Cookin' With Grill Boy: Searing the Iowa State Cyclones

Since it is Week 5, we will discuss Cincinnati, preview Iowa State, and make some bold predictions.

1. In last week’s CWGB, we discussed Cincinnati Head Coach Scott Satterfield’s pregame presser comments about Oklahoma’s defense. As a reminder, he said “they like to pressure, they play a lot of different coverages on the back end, they run well, they have good size, so obviously a very good team.” Well Cincinnati’s offense, which came into the matchup averaging 39 points per game, was kept out of the end zone by the Oklahoma defense. Holding any offense to zero touchdowns in 14 drives is impressive, but it is especially good considering Oklahoma largely lost the field position battle. Oklahoma now ranks second nationally in scoring defense and held the Bearcats to their lowest regular season point total since September 7th, 2019. It was their lowest home total since November 5th, 2016. Oklahoma’s schedule can absolutely be questioned, but what can’t be questioned is the historic low point totals they’re allowing to some of their opponents.

2. Oklahoma continues to make life on quarterbacks difficult. Whether they’re living in the backfield with exotic pressure or baiting QB’s into bad throws with savvy coverage disguises, opposing offenses are going through it. Emory Jones said on the first interception, “I thought it was cover 2, and it was 2 man actually. I was thinking I could throw a shot to him but the guy kept running with him and I threw the ball up and I didn’t put enough juice on it.” Last week I said this: “While impressing in the opener against Eastern Kentucky, Jones has been pedestrian at best through the air. In the last two games the former Gator and Sun-Devil has completed 60% of his passes for 195 yards per game. During those games he threw two touchdowns and three interceptions.” Well Jones was certainly pedestrian again, completing 53.6% of his passes for 235 yards. He threw zero touchdowns and got picked off twice. 22 of those yards were a gift from the Big 12 officials.

3. At risk of sounding like a broken record, Danny Stutsman is playing like the best linebacker in football. Each game has me asking myself” Is this Danny’s best game as a Sooner?” and I think we can all agree this is the best stretch of backer play we’ve had since would-be first rounder Kenneth Murray Jr. was commanding the defense. Stutsman finished with 13 tackles, 3.5 TFL, and a sack, and what might be more impressive is his seamless in-game transition between the MIKE and WILL linebacker positions. He’s seeing the game so well and “28” even got a shoutout from Satterfield in his postgame for the job he did stuffing a big fourth-down run. It feels like the Texas game will be his opportunity to really solidify a Butkus campaign, as Texas has a pretty salty standout linebacker of their own in Jaylan Ford.

4. I’m one of Dillon Gabriel’s biggest supporters on the internet, but even I will admit that he has to be more consistent on the layups if we are going to win any real hardware this year. Dillon’s greatest tool in this offense is his decision-making and understanding of the whole operation. Nearly every play is RPO, so he has the decision to hand-off, keep or throw on every snap. He won’t be 100% in his decision making, but when he makes the right read and sees the open man, he’s got to put it on him. I’ll also say it’s truly insane to want to bench him for a true freshman right now. I think that if you don’t like Dillon, no amount of great play can convince you otherwise, so I’m going to stop trying. Instead I need to understand why he doesn’t receive the support I feel he deserves. I think the two reasons are that Jackson Arnold is behind him and the revisionist history of OU quarterbacks. In one of Baker’s most iconic games he went 19/39 with a couple of interceptions, but he turned it on late and the defense won the game with an interception. I think if we have even a Top 100 defense last year then Dillon is thought of as a guy who can go get you a win. Either way, I am done trying to convince people that refuse to consider that he might not stink.

5. Many Sooner fans Saturday got exactly what they’ve wanted for years. Marcus Major led the team in carries. Wait, what’s that? That’s NOT what we want? Well the running back room remains an enigma. Marcus Major had the most impressive run of the day, picking up a 3rd and 19 with some tough running and nifty footwork. But all that did was receive a rousing “where has THAT been?” from much of the fanbase. Tawee Walker was more impressive with what he did in the passing game against Cincinnati. He turned a check down into a flashy 16-yard pickup. He also demolished some poor cornerback on a swing pass that I’m sure we’ll start to see more often. Sign me up for as many Tawee Walker/corner one-on-ones as possible. He won’t make them miss, but he’ll make them miss their mother.

1.In his weekly press conference, Iowa State Head Coach Matt Campbell started by heaping praise on Dillon Gabriel. He claims that Gabriel has played in the same system for six years, which isn’t quite true but his point remains that Dillon’s experience and leadership are respected by opposing head coaches. Campbell added, “They are a football team that’s clicking on all cylinders right now (do cylinders click?), certainly on the offensive side of the football. Then on the defensive side, really talented and really young.” Am I taking crazy pills or do coaches not pay attention to the teams on their schedule? To praise an offense that just put up by far a season low but largely shrug off a defense that hasn’t given up a touchdown in six quarters and counting seems wild.

2. Going in to the Oklahoma State game, Iowa State was averaging 16.7 points per game. That number was the lowest among all Power 5 teams at the time. That includes Iowa. So how bad is Oklahoma State? Apparently terrible. Jaylin Noel is Iowa State’s leading receiver and he’s amassed 202 yards on the season. 146 of those yards came against the Pokes. 126 of them came in the first half! So which is more likely, that the Cyclones turned into an offensive machine overnight or Oklahoma State defense is just bad? I’m going with the latter considering America’s Brightest Orange just gave up 33 to South Alabama and despite what Mike Gundy will tell you, South Alabama isn’t very good. I like the newly stout Oklahoma defense to have a massive day against the Cyclones at home by not giving up a touchdown.

3. The word of the game is going to be “patience”. Say it with me, “Patience”. This word of the day goes for the home fans, Jeff Lebby, and most importantly Dillon Gabriel. Iowa State is famous for the “Rush 3, Drop 8” defense that still keep Lincoln Riley up at night. The Cyclones will let you hit singles all day and bait you into swinging for the fences. That means this game won’t look much like Tulsa’s all out aerial attack. Expect Dillon to dink and dunk up the field to the tune of 70% or better completion percentage but not great ADOT. This also should allow the running backs to get going against a lighter box. The gambling scandal robbed Iowa State of depth up and down the roster, so pound away all game at their front and one or two might break in the second half.

4. Welcome back to this week’s episode of “Who the heck is going to get the carries?” We ask that question each week and you can never be sure if your answer is spot on or idiotic. For my money this week? Tawee Walker will get a bulk of the load. He is a team captain and I don’t think they’ll leave team captain on the sidelines fiddling his thumbs. He also leads the team in *deep breath* carries, yards, yards per carry, rushing touchdowns amongst running backs, catches amongst running backs, receiving yards amongst running backs, and opposing cornerbacks turned into dust. He also has the longest run of the season by any player. He’s flat out been the best back and the only argument against him is that he won’t hit the home run due to his lack of top end speed. My counter would be that nobody else has hit a home run in their combined 82 rushes so far, so let Tawee hit doubles and singles until the cows come home.

5. If I set the over/under at 1.5 for how many true freshmen will be starting at the end of the season, how many of you are taking the over? Well, Oklahoma Head Coach Brent Venables might. He said during his coach’s show at Rudy’s that he was on the plane rewatching the Cincinnati film when he stopped, went and found Coach Miguel Chavis, and told him Adepoju Adebowore needs to play more. Chavis said he played the second-most snaps (23). I think that number will be north of 23 this weekend against a suspect at best offensive line. But the questions remains, with Peyton Bowen already adding a starting notch to his belt, does PJ join him in the starting line up? Does any other freshman make the jump? One thing is for certain, the stadium will be on pins and needles waiting for the Oklahoma PA announcer to try and pronounce Adepoju Adebawore.

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!)

None hit the Cincinnati prediction (nobody had them scoring less than 13), so off we go!

My prediction:

OU 38

Iowa State 9

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 — “DG gets (his first?) rushing TD.” He did score on the ground, although it was not his first of the season. “We will score on a 30+ yard fg, our longest of the season)” Zach Schmit was perfect on the day, going 2/2 with a 34 and 30 yarder.

@TravisSkol — “Oklahoma will cause Emory Jones to turn it over multiple times” I finally got on the board this season due to the two interceptions.

1. Oklahoma will keep Iowa State out of the end zone.After an offensive outburst against Oklahoma State, I believe OU extends their no-TD quarters streak to 10.

2. True freshmen combine for three sacks. PJ will likely have to do the heavy lifting here but I might get help from Peyton on a blitz.

3. Dillon has a completion percentage higher than his season average of 78.Iowa State has good corners. They might even have a first rounder in the secondary. I still think Dillon remains patient and completes throws underneath, taking what the defense gives him.

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

Boomer Sooner!

Beat Iowa State!