Sooners Wire – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Former Sooners LB Nik Bonitto off to hot start with Denver Broncos

The blistering fast Nik Bonitto is off to a hot start in his rookie year for the Denver Broncos. From @bendackiw

The folks at Pro Football Focus were big fans of Nik Bonitto in his final season in Norman. They named Bonitto their Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The former Sooners EDGE Nik Bonitto is doing the same thing in Denver for the Broncos that he did in Norman for OU, pressure the quarterback. Bonitto has the highest pass-rush win rate of all rookie EDGEs at 20%. He ranks 17th among all EDGE players in the NFL.

The Sooners have missed Bonitto’s impact on defense. While Ethan Downs and Reggie Grimes had a solid start to the year, the OU pass rush has gone cold since Big 12 play began.

Nik Bonitto leads all rookies in Pass Rush Win Rate (20%) and ranks 17th among all EDGEs with at least 50 pass rushes

How DEN’s EDGEs are doing in PRWR (min. 50 rushes):

1. Gregory (24.7%. Ranks 4th)
2. Browning (24.6%. 5th)
3. Bonitto (20%. T-17th)
4. Chubb (13.7%. T-63rd)

— Zach Segars (@Zach_Segars) November 1, 2022

The Broncos selected Bonitto in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He was the first Sooner taken off the board. In a frustrating beginning to the season in the Rocky Mountains, Bonitto has been a bright spot.

As he’s come on strong of late, Denver might’ve found a vital piece to their defensive front for the next half-decade, or more. Broncos Country, let’s ride.

EDIT: The Denver Broncos have just traded linebacker Bradley Chubb to the Miami Dolphins. With Chubb gone, Bonitto’s usage will only increase.

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The wheels fell off in Lincoln Riley’s final trip to Waco

When Oklahoma last faced the Baylor Bears, the Sooners were a top 10 team coming off a big win. Then the wheels fell off. From @bendackiw

A little less than a year ago, the 9-0 No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners went into Waco coming off a massive 52-21 win over Texas Tech to play the No. 13 Baylor Bears.

While the Sooners had massive problems on both sides of the ball, you just couldn’t argue with the perfect record. Caleb Williams was looking like a superstar in the making. A trip to the College Football Playoff was looking more and more likely.

Then the wheels fell off.

It was just a nightmare game all-around. This was easily Caleb Williams’ worst game in a Sooners uniform. He threw two very ugly interceptions and just looked uncomfortable throwing the ball. He looked off. Williams was benched in the third quarter and Spencer Rattler took over, at least for a bit.

The run game didn’t fare much better. The Sooners were held to under three yards per attempt. The offense totaled 260 yards on the day. That would be the fewest amount of yards the Sooners would ever have with Lincoln Riley as a coach, his years as an offensive coordinator included.

Gabe Brkic had a very bad day. The normally reliable Sooners kicker missed two field goals, both wide right.

So many players from that 2021 team are somewhere else now. It’s bizarre to see all those names in OU uniforms that are either at other schools or in the NFL.

Of course, we all know how last season ended. While the Sooners did have issues, they weren’t losing games because of them. The high-end talent on offense was there to bail them out. Baylor was just too good of a football team on that day.

Now, the Sooners are one win away from bowl eligibility and the Bears are trying to stay in the Big 12 Championship race. This time, the game is in Norman. It’s payback time.

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With destiny out of Oklahoma’s control, winning the next game is all that matters

With their odds at a Big 12 Championship on life-support, all the Sooners can do is take care of their own business.

When the Oklahoma Sooners lost to the Texas Longhorns 49-0, their chances at a trip to Arlington for the Big 12 Championship were all but destroyed. The Sooners had lost three straight games, which was something that hadn’t happened in over two decades.

After a bounce-back win against Kansas and a much-needed bye week, the Sooners are now 4-3 with five games remaining on their schedule. Bowl eligibility is within their grasp.

These aren’t the results Sooners fans are used to. Not this generation, anyway. The last time the Sooners had three losses in a season was in 2014, when they lost five games. They ended that season by scoring six points in a loss against Brent Venables’ defense in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

With Dillon Gabriel, there is a possibility that the Sooners win five straight and make it to the Big 12 Championship. It’s very unlikely. The odds for Oklahoma to win the Big 12 title are .01%, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. However, there is a path. They need a lot of help to get there.

Oklahoma would have to win out along with TCU. Oklahoma State would have to lose another game in addition to Bedlam. Kansas State and Texas would need to finish with four losses. It’s a slim chance, but hey, there’s a chance.

With a tough schedule for the remainder of this year, all the Sooners can do is worry about who they have in front of them on the remaining five Saturdays of the regular season. Losing even one of their next five games will kill any remaining chance they have at the Big 12 Championship.

I guarantee Brent Venables isn’t telling his players, “ok guys, we just need to win two more games to make it to a bowl game.” He’s not saying that. He’s not wired that way. He wants to win football games, and there are five more to go.

So many players on the current roster will be back next year. I want to see how they play with their backs against the wall. I want these guys to give me hope that next year will be different. If the Sooners are mathematically eliminated from the Big 12 race, I want it to be at the end of the regular season, not this Saturday.

In the words of the late Al Davis, “Just win, baby.” That’s all the Sooners can do. Win some football games and let the chips fall where they may.

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Texas vs. Oklahoma: Behind Enemy Lines with Sooners Wire

We went “Behind Enemy Lines” with our friends at Sooners Wire to preview the Red River Rivalry.

Texas and Oklahoma meet in Dallas for the annual Red River Showdown on Saturday. Continue reading “Texas vs. Oklahoma: Behind Enemy Lines with Sooners Wire”

Oklahoma Sooners struggle in Cowtown, losing to the TCU Horned Frogs 55-24

The Oklahoma Sooners fell to 3-2 and 0-2 in Big 12 play, losing 55-24 to Max Duggan and the TCU Horned Frogs.

For the second straight week, the Oklahoma Sooners’ defense was dominated in Big 12 play. This week, it was the TCU Horned Frogs who stormed out to a 20-3 lead early in the first quarter and ultimately won 55-24 to improve to 4-0. Oklahoma dropped their second straight Big 12 game and started 0-2 in the conference for the second time in three seasons.

Outplayed, outcoached, outmuscled. TCU outplayed them in every aspect. There’s no way around what happened in Fort Worth. The Sooners fell to 3-2 on the season and lost their starting QB and leader in the process.

The secondary was a complete disaster after Billy Bowman got hurt. They struggled to locate the football allowing Max Duggan and the Horned Frogs to hit big play after big play in the passing game.

The pass rush, once again, was a complete non-factor. They couldn’t generate pressure at all, and even when they did, TCU QB Max Duggan used his athleticism to buy time and get rid of the ball.

From top to bottom, this defense looked nothing like the defenses that Brent Venables has become known for. It’s one thing to get beat, it’s another to look completely disorganized. Too many times, TCU had open players running all alone down the field for big touchdowns.

The Sooners got struggled on both sides of the ball.

Max Duggan played a phenomenal game. Duggan was 23 of 33 for 302 yards and three touchdowns and added 116 yards and two touchdowns on just five rushing attempts. Kendre Miller had a big game as well, rushing 13 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns.

Before being injured, Dillon Gabriel was not having a good game. Between overthrows and poor mechanics, this was easily his worst game as a Sooner. Gabriel missed a few throws against Kansas State. He missed a lot more against TCU. Regularly throwing high even when the Sooners got what they wanted offensively.

Davis Beville didn’t fare much better in relief. Jeff Lebby seemed hesitant to let Beville throw the ball, even when they were down big. Oklahoma ran the ball 22 times in the second half when they were down by 24 points. The Sooners threw the ball just six times in the second half.

Thankfully, Gabriel walked off the field under his own power, but it remains to be seen what his status will be for the Red River Showdown. If he’s forced to miss time, the Oklahoma Sooners will have a problem.

The injury bug feasted on OU in Norman. Gabriel, Wanya Morris, Billy Bowman, Eric Gray, Theo Wease, and Damond Harmon all left the game due to injury.

The injuries to Gabriel and Harmon were incredibly scary. While Gabriel was able to walk off of his own volition, Harmon was immobilized and taken to the locker room on a cart. The Sooners’ depth is about to be tested even more than it has been through the first few games of the season.

Two weeks ago, the Sooners were the talk of college football after manhandling Nebraska. Now, they’re looking to save their season.

The Sooners are 0-2 in Big 12 play, with Red River up next. Quinn Ewers is expected to start next week for the Longhorns after being out since week two. After how this secondary looked against the Horned Frogs, this defense is in trouble. The Sooners are in trouble.

Big 12 week 5 predictions: Can Kansas, Kansas State keep rolling at home?

The race for the Big 12 Championship continues as the Jayhawks host the Cyclones and the Mountaineers travel to Austin.

For the first time this season, we have a full slate of Big 12 action coming your way. Oklahoma is in a four-way tie for last in the conference. Losing your first Big 12 matchup of the season will do that.

The Jayhawks still stand atop the conference, albeit with some company this time. Will they still be there after this Saturday’s home matchup vs. Iowa State?

It’s an intriguing slate of Big 12 games that features a rematch of the 2022 Big 12 championship game. A matchup between Texas Tech and Kansas State features two teams who knocked off the Big 12’s departing blue bloods a week ago.

If you like Big 12 football, the entire slate offers some fun games to watch, but how will the games turn out? Here’s this weeks Big 12 predictions.

Response vs. TCU Horned Frogs everything for Brent Venables, Oklahoma Sooners

After last week’s brutal loss to Kansas State, it’s time for Brent Venables to show that he is indeed the man for this job

The first loss of the Brent Venables era left the fanbase feeling shocked and disappointed. Surely the Sooners didn’t lose a game before the Trojans did in their first Big 12 game.

Well, they did. And there’s no going back now. They got outplayed and outcoached. It happens. Here’s the question: how do the Sooners respond after getting run over at home?

The reaction, both locally and nationally, would not be pretty if Oklahoma loses in Fort Worth on Saturday against Sonny Dykes’ Horned Frogs. A loss would leave the Sooners 3-2 with an 0-2 record in Big 12 play heading into the Red River Showdown. That’s sub-optimal, to say the least.

No one’s job is on the line this week. Let’s be clear on that. However, this coaching staff has made it known that they are different than the one that preceded them. Too often in the past, the Sooners wouldn’t respond well to adversity. Safe to say, they’re facing their share of it now.

If the Sooners come out slow against TCU, that’s a massive problem. After this staff’s first loss, the response is everything.

“We’re not going to be defined by this loss moving forward,” Venables said to the media after the game. “We will, however, be defined by how we respond moving forward. And then I still believe, with everything I got, in this team and what’s still sitting in front of us.”

Still sitting in front of them is a chance to contend for a Big 12 title. Though their chances to make the playoffs have diminished greatly, they still have a shot as long as they win.

And it starts with what they do when they go down to Fort Worth this week.

The Sooners need to come out firing on all cylinders against TCU. This coaching staff inherited all the talent necessary to win football games in the Big 12. Venables himself has said that he is the man to bring OU into the SEC.

Time to show it.

The Sooners need to show that they are indeed different from the teams that came before them. They need to go into Fort Worth and show that week four was an aberration.

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From the Student Section: Sooners performance vs. Kansas State unsustainable

A poor defensive performance combined with an inconsistent offense put Oklahoma behind from the jump against Kansas State.

I won’t sugarcoat it: that was a heartbreaker.

I had such a good opener planned out for this column after a win. Now I will never get to use it. Thanks, Kansas State.

That’s a brutal loss. Letting the Wildcats beat you the way they did in that environment is just unacceptable. The defense looked disorganized, the pass rush went missing for long periods of time, and the tackling was just dreadful.

K-State’s offensive line deserves a lot of credit for how well they played. The Sooners’ defensive line was a non-factor in the running game all night long, and when the linebackers could actually get near Wildcats running back Deuce Vaughn, he often ran right by them.

Adrian Martinez had a phenomenal performance running the football, but he is a very mediocre thrower. The Wildcats killed the Sooners with option plays. K-State’s coaching staff knew the Sooners couldn’t stop the run, and the Wildcats ran wild to the tune of nearly 300 yards.

Offensively, at times, the Sooners were quite offensive. Screen passes on second and long need to be taken out of the playbook immediately. Passes to receivers behind the line of scrimmage should not have been relied on as much as they were.

Jeff Lebby didn’t call a good game. I understand his high-tempo offense is what makes him so valuable, but the Sooners leaned on it too much. When teams are running the ball like K-State was, you need to control the clock. OU didn’t. The Sooners fell behind in time of possession once again, this time 24:56 to Kansas State’s 35:04.

When an offense has your defense’s number like K-State did, keep your defense off the field.

These slow starts on offense are becoming a theme. OU took nearly the entire first half to find the end zone against Kent State. They started off the Nebraska game with a five-play drive, while the Huskers answered with a touchdown, and against K-State, they had one first down on their first two drives. They punted on three of their first four.

That’s just not sustainable, and it’s not going to get easier against other Big 12 opponents.

The penalties are unacceptable for this team. Multiple false starts at home are ridiculous. The Sooners had four in the second half.

Between penalties and fixable mistakes on defense, it’s going to be a busy week in practice before the Sooners head south to face TCU.

The best performance of the night came from the fans. After all that nonsense directed at the student section after the UTEP game, they delivered a raucous atmosphere. They were loud. That’s all other Oklahoma fans can ask of them.

This season is by no means over. There’s so much football left to be played, and the sky isn’t falling. This loss could end up serving a purpose. After the first loss of the Brent Venables era, how the Sooners respond will be interesting to watch.

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Final thoughts on Oklahoma Sooners primetime matchup with Kansas State Wildcats

As the Oklahoma Sooners get set to take on the Kansas State Wildcats, here are this week’s final thoughts.

The opponent gets tougher as the Oklahoma Sooners get set to face the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday night. In front of a capacity crowd under the lights, the Oklahoma Sooners will look to put on a show in their first conference game of the Brent Venables era.

Despite who the Wildcats have faced, Kansas State is the toughest opponent they’ve faced thus far.

The Wildcats pose problems on both sides of the ball that could keep this game interesting into the second half, but the Sooners have the talent and the coaching staff to earn another statement win Saturday night.

Here are this week’s final thoughts.

5 Sooners to watch on offense against Kansas State

Five Oklahoma Sooners to watch on offense against the Kansas State Wildcats Saturday night.

For the second time this season, the Oklahoma Sooners will play under the brand new lights at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The team that awaits them will be their toughest test in this young season, the Kansas State Wildcats.

Other than Deuce Vaughn, Brent Venables’ alma mater doesn’t boast much in terms of offense, but their defense ranks second in the Big 12 in points allowed per game and total yards per game.

The Sooners have all the firepower on offense to pull ahead of the Wildcats early, but Kansas State has a habit of playing up to the Sooners. Chris Klieman’s squad is not to be taken lightly. K-State already had their wakeup call with a close loss to Tulane.

They’re going to come into Norman ready to play.

For the first time in the Brent Venables era, Big 12 play begins. Here are five offensive players to watch in week four.