Midweek Mailbag: Diving into the Sooners' RB room, early Heisman rankings

Thank you to all of the OUInsider subscribers who submitted questions for this week's Midweek Mailbag. These were really fun to answer.

Let's get into it:

The short answer to your question is yes. Hear it from Brent Venables himself.

“DeMarco does a great job evaluating those guys through the course of the week and who’s practicing the best,” Venables said on Tuesday. “So that’s how we make a lot of those decisions.”

Typically, the position coach handles in-game rotations. It’s also why Venables mentioned during his Monday Coaches Show that he told Miguel Chavis earlier this week that Adepoju Adebowore needs to play more. However, obviously the head coach and coordinators have input and can make decisions on personnel during the game.

That’s part of what makes the Sooners’ running back rotation through four weeks so fascinating. Lebby has repeatedly insisted the offense would ride the “hot hand” but that hasn’t really been the case, especially recently. Against Tulsa, it was clear the coaching staff had already planned before the game to give all of the backfield work to Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk. Against Cincinnati, it was the same thing, only with Marcus Major and Tawee Walker.

After the Cincy game, Lebby said Major earned the right to start because of the way he practiced. There’s nothing wrong with that. But riding the hot hand would suggest that each running back is given an opportunity on the field to establish a rhythm. That simply has not been what we’ve seen the last two weeks.

Furthermore, Brent Venables said two interesting things during his press conference on Tuesday.

1. “I think it’s hard to play four running backs in the course of a game.”

2. “We’d love for somebody to establish themselves. That hasn’t happened yet.”

Walker has performed the best through four weeks. But it’s clear they’re still evaluating their options. We’ll see what happens against Iowa State.

This is a good question.

The most popular, and recent, example of this at Oklahoma was in 2016, when the Sooners often ran sets with both Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine. It worked like a charm.

But there’s some important context needed. For one, the Sooners didn’t start the season utilizing those packages. That was a wrinkle the former head coach (hahaha) added a few games into the season. The Sooners started that season 1-2 and gradually became more run-heavy as the year went on.

Also, and maybe most importantly, Perine and Mixon were two of the best running backs in college football — they both had nearly 200 carries and both had over 1,000 yards rushing — and they had different skill sets that played well off each other. For example, Perine was more of a between-the-tackles bruiser, and Mixon was more explosive and more useful as a pass catcher. Either way, it was crucial for the Sooners to find ways to have them both on the field.

Now, back to this season. Lebby’s offenses historically have been run-heavy and primarily utilized one traditional “bell cow.” Eric Gray saw the bulk of the work last year. It’s why Murray said the Sooners were “looking for a starter” during fall camp.

Essentially, Lebby hasn't really used sets with two running backs. And the reality is there aren’t two running backs that have proven they both need to be on the field at this point. That could change. If it does, you’d hope to see Lebby adapt.

So full disclosure, I actually have had a Heisman vote the last two years and I will have one again this year.

With that said, covering the Sooners full-time makes it a little difficult to completely keep up with every team each week. I usually take a few days before submitting my vote to look at the main candidates I’ve noticed throughout the year, watch film and then do some data breakdowns on a spreadsheet.

So it’s a little early, but here is my very tentative top-five as of now:

1. Michael Penix Jr., Washington

2. Bo Nix, Oregon

3. Caleb Williams, USC

4. Quinn Ewers, Texas

5. Jordan Travis, FSU

In all likelihood, this will change A LOT by the end of the year.

Thank you for the kind words.

I answered some of this in my last mailbag, but I’ll dive in a little more. I grew up in Stilwell, Oklahoma, a small town in the northeast part of the state. I have one brother, Taylor, who is the best musician I know. We were a very sports-driven and music-driven household. My brother and I grew up learning all of the music of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and many others. I played basketball and soccer all through high school, and I played football until my sophomore year. I grew up a die-hard OU and Dallas Cowboys fan.

I went to college at Northeastern State University, which changed my life. It was there I met a Media Studies professor who got me in contact with the Norman Transcript publisher (also an NSU grad), and I started a job there as a news writer a couple months after I graduated. I eventually became the sports editor and covered the Sooners for two years before accepting a job at OU Insider.

I don’t expect Iowa State to score much. I expect the OU defense to easily shut down the Cyclones’ offense. My only question centers around OU’s offense. Can the Sooners find a rhythm and score against a solid ISU defense? My gut says yes, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Sooners struggle a bit.

I mentioned my score prediction on the Oklahoma Drill podcast but I’ll reiterate it here.

OU: 28

ISU: 10