Also, Kyler Murray has become the best deep-ball thrower in the NFL.

Happy Hump Day, friends and fans!

Former pro QB Eli Manning is out here living his best life and enjoying retirement from playing in the league, but even a well-known public figure like himself uses everyday ridesharing services. Thankfully, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley was recently in the neighborhood to give the future Hall of Famer a lift in style.

That’s good stuff. Now I don’t exactly know what OU’s plans are for getting to Dallas this weekend, but I do know that the team will probably want to pack light if they’re planning on taking the Schooner.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! Fourth down defense has proven troublesome for the Sooners, K1 has the Cards flying high, a key SEC DB could miss the rest of the college football season and more!

OU Links

• Lincoln Riley moves to 6-0 this week after passing the latest Butkus Brain Teaser. This one was actually quite tricky, but of course it wasn’t enough to fool the brightest mind in the game.

• Entering Week Six, Oklahoma’s defense has faced more fourth down attempts than any other team in the FBS. That’s a troubling stat that definitely needs to be addressed going into this Saturday’s matchup with the Texas Longhorns. The Norman Transcript’s Jesse Crittenden has more.
• OU’s receivers take pride in their reputation as a selfless unit. Whether that’s blocking for their teammates or accepting less touches, this is a group that is truly about the team first. The Sooners Wire’s John Williams has more.
• Kyler Murray’s Arizona Cardinals are the NFL’s last remaining undefeated team at 4-0, and the former No. 1 overall pick is leading the way with some prolific passing performances. Boomer!

• ESPN’s Alex Scarborough recently took a look back at the ‘Superman Play’ from the 2001 Red River Showdown. 20 years later, the epic play that Roy Williams and Teddy Lehman combined forces on continues to live on as one of the most memorable moments in the OU-Texas rivalry’s storied history.

Around the Sports World

• LSU Tigers star junior CB Derek Stingley Jr. has been ruled out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on a foot injury he suffered last Saturday.
• Alabama Crimson Tide LB Drew Sanders has also been ruled out for this weekend’s game against the Texas A&M Aggies after being sidelined with a hand injury.
• For the second consecutive season, NBA players will not be subjected to random marijuana drug testing during the upcoming 2021-22 campaign, according to a recent memo from the NBPA.
• The New England Patriots have traded CB Stephon Gilmore to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a 2023 sixth round draft pick.
• On Wednesday, the San Diego Padres dismissed Jayce Tingler from his position as manager after two seasons with the team. Reportedly, Tingler has subsequently been offered an opportunity to remain with the organization.

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With Saturday’s Red River Showdown, ESPN College GameDay will make its 39th appearance at an OU game.

OU survived the college football season’s most chaotic weekend yet.

It’s been a heart-pounding five weeks for the Oklahoma Sooners (5-0, 2-0), but as the college football regular season nears its midway point, OU holds firm at No. 6 in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll.

Full AP Top 25 rankings below:

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

News and notes:

• On Saturday, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs annihilated the Ole Miss Rebels and Arkansas Razorbacks, respectively, further solidifying their claims as the nation’s top two teams.
• Coming into the weekend, the Oregon Ducks looked like the Pac-12 Conference’s last hope for reaching the College Football Playoff, but after suffering a stunning overtime upset against the Stanford Cardinal, it looks like the league may have to wait until next year to accomplish those lofty postseason aspirations.
• The Cincinnati Bearcats made arguably the biggest statement in Week Five after traveling to South Bend and coming away with a convincing 24-13 victory over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. If UC can navigate the rest of its schedule without a loss, this might be the best chance any Group of Five team has had to crash the playoff party in the CFP era.
• Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State Cowboys limped through the non-conference portion of their schedule, but since Big 12 play began, they’ve looked like a legitimate top 15 squad. Most recently, they defeated a hot Baylor Bears team behind a strong running game and a stout defense. It’ll be interesting to see how long OSU can keep up this winning streak as a potential top 10 Bedlam matchup with serious conference title implications looms in the distance.
• The Texas Longhorns are back inside the top 25 after taking care of business against the TCU Horned Frogs this weekend, setting up the first Red River Showdown in which both teams are ranked. In related news, ESPN’s College GameDay recently announced that it’s also headed to Dallas for this annual rivalry contest inside the historic Cotton Bowl. Boomer!

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We’ll gladly take a win. It’s now OU-Texas week!

After experiencing another too-close-for-comfort affair, the Oklahoma Sooners improved to 5-0 on the season with a 37-31 win over the Kansas State Wildcats. Yes, OU made some mistakes in this one that made us pull our hair out, but the performance of QB Spencer Rattler should give fans a bit more reason for optimism entering the Red River Shootout/Showdown/Rivalry/Whatever against the Texas Longhorns.

By the end of the day, the embattled Rattler completed 22 of 25 passes 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go with one INT. With Oklahoma’s defense repeatedly failing to get stops on third or fourth down, the redshirt sophomore’s clutch throws kept this one from becoming a third consecutive loss to the Chris Klieman’s program. This could have easily turned into an embarrassing blowout, but OU’s QB showed some much-needed mettle in front of a hostile crowd in Manhattan. He was able to do some nice things on the run and under pressure that give should give you a bit of hope that he can lead this team to the promised land provided that the offensive line continues to improve,

Speaking of the O-line, the group was far from perfect, but 4.1 yards per carry is certainly an improvement over what we saw last week. On a related note, OU needs to feed Kennedy Brooks the rock much more frequently.

The defense’s inability to consistently get pressure in a hampered Skylar Thompson was puzzling, and the inability to corral Deuce Vaughn in the open field was about as frustrating as one could expect. Actually, that’s probably an understatement. I think many of us are still livid about some of those third and fourth down conversions. At the same time, you have to recognize greatness, and Vaughn seems to fit that description even in the early stages of his career.

With all of that being said, this group made timely stops that simply would not have been made three years ago. Additionally, past issues with this K-State offense have a way of putting this into perspective, and I think most crimson-clad observers are just thankful for an improvement.

After struggling to a 13-10 halftime advantage, Rattler and the Sooners were able to put together a pair of fantastic TD drives to seemingly make this one comfortable. Sadly, ‘comfortable’ is not a word that ever really describes an OU lead, and late K-State kickoff return TD actually made this one come down to a late onside kick.

Anyway, we’ll gladly move onto the next one.

Boomer Sooner, and TEXAS SUCKS!

Lincoln Riley’s Sooners are trying to get into championship form as they look to break a streak against the Kansas State Wildcats.

The meat-and-potatoes, mistake-free identity of the Kansas State Wildcats seems to have been underscored by Chris Klieman, and it has unfortunately left Lincoln Riley without a win in two matchups against Bill Snyder’s successor. A clean performance should flip the script for the Oklahoma Sooners, who are trying to finally look like a championship-caliber team in their first road contest of the season.

Take it away, Toby.

Time & TV: Saturday, Oct. 2 at 2:30 p.m. CT on FOX

Commentary: Aaron Goldsmith and Brock Huard

Streaming: FoxSportsGO

Line: Oklahoma -11.5 (as of Saturday at 9 a.m. CT)

O/U: 52.5

OU-Kansas State Game Primer

Lincoln Riley Week Five Presser Notes

Allen Kenney examines how opponents are countering OU’s D-line

Week Five Gambling Picks from Allen

Nike drops the new Pegasus 38 Oklahoma shoe collection

My Gambling Picks

Arkansas +16.5 at Georgia

Texas -4 at TCU

Michigan +2 at Wisconsin

Wake Forest -7 vs. Louisville

Notre Dame +2 vs. Cincinnati

West Virginia -7 vs. Texas Tech

Alabama -14.5 vs. Ole Miss

Oklahoma State -4 vs. Baylor

Indiana +12.5 at Penn State

Clemson -15 vs. Boston College

LSU -3 vs. Auburn

UCLA -3 vs. Arizona State

Final Thoughts

Oklahoma being in the SEC by 2023 seems like the best bet, so this could be the last time the Sooners visit the Little Apple for the foreseeable future. While Bill Snyder Family Stadium’s size pales in comparison to the behemoths of OU’s future conference, this venue’s pound-for-pound electricity will always leave me impressed. Losing in that place only once in the 21st century will always be noteworthy, so let’s hope it stays that way.

The recent history of this series has essentially come down to the turnover battle. In K-State’s last four wins against the Sooners (2012, 2014, 2019, 2020), the Wildcats hold a combined 11-0 advantage in this department. In the 2021 tussle, the OU offensive line will need to win in the trenches in order to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. A clean pocket and a reliable run game should alleviate some of Spencer Rattler’s issues and lower the frequency of unnecessary risks.

On the other end, will we see Skylar Thompson today? ‘Unlikely’ has been the word of the week, but ‘out’ has not. The closer we get to kickoff, the more improbable an appearance seems, but I don’t think it will surprise people if he tries to give it a go. What we do know is that we’ll see plenty of dynamic playmaker Deuce Vaughn, whose similarities to Darren Sproles will always give OU fans some anxiety.

As much as we’d like to see a dominant performance today, I think we’d all settle for a W. I’m expecting a nail-biter, but if Bill Bedenbaugh’s group can assert itself to any extent, I like OU’s chances. Breaking even in the turnover battle wouldn’t hurt, either.

Prediction

Oklahoma 31, Kansas State 21

Allen also goes over his outlook for the Oklahoma Sooners’ game this weekend versus the Kansas State Wildcats.

Blatant Homerism podcast host Allen Kenney is rolling solo without The Skinny this week, but he’s still bringing some of their favorite college football picks against the spread for week five of the 2021 season. Games discussed this week include Arkansas-Georgia, Michigan-Wisconsin, Texas-TCU and more. Allen also goes over his outlook for the Oklahoma Sooners’ game this weekend versus the Kansas State Wildcats.

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