One of the things about which I’ve become quite passionate in the last couple of years is nutrition.

And no, don’t get it twisted — I’m not baking kale chips for snacks, eating Impossible Burgers or baking my cookies with arrowroot flour. I am not a psycho. But in the early stages of my post-college life, I grew increasingly aware of the reality that we as Americans do not eat well.

Many of the staple foods in the American diet are laden with preservatives and unnecessary amounts of refined sugar. Our produce is laden with potentially harmful pesticides, and so many of the chain restaurants we patronize en masse cook their food in seed oils. And for many years, I had no regard for any of those inconvenient facts. Frankly, when I was in college, I didn’t have enough money to give a second thought to the quality of my diet. I had to eat whatever I could get, as cheaply as I could get it.

But after I graduated and began to experience the luxury of a little extra disposable income, I began to take the quality of my food far more seriously. I am not above indulgence; let’s be clear on that. I will quite contentedly eat the boxed Chick-fil-A meal that’s provided to us in the workroom at Owen Field. I’ll make semi-regular stops at Velvet Taco on Lindsey Street, which is my go-to for a quick and convenient meal in the middle of long work days. I’ve got a soft spot for ice cream, and am wholly susceptible to the allure of an occasional chocolate shake from Braum’s. But as a general rule, I try to maintain a clean-ish diet, and it’s done wonders.

I buy meat that’s free from antibiotics and hormones, and I’ll only purchase organic produce. My wife and I will soak any berries that we buy in a baking soda/water solution, which makes them sparkling clean. We cook everything in coconut oil or avocado oil, and an air fryer is among the top 5 most valuable investments I’ve ever made. None of these measures are particularly expensive alternatives to everyday practices; they just require a little extra effort and care. It’s been well worth it to me, as I’ve seen my back pain disappear, my energy levels increase and my skin health improve substantially. Moreover, I haven’t been seriously ill in years.

But to me, the most interesting aspect of this dietary evolution is that I’ve seen unhealthy cravings gradually ebb away. You don’t realize how easy it is to live without many of your guilty pleasures — and just HOW guilty some of them are — until you give them up. A great example is soda, which I enjoyed liberally for many years. It’s borderline nauseating for me to take a sip of soda these days and taste the overwhelming sweetness of concentrated sugar. Soda used to be something that I’d crave if I went more than a few days without one. Now, it’s quite the opposite, as I can’t fathom the fact that it’s something I used to crave. The hard part was going cold-turkey on the stuff. It’s very easy to stay away from it.

Yes, I am going to close the circle on this metaphor. As it pertains to the Sooners, I sense that this fanbase still harbors an underlying craving for what I call Vintage Big 12 Football. You all know and remember what I’m talking about. There was a time that final scores of 51-46 and 62-52 and 59-56 were commonplace. You expected them. You took great joy in watching Oklahoma’s unstoppable offensive onslaught. The Sooners could — and did — outscore anybody and everybody in the Big 12. And that style of football is what you came to know as the norm.

Here in 2024, the pendulum has swung at last, and Oklahoma is once again a defense-first football program. That’s an unpleasant flavor for many of you. You know how unhealthy the Riley-era style of Oklahoma football was. Those seasons always ended the same way: defeat at the hands of a more complete football team, usually one from the SEC. But boy, were those seasons fun. And I wouldn’t dream of fighting you on that point, because they were fun.

Oklahoma’s style of football has become less fun. No longer does it really satisfy the sweet tooth that many fans have, a sweet tooth that craves explosive output from the offense and a just-good-enough effort from the defense. Through three weeks of the 2024 season, Oklahoma’s defense has been stout at worst and dominant at best. Meanwhile, it’s the offense that is scraping by, performing well enough to keep the Sooners in the win column but not well enough to inspire any confidence that they can go and win a shootout.

It will take time for Sooner Nation to acclimate to this dynamic; that is understandable and natural. But this evolution is undeniable. It’s happening before our very eyes. And eventually, I believe most every rational fan will come to realize that it is for the better. I feel that it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of comparing this current Oklahoma team only to past Oklahoma teams, whether in an overall sense or with regard to one specific area. And my exhortation is to try and get out of the Oklahoma box. Watch other teams across the country with similarly high standards and expectations. Georgia nearly lost to Brock Vandagriff last night, eventually eking out a 13-12 victory over a Kentucky team that got clobbered by South Carolina just one week ago. It took Alabama 45 minutes of football last weekend to finally leave USF in the dust. The defending national champions won 28-18 — at home — against Arkansas State, and have no competent quarterback to speak of.

The overarching point is that winning football — and I use the word “winning” as an adjective here — is not formulaic. Oklahoma fans have come to see it as such, because it was in the Riley days. But the best teams in college football can find ways to win ugly. They don’t have to follow a script.

Moreover, style points simply don’t matter anymore at the Power 4 level. They certainly mattered in the four-team playoff era, where a team HAD to win big in order to impress the committee. This was especially true for a program like Oklahoma, which played in a weak conference and had to pass the all-important eye test with flying colors in order to receive the benefit of the doubt. But we now live in the 12-team playoff era, and the Sooners are in the SEC. Winning football games, whether in virtuosic or uninspiring fashion, is all that matters.

By no means am I trying to convince you that all is well and good in Norman. Right this second, I can’t convince myself — nor you, consequently — that Oklahoma beats Tennessee next Saturday. But the Sooners are 3-0, they’re getting several starters back from injury next week, and they’re playing defense at a higher level than we have seen in years. They are not demonstrably less talented than most — if any — of their 2024 SEC opponents. What remains to be seen is whether they can continue to find ways, by hook or by crook, to win football games.

The jury’s still out. We’re all going to find out together. And hey, when was the last time Oklahoma was the very clear and obvious underdog in a nationally meaningful home game? Do you have to go all the way back to Nebraska in 2000? Maybe the Sooner Magic that has lain dormant in Norman (albeit not in the Cotton Bowl) for so many years comes alive on Saturday night.

Or maybe OU gets waxed by 30. I truly don’t know right now. Okay, let’s talk about yesterday.

— Would you have imagined that when Troy Everett got benched midway through the 2023 Red River Showdown, his return from injury would be considered PIVOTAL to Oklahoma’s offensive viability just eleven months later? Yet here we are. I suppose the primary difference between the Everett of October 2023 and the Everett of September 2024 is that the latter iteration of Everett is about 30 pounds heavier. Logan Howland drew his first career start on Saturday at left tackle, but after some early struggles, Bill Bedenbaugh benched him and moved Jacob Sexton from left guard to left tackle. Into the game at left guard came Heath Ozaeta, the only ginger currently on a football scholarship at the illustrious University of Oklahoma. And the Ozaeta experience was… an adventure. There was some good and there was quite a bit of not-so-good. The young native of Washington state just didn’t look ready, much like Howland. It was a rocky day for the Oklahoma offensive line in general; Josh Bates certainly had his ups and downs at the center spot as well. After Cayden Green’s defection, Bates, Howland and Ozaeta are the offensive line’s remaining representatives of the 2023 signing class. All three have bright futures, but they’re not quite prepared for starting roles just yet. With Everett and Branson Hickman set to return next weekend, the Sooners’ play in the trenches should improve. It has to improve. It was not strong yesterday, and it hasn’t been strong since the first drive of the season (which, coincidentally, is the only full drive that Hickman’s played this year).

— I feel no better about Jackson Arnold than I did a week ago. Now, to be clear, I feel no worse about Jackson Arnold than I did a week ago, but I’m not sure that the narrative changed in any meaningful way yesterday. The Good included 97 rushing yards, including a couple beautiful scrambles and a 47-yard dash on a well-executed zone read. The Bad was highlighted by a truly inexcusable pick-six, which allowed Tulane to pull within five points early in the fourth quarter. I liked the gameplan in the early stages, as Seth Littrell schemed a lot of quick-game concepts to take advantage of Tulane’s defensive weaknesses. Arnold executed at a high level and led three first-half touchdown drives, which ultimately gave Oklahoma enough breathing room to get away with some second-half doldrums. Here’s what I still don’t know: 1) what kind of quarterback is Arnold when he has to go beyond his first read? It’s hard to tell right now, especially when the offensive line can’t really hold up long enough to allow a young quarterback to go through his full progression. There’s a lot of one-read stuff right now because there kinda has to be a lot of one-read stuff. And 2) is Arnold capable of throwing downfield with accuracy? Oklahoma didn’t take many shots yesterday, but Arnold did get one chance to hit a streaking Jaquaize Pettaway down the sideline for a long gain and a potential touchdown. He missed, and missed pretty badly. Those types of misses have been a bugaboo to this point in the season for Arnold.

— My humble opinion is that Kani Walker is simply not a good cornerback. He’s actually pretty solid in zone, but he’s awful in man. There were two different occasions yesterday on which Walker’s man beat him deep, and both times, a well-placed football would have easily resulted in a long Tulane touchdown. But fortunately for Walker and Oklahoma, Darien Mensah didn’t hit on either throw. The harsh reality is that, perhaps absent a sprinkle of the Holy Dirt of Chimayo, Gentry Williams’ shoulder isn’t going to revert to factory settings any time soon. The Sooners need an answer at cornerback in the worst way, and it’s just not Walker. Dez Malone was solid yesterday and I wouldn’t mind seeing more Eli Bowen out there, but cornerback has become the one position on the defensive side that’s officially causing me worry. There is no true lockdown corner, at least not a healthy one, on this roster. Woodi Washington is what he is. He’s a solid, stable, high-floor option at that position. But he’s certainly not a guy who’s going to shut down one side of the field all by himself.