Mateer or not, no easy game ahead at Cotton Bowl
The Sooners dispatched Kent St. last Saturday afternoon with relative ease by the score of 44-0. Second string quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. stepping in for John Mateer played well. Just not great.
There were several positives. He threw for a touchdown and ran for another with no turnovers.
But there were some negatives. At times he held the ball longer than he should have, allowing pressure to get to him and forcing the scramble. Which isn’t always bad as he has the wheels to break off big runs.
This of course was his first action of the season, and he was probably still getting used to his receivers. He ended up going 14 of 24 passing, which isn’t terrible, but again, not great.
I had hoped the offense was going to have more success against a very bad team in Kent St. It might be weird to say that as they put up 44 points. But seven of those were from a defensive scoop and score. And remember, Florida State and Texas Tech each scored over 60 points against the Golden Flashes this year.
But in the end the goal was to of course win the game, which was never in doubt, and get Hawkins comfortable in his first start of the year.
Who knows how much the coaching staff gave him in terms of the playbook? Why show anything on the field but plain vanilla with the Red River Riverly up next?
When was the last time a Top 10 ranked team was an underdog to an unranked team on a neutral field?
texas….man, I hate those bastards.
There are several plot lines going into the annual showdown at the Cotton Bowl this year. Starting with texas. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
The longhorns have gone from the No. 1 team in college football to unranked in five short weeks. That to me is very deceiving. They lost to Ohio St in Columbus in a one score game and Florida in the Swamp within one score as well. Those are tough places to play.
Some people think that texas is still a very good football team. The fact that they started as a favorite over Oklahoma at the beginning of the week can attest to that.
When was the last time a Top 10 ranked team was an underdog to an unranked team on a neutral field?
However, that has flipped, as a lot of money has come in on the Sooners to where they are now a slight favorite in this game. I think that has to do with the rumors going around that John Mateer will be back to lead OU against the longhorns.
Those rumors became more concrete when the Sooners released an injury report this week listing Mateer as “questionable” for the game.
Add to that the less than stellar play of super quarterback phenom Arch Manning, and you can see why the line flipped.
Of course, that gives me no allusions that this will be an easy game for Oklahoma, with or without Mateer.
Ranked or unranked, favored or not, this series is littered with upsets. The longhorns will be trying to save their season. That’s why the Worry Meter is spiking at 90% this week.
John Mateer or Michael Hawkins Jr., I think this is going to be a close one. With all that being said…BOOMER!!!
— Dave
Dave is a diehard Sooner, prone to the anxiety that comes with knowing too much about the team and sharing all the ups and downs with like minded fans also steeped in crimson and cream
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