Football feels pretty trivial at a time like this.

On this Monday evening, as the Oklahoma Sooners prepare to open the 2021 college football season against the Tulane Green Wave, we here at Crimson & Cream Machine want to extend our thoughts and well wishes to the people living in Southeast Louisiana and neighboring areas that are being impacted by Hurricane Ida. Whether you’re from the heart of Tornado Alley or the edge of the Gulf, history has shown us that devastation does not discriminate.

If you or someone you know would like to help those who have been affected or displaced in the wake of Hurricane Ida, the American National Red Cross Organization is currently accepting donations for a Disaster Relief Fund.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! Tanner Mordecai is a starter, Baker Mayfield gears up for the regular season as the preseason comes to an end, the Lions cut a veteran wideout and more!

OU Links

• As you’ve likely heard by now, the Tulane Green Wave will travel up to Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend. Time and TV details remain unchanged. TU will also remain the home team (as it should) and receive the game’s ticket revenue (as it also should). OU’s season ticket holders will have first dibs amongst the crimson contingent, with remaining tickets going on sale to the general public on Friday. It’s also worth mentioning that OU and Tulane are working to arrange a return trip to New Orleans (most likely in 2024 when Tulane was set to come to Norman).

• On Sunday, former Oklahoma QB Tanner Mordecai was named the starter for the SMU Mustangs entering the 2021 season. The ex-Sooner has three years of eligibility remaining. The Dallas Morning News’ Joseph Hoyt has more.
• A panel of writers from ESPN have offered up their takes on which player they feel will win the Heisman Trophy, which team will win the national championship and more, and Spencer Rattler and OU emerged as some of the favorite picks for each category, respectively.
• In a 19-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons, Baker Mayfield saw some preseason action for the Cleveland Browns. During his run, he dropped this absolutely gorgeous dime on WR KhaDarel Hodge. That pass was a thing of beauty.

• Rhamondre Stevenson has continued to star for the New England Patriots during the NFL Preseason. On Sunday, he scored on this play from nine yards out in a 22-20 win over the New York Giants.

• Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts has reached an agreement to team up with Eastbay and its line of athletic gear. Stay tuned for a line of products featuring the ‘untamed’ and ‘rare breed’ mantras of the former Alabama-turned-Oklahoma signal caller.

Around the Sports World

• The Texas Longhorns are going with redshirt freshman QB Hudson Card as the Week One starter against the No. 23 Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, but head coach Steve Sarkisian is on record in stating that redshirt junior QB Casey Thompson will be rotated into the game at some point.
• Over the weekend, Alabama Crimson Tide redshirt freshman LB Quandarrius Robinson was arrested for DUI after his involvement with a multi-car accident.
• New York Mets pitcher Noah Snydergaard has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 after he was set to begin rehab following Tommy John surgery.
• Minnesota Vikings starting TE Irv Smith Jr. is expected to miss at least the start of the 2021 NFL season after recently suffering a meniscus injury.
• On Monday, the Detroit Lions made the decision to release veteran wide receiver and former first round pick Breshad Perriman.

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Damage from Hurricane Ida forced the Sooners and Green Wave to move their season opener to OU’s home field.

The impact of Hurricane Ida on the city of New Orleans has forced the Oklahoma Sooners and Tulane Green Wave to move Saturday’s game to Norman.

Tulane athletic director Troy Dannen announced the change Monday. The game remains scheduled for an 11 AM CT kickoff and will be nationally televised on ABC.

According to details provided by the OU athletic department, the Green Wave will be the designated home team for the game and will receive the net proceeds from ticket sales. OU is handling ticket sales, which are being sold separately from season ticket packages. OU is only opening seating in the lower bowl of Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium.

Tickets purchased through Tulane will not be honored. Dannen indicated fans who purchased tickets through Tulane will have an opportunity to donate the value of the tickets to hurricane relief in lieu of requesting refunds.

The Tulane players and coaches left campus last week for Birmingham, Alabama, in advance of the storm, which hit Louisiana and Mississippi Sunday. They will remain based out of Birmingham “until it is safe to return to New Orleans,” Dannen said in a statement.

For Sooner fans who were looking forward to a road trip to New Orleans, OU said the schools are working on scheduling a future game between the teams at Tulane.

The change of venue means the Sooners will open the season with four straight home games before traveling to Kansas State on Oct. 2.

Takeaways from a season-opening loss by OU’s marquee non-conference opponent.

The “week zero” slate of college football games played Saturday included one matchup of special interest to the Oklahoma Sooners. The Nebraska Cornhuskers opened their season with a trip to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini in advance of their date with the Sooners in Norman on Sept. 18. Based on what NU showed against the Illini, the marquee non-conference game on OU’s schedule doesn’t look particularly daunting.

Here are a few quick takeaways from Nebraska’s 30-22 loss:

*Season openers often give faulty impressions. Big Red fans need to hope that what we witnessed Saturday was an aberration.

The biggest red flag of the game had to be the general lack of focus on NU’s part. The Illini were playing their first game under new coach Bret Bielema, but the Cornhuskers looked more like the team under new management. NU committed a litany of disappointing errors, including multiple penalties that negated key plays and an instance of the coaches not realizing down and distance.

This was a revenge game in which Nebraska essentially had the national stage to itself. The Cornhuskers were playing a bad Illinois team that lost its starting quarterback in the first half. They couldn’t take advantage of a tailor-made opportunity to get what should have been an easy win to start the season on a high note. Instead, they stumbled around for four quarters.

Bottom line: NU offered little reason to believe the program is improving after four years under coach Scott Frost and his staff.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

*No player embodied NU’s lack of progress better than quarterback Adrian Martinez, who was making the 28th start of his career on Saturday.

On a 75-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, Martinez showcased the tantalizing explosiveness that made him a compelling prospect years ago. He ran for a total of 146 yards on 11 carries in the game, excluding sacks.

But the fourth-year signal caller sprayed the ball all over the field when throwing it. For the game, he completed 16 of his 32 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. That’s not horrible; however, he missed a handful of easy throws that kept points off the board. He also coughed up a ball that Calvin Hart Jr. of Illinois took to the house in the closing minute of the first half.

The reality is that Martinez hasn’t changed much from year one to year four with the Huskers. He’s most dangerous running the ball, and he won’t find much room to operate versus the OU defense.

*The NU offensive line in general had a rough day. Illinois plugged up the Huskers’ running lanes, allowing about three yards per carry to every Husker not named Adrian Martinez. Meanwhile, the Illini sacked Martinez five times.

The OU defensive line presumably liked what it saw on Saturday.

*Not all of those sacks should be pinned on Martinez and the OL. The NU receiving corps doesn’t appear to have any options who will keep defensive coordinators up at night.

Junior Oliver Martin did the most damage of any NU receiver, catching six passes for 103 yards and a touchdown. (Note that Martin previously walked on at Iowa and Michigan before transferring to Lincoln last year.) Lanky Montana transfer Samori Toure (6-3, 190 pounds) could turn into a matchup issue at some point for defenses, but he had three receptions for 36 yards versus the Illini.

*As discombobulated as the NU offense was, you could make the case that the group formerly known as the Blackshirts gave an even more disappointing effort.

Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Illinois didn’t seem to be doing anything special in the run game, but RBs Mike Epstein and Reggie Love churned out 120 yards on 28 attempts. The most dispiriting drive of the game had to be Illinois’ first possession of the second half, a 14-play TD drive that covered 75 yards in a little more than eight minutes. For Bielema’s squad, it was a borderline erotic combination of power running and play-action passing by QB Art Sitkowski to put the Huskers in a deep hole in the second half.

In an especially concerning development for NU, Illinois appeared to win on the edges. Given the disparity in athleticism between the two teams, that shouldn’t happen.

*Lastly, the NU special teams produced a series of debacles. Senior kicker Connor Culp missed two extra points out of three attempts. Meanwhile, the Illini got their first points of the game on a safety when the knee of returner Cam Taylor-Britt touched down in the NU end zone after fielding a punt inside the Cornhuskers’ own two yard line. Adding insult to injury, Taylor-Britt threw an illegal forward pass when he realized he had wandered into disaster.

All in all, the sequence summed up a nightmarish day for an NU team that will have a hard time staying competitive when it visits Oklahoma in a few weeks.