Ideas about points of emphasis for OU with the Sooners now in the back half of the season.

The Oklahoma Sooners have entered an odd stretch of the 2021 season. In the big picture, the next three weeks – a trip to Kansas on Saturday, a home game against Texas Tech on Oct. 30 and an open date – look like a way station between a few tricky midseason tests and a rough finishing kick. OU is a 38-point favorite over KU, the line will probably be in the range of three touchdowns versus the Red Raiders and the Sooners should kick the hell out of BYE.

In the here and now, however, OU still has plenty of work left to do in the next three weeks. Naturally, that starts with not suffering a catastrophic loss to the Jayhawks and/or Tech. (Bear in mind the Sooners were favored by about 40 points in 2011 when they fell to the Red Raiders in what started a disappointing slide to end the year.) Continuing to tailor the offensive to fit Caleb Williams’ prodigious talents at quarterback also seems like a given.

Consider this a list of other suggested priorities for Oklahoma in the next three weeks. It is by no means exhaustive.

Get healthy.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

This kinda falls outside the team’s control, but you get the drift. This squad is banged up after seven straight games. Rotational players dealing with injuries of varying severity at the moment include:

• Right tackle Tyrese Robinson;
• Utility offensive lineman Erik Swenson;
• Wide receiver Mario Williams;
• WR Theo Wease;
• WR Cody Jackson;
• Defensive lineman Jalen Redmond;
• DL Isaiah Coe;
• Linebacker Danny Stutsman;
• Cornerback Woodi Washington;
• CB D.J. Graham; and
• Safety Delarrin Turner-Yell.

And those are the ones we know about.

A fair number of players on that list will probably sit out in the next two weeks. The open date also should give the walking wounded extra time to heal up.

Don’t be surprised if Lincoln Riley gets his frontline players off the field as early as possible to avoid them taking more punishment than necessary. Should the opportunity present itself, Riley may try to put the games out of reach quickly for that very reason.

Which leads us to…

Build depth.

OU has played so many tight games this season that its reserves haven’t seen many opportunities to build experience on the field. The injury situation is forcing the coaching staff to dip deep down the bench in some cases to prepare backups for action on the fly.

Some of the measures taken in the TCU game to make up for players’ absences set off alarm bells. Most notably, with Washington still sidelined, CBs coach Roy Manning and defensive coordinator Alex Grinch shifted freshman Billy Bowman from first-team nickel to starting CB over a handful of players who were already practicing at the position. Even then, little-used CB Joshua Eaton still got pressed into service when Graham went down in the first quarter.

No better time than the present to get players like Eaton some seasoning. Marcus Major could audition for a bigger share of the snaps down the stretch at running back after missing the first five games of the year. Freshman Savion Byrd may see some extended action at offensive tackle.

Bottom line: It never hurts to have more players ready to contribute late in the season.

Kick the field-goal habit.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Having a standout placekicker should be a good thing for a football team. For OU, it sometimes feels like a curse. Gabe Brkic may be the best kicker in the country, but you’re hustling backwards if your All-American kicker entices to you to take three points too often when you should be shooting for six.

Perhaps this would be a good time for Riley to go cold turkey on field goals. At the very least, evaluate the team’s approach to managing down and distance in FG range.

Find ways to put the ball in Mario Williams’ hands.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

To be fair, Williams’ departure from last week’s game may put the explosive wideout in the category of players whose health would warrant time to recuperate. Once he is back at full speed, though, he needs more touches. There are only so many opportunities to go around on any football team; nevertheless it still seems as though OU needs to manufacture more chances to let Williams showcase his skills in both the quick passing game and going downfield.

In fact, leveraging the skills of QB Caleb Williams and Mario as runners with concepts such as jet read sounds like something that would terrorize defensive coordinators.

Also, Baker Mayfield needs offseason surgery to repair an injury on his non-throwing shoulder.

Happy Thursday, friends and fans!

It wasn’t long ago that FOX College Football analyst Joel Klatt came to the defense of Spencer Rattler after a large contingent of Oklahoma Sooners fans chanted for Caleb Williams to replace the former Heisman Trophy front-runner. A few weeks later, after ‘Superman’ wowed everybody in the Red River Showdown and in his first start against TCU, Klatt has changed his tune and has a new message for OU fans.

First of all, it’s pretty cool to see a college football pundit going public and owning up to his wrong take, although his point about the optics of booing Rattler remain valid. Nevertheless, it’s plain to see for everybody that this is a different team with Williams at the helm. The offense finally resembles a classic Lincoln Riley unit, and the players around him appear more energized and eager to make plays. Good on you, Klatt.

Now for today’s Hot Links! Bob Bowlsby continues to cry, Jadon Haselwood continues to impress, conference realignment continues to shift the college athletics landscape and more!

OU Links

• Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby recently stated that he believes the move to the SEC for OU and Texas ‘makes no sense’. Bless his heart. If he doesn’t get it by now, he never will.
• Pro Football Focus recently graded junior Nik Bonitto and the third-highest rated DE/EDGE player through seven weeks of college football. Boomer!

• Coming into the 2021 season, Oklahoma’s defensive line was viewed as the strength of the team, and for a while that unit played exceptionally well. However, the production from that group has since taken a dip as of late, and both the coaches and players have taken notice. SI Sooners’ John Hoover has more.
• This week, redshirt sophomore WR Jadon Haselwood caught up with the media to answer questions about his unselfishness on the field, Kennedy Brooks’ immeasurable value and more. OU Insider’s Joey Helmer has more.
• The Tulsa World’s Guerin Emig details one player, one problem and one prediction as Oklahoma prepares for its road trip to Kansas.
• On Thursday morning, NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported that Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield will require surgery to repair a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder this offseason.

• In Oklahoma Baseball news, former Sooner Reggie Willits is expected to join Skip Johnson’s staff in a volunteer role after spending the past six seasons as an assistant for the New York Yankees. OU Daily’s Nick Coppola has more.

Around the Sports World

• Six schools from Conference USA — Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA — have formally accepted invitations to join the American Athletic Conference, and will join the league as early as the 2023-24 academic year. As this move takes place, the AAC will also be losing the memberships of Cincinnati, Houston and UCF.
• There’s been a lot of drama in the headlines surrounding Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers. Now it looks like he may not be available to take the court for quite some time, as he’s reportedly experiencing some tightness in his back.
• Indianapolis Colts starting free safety Julian Blackmon has reportedly suffered a torn Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the 2021-22 NFL season.
• Earlier this week, New York Mets right-handed pitcher Carlos Carrasco underwent surgery to remove a bone fragment in his throwing elbow.
• The 2021-22 NBA season is one game old, and SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell has seven overreactions to the games and performances freshly entered into the books.

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NORMAN – The University of Oklahoma and OU Women’s Basketball program announced Thursday that its exhibition game with Rogers State has been moved to Oct. 31 at 2 p.m.

This week’s slate includes picks for Oklahoma State-Iowa State, Alabama-Tennessee and Notre Dame-USC

Blatant Homerism Podcast host Allen Kenney and The Skinny return for another week of their favorite college football picks against the spread. This week’s selections include Alabama-Tennessee, Notre Dame-USC and Iowa State–Oklahoma State. They close talking about the Caleb Williams phenomenon and OU playing some dismal defense against TCU.

Make sure to subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice! We’re now on ITunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher. If you enjoy the podcast, make sure to give us a five-star rating on ITunes, as it will help it reach more listeners. You can also catch the episodes live each week on Facebook and Twitter.

Another week, another top-10 shakeup in the world of college football.

The Oklahoma Sooners are 7-0 on the season, 4-0 in Big 12 play and feeling fine as the nation’s No. 3 team in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll. Caleb Williams dazzled the OU crowd in his first collegiate start this weekend, but the same can’t be said for many other teams across the college football landscape after a number of ranked squads fell on Saturday.

Full AP Top 25 rankings below:

1. Georgia
2. Cincinnati
3. Oklahoma
4. Alabama
5. Ohio State
6. Michigan
7. Penn State
8. Oklahoma State
9. Michigan State
10. Oregon
11. Iowa
12. Ole Miss
13. Notre Dame
14. Coastal Carolina
15. Kentucky
16. Wake Forest
17. Texas A&M
18. NC State
19. Auburn
20. Baylor
21. SMU
22. San Diego State
23. Pitt
24. UTSA
25. Purdue

News and notes:

• After it looked like the Iowa Hawkeyes had finally broken through to the soft final stretch of their regular season schedule, Jeff Brohm and his gritty Purdue Boilermakers walked into Kinnick Stadium as underdogs and walked out with a massive dub. Kirk Ferentz’s team can still have a great season, and still have an outside shot to reach the College Football Playoff, but they no longer control their own destiny.
• The Texas Longhorns are back outside of the top 25 after choking away another multi-touchdown lead to a team from the Sooner State. Meanwhile, the still unbeaten Oklahoma State Cowboys appear to be the Big 12’s top contender to dethrone OU as the conference champ.
• The Baylor Bears are back among the land of the ranked after taking care of the BYU Cougars in Waco. Dave Aranda has his team looking strong on all sides of the ball in year two.
• The Texas A&M Aggies arguably benefitted the most from the rash of losses near the bottom of the rankings. One week after pulling off the upset of the 2021 season, Jimbo Fisher’s bunch cruised past the Missouri Tigers and have now vaulted up to No. 17.
• For the first time this season, every undefeated team is ranked in the AP Poll now that the UTSA Roadrunners (7-0) are in at No. 25. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of postseason matchup Jeff Traylor’s team can get if his squad can continue to run the table and win the C-USA title.

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