Tag: oklahoma sooners

Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley named to Coach of the Year Award watch list

Lincoln Riley was named to the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Trophy watch list on Thursday.

Lincoln Riley was named to the Bobby Dodd Trophy watch list on Thursday. The award, named for the legendary Goergia Tech head coach, has annually honors the nation’s best head coach since 1976.

Riley is joined on the watch list by Dabo Swinner, Luke Fickell, Nick Sabam, Gus Malzahn, Tom Herman, Dan Mullen, Bronco Mendenhall, Brian Kelly, Kirby Smart, Mack Brown and Ed Orgerson. Also present is former OU quarterback and assistant coach Josh Heupel.

The last Big 12 coach to win the award was Bill Synder in 2012. The last OU coach to win was Bob Stoops in 2003.

Besides being one of the most successful coaches in college football in terms of winning percentage, Riley is also constantly exhibiting incredible leadership ability.

Last week, Riley led the entire football team in a march across campus in protest of ongoing racial injustice issues across America, delivered a speech at the end of the march, and worked with the team to get every player registered to vote. You can watch the demonstration here.

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Oklahoma updates game day policy and procedures for home football games

With nine days out from the regular season, Oklahoma is ready to let people into Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for games. 

With nine days out from the regular season, Oklahoma is ready to let people into Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for games.

The Sooners have inquired fans about attending games and season-ticket holders who were approved for the home opener against Missouri State have received tickets. Oklahoma announced on Thursday that they are ready to bring fans in.

Here are some of the updated procedures the Sooners have put in place:

 

Oklahoma offers fan cutouts for football games

Oklahoma offers fan cutouts for football games

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With COVID-19 drastically affecting the sports world, fans are being limited in arenas and stadiums around the globe.

Fortunately for Sooner fans, Oklahoma is joining several other team in putting cardboard cutouts of fans at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium. For $50 fans can have their cutout placed in open seating around the stadium.

The money spent towards the cutouts will benefit the Sooner Relief Fund, which goes directly towards Oklahoma student-athletes. 

All cutouts must be ordered by Tuesday, Sept. 8. Any orders placed after the deadline will still be processed, but are not guaranteed to be in the stadium for the Sooners opener versus Missouri State. The cutouts will stay in the seats for the entirety of the 2020 season.

Oklahoma will take on the Bears on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. Lincoln Riley announced on Tuesday that Spencer Rattler will be taking over as the Sooners’ starting QB in game one.

Lincoln Riley taking different approaches with QBs

Lincoln Riley taking different approaches with QBs

Lincoln Riley’s newest quarterback project has emerged.

On Tuesday, Riley announced that redshirt freshman Spencer Rattler will be taking over the reigns as the Sooners’ newest quarterback.

Rattler, a former five-star recruit out of Arizona, was one of Oklahoma’s highest rated recruits ever.

Despite his talent, his skillset differs from the past few quarterbacks Riley has coached.

“I think I always coach them different.” Riley said on Thursday. “I think you coach the guys that you have and every player that you have in there is going to have different strengths, weaknesses, experience levels. I have said this many times about this group, you kind of have two levels of experience. You have got on the field, game experience. Then you’ve got experience level within our system, running our plays. It’s kind of varied levels all over as you mention.”

Rattler beat out Tanner Mordecai for the starting spot. Riley mentioned earlier in the week that Mordecai unfortunately missed a majority of preseason camp.

Even on his current roster, Riley has differing skillsets among his quarterbacks. Rattler is a dual-threat QB, and Mordecai more on the pro-style side.

“I think guys learn differently. Guys need different things. Guys have different strengths and weaknesses. As far as expectations different, no.” Riley said. “These guys are more than capable of running this offense and playing the position we expect it to be played. I think they’re going to do some really good things. I think we’ve got good players around them. Our expectations for how they play and for how our offense plays has certainly not changed.”

The Sooners open their season with Missouri State on Sept. 12.

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Breaking down ESPN’s updated SP+ Ratings for 2020

ESPN’s Bill Connelly released a new version of his SP+ ratings on Tuesday, factoring in new injuries and opt-outs since his last release.

Given the incredibly turbulent nature of the 2020 college football season, team evaluations rightfully remain in constant flux.

With that in mind, ESPN’s Bill Connelly released an updated version of his preseason SP+ ratings on Tuesday, factoring in new injuries and opt-outs since his last release.

The most notable result: Oklahoma’s chance of going undefeated experienced a slight increase, now sitting at 14.26%.

As far as net rating, OU ended up on the positive side, increasing their SP+ rating by a tenth of a point. It’s a minor change, but certainly the preferred outcome compared to a decrease.

Across the Big 12, TCU, Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas also increased their rating, while Texas, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Kansas State all decreased theirs.

Fresh SP+ ratings also mean updated game-by-game win probabilities for this season. Far and away the biggest change comes in the Red River Showdown. OU’s chances to beat Texas this season increased by 1.34%.

Outside of that matchup, probabilities saw minor changes across the board.

In terms of offense and defense, OU’s offensive rating decreased by three tenths of a point, while their defensive rating increased by four tenths of a point (hence the one tenth of a point net increase).

OU is set to host Missouri State to open the 2020 season on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. CT.

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Oklahoma’s Joe Mixon signs four-year, $48M contract extension

Former Oklahoma and current Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon has signed a four-year, $48 million extension

Former Oklahoma and current Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon has signed a four-year, $48 million extension, per a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Mixon’s rookie contract was set to expire after the 2020 season, but the Bengals have now locked up their star running back through 2024.  The $12 million per year value makes Mixon the sixth-highest paid back in the league, per Over The Cap.

Mixon told ESPN in December, “At the end of the day, I want to be a Bengal for life. Whatever happens, I just hope for the best.”

With the new deal, Mixon joins an elite group of running backs with an annual salary of greater than $10 million. He is also the youngest player in the group.

Mixon ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing yards in 2019 with 1,137 yards on 278 attempts, good for 4.1 yards per attempt. He also racked up 5 rushing touchdowns and 3 receiving touchdowns.

Mixon ranks fourth in the NFL in total rushing yards since he entered the league in 2017, trailing only Ezekiel Elliot, Todd Gurley and Derrick Henry.

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Kickoff time, broadcast details announced for Oklahoma’s games against Texas, Kansas State

Now it’s starting to feel like football season. Oklahoma has gotten its kickoff times to start off 2020 and those times are familiar.

Now it’s starting to feel like football season.

Oklahoma and its brand have produced a multitude of nationally broadcasted games, especially the 11 a.m. CT kickoff slot on FOX, ABC or ESPN. The Sooners have rarely gotten the regional broadcasts at 2:30 and typically play lesser opponents in the morning for everyone to see.

Things aren’t changing a whole lot in a pandemic season like 2020.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma football announced kickoff times for the Big 12 opener against Kansas State and rivalry game against Texas. While OU-Texas is always at 11 a.m. CT, Kansas State will get the same experience.

Both games got the rooster kick and will be broadcasted on FOX.

The Sooners will begin the 2020 season on Sept. 12 against Missouri State at home. The game will be broadcasted on a pay-per-view subscription. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. More details about that can be found here.

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USA TODAY Sports projects the Longhorns to finish second

Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports laid out his predictions for the Big 12. Just where does he see the Texas Longhorns finishing?

USA TODAY Sports college football writer Paul Myerberg laid out his predictions for the Big 12 this season.

As one would expect, Myerberg has the Oklahoma Sooners leading the way in the conference. No shock as no one has been able to knock off Oklahoma for five consecutive seasons. In that time, the Sooners have lost one game or less in the conference every year.

What Paul Myerberg says about the Longhorns

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Talk to coaches and those in the know around the Big 12 about the Longhorns’ chances under Tom Herman and you’ll get arguments on both ends of the spectrum, with some arguing that Texas is ready to compete for a College Football Playoff berth and others certain the Herman era will eventually sputter toward a disappointing conclusion. In 2020, it’s easier to make a case for the former than the latter. The Longhorns have a senior quarterback in Sam Ehlinger and are on paper more experienced than at any point during Herman’s tenure.- Paul Myerberg in his Big 12 projections

Projected final win-loss record

Conference record in parentheses 

  1. Oklahoma Sooners 8-2 (7-2)
  2. Texas Longhorns 7-3 (6-3)
  3. Oklahoma State Cowboys 7-3 (6-3)
  4. Texas Christian Horned Frogs 6-4 (5-4)
  5. Iowa State Cyclones 6-4 (5-4)
  6. Kansas State Wildcats 6-4 (5-4)
  7. West Virginia Mountaineers 5-5 (4-5)
  8. Texas Tech Red Raiders 4-6 (3-6)
  9. Baylor Bears 4-6 (3-6)
  10. Kansas Jayhawks 2-8 (1-8)

Next Longhorns Wire weighs in

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

It’s official: Sam Ehlinger vs Spencer Rattler in the Red River Rivalry

The Oklahoma Sooners made it official that Spencer Rattler will be the starter. This sets up a matchup with senior quarterback Sam Ehlinger.

In the most obvious breaking news of the day, the Oklahoma Sooners announced that Spencer Rattler would be the starting quarterback. Rattler had been in a “quarterback competition” with Tanner Mordecai. However, the news that Rattler will be the starter sets up the Red River Rivalry showdown.

The young inexperience redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler against the savvy veteran senior Sam Ehlinger. This year will mark the fourth rivalry matchup for Ehlinger, who debuted in the 2017 matchup. After being down 20-0 with 4:32 left in the first half, he would lead the Longhorns back to take the lead with 8:01 left in the game. Ultimately falling 29-24 to the Sooners.

Ehlinger is 1-2 in his career against the Sooners in the Red River Rivalry. After their loss in the Big 12 Championship, Sam is 1-3. Ehlinger could even the series with victories on Oct. 10 and in the Big 12 Championship game. In his lone win, he bested a quarterback debuting in the rivalry. Kyler Murray made one start in the series, losing 48-45 to the Longhorns on a last second kick by Cameron Dicker.

For Rattler, a quarterback debuting in his first taste of the rivalry haven’t faired well as of late. In fact, three of the last five quarterbacks to debut in this game have lost. Blake Bell, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray all fell in their first matchups against Texas as the starter.

While you can argue that Spencer Rattler is more talented than the other three from a recruiting standpoint, he will have his work cut out for him. No Kennedy Brooks and no CeeDee Lamb this year. Lincoln Riley knows how to put his guys into a position to win. In the biggest game of the year for the Big 12 Conference, this will be a battle worth every penny.

Oklahoma, Missouri State game gets selected as pay-per-view broadcast

Despite television slots opening up, Oklahoma will play behind a paywall to start the 2020 season. Missouri State game is pay-per-view.

Despite television slots opening up, Oklahoma will play behind a paywall to start the 2020 season.

The Sooners will kickoff the season on Sept. 12 against Missouri State at 6 p.m. CT. Oklahoma announced on Tuesday that the game against the Bears will be broadcasted on pay-per-view.

The game will be produced by FOX Sports Oklahoma and will be “dedicated pay-per-view channel on participating Oklahoma program providers and nationwide via participating satellite and telco distributors,” according to the press release. Pricing will vary per distributor.

Oklahoma will also be streaming the game online on SoonerSports.tv. Fans can purchase the game for $54.99 or it can be paired with an annual subscription to SoonerSports.tv for $79.99.

Here is a list of television providers according to the press release by Oklahoma football.

 

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