This Saturday the Big 12 season kicks off for the Oklahoma Sooners and they do it in style as they welcome the 15th ranked Kansas State Wildcats to Norman for a huge showdown.
The Sooners offense has been trying for the past 2 games to get some traction with mixed results. Going into the bye week it appears they have found their running game with Damien Williams, but the offensive line is still working to build chemistry after a tremendous amount of flux in the offseason,
and the mix of new and old at wide receivers paired with quarterback Landry Jones is still a work in progress.
I am sure head coach Bob Stoops had hoped that by this point in the season that high octane rhythm passing game would be going full speed ahead, but Jones hasn’t progressed from last season, and mixing in new targets has further delayed development. So, what will this mean for the Sooners on Saturday night?
What we saw last week with the Wildcats is that they can be hit with strong running, so Stoops needs to heed that. They have Williams as well as last year’s star Dominique Whaley who is getting more healthy every week. Stoops needs to line up and run right at an undersized Wildcat defense and use the run to set up the pass. Typically it’s the other way around for an Oklahoma offense, but I just have a feeling the Sooners are going to come out and try and soften that defense up with some runs, and then take some shots downfield with play action.
Protection will be a key, and while the Wildcats haven’t shown much in terms of a pass rush, you can bet this defense will be keyed up and ready to go, so keeping Jones upright when they do throw it will be vital. Even more than that, they have to give him a window where he’s able to focus and make his reads. Jones has shown this year and the second half of last year, it doesn’t seem to take a whole lot to get him off his rhythm and when that happens, all bets are off.
Overall, I think the talent on the Sooners offense is better than on the Wildcats defense. They will need to be sure they know where Wildcats linebacker Arthur Brown is on every play, and understand that he’s their best defender and regardless of scheme he will make some plays. The matchup between he and these Sooners running backs is going to be a great one to watch.
So, to summarize, the Sooner must be able to run the ball with conviction and consistency. They must do this to back off the pressure and give Jones a chance to make throws. He’s got plenty of talent at wide out, and they are going to have to find spots in the zone defense, and win their one on one matchups K-State gives them. IF they can do those things they will have an offense that can keep Wildcats quarterback Collin Klein off the field, and keep putting up points(touchdowns).
-Curt Popejoy
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