Cookin' with Grill Boy: Hunting in the mountains

In this weekly column series, I discuss the previous game and preview the upcoming matchup. Since it is Week 10, we will discuss OSU, preview West Virginia and make some bold predictions.

1. Last week I opened with a bit of frustration about Jeff Lebby and his need to look like the smartest man in the room. As the emotions have settled, I’m actually more frustrated about boneheaded execution than I am about Lebby. We’ve turned the ball over three times twice this year. Those games represent our two losses. Now, against Kansas we can put some blame on coaching since Jalil Farooq shouldn’t be running between the tackles and Marcus Stripling shouldn’t be catching kickoffs. But in Bedlam? It wasn’t a case of players being put in the wrong positions to succeed. It was the players doing it to themselves. Dillon Gabriel and Jovantae Barnes seemingly line up offset, causing direct snap confusion that ends up as a fumble. That clearly was not the call, just a screw up in alignment. The snap that hit Dillon low and ended up in Poke custody? Not on the coaches. The deep ball that was intercepted? We wanted aggressive play calling, but Dillon had better options on that play. While it is fair to bemoan the officials, I would put turnovers at the top of the list when ranking reasons Oklahoma lost on Saturday.

2. With that being said, I do think Lebby showed some all-too-familiar lack of feel for the game. Brent Venables mentioned that he thought the offense had trouble finding a rhythm. Now, part of this can be contributed to one of the five(!) times that Cowboy defenders hit the deck after OU was gaining steam with tempo. But part of it is Lebby’s play calling. I have a theory, at aligns a bit with last weeks’ theory. I think Jeff is the Eric Bieniemy of College Football from strictly a football perspective. Eric was the offensive coordinator for one of the greatest offensive runs in the sport’s history. When asked about why he hadn’t gotten the nod for a head coaching gig, personal issues aside, many said it was because it's Andy Reid calling the offense. When asked, Andy would heap praise on Bieniemy and say how important he was to collaborative design of the offense throughout the week, but we all knew Andy was the one actually calling the plays. Art Briles, Lane Kiffin, and Josh Heupel all called the plays while Lebby collaborated in design and scheme. All of those head coaches had/have a great feel for the rhythm of the game. This is the first time in his career the offense is entirely Jeff Lebby’s, and I think he’s simply trying to find his way as a play caller. His design isn’t in question, but his situational feel is what is lacking. The question is whether he’s willing to grow and learn, or if he’ll show the same stubbornness that he’s shown so far in his interviews. For OU’s sake, I sure hope that its the former.

3. This may be unpopular, but I thought Oklahoma’s defense did a good job against Ollie Gordon. In the previous five conference games, Gordon had not averaged less than 5.8 yards per carry. He was coming off back to back weeks where he bested 9.6 yards per carry. In games where he carried the ball more than 10 times, this was by far his worst outing, despite carrying the ball a career high 33 times. When looking for silver linings in a game that ripped many Sooner hearts out, holding the nation’s leading rusher to his worst game is certainly the shiniest. Add to the fact that the redshirt freshmen duo Kip Lewis and Kobie McKinzie were your primary linebackers to achieve that task, and it might give you a glimpse into what the middle of this defense could look like in a couple years. This game will have a lot of “what ifs” and I’m not sure any will be larger than “what if Danny Stutsman played?” because the Sooner defense would’ve been even saltier against the phenomenal Gordon.

4. For the second straight week, we had a running back rush for over 100 yards. This week, Gavin Sawchuk got to show off his elite speed when he galloped 64 yards to the end zone for the first Oklahoma score of the game. If there is any gripe, it would probably be that he probably should’ve got more than 13 carries. Those 13 carries are tied for the least amount of carries that the most active running back in a game has received this season. It is the least number of carries during conference play for a team-leading ball carrier. What was interesting is that it felt a little like prime Lincoln Riley approach in the second half when it came to the distribution of carries. Let the fast, shiftier back wear everyone down in the first half, then let your thumper come and grind out first downs against a battered defense. Tawee Walker entered and averaged a beefy 7.4 yards per carry, which included a 23-yard touchdown run. But alas, Walker only received eight carries despite the success on the ground. We have three games left in the season and this offense still lacks identity.

5. Turnovers trashed what was actually a pretty good day for Gabriel. He completed 70% of his passes for 344 yards and a touchdown. He added another score on the ground but I really thought he could’ve done more with his feet in this one. He had three receivers go over 90 yards. Drake Stoops is in his sixth year and just had double-digit receptions and triple-digit receiving yards for the first time in his career. The true “program guy” left it all out on the field in his last bedlam. Stoops finished with 12 catches, 134 yards, a touchdown, and one of the most criminal no-calls in the sport’s history. Some have said the season’s goals are out the window so we should turn the keys over to Jackson Arnold at this point, but Drake’s post-practice interview showed that they still feel like they have a lot to play for this season. In my opinion, prioritizing Jackson Arnold’s development over the last three games of this season would nuke the locker room. What do you all think?

1. In the last four games, West Virginia has averaged over 500 yards of offense, 38 points per game and most impressively they’re doing so with an impossibly-balanced attack. In those four games they’re averaging just over 250 yards per game on the ground and 250 yards per game through the air. They’re leading the Big 12 in conference games in rushing yards per game at well over 200. On a quick rewatch of their conference games, I had noticed they always seemed like they had the ball. In a foreign concept to Oklahoma fans, West Virginia has won the time of possession battle in every single conference game. They often do so convincingly. In their tightest TOP game, they still held the ball for 5:12 longer than their opponent. Through six conference games the Mountaineers have cumulatively held the ball for 58:52 longer than their opponents. So they have had their offense on the field, wearing down the other defense, while their defense rests for nearly an HOUR of game play in conference. Even more than usual Oklahoma needs to be stellar on third and fourth down on both sides of the ball. If they aren’t, then the defense will get worn down and the offense won’t get many opportunities to score.

2. That West Virginia offense can really be stymied if they get off schedule. That is true about most teams, but with West Virginia’s commitment to a balanced attack, it is exacerbated. The biggest contributor that knocks teams off of schedule is tackles for loss. Oklahoma ranks 6th nationally in that statistic. West Virginia is 1-2 on the season against teams ranked in the top 60 in tackles for loss with their lone win coming in a 17-6 contest against Pitt. He has been practicing this week, but it makes it all the more important to get Stutsman back for this game. He ranks 10th nationally in tackles for loss and you know he’ll be locked in after seeing his team lose two games in his absence (yes I know he played the first half against Kansas).

3. Much has been made about the blown call on Stoops in the end zone last weekend. Much ink was also spilled over the Makari Vickers pass interference call. Many of us, sometimes deservedly so, have been ultra-critical of the officiating in Big 12 play. With all of that said, Oklahoma ranks T-108th in the country in penalties per game. That’s not just biased officiating. That’s shooting yourselves in the foot. That’s lack of discipline. Sometimes you’re going to get flagged for a competitive pass defense or a tacky-tack holding call. But the WR false starts and the 15-yard sideline penalties just have to stop, or Oklahoma will continue to tumble. Oklahoma has yet to be beaten by any team on their schedule but Oklahoma has beaten themselves twice, which is much more frustrating.

4. Those watching from home this weekend will hear the name Beanie Bishop early and often when Oklahoma goes to the air. The Minnesota transfer senior corner leads the entire nation in both passes broken up AND passes defended. He leads each of those statistics by a healthy margin and is on pace to set the Mountaineer school record in PBU’s. He is also allowing only 2.25 yards after contact on catches. So when he gives up a catch, he brings the receiver the ground nearly immediately. Farooq and Nic Anderson both have shown that they can use their strength to shed the first defender, so that will be something to keep an eye on in this one.

5. In many of the advanced analytics and efficiency ratings, both the offense and the defense have both taken strides since the 6-7 2022 season. The defense has taken the large stride in FEI rankings going from 46th to 20th. The “side” of the ball that has dramatically regressed? Special teams. That Gavin Freeman touchdown and the Peyton Bowen punt blocks feel like they were years ago at this point. In 2022 Oklahoma’s special teams ranked 42nd in FEIm and the 2023 unit has plummeted to 89th in the nation. Unfortunately, West Virginia isn’t exactly the team you “get right” against with special teams. The Mountaineers rank fourth nationally in blocked kicks with three and 9th in punt return defense. They’re only allowing 1.70 yards on punt returns with a long of 11 yards. This falls under the underlying theme of this writeup — don’t shoot yourself in the foot.

Each week we’ll see if anyone can nail the exact score. If you do, I’ll try and get Parker to send you a can of Olipop or something. (I have not discussed this with him, but I can at least try!)

Of course no one hit the OSU score, so off we go!

My prediction:

OU 35

West Virginia 24

Throughout the season we will do bold predictions for each game. I will start us off, and then I will ask the members to give me some bold predictions in the comments. From the member-produced predictions, I’ll add any that came true to the next article.

Most accurate member predictions last week:

@Hoodleehoo “OSU will have multiple pass completions of 20+ yards” — Three different Pokes had catches of 20+ yards.

@siderks1226 “Hold Gordon way under his game average and average yards per carry” — Oklahoma did both to the nation’s leading rusher. “Stoops leads team in catches.” Drake Stoops had a career high, posting his first double digit catch game of his career.

Here are my bold predictions for WVU:

1. Gabriel does not turn the ball over. Unfortunately, this wasn’t bold early in the season. These last two weeks its been an issue, though. QB1 gets back on track against the ‘neers.

2. Stutsman returns. Danny is back and leads the team in TFL.

3. Sawchuk gets the most first-half carries and Walker gets the most second-half carries. This feels like the recipe for success to lean on tired defenders.

Reminder: Please add your score prediction and bold predictions for the game.

Boomer Sooner!

Beat WVU!