After its five-hour Red River Rivalry and a bye week, Oklahoma football is headed to Fort Worth, Texas to take on Gary Patterson and the TCU Horned Frogs.
For Oklahoma to win this game, it needs to fix a couple things.
Offense
For this Sooners offense, they are finding their rhythm and Spencer Rattler, who is only a freshman and has played outstanding with a turnover problem that will be fixed overtime. If this offense can minimize turnovers this weekend and get points of Gary Patterson’s tough and aggressive defense, they should win this game.
Since the 2019 season, Oklahoma turned the ball over nearly 30 times leading up to this weekend’s game. No matter how good you are this does not make it any easier to win. The offense has got to take care of the ball this weekend because Gary Patterson will have a defense ready. Even the Sooners own defensive coordinator Alex Grinch admires Gary Patterson’s defense. Grinch apparently has watched a lot of film on Patterson’s defense and loved their consistent aggression and schemes.
Defense
This leads me to Oklahoma’s Achilles heal, the defense. This defense has made a lot of improvements under Grinch and played their best game against Texas in the Red River Rivalry. TCU’s offense is very similar to Texas with more weapons. Quarterback Max Duggan can run the ball very well and has threats on the outside as well as a tight end who ranks second in yards after catch in the Big 12.
Against Texas, Oklahoma’s defense got pressure on Sam Ehlinger from the edges but at times left a gaping hole down the middle with no spy. If the Sooners allow that against the Horned Frogs, it might be a long day. Duggan is young who can get the yardage with his feet and will make the defense pay for their mistakes.
The Sooners cannot give up the big play though. That is what has killed this defense this year. Many chances to get turnovers and stops that end up turning into big plays. If Oklahoma can keep the up the aggressive pressure and have their secondary play as well as they did against Texas, it could be a blowout. That is assuming everyone does their jobs.
Returners
The saga of the Sooners suspended and injured players returning, continues. There has been much speculation about the Sooners wide receiver, running back and defensive end returning from their suspensions but nothing has yet been confirmed. Oklahoma is also missing another receiver due to a knee injury. If these players were to return to the Sooners roster sometime soon, this would be extremely big for the offense and defense. For the defense to get one of their two best pass rushers back, the offense to get two five-star receivers and a freight train for a running back to return, the Big 12 will be in trouble. Until confirmation from Lincoln Riley, these players will not be a threat
Be on the watch Saturday at noon ET for the Sooners to put some points on the board and leave Fort Worth with a big win.
Hi there! My name is John Barry. I am a sports journalist at the University of Oklahoma and will be giving you updates and inside scoops on all things Sooners. Have a question or story? Email me @john.f.barry-1@ou.edu