Yesterday, before I jumped in the car to drive to Campus Corner to execute my pregame radio responsibilities, I ate a peach.

This was a Porter peach, mind you. I’d procured it a week prior while on my way out to Wagoner to watch Alex Shieldnight. Whether Porter or Stratford is Oklahoma’s true peach capital is a matter of subjectivity, and it is not what I am here to discuss. But this particular peach was the largest peach of a half-peck that I had purchased in Porter, and after a week in the refrigerator, it had gradually lost the fresh-off-the-tree firmness and become soft enough to eat.

There are few things in life that will prompt such deep philosophical introspection as a good peach. A couple of bites of a ripe peach in the summertime and you’ll find yourself asking such questions as, Am I really finding fulfillment in life? Are my parents truly proud of me, or are they simply masquerading and feigning approval? On my deathbed, how will I be remembered?

This is the power of a good peach. If you have never experienced this type of epiphany, you have never had a peach that is good enough. But as I ate this peach mere hours before a new season of college football kicked off, I was reminded of the sheer discrepancy between Oklahoma and Temple in everything even tangentially related to football. Each bite made me realize how fortunate I am, and how fortunate you are. We don’t just have college football in our lives; we have Oklahoma football in our lives. And no, I’m not about to go on a chauvinistic tangent about how the University of Oklahoma is CLEARLY the best college football program ever to grace the gridiron. There are numerous other programs across college football that can reasonably boast of such prestige. But my point is that I get to cover a blue-blood program, and you, reader, get to root for a blue-blood program.

Granted, there are certainly junctures at which I almost find myself wishing I didn’t cover a blue-blood program. This job can be infuriating, especially as it pertains to five-star prospects and the hoopla that inevitably surrounds their respective recruitments these days. At times, I feel there would be some appeal to working a more low-maintenance beat without constant scrutiny of your work by a large and occasionally vicious fanbase. But 90 percent of the time, it’s genuinely a blessing to cover Oklahoma. I’ve been asked many a time by peers across the industry when I plan to “level up,” and my answer is always that I have no express desire to do so.

And you are blessed to root for a program like this one, no matter how you became an Oklahoma football fan — whether you were born into the allegiance, chose the school for academic reasons, jumped on the bandwagon or otherwise. Imagine for a moment that your team was one of the many also-rans across the sport, one of the programs that has never sniffed a championship. Heck, imagine your team was one of the schools across CFB that simply doesn’t matter to the rest of the nation, one of those schools that has a small and devoted fanbase but that no one else in the country could be bothered to watch.

And again, there is a silver lining in such a circumstance as that. Your identity can’t be wrapped up too tightly in college football if your team is awful or irrelevant, and that’s not a bad thing. Life and meaning isn’t confined to 12 Saturdays in the fall. All of my childhood friends up in Nebraska have come to this realization throughout the last decade. But as an Oklahoma football fan, you are afforded a luxury that does not exist for the fans of darn near a hundred other FBS programs. You get to watch your favorite team (and for many of you, your alma mater) play nationally significant football games in packed-out venues on Saturdays. And I don’t need to wax poetic about all the things we love about sports for you to understand that this reality is a beautiful one.

So as we break the seal on a new season of Oklahoma football, eat a peach and count your blessings, one of which is the opportunity to cheer on the crimson and cream.

— Yeah, look. Many of you asked about it in the Q&A section of the column, but you had to have known that it wouldn’t take me that long to address the most glaring issue last night. After Branson Hickman exited the game with a first-quarter ankle injury, it’s immediately became evident that Branson Hickman is the paper clip that holds the entire unit together. His departure prompted Spencer Brown to enter the game at right tackle, pushing Michael Tarquin to left tackle, Jacob Sexton to left guard and Geirean Hatchett to center. I have many more things to say about Spencer Brown, but if I said them all here, it would completely eliminate the intrigue and suspense that you no doubt feel as you steadily scroll your way toward the section of this column that’s labeled with Dan Hawkins’ face. It is virtually impossible to have watched Oklahoma’s offensive line play last night and concoct a remotely positive spin. Jackson Arnold was under duress all night, took more than one too many hits, and generally could not operate with any semblance of comfort in the pocket. The sooners throttled Temple in spite of this offensive line. In no way did the offensive line’s play contribute to the victorious effort.

— Jalil Farooq can’t catch a break, and I feel awful for the guy. After an offseason in which hs was repeatedly dragged by a segment of the Oklahoma fanbase because of his admittedly less-than-stellar Alamo Bowl performance, he opened his senior year with an explosive 47-yard catch and run… that ended with a broken foot. Brent Venables confirmed after the game that Farooq will require surgery and that he’ll miss at least six weeks of action, which puts additional strain on a wide receiver room that is already missing Jayden Gibson in the long term and Nic Anderson in the short term. It’s also worth recalling that Farooq primarily committed to Oklahoma in order to reunite with childhood teammate Caleb Williams, and as such, he had more than enough reason to follow the former staff to USC — or transfer closer to his home in Maryland — during the 2021 offseason. Instead, he put down roots and decided to stick around. He’s a Sooner through and through, and this is his last ride in the crimson and cream. As it stands, he’ll miss at least half of his final season of college football. I am pissed on his behalf. That sucks.

— With three minutes and eleven seconds remaining in the football game, Taylor Tatum sauntered into the end zone from 8 yards out on a third-and-goal option pitch from Michael Hawkins. It was a watershed moment for two reasons. Obviously, on the one hand, it was Tatum’s first collegiate touchdown. Good on the kid! High fives all around! Unfortunately, it also marked Oklahoma’s first third-down conversion of the entire game. Somehow (and I am still utterly befuddled as to how), the Sooners managed to play nearly 57 minutes of football — and build a 41-point lead — without converting a single third-down attempt. At risk of stating the obvious, you’re not going to be able to hang a 50-burger on the likes of Tennessee or LSU or even South Carolina with a 1-for-12 clip on third down. I’m not too terribly inclined to question Seth Littrell’s methods after his second game on the job, but I will say this: if his objective was not to show his hand to future SEC opponents, he did an especiallyimpressive job in that regard on third downs. But we will discuss this in further detail after I assail you all with relentless positivity. SUNSHAHNE PUMPER THUNE AT IT AGAIN.

— As I mentioned in the postgame podcast, I am not one to make sweeping judgments about starters’ performances against a team like Temple. After all, you would expect a guy like Deion Burks to have an impressive showing against an opponent of that caliber. But with second-team and third-team guys, I firmly believe that it’s justifiable to draw broader conclusions about their abilities and potential. For instance, we can all see that once Michael Boganowski rounds out his skill set as a safety, he’s going to be one of the more fearsome back-end defenders in the conference and the country. He hits as if the cartel offered him generational wealth to take out anyone that isn’t wearing a crimson helmet. But I’m not sure if there’s a freshman that impressed me more last night than Taylor Tatum. It’s not a terribly shocking revelation given that he was the No. 1 running back in the 2024 recruiting cycle, but that kid has serious juice. I had to see that juice in an Oklahoma uniform rather than a Longview Lobo uniform in order to certify it, but I am now officially convinced that he’s going to factor prominently into the backfield picture as a freshman. Jovantae Barnes looked nice last night and Sam Franklin reeled off a long run of his own, but nobody in that backfield flashed like Tatum. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter who the opponent is. I’m a believer that you know special when you see it, and I’m more willing than ever to slap the giant SPECIAL label on Tatum. Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk are going to have a hell of a time keeping the kid third on the depth chart — and I think both Barnes and Sawchuk are NFL dudes too.

— Again, I frankly could care less what the household names do in a game like this one (or I couldn’tcare less, depending on which version of the phrase you use). I expect Damonic Williams to wreak havoc on the interior. I expect Jackson Arnold to play turnover-free football. I expect Billy Bowman to make a couple of plays that scream “best safety in America.” What I do not expect, and what I am pleasantly surprised to see, is Gracen Halton manhandling the Temple front like he’s Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum and the Owl linemen are the tiny Roman figurines. Ditto for Markus Strong closing out the game with back-to-back sacks. But after watching the last two seasons of football at the illustrious University of Oklahoma, what I expect least of all is a clinical performance from a career 76 percent kicker. Tyler Keltner got to showcase the whole arsenal, as he got a chip-shot attempt, a midrange attempt and a long-distance opportunity. He converted on all three occasions, and his 50-yarder in the first quarter marked Oklahoma’s first successful field goal attempt from 50-plus yards in almost three years (Gabe Brkic had the last such kick on October 30, 2021). One game and one performance does not a reputation make, but Keltner got off on the right foot — pun fully intended — with a fanbase that’s dying for any semblance of reliability in the kicking game. Keep this man away from Chipotle at all costs.

— The Sooners’ first touchdown of the 2024 season came courtesy of Bauer Sharp, who hauled in a 14-yard strike from Jackson Arnold on OU’s opening possession. Arnold made a great throw, Sharp made a great catch, and Oklahoma drew first blood. Impressive. Very nice. But you may also have noticed that the touchdown in question came out of…

*checks notes*

… yep, 12 PERSONNEL. When was the last time you saw Oklahoma use 12 personnel for anything but a short-yardage situation? For the first time since 2021, the Sooners not only have a kicker who can hit from beyond 50, but they also have enough depth at the tight end position to comfortably play not ONE tight end, but TWO tight ends — and at the SAME TIME, mind you. Early indications are that Sharp is going to be the stud that Oklahoma imagined he could be this winter when they secured his services via the transfer portal, and although Jake Roberts didn’t catch a pass, he looks pretty freakin’ good too. Big props to Joe Jon Finley for immediately revamping the group that ranked as Oklahoma’s biggest offensive liability in 2023. Consider that the Sooners’ second-string tight end last year was Blake Smith. Blake Smith transferred to Texas State over the winter. Texas State listed five tight ends on their inaugural depth chart earlier this week, and none of them were named Blake Smith. Digest that information at face value, and then consider that Texas State’s roster is so loaded with talent that Brey Walker started all 12 games for that program last year.