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Three Things to Know about the Oklahoma Sooners: Win the Ground Game, Win the Day

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6 years ago

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Bedlam has arrived and the CFP ranked No. 5 Sooners will be looking to spoil the four-game winning streak the Pokes have put together and knock them out of the CFP conversation.

With their last guaranteed shot will Mason Rudolph and James Washington be deputized or will it be the same old sheriff leaving town Saturday night?

Sooner Protection Detail vs. Clements’ Crazies

With both offenses capable of flying at tornadic speeds and showing FedEx-ground efficiency, Saturday will be about each team taking a dimension away from the other attack.

OU will likely have every Stoops’ extended family member playing centerfield to take away the bombs and Glenn’s gang will try and put pressure on Baker Mayfield to do some taking it back.

Lately, the Pokes have done a really solid job of getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks – ask a still loopy Sam Ehlinger and a four-interception throwing Will Grier who still has copious amounts of Red Bull dried on his face.

People felt OSU shouldn’t have won the Texas game, that it wasn’t deserved. Let me ask you this – how many interceptions would you throw if Trey Carter is breathing down on you like XLK on the training table?

So therein lies one of the keys to Cowboy success – will OSU be able to continue getting that pressure and force Baker Mayfield into bad decisions?

Mayfield is extremely evasive and he sits behind a mountainous, touted offensive line often perceived as the nation’s best that’s allowing less than two sacks per game.

What you don’t want to see is Baker barely evading the rush then hitting a guy coming back after an eternity of time in the pocket.

On top of that, what the Pokes will have to keep an eye out for is how OU tends to pull away from the passing game later in the season.

Per Fu Manchu himself:

Mayfield has acknowledged over the years that a strong running game has contributed greatly to his late-season success. The past two years, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon combined to take pressure off him. This season, Rodney Anderson, Trey Sermon and Abdul Adams all have more than 400 yards rushing and appear capable of providing a similar lift.

”You lean on them at the end of the year,” Mayfield said. ”You don’t try to do too much. You make sure those ballcarriers and playmakers have got a chance to change the game.” [Yahoo Sports]

So watch out for Baker and stuff like this:

The hope and antidote for the above are Walterscheid doing his thing and Darrion Daniels singing Botticelli in the backfield all night.

Run, Run Rudolph (and Justice and J.D.)

We all know it: Gundy and Co. are going to lean on the run game.

Don’t ask me why as the Sooners are giving up more passing yards per game than nearly everyone in league play (ninth in the league, 87th nationally), while the run defense has been middle of the road (44th nationally).

The Sooners have allowed more than twice as many passing yards as rushing yards in their five Big 12 games. While the run defense is not quite at the level of Texas, which surrenders just 2.8 yards per touch in conference play, it allows a respectable 3.6 yards per carry. [TulsaWorld]

So barring a serious deviation from the way teams have played the Pokes, Rudolph will likely be checking down into the teeth of the defense and not hitting them in the soft underbelly.

They say context is key, let’s compare the Sooners’ to recent opponents: are they more Texas-y or more West Virginia-esque?

Was it Texas’ athletes and sure tackling or a full line and West Virginia’s lack of quality defenders that led to the different performances? Or was it simply a strategic evolution after seeing the defense again?

OU will help answer these questions with their better-than-WVU athletes against the full complement of linemen.

No. 31 (Obo) is the pass rushing ace for the Sooners, a league leader in anything involving an opponent in their backfield and D.J. Ward is a consistent pass rusher with some burst. The rest of the defensive line is similar to the Pokes with solid depth and fewer stars.

Texas Tech saw some solid success running the ball on the Sooners on their first few drives until OU switched from a three-man to a four-man front – be on the lookout for this move if the Pokes start having some success.

Iowa State was able to beat the Sooners not with gimmicks and trick plays (thank goodness, do we have one that doesn’t involve McCleskey throwing it 30 yards?) but by competing in the trenches and not losing their minds when the Sooners went up 24-10.

A Big Wide Receiver Problem

A Ghost of Bedlams’ Past has been the tendency to shy away from the Cowboy premium: horses with expert ball tracking capacity and slot receivers meant for the quarter-mile track.

OSU, with the nation’s No. 6-ranked passing offense in 2016, attempted but 25 throws and rarely fired deep against a Sooners defense that ranked No. 122 nationally in passing yards allowed and had been victimized regularly in the Big 12. [NewsOK]

Off and on, the Pokes have taken advantage of the talented receiver corps and they should be poised to do so again. Multiple times this season the Sooners have given up big plays to big wideouts (6-3 and above), take a look:

Baylor’s 6-foot-3 Denzel Mims went for 192 yards and three scores.

The 6-5 Allen Lazard won the game going over Jordan Thomas on this play.

At 6-5, Texas’ Lil’ Jordan Humphrey nearly broke Sooner hearts had he pulled down this pass over 6-0 senior Will Johnson.

The 6-5 Red Raider freshman T.J. Vasher went for 98 yards on the Sooners, pulling down passes over the top at key moments.

Sooner corners Jordan Thomas and Parnell Motley are good-sized corners (6-foot tall) but just struggle to compete with bigger receivers for the jump balls.

Barring a monsoon, look for No. 2 to throw up a few for Marcell Ateman and have some success.

Bonus Questions to Chew On
  1. A friend pointed out this week that good Cowboy teams have one game at home where they really put it together (2011 OU, 2013 Baylor, 2015 TCU, 2016 West Virginia), are we due for that game on Saturday?
  2. How many Bedlam points is Bob Stoops worth?
  3. With two nationally-regarded offenses, can OSU pressure Baker Mayfield or OU stop the Cowboy run game more?
  4. Can an athletic department intern verify if any adult diapers were purchased this week in preparation for the game?
  5. Is there any chance of rain that could paralyze our hopes in the deep ball being unleashed?
  6. Was that 11:16 drive to end the game against Tech an anomaly or a strategy we’re about to see?
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