By Clayton Kilgore

I’ve Had Time To Think About It.

Kent State was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was the most points scored by the Vols since 1929.

They racked up 740 yards of offense.

Don’t get me wrong, it was really fun, but at a certain point it started to feel like public torture.

Before we start feeling bad, let’s keep in mind - they got paid $1.349 million to come to Neyland, so at least it wasn’t for nothing.

We’ve got weapons everywhere, like a Diddy mansion (minus the baby oil/lube). We’re healthy and ready to rock. It’s been the start that we all envisioned.

Nico Iamaleava has thrown just 67 passes so far. His numbers don’t jump off the page, but guess what? It doesn’t matter.

He hasn’t had to be a hero and I would argue that it’s been a perfect entry into the spotlight for him. That component is infinitely more important for his development and growth than inflated stats, and I couldn’t be more excited for him to step on the gas.

(His Heisman odds are hovering around +850 if you’re into that sort of thing.)

When you look at the flow of our games up to this point, it all makes sense, as there hasn’t been a great deal of pressure on him to carry the load.

Dylan Sampson is 10th in the nation in rushing and the defense is currently second in the country allowing only 160.7 yards per game.

Everyone around him has been doing their job and it’s been highly satisfying.

3-0 is nice, but still…

It’s our first true trial of the season.

Josh Heupel Revenge Game. 2015 Revenge Game. Whatever you wanna call it, it’s here.

I hope their stupid wagon flips over in pregame.

It’s Oklahoma week.

A question I’ve found myself asking… myself…

… “what even is a Sooner”?

According to Oklahoma’s official history, Oklahoma was unsettled in the late 1800’s and they basically just opened it up for people to claim land. They lined up a bunch of idiots on horses in the desert, fired a pistol, and whoever got there first got to have the land.

The term “sooner” refers to someone in this scenario who “jumped the gun”.

The University of Oklahoma’s tried to church it up and say that the nickname denotes “energetic, can-do individuals”. LOL, nice try, I’m not buying it.

Best I can tell, the Oklahoma football team is named after a bunch of scumbag cheaters that stole land from everyone else because they took off before the starter pistol. That’s my interpretation, at least, and I won’t hear any discourse.

Background Information & History:

The program got its start in 1895 and moved to the SEC this year after jerking around in the Big 12 since 1996. Welcome to a real league, Sooners.

2023 Record: 10-3 with a loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl

Head Coach: Brett Venables (2022-present)

Known fondler of rocks, formerly Dabo Swinney’s primary altar boy and defensive coordinator at Clemson from 2012-2021.
19-10 record at Oklahoma thus far

Notable Alumni:

Ed Harris - Early 1970’s
The guy from Westworld

Brian Bosworth - 1984-1986
All-time “create-a-player” aesthetic
Bad boy
Steroid user
Josh Heupel - 1999-2000

2000 National Championship Winner
2000 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year
2000 Walter Camp Award Winner
2000 AP College Football Player of the Year
All-around good guy and handsome leader
Current University of Tennessee football head coach

The man that’s gonna march into Norman, whip some ass, and potentially take a dump on the midfield logo (unconfirmed).

All-time record vs. Tennessee: 3-1

This will be the first meeting since 2015. We all remember.

Thankfully, that wound has long since healed, it’s a new day, but we Tennessee fans aren’t so quick to forget about those types of things.

LOGO:

(All logo photos courtesy of SportsLogoHistory.com)

In the interest of your time, I won’t delve too deep into this because Oklahoma’s logo is really quite boring in general.

Their most exciting iteration was a wagon with a red crayon “SOONERS” scribbled across the back of it. Other than that, it’s been several different versions of an intertwining “OU.”

Boring isn’t always bad. We’re talking about a pretty damn successful program over the years, so they don’t have to rely on pomp and frills.

The only team that’s really been able to pull off the “we have a million different uniform combos” has been Oregon, and sometimes simple is best.

Their helmets are clean and classic.

You’ll surely recognize their core uniform, seen below:

Personally? I prefer classic Nike over all else, but Oklahoma’s marriage with the Jordan Brand has made for some really cool opportunities in the footwear category. Their crimson colorway makes more sense to pair with Jordans than a Michigan or a Florida.

They also have a “Unity” set with painfully shiny numbers.

Here’s another alternate that throws the red, the white, and the black into a cauldron together (not their greatest, reminds me of South Carolina):

And finally, here are the 1950’s throwbacks that they unveiled this year and wore against Houston:

OOPS! This is a direct Nebraska rip-off if you removed the “N” logo from the helmet. Leave the past in the past, in my humble opinion.

UNIFORM FINAL GRADE: 7.0/10

Basic, not much room for creativity, but their core kit is a classic. Their alternates are largely flops and their most recent 1950’s throwbacks should’ve never been unearthed.

OFFENSE:

Returning Starters/Transfers/Impact Players: RB Jovantae Barnes, RB Gavin Sawchuk, QB Jackson Arnold, WR Andrel Anthony, WR Nic Anderson*, WR Deion Burks

There’s plenty of firepower on this Oklahoma offense, starting with a slew of receivers for Jackson Arnold to choose from. It’s no mystery that Arnold is a step back from Dillon Gabriel in 2023, and he’s averaging just 161 passing yards/game as it stands today, but there’s still talent to be aware of.

The Purdue transfer, Deion Burks, has set the pace for Oklahoma pass-catchers so far with 22 catches for 169 yards and 3 TDs. He was effective at Purdue last season catching 47 passes for 629 yards and 7 TDs and this year’s been no different.

The leading returning wide receiver, Nic Anderson, has been dealing with an injury but sounds like he’s hopeful to play this weekend against Tennessee. He had 38 catches for 798 yards (21 yards per catch!) and 10 TDs in 2023.

There are also guys like Jalil Farooq (45/694/2) and Andrel Anthony (27/429/1) that were active components in the passing game last year, but are currently hampered by injuries. Jalil Farooq broke his foot against Temple and Anthony is still ramping things up after a season-ending knee injury in October of last season.

Gavin Sawchuk handled most of the work on the ground last season, but it’s still an open position battle, according to Brett Venables. Through week 3, Jovantae Barnes has been the guy, carrying it 31 times for 127 yards and a touchdown.

Gavin Sawchuk has struggled with 16 carries for 35 yards, just 2.2 yards per carry. Even still, Venables has stated that he’s still waiting for one of these guys to “emerge” as the top running back, and it’s worth noting that Sawchuk had 120 carries for 764 yards (6.2 ypc) and 9 TDs last year.

My offensive X-Factor for this game is Jovantae Barnes and/or Gavin Sawchuk. If the Sooners are able to rely on their O-line and running backs to start moving the ball down the field, it would free up Jackson Arnold to get his experienced receivers involved and add a dimension to this offense that’s been lacking a bit.

DEFENSE:

Returning Starters/Transfers/Impact Players: LB Danny Stutsman, S Billy Bowman Jr., LB Sammy Omosigho, LB Kip Lewis, DL R Mason Thomas, EDGE Ethan Downs

With victories over Temple, Houston, and Tulane, this is the first actual heavy-hitting offense that Oklahoma will have faced, and their work is cut out for them in this top-15 matchup. They’re averaging 264.7 yards of offense allowed through week 3.

Safety Billy Bowman Jr. is a 3rd year starter and was an anchor for the 2023 squad. He totaled 63 tackles, 3 TFLs, and a team-high 6 INTs. He’s off to a strong start with 11 total tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT, and a fumble recovery.

Last year, Ethan Downs led the team with 4.5 sacks but he’s got some competition this year in R Mason Thomas who has 3 already.

The strongest unit in this defense has to be their linebackers. Danny Stutsman is an NFL-caliber prospect and projects as a late first-rounder in next year’s draft. He’s the easy, clear-cut defensive X-Factor for this game.

Should the Vols scheme him out of plays, the responsibility will fall on the shoulders of fellow linebacker Sammy Omosigho - who’s been active with 12 total tackles and 2.5 TFLs - as well as Kip Lewis.

SUMMARY:

This is a huge game.

I’m trying like hell to be full-meat with this game, but the nerves are there. I’m pre-conditioned to be cautiously optimistic after the last decade-plus, so that’s what I am. Sorry if that’s lame. I’m not gonna lie and pretend to be a hero.

With that said, if the Vols show up, limit mistakes, and take care of business then we should leave Norman with a win.

My hope is that the offense overwhelms and the defense sets up shop in the Oklahoma backfield. I’d love to see James Pearce Jr. impose his will and make Jackson Arnold uncomfortable, perhaps leading to a few forced turnovers.

I know he doesn’t say it out loud, but Josh Heupel wants to stomp this team into gelatinous amorphous red blobs. Deep down, he’d love nothing more and I hope he gets a chance to make his return to Norman a painful one.

This is Nico’s first “real” road test and it’ll be a hostile environment, but he’s built for this.

Let’s put a little fear in the rest of the nation that’ll be watching us on Saturday.

It’s time to let the world know: We’re officially here.

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