🏈 OU looks like OU again
🏈 OU looks like OU again
Oklahoma is beginning to resemble the program we're accustomed to seeing as the Sooners transition into the Caleb Williams era.
✌🏽Happy Monday, friends. Let’s ride.
🤔 Who was Kansas’ head football coach the last time the Jayhawks beat the Sooners? [Answer in footnotes]
💭 Final thoughts
Oklahoma fans wanted an easy win and got a 21-point victory over TCU that was harder than it looked.
Still, the Sooners finally beat an FBS opponent by more than a touchdown and it came in Caleb Williams’ starting debut.
The Sooners still have plenty of issues, most notably on defense, which is struggling to keep players healthy. The good news? Everyone in college football has issues right now, and the Sooners are on track to realize their goals as long as they keep winning.
I wrote plenty about the game in my weekly 10 takes column, which is linked below. I want to address something quickly though.
Is Caleb Williams a serious Heisman Trophy contender?
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit entertained the thought during Saturday’s ABC broadcast and had this tweet following the game:
It might not be so far-fetched.
Williams has the sixth-best odds to win the award following Saturday’s game, making it very realistic that he could sneak into the conversation.
He already has the “Heisman moment,” leading OU to an improbable win over Texas in the Cotton Bowl a week ago.
He has the compelling story as the true freshman, who replaced the preseason Heisman favorite and didn’t play his senior year of high school football due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The stats? Well, it’s going to be impossible to catch up with not starting for half the season. But Williams should light up Kansas and Texas Tech, and he’ll likely have a chance to knock off two or three ranked opponents to end the year to bolster his impromptu campaign.
Williams was on another level Saturday. Like seriously, what freshman makes this run?
For more on Williams and the Sooners’ 7-0 start, get caught up with my 10 postgame takes:
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🔋Big 12 power rankings
Bedlam still runs the conference, while Baylor confirmed its early-season success wasn’t a product of an easy schedule.
Here we are already more than halfway through the year:
Oklahoma (7-0, Last week: 1): Caleb Williams made a statement in his starting debut. The Sooners, once again, look like the team to beat in the conference.
Oklahoma State (6-0, Last week: 2): The Oklahoma State defense is as good as I can remember under Mike Gundy. If the Cowboys keep this up, Bedlam is likely to have two rounds this year.
Baylor (6-1, Last week: 3): Baylor rocked BYU 38-24 for its second ranked win of the season. The Bears are off this coming week and are back in action against Texas on Oct. 30.
Iowa State (4-2, Last week: 5): The Cyclones are looking more like the team that was projected to be a Big 12 title contender after a 33-20 win over Kansas State on Saturday.
Texas (4-3, Last week: 4): Texas still can’t hold on to a lead, falling to Oklahoma State at home. The obvious: Steve Sarkisian clearly needs more time to turn things around in Austin.
Texas Tech (5-2, Last week: 8): The Red Raiders beat Kansas 41-14 to get back to .500 in conference play. The Red Raiders are at home this week to face Kansas State.
Kansas State (3-3, Last week: 6): The Wildcats have yet to win a Big 12 game. It doesn’t help, however, when you start conference play with Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Iowa State.
TCU (3-3, Last week: 7): TCU’s defense isn’t what it used to be, while the Horned Frogs finally seem to have something to be proud of on offense. Queinton Johnston is an absolute terror.
West Virginia (2-4, Last week: 9): Off this last weekend. The Mountaineers resume play at TCU on Saturday.
Kansas (1-5, Last week: 10): KU's uniforms were kind of cool this week?
📈 OU moves up
Another wild week of college football saw No. 2 Iowa fall to unranked Purdue.
The Sooners moved to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 as a result, trailing only No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Cincinnati.
Other notes:
OU was ranked No. 2 on 11 ballots. The Sooners were ranked as low as No. 8 by one voter.
Oklahoma State moved to No. 8 after rallying to beat Texas, which fell out of the top 25.
You know which team from Texas is ranked this week? The University of Texas at San Antonio, which is 7-0. What a year for the UTSA Roadrunners.
Baylor is back in the rankings with its win over BYU over the weekend. The Bears rank No. 20.
Iowa State was outside the top 25 but received the sixth-most votes of all unranked teams.
🎥 Must watch
Dallas won a thriller against New England on Sunday. The Cowboys needed overtime to down the Patriots but walked off with a win following a touchdown from Dak Prescott to former Sooners star CeeDee Lamb.
⏰ On this day
Fourteen years ago today, Gabe Lynn announced his commitment to Oklahoma. He developed into a two-year starter in OU’s secondary, earned an All-Big 12 honorable mention selection as a senior and played briefly with the Detroit Lions.
The highlight of his OU career is pretty easy for me:
Terry Allen