Can Oklahoma take advantage of a Big 12 that is there to be had?-ZoomTech News

It is a near-constant chorus to say that it was a chaotic weekend in school soccer. After the game crossed the midway mark and commenced Week 8 in earnest, nonetheless, it actually felt like this previous Saturday was full of head-turning outcomes in every single place you regarded.

Ohio State triumphed in a battle of defensive will, Arizona State threatened to make Washington’s hangover from beating Oregon even worse, Alabama stormed again in opposition to Tennessee, and one-win Virginia despatched people scrambling to witness an inconceivable upset of North Carolina.

If there was one league that largely stayed above the fray although, it was the Large 12. 4 of the league’s six video games primarily got here right down to some huge fourth-quarter performs, whereas each of the convention’s ranked groups survived after being placed on upset alert early — No. 8 Texas holding off a pesky Houston facet, and No. 6 Oklahoma stopping UCF’s two-point conversion within the closing minutes

“We had been lucky to win the sport,” Sooners coach Brent Venables informed reporters after the sport. “We made sufficient errors to lose.”

Certainly, huge performs — an actual space of development for the group after giving up so many in 2022 — haunted OU defensively in opposition to the Knights regardless of having the benefit of every week off and a boisterous sellout crowd. UCF tailback RJ Harvey had a 54-yard run blended in with a number of chunk performs, whereas Javon Baker had an 86-yard landing earlier than halftime through which he actually was blowing kisses to the opposing sidelines on his approach to the top zone.

As Venables is aware of from all his years within the league, and from making Faculty Soccer Playoff runs with Clemson, nonetheless, there’s one thing to be stated for profitable such video games even while you’re not enjoying your sharpest. Lacking area targets, fumbling, and having QB Dillon Gabriel throw an interception in opposition to his previous group are all issues that may result in a multi-score loss as a substitute of a slender escape in convention play.

That is very true while you’re on the street, as Oklahoma will probably be this week because it travels to face a harmful Kansas squad on Large Midday Saturday. 

The Jayhawks symbolize the beginning of what seems to be a season-defining stretch for Venables and firm — at Lawrence, Bedlam at Oklahoma State and residential vs. West Virginia. All three video games are as winnable as they’re ripe for upsets.

In case you’re Oklahoma although, it’s essential to additionally sense the chance at hand. The convention is unquestionably there for the taking, and the strides made in Norman have aligned completely with an opportunity to shut out this period of Large 12 play because the Sooners typically have: holding up a type of glass bowls representing a league title.

This week’s opponent is a superb working example. 

The Jayhawks have been a fringe top-25 unit all season and convincingly beat the identical UCF squad that just about topped Oklahoma. Quarterback Jalon Daniels was the Large 12 Offensive Participant of the Yr coming into the marketing campaign. But he is missed a number of video games coping with a again harm that ought to make him lower than 100% even when he performs Saturday. 

Kansas’ speeding assault of Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw Jr. has performed only one protection that ranks within the high 80 in opposition to the run (Texas) and neither may crack 45 yards in a blowout. Oklahoma, it needs to be famous, has allowed simply two speeding touchdowns all season and is second within the nation in tackles for loss. Even with the unbelievable quantity of shifts and blocking schemes that KU offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki can draw up, this can be a strength-against-strength matchup that also tilts closely in favor of Venables’ facet.

Quarterback is one other benefit, not simply because Daniels and backup Jason Bean have been so up and down this season, however as a result of Gabriel has been each bit the Heisman candidate. He is seventh in FBS in effectivity, sixth in landing passes, and is averaging greater than 9 yards per try. Add in a backfield that appears to be making progress each week, and the Sooners offense is beginning to click on and resemble a type of feared items as soon as once more.

It additionally helps that the remainder of the Large 12 appears to be clearing a path for the lone undefeated group standing.

Along with Kansas’ points, upcoming opponent Oklahoma State is second-to-last within the Large 12 defensively, and no quantity of enchancment over the previous few weeks will allow you to overlook additionally they misplaced to South Alabama in Stillwater not too way back. Throw in West Virginia sliding again to the pack, BYU’s lack of consistency and a TCU squad that has regressed considerably from a 12 months in the past, and it could be disappointing if Oklahoma hasn’t clinched a spot within the league’s championship recreation earlier than Thanksgiving.

On high of this, chief rival Texas has misplaced quarterback Quinn Ewers for a number of weeks with one more shoulder harm.

Then there’s that little side of the Playoff on the market looming, too, with the choice committee set to satisfy subsequent week to offer us our first true learn of how Oklahoma stacks up nationally. Loads of the superior metrics improve the Sooners’ résumé, and the non-conference win over an SMU group that would win the AAC will not harm.

There’s nonetheless loads of soccer to be performed and loads of undefeated groups nonetheless forward within the rankings, however the opportunity of reaching the CFP is a worthwhile matter of debate. Whereas No. 5 Washington nonetheless has to play powerful video games in opposition to three or 4 top-25 opponents, and No. 4 Florida State nonetheless has a pair of rivalry video games to navigate down the stretch, Oklahoma simply may need an simply attainable journey to both the Sugar or Rose Bowl.

Get into the ultimate 4 and something can occur on this parity-filled season through which even reigning champions Georgia and massive bully Michigan look both beatable or untested.

Are the Sooners up for all of it? The Large 12 is winnable for a group forward of schedule underneath its second-year head coach. Accomplish that and greater issues might be in retailer.

However first, it begins this week in opposition to Kansas in a recreation that may reveal as a lot about Oklahoma’s mettle because it does about its standing as a contender.

HOW TO WATCH ‘BIG NOON KICKOFF’ THIS SATURDAY

• 10 a.m.-Midday ET: “Large Midday Kickoff” pregame present on FOX
• Midday ET: Oklahoma at Kansas on FOX and the FOX Sports activities app

First and 10

1. The primary salvo of the Large Ten East round-robin passed off on Large Midday Saturday in Columbus, and it was each bit the defensive-minded affair that was anticipated coming in between Ohio State and Penn State. The distinction was a easy one: Marvin Harrison Jr. suited up for the house group. 

As a lot as one participant outlined the road between profitable and dropping, the coaches concerned might have been the larger storyline to emerge from the Horseshoe. For the Buckeyes, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles superior his case for the Broyles Award after one other grasp class in complicated a younger quarterback. As for James Franklin, the dialog about his upside is certain to crop up once more after he slipped to 4-15 in opposition to Ohio State and Michigan (and an additional 3-16 in opposition to high 10 groups). There’s little query that he offers the Nittany Lions a excessive ground, however the Large Ten is not getting any simpler, and he hasn’t showcased the power to take a great group and make it nice.

2. Coaches at all times harp on eliminating distractions, but it surely looks as if Michigan is piling them up week by week, with the newest being an NCAA investigation into potential in-person scouting by a workers member. Regardless of that, the group itself hardly appeared to note because it trounced Michigan State to the purpose the place it may be a brand new low level within the rivalry. If that blown result in Rutgers did not sign that the Spartans had waived the white flag, the efficiency in opposition to Michigan definitely did.

3. The 4 new Large 12 groups are actually 2-12 in opposition to the league’s current 10 members, with not a single street triumph amongst them. A kind of two wins got here through a Houston Hail Mary over West Virginia as time expired, and the lone convincing victory got here Saturday when BYU beat Texas Tech, 27-14. It isn’t the start any of the applications had in thoughts, however is a reminder that the transition to the next stage of play is usually a lengthy one.

4. Hats off to Tony Elliott and Virginia for the upset of the weekend, going into Chapel Hill to knock off beforehand undefeated North Carolina — the Hoos’ first-ever top-10 win on the street. That complete program has been by means of a lot up to now 12 months that it was a terrific second to see them lastly break by means of and notch an enormous victory.

5. After blowing a double-digit fourth-quarter result in a freshman QB making his first begin and dropping in double-overtime to Miami, it is clear that this offseason is probably the most pivotal in Dabo Swinney’s teaching profession. The best way he constructed his program labored up to now, however school soccer has modified, leaving the Tigers in the course of the pack within the ACC (if that).

6. At the start of the 12 months, many puzzled how Deion Sanders would deal with dropping much more than he was used to after taking up at Colorado. Maybe the query would have been higher directed to Lincoln Riley, who was always yelling on the officers in USC’s loss to Utah. Throw in stopping any gamers from talking with the media after Saturday’s recreation, and a promising season going off the rails is being compounded by the path their head coach is offering.

7. As one of many biggest coaches of all time in any sport, Nick Saban has churned out wonderful teaching jobs through the years. But this 12 months’s Crimson Tide may be one in every of his greatest jobs but. That is removed from a gaggle that’s simply going to ‘wow’ you just like the Tua Tagovailoa/Mac Jones years, however they’re leaning into this rough-and-tumble identification. It is very paying homage to the 2014 group quarterbacked by Blake Sims that misplaced early, received a bunch of shut SEC video games and finally made the Faculty Soccer Playoff.

8. The Solar Belt is having one more nice season, and it has been a few of the surprises which have helped make a tricky league that a lot better in 2023. James Madison is ranked and looking out like probably the greatest within the Group of 5, whereas every week after getting the primary ballot votes in program historical past, Georgia State beat Louisiana for the primary time ever. The Panthers are actually 6-1 off a terrific job by Shawn Elliott.

9. The three longest convention dropping streaks all got here to an finish this previous week. New Mexico thumped Hawaii to finish a 14-game Mountain West skid, whereas Nevada beat San Diego State to finish a 10-game slide in league play. Out East in the course of the week, FIU beat Sam Houston State to finish an eight-game streak in CUSA play. Arizona State now has the longest dropping streak, with the closer-than-expected recreation at Washington being the group’s eighth Pac-12 loss in a row. 

10. Your under-the-radar coach of the 12 months candidates could also be on a collision course subsequent month. Making the trek to Annapolis, Air Drive and Troy Calhoun almost posted their first shutout of Navy since 1975, settling for a 17-6 win that was way more of a drubbing than such a rating would point out. Later within the night, UNLV used two area targets with underneath 90 seconds left within the recreation to beat Colorado State and transfer to 6-1 for the primary time in 39 years. How way back was that? Randall Cunningham beat a Pacific program that hasn’t been in existence for almost three a long time.

Saturday Superlatives

Greatest Participant: Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State

Workforce of the Week: Virginia

Coach of the Week: Nick Saban

Sizzling Seat of the Week: Dabo Swinney

Heisman 5: 1. Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), 2. Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State), 3. Jayden Daniels (LSU), 4. J.J. McCarthy (Michigan), 5. Dillon Gabriel (Oklahoma) 

Tweet of the Week

Quote of the Week

Play of the Week

Tremendous 16

My poll going into Week 8 within the FWAA/NFF Tremendous 16 Ballot:

1. Michigan
2. Florida State
3. Ohio State
4. Washington
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Oklahoma
8. Texas
9. Alabama
10. Penn State
11. Oregon State
12. Ole Miss
13. Utah
14. LSU
15. Missouri
16. Tulane

Simply missed the lower: Air Drive

Better of the remaining: Notre Dame, North Carolina, UCLA, Duke, Louisville, James Madison, Fresno State, USC

Would you like extra nice tales delivered proper to you? This is how one can create or log in to your FOX Sports activities account, observe your favourite leagues, groups and gamers and obtain a customized publication in your inbox every day.

Pre-Snap Reads

Oklahoma at Kansas (Saturday, Midday ET on FOX)

The shut name in opposition to UCF is bound to get up the Sooners and in addition function an honest warm-up act for all of the motions and crossing patterns that the Jayhawks are going to throw out for this Large Midday Saturday assembly. Brent Venables’ group has been enjoying right down to their competitors at occasions and can achieve this once more right here in one other shut, back-and-forth affair. Kansas +10

Oregon at Utah (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX)

Had Kyle Whittingham not dominated out Cam Rising for the season on Saturday, this was establishing for him to make a triumphant return in opposition to a high–10 opponent. The Utes will profit from being at dwelling, however in some unspecified time in the future, the smoke and mirrors will enable an opponent to run by means of them. Oregon -6

Georgia vs. Florida (3:30 p.m. ET)

As a lot as Billy Napier wanted to keep away from unhealthy losses to the likes of Vandy and South Carolina, he additionally wants huge wins. Georgia is the superior group, however one thing says we get one thing unusual brewing down in Duval. The Gators will preserve it shut or pull the upset outright. Florida +13

Ohio State at Wisconsin (7:30 p.m. ET)

Suppose there will probably be a Luke Fickell storyline or two coming into this recreation? The Badgers barely survived Illinois and now should face off in opposition to probably the greatest defenses within the nation. The Buckeyes can have a letdown hangover for a half however then draw back to win convincingly. OSU -14

UNLV at Fresno State (10:30 p.m. ET on FS1)

Who had the Rebels and Bulldogs vying for a berth within the MWC title recreation on this one? No person, that is who — together with the 2 head coaches. Nonetheless, two superb tales collide as the house facet sneaks out a win within the fourth quarter. UNLV +9

Bryan Fischer is a university soccer author for FOX Sports activities. He has been masking school athletics for almost 20 years at retailers resembling NBC Sports activities, CBS Sports activities, Yahoo! Sports activities and NFL.com amongst others. Comply with him on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.

---

---