Blatant Homerism: What to watch as the Sooners take on Temple
Welcome to Blatant Homerism, my new weekly column for Through the Keyhole. I’m still playing around with the format, but we’ll broadly focus on the Oklahoma Sooners and college football. I also reserve my right to address assorted topics of my choosing, of course – barbecue, Indonesian filmmaking, arena rock, et cetera.
Seeing as this is our maiden voyage, it would be out of order of me to at least not offer up something on OU’s season opener against the Temple Owls in a rare Friday night kickoff. However, aside from the fact it is actual football against another team, you can’t call much about this matchup compelling.
Oddsmakers have installed the Sooners as 43-point favorites, which seems like an adequate reflection of Temple’s putridity. The Owls managed to win three games last year, and it will take a gargantuan effort by Stan Drayton’s team to match that level of success in 2024. With that in mind, let’s delve into a few key points of emphasis for an OU team that is shifting its identity in coach Brent Venables’ third season at the helm.
Jackson Arnold’s demeanor before the snap
Whenever a team is starting a new quarterback – especially one with as little experience as Arnold – I try to keep an eye on how he operates before the ball is in play. That covers details like how he relays signals to the rest of the offense and any general signs about his level of comfort running the show. How frenetic or demonstrative is he in between plays, for example?
To be fair, you can only glean so much from what you observe on television or in the stands. We shouldn’t go overboard when it comes to conclusions about Arnold’s level of comfort, but it’s still worth watching.
The organic pass rush
Brent Venables loves to blitz, but everything works better for a defense when the pass rushers can get home on their own. OU has missed that kind of organic pressure from its edges for too long. Last year, defensive end Ethan Downs led the team in sacks with a paltry 4.5 for the entire season.
The Sooners shouldn’t have a lot trouble plowing through the Owls up front without cooking up any exotic pressures. If that proves to be a chore, consider it a warning sign for the rest of the year.
Which run concepts do the Sooners deploy?
With Seth Littrell now in command of the OU offense, he and co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley have a chance to put their own stamp on the scheme bequeathed to them by Jeff Lebby. While the pair will likely keep the offense pretty basic in the opener, we could get a better idea of which concepts they generally favor with the personnel at their disposal this season. In particular, watch to see how many counter run calls Littrell makes. OU’s strength in the middle of the offensive line suggests this squad might benefit from basing more of its running game out of inside zone, but old habits can be hard to break.
Does Jovantae Barnes have any juice left?
Barnes’ disappearance in 2023 remains perplexing as he now occupies a spot at the top of the running back depth chart with Gavin Sawchuk. The word out of preseason practices is that he showed no lingering effects of whatever held him back last season.
Given the differences in their running styles, a Barnes-Sawchuk rotation could keep opposing defense on their heels all season. We’ll find out if the talk of Branes’ rejuvenation is legit soon enough.
The distribution of snaps on the defensive line
It makes for a compelling story, but I don’t necessarily view it as a good thing that freshman Jayden Jackson was deemed OU’s best option at defensive tackle. At 6-2, 312 pounds, Jackson has adequate size to play the three-tech position, and he held up well at the point of attack in what we saw of him at the spring game. However, expecting an 18 year old to withstand the rigors of playing defensive line for an entire season seems ambitious, especially once the Sooners get into the heart of conference play.
Perhaps Jackson is built differently than your typical freshman, but the fact he is in line for so many snaps reinforces the importance of setting up a solid rotation at the two DT positions. Last year, five interior DLs averaged at least 21 snaps per game for the Sooners:
Jacob Lacey - 29.6 snaps per game;
Isaiah Coe - 27.3;
Da’Jon Terry - 23.5;
Jordan Kelley - 23;
Jonah Laulu - 21.5.
You’ll notice that only one name on that list returns in 2024 (Terry). Between Terry, Jackson, Damonic Williams, David Stone, Gracen Halton, Davon Sears and Ashton Sanders, DL coach Todd Bates needs is probably looking for at least five players – and preferably six – to replicate a similar distribution this season. That project starts Friday night.
The champ is here!
Over the weekend, I won the annual BBQ throwdown at our neighborhood block party. My main entry consisted of a standard brisket flat cooked on a kamado smoker.
What I believe put me over the top, though, was the addition of pork belly burnt ends as a lagniappe. I got the idea from the great Malcom Reed of How to BBQ Right.
Candidly, the hardest part was finding actual pork belly. I only had a couple pounds worth, so they were all gone within about 15 minutes of serving them.
If you’ve got the inclination and a spare three hours or so to smoke some meat, you could do much worse.
A few of the other games I’m trying to watch in an impressive opening slate:
USC vs. LSU (in Vegas) - Lincoln Riley had a lot of time to prepare the Trojans for this one…
Western Kentucky at Alabama - First game for the Crimson Tide in the post-Nick Saban era; the Hilltoppers will sling it.
South Dakota State at Oklahoma State - Why schedule this game if you’re Mike Gundy?
North Dakota State at Colorado - Ibid., Coach Prime.
Colorado State at Texas - Naturally.