2 and 188 pounds.

During his final season at James Rickards High School, Brown caught six touchdown passes and also had a kickoff return touchdown. The 247Sports composite has Brown as the No. 48 wide receiver and the No. 65 player from the state of Florida.

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4-Star defensive back Makari Vickers signs with Oklahoma Sooners

Four-star defensive back Makari Vickers has signed with the Oklahoma Sooners

The early signing period is underway, and the Oklahoma Sooners are beginning to put pen to paper with their [autotag]2023 recruiting class[/autotag].

Another athlete from SEC territory with track and field experience has signed with the Oklahoma Sooners. This time, it was Makari “Seatbelt” Vickers’ turn to put his name on the dotted line.

The four-star safety from Robert F. Munroe Day School in Tallahassee, Fla. is a top 100 recruit and the No. 6 safety in the 2023 class, according to the 247Sports composite.

Vickers has been committed to the Sooners since Aug. 24, and has had some very attractive offers from other schools closer to home. Florida State was one of those schools. Vickers also had offers from Michigan and Alabama, which were the only other schools he visited during his recruitment.

At 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, Vickers already has impressive size with plenty of room to grow after an offseason with the OU strength and conditioning staff. While he has seen time at both cornerback and safety, he will most likely play at safety as a Sooner, with some time on special teams early on.

The Sooners needed an infusion of talent into their secondary. With Vickers, they’re getting just that.

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Crystal ball predictions show this Penn State commit flipping to Florida State

Crystal ball predictions suggest Penn State could see a commit flip to an ACC school

If all goes according to plan on Wednesday as the early signing period opens up, it should be a relatively quiet day for Penn State as the Class of 2023 begins to become official. But a pair of lat crystal ball picks filed to 247Sports suggests there could be a commit in the class flipping his decision. Safety [autotag]Conrad Hussey[/autotag] could be the player to keep a close eye on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, two crystal ball picks were filed to 247Sports predicting Hussey will end up with Florida State despite currently being committed to Penn State. The predictions come from 247Sports director of recruiting Steve Wiltfong and InsideTheU staff writer Gaby Urrutia.

Hussey is a four-star safety from Fort Lauderdale, Florida from the powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas High School program. Hussey committed to Penn Stae in April of this year and he made an official visit to Penn State in June. But in the last few weeks, since the close of the regular season, Florida State has emerged as a viable threat to Penn State on the recruiting trail.

Hussey made an official visit to Florida State’s campus earlier this month and that was followed a few days later by Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell making a visit to Hussey. While Hussey has not publicly backed off his commitment to the Nittany Lions, the recent pressure from Florida State paired with the latest crystal ball predictions do seem to suggest this is not a sure thing for James Franklin and his staff at the start of the early signing period.

The early signing period runs from December 21 through Friday, December 23.

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Looking back on the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners regular season

Let’s take a step back and look at the positives from the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners regular season.

Well that wasn’t very fun, was it?

After huge amounts of pure optimism from the Oklahoma Sooners fanbase following the hire of Brent Venables, the actual results of the first year of this new era of Oklahoma Football felt like a bit of a dud.

The Sooners finished the regular season 6-6, with a date with a superior Florida State team on the horizon in the Cheez-it Bowl. OU’s first losing record in more than two decades is a possibility in year one of Brent Venables’ tenure.

I don’t want to talk about the bad times from this first year. That’s been done again and again. Instead, let’s look at the positives that this year yielded for the present and future of OU Football.

After Lincoln Riley left for California, the OU fanbase felt betrayed. The second his plane touched down in Norman, Brent Venables immediately devoted himself to giving the fanbase the kick in the pants it needed.

“Make the Palace a nightmare,” he said.

And a nightmare it was. OU home games finally recaptured the hostile environment it had been missing for years, with a notably reenergized student section. The fancy light shows helped.

When the Sooners do move to the SEC, the fans will be ready to go on Saturdays. And with the way the Oklahoma Sooners are recruiting, the talent on the roster will be there too.

The talent that the Sooners need to compete at a high level again is on the way. After reeling in the No. 8 recruiting class in 2022, OU’s 2023 class is again sitting at No. 8 with the potential to finish in the top five. The players are coming. This coaching staff can absolutely recruit the players they need to get the Sooners back on the right track.

While this coaching staff has issues that will need to be addressed in the spring and summer, they will improve. If the same issues from this season are still present in 2023, then we can have discussions about the coaches. Until then, the Cheez-it Bowl awaits.

Florida State is an interesting case. Mike Norvell possibly saved his job with his first bowl trip in year three in Tallahassee. Good for the Seminoles.

This game could be very fun. With several big contributors already opting out to prepare for the draft, the Sooners must be prepared to do one very simple thing.

Unleash the youth.

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Cheez-It Bowl viewed as one of the best matchups by College Football News

The Cheez-It Bowl looks like one of the better matchups this bowl season, landing inside the top 10 of College Football News bowl rankings.

When the Cheez-It Bowl kicks off, college football fans should be in for a high-scoring affair. The matchup between the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida State Seminoles on Dec. 29 will serve as an appetizer to the College Football Playoff.

Florida State had a resurgent season, finishing 9-3, and it had a top-20 offense and defense this season. Led by Jordan Travis and Jared Verse, the Seminoles rattled off five straight wins to close the regular season, winning by an average margin of victory of 28.2 points per game.

Oklahoma had a disappointing season. It went 6-6 and 0-4 in one-score games. It was a frustrating 3-6 finish in Big 12 play after starting the year 3-0 with each win coming by 30 or more points. The Sooners’ offense was good enough in several of those losses, but the defense struggled to get stops in losses to Kansas State, Baylor and Texas Tech. Against West Virginia, the defense was good for three quarters, but the offense struggled on a wet day in Morgantown.

Which Oklahoma team will the Florida State Seminoles see in the Cheez-It Bowl? That remains to be seen, especially with players opting out of the bowl game at critical positions.

Nevertheless, the Sooners should have enough offensive firepower to have a shot to finish the season above .500, with Dillon Gabriel and Marvin Mims leading the way. And that’s why this game has been viewed so favorably despite Oklahoma’s struggles in 2022. In College Football News’ bowl rankings for 2022, Pete Fiutak had the Cheez-It bowl as the seventh-best game in this year’s bowl season.

Oklahoma got its win over Oklahoma State, avoided the embarrassment of not going bowling, came really, really close in the three losses in the last four games – it dropped all of them by three points each. It’s a program that seems like it’s ready to get to next year already, but it’s got the offense to make this wild.

On the flip side, all of the great things FSU did over the second half of the year won’t be undone with a loss, but it wouldn’t be a good look considering Mike Norvell is 0-for-bowls in his six-year career before this season.

There should be lots of offense, lots of energy in the stadium, and lots of storylines going into 2023 no matter what. – Pete Fiutak, College Football News

The Sooners’ defense will have a tough task against Jordan Travis, and Oklahoma will start two new offensive tackles for the game after Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris opted out. Tyler Guyton figures to be one of the starters, and then it will come down to Jacob Sexton, Jake Taylor and Aaryn Parks on the other side.

The Sooners’ offensive line will have a difficult challenge trying to slow Jared Verse, who has 7.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss on the season.

Oklahoma and Florida State could serve as a springboard for the Sooners to get back into Big 12 title contention in 2023. It will be an intriguing matchup between two proud programs when they kick off in the Cheez-It Bowl.

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Oklahoma Sooners outside top 50 in USA TODAY Sports 1-131 re-rank

The Oklahoma Sooners remained well outside the top 50 in the latest USA TODAY Sports 1-131 re-rank. From @bendackiw

Seeing the Oklahoma Sooners so low in the rankings is getting tiresome. OU remained at No. 62 in the latest USA TODAY Sports 1-131 re-rank. It isn’t all that surprising. After all, they have not played a game since the last rankings were released.

6-6 just isn’t a good enough record, which is something everyone in Norman knows. Look at some of the teams that are ahead of the Sooners: Syracuse, Maryland, Ohio, Oklahoma State, and the list goes on and on.

It’s too soon to know whether or not the Sooners will be vastly improved from a talent perspective next season. Plenty of players are hitting the portal, and while this upcoming recruiting class looks very promising, that can change at the drop of a hat, which OU learned the hard way last year.

It will be interesting to see how the Sooners play against Florida State and what a win or loss would do to their position in the rankings. The Sooners haven’t finished with a losing record since 1998, John Blake’s final season as head coach before being replaced by Bob Stoops.

It’s hard to imagine year two of the Venables era going any worse than year one. Venables will have more of his players on the roster, there will hopefully be less drama before the start of the season, and a blue-chip QB prospect will finally join the roster. There is a lot to look forward to in Norman. The Sooners just need to finish off the 2022 season on a high note.

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Where does Oklahoma vs. Florida State rank among the 41 bowl games for 2022?

How did CBS Sports rank the Oklahoma Sooners vs. Florida State Seminoles in the Cheez-It Bowl among the 41 bowl games for 2022?

It’s amazing how differently 7-6 would feel instead of 6-7. But that’s how important the Cheez-It Bowl will be for the Oklahoma Sooners. A win extends their streak of winning seasons to 23. A loss would break a streak started by Bob Stoops and continued by Lincoln Riley.

Brent Venables is building something, and that something will take some time. Still, closing out an inconsistent season with a win would be huge for the Sooners as they look ahead to 2023.

The Florida State Seminoles finally put together a strong year after back-to-back losing seasons under Mike Norvell. The Seminoles are looking for their first 10-win season since 2016 when Jimbo Fisher was still at the helm.

For a random bowl game, this contest has stakes for both sides. Given the offensive firepower of the two teams, the Cheez-It Bowl has the potential to be one of the better bowl games in 2022. ESPN predicted another one-score loss for Oklahoma in a 44-37 shootout.

Ranking each of the bowl games for CBS Sports, Oklahoma vs. Florida State comes in at No. 11.

Florida State fans wish there was a button they could hit that would start the season over with the Seminoles playing at this level right now. If that happened, the ‘Noles would probably end up winning the ACC and could even sneak into the College Football Playoff because it’s been one of the best teams in the country for over a month. There were close losses to NC State and Clemson in October, then five straight wins to finish the season, most in blowout fashion. QB Jordan Travis has ascended to another level and is one of the most exciting players to watch in the country.

So while there’s a chance this game turns into a blowout, even though Oklahoma is only 6-6, it has an offense capable of scoring in a hurry. This game has the potential to be an exciting shootout if the Sooners are healthy. I understand there’s also a good chance I look like a moron for ranking this game so highly if Bad Oklahoma shows up and Florida State wins by a billion. Whatever happens, at least I feel confident the final score won’t be 13-2. – Tom Fornelli, CBS Sports

With [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] at quarterback, there hasn’t been a “bad Oklahoma.” In the only games where they were blown out, they didn’t have Gabriel at the helm for the entire game. The Sooners averaged 37.1 points per game in the 10 games they had Dillon Gabriel for all four quarters. There’s no reason to suspect the offense won’t be good.

Florida State boasts a good defense, but the Sooners proved they could score on anyone in 2022 when Gabriel navigated the offense. Oklahoma’s question is more about what the defense does against the Seminoles’ offense because they’ve struggled all year to stop good offenses.

This one will be a shootout.

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ESPN provides early prediction for Oklahoma vs. Florida State in Cheez-It Bowl

Can Oklahoma’s defense slow down a Florida State offense that’s averaging 36 points per game in 2022? From @john9williams

The Oklahoma Sooners drew a tough task in the bowl season when they travel to Orlando to face the 9-3 Florida State Seminoles. Florida State, who saved Mike Norvell from the hot seat, lost only to NC State, Wake Forest, and Clemson this season and looks to be a team on the upward swing.

They made significant strides on both sides of the ball, and will be a stiff challenge for Brent Venables and the Sooners, who are hoping to avoid their first losing season since 1998.

Over at ESPN, Adam Rittenberg looked at the bowl matchups and provided an early prediction for each game. For Oklahoma vs. Florida State, he sees the Seminoles coming out on top in a shootout. Rittenberg predicts Florida State to win the game 44-37, which would drop Oklahoma to 0-5 on the season in one-score games.

Here’s what Rittenberg had to say:

The Seminoles thought they were free of Brent Venables, the longtime Clemson defensive coordinator who had a difficult first season as OU’s coach. All the ingredients seem to favor FSU, which ended the season on a five-game win streak and has a short trip to the game site. The Seminoles’ improved defense must slow down Dillon Gabriel, the former UCF quarterback who returns to Orlando. But Oklahoma won’t have answers for quarterback Jordan Travis, running back Trey Benson, wide receiver Johnny Wilson and the Noles. – Rittenberg, ESPN

The biggest problem Oklahoma will face defensively is quarterback Jordan Travis. The Sooners have done a good job against traditional rushing attacks but have had a hard time slowing down running quarterbacks.

According to Pro Football Focus, who doesn’t take away rushing yards due to sacks, Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis has run for 471 yards and seven touchdowns. Those seven touchdowns were tied for third in the ACC. His 7.6 rush yards per attempt leads all quarterbacks in the Power Five with at least 25 attempts on the season. 62% of his rushing yards came on designed runs.

We’ve seen how Oklahoma’s defense has struggled against the quarterback run game all season long. With several weeks to prepare, hopefully, the Sooners find some answers to slow down Travis and the Seminoles’ running game.

Running back Trey Benson ran for 969 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 6.9 yards per carry, and Johnny Wilson is their version of Marvin Mims. Wilson averaged 19.9 yards per reception with 35 catches for 695 yards and five touchdowns.

Florida State’s offense averages 36.2 points per game in 2022, good for 17th in the nation. Their defense is what’s improved so much. They’re only allowing 19.7 points per game, which improved from 26.5 points per game a year ago.

It’s going to be a difficult 2022 finale for Brent Venables and company. But if they can limit the damage in the quarterback run game, they’ll have a shot to close the first season of the Brent Venables era with a winning record and on a high note.

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Report: Sooners to face Florida State in Cheez-it Bowl

The Oklahoma Sooners will be headed to Orlando to play the Florida State Seminoles in the Cheez-it Bowl.

The Oklahoma Sooners have their bowl game and their opponent. The crimson and cream will be headed to Florida to play in the Cheez-it Bowl against the Florida State Seminoles. We’ve got a 2000 national championship rematch according to Brett McMurphy of The Action Network.

The Cheez-it Bowl will be played on Dec. 29 at 4:30 CST on ESPN. All things considered, this is a solid bowl to play in for a team that finished 6-6.

 

There’s a bit of pride on the line for OU in this game. The Sooners haven’t finished with a losing record since 1998, with John Blake at head coach.

Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell gets FSU to a bowl for the first time in year three of his tenure. Norvell was rumored to be on the hot seat prior to the season, but it seems that he finally has his program turned around.

In last season’s Cheez-it Bowl, Clemson defeated Iowa State 20-13.

Winning in Orlando would be a nice way to end an incredibly frustrating 2022 campaign for Brent Venables and the Sooners. 7-6 would look a lot better than 6-7. And playing in one of the recruiting hot beds of college football provides a nice perk.

The loss against Texas Tech was incredibly frustrating, but this season could very well end on a positive note.

Now the question that lingers, which Sooners will stain the Cheez-It themed hotel rooms?

 

Season ticket holders will have the opportunity to purchase bowl game tickets from their allotment starting at 10 a.m. CT on Monday. Remaining tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday.

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