Fredsportsextra College Football Review: Sooners Defense; Oklahoma State Lookback; Alabama Tops 25

Plenty of reasons for Oklahoma’s defense to be trashed by Texas Tech last Saturday night.  Here is the list:

1.  Sooners have injury problems on that side of the ball

2. Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes II is very good against porous defenses

3. Mike Stoops and his defense tried everything to stop a passing attack void of a running game and it did not work-coach was shit-out-of-luck

4. OU could not stop Tech on third down all night.

We will not see such a game like the one in Lubbock anytime soon (well, we might, sooner than later).  OU’s defense was the worst defense in the country trying to stop that Red Raider offense  (well, I am not into going to Tech practices). It just was a “perfect storm” and it kept on raining and blowing Tech touchdowns on OU.  And the Tech defense was in the same storm in trying to stop the Sooners (and I will not go into the structure of the Red Raiders defense as hell-if-I-know).

Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury had no answer for the Sooner offense that also gained record yardage in the contest. I had predicted OU to score 80 in the game but the Red Raiders “held” the Big Red to 66.  Give credit to Mahomes II and his bunch in not turning it over much.  Joe Mixon, DeDe Westbrook, and Sooner quarterback  Baker Mayfield baked and ate the Red Raider cake defense with gusto, filling their bellies with soft yards, frosting off touchdowns thru the air and on the ground.  This was the first game in NCAA history in this “big boy” division to have a 250 yard rusher (Mixon), a 200 yard pass catcher (Westbrook), and a 500 yard passer (Mayfield).  It was one of the Sooner records set (and if you are a Tech fan, you know what Mahomes II did to OU).  Yes sports fans, you liked the game or you didn’t, but it was historic, on both sides of the field.

What can OU do to play better defense against the likes of Oklahoma State, Baylor, West Virginia, Kansas and Iowa State?  Getting some of the injured players back onto the field will not hurt.  But let us get realistic.  Of those five teams mentioned above, we all know that three of them will light the Sooner up if changes don’t happen. And we come to find out that Bob Stoops will continue to have confidence to continue to do what they have been doing in the past.  And that is an honest outlook for the Sooner boss. What can you do?  Another perfect storm, a couple coming to Norman in the real near future?

Oklahoma State got into the game in Lawrence after a sluggish couple of quarters.  Kansas has a very good defensive line that played well to bottle up the Pokes enough to keep the game interesting.  The same start this week against West Virginia will not be good.

Texas needs to play their games at home in Austin where they are unbeaten.  Kansas State was just ok but that was enough to beat the Horns in Manhattan and put another nail in the coffin of Charlie Strong.

West Virginia beat an over-rated TCU.  That does not mean I think West Virginia is an patsy that does not deserve a nice national ranking.  The seven starters on offense and the same on defense tell me that the Mountaineers are a veteran team with a bunch load of experience. Good win for Dana Holgorsen.

Big Twelve Rankings

1. West Virginia

2. Baylor

3. Oklahoma State

4. Oklahoma

5. Kansas State

6. TCU

7. Texas Tech

8. Texas

9. Iowa State

10. Kansas

Fredsportsextra’s Top 25

1. Alabama

2. Michigan

3. Washington

4. Clemson

5. Ohio State

6. Louisville

7. West Virginia

8. Texas A&M

9. Wisconsin

10. Florida State

11. Baylor

12. Auburn

13. Nebraska

14. Utah

15. Florida

16. Navy

17. Boise State

18. Oklahoma State

19. Western Michigan

20. LSU

21. Washington State

22. Oklahoma

23. Colorado

24. Penn State

25. Tennessee

Final Four:  Alabama, Washington, Michigan, Clemson

National Championship Game:  Alabama over Michigan

Feature photo of Joe Mixon (http://stormininnorman.com/2016/10/23/oklahoma-football-takeaways-from-track-meet-texas-tech/)