The last time the Sooner Schooner tipped over, Oklahoma lost. To Kansas State.
Deja vu.
And the Sooners totally deserved it. The final was 48-41, but I’m here to tell you that this was a butt-kicking. I thought Oklahoma was out-coached and out-classed in every department.
The defense was obviously terrible.
Special teams couldn’t figure out pooch kicks.
And the offense had zero spark.
My wife asked me what I thought went wrong, and the first thing I thought was that the Sooners just aren’t nearly as good as we thought. I didn’t think they were that great against Houston, and it appears that both Texas Tech, West Virginia and Houston are beyond terrible.
But I came up with three specifics:
The Sooners defense has suddenly lost depth. The injury to Jon-Michael Terry apparently cannot be understated. Where was the rush today? Where was the aggressiveness? And then Parnell Motley lost his mind and kicked a Kansas State player, getting himself disqualified.
I don’t believe these are the only injury issues on the team either. My understanding though is that, today, OU had a whole bunch of second- and third-teamers playing.
Oklahoma abandoned the run game. This one is baffling to me, and it’s 100 percent Lincoln Riley’s fault. The innovative play-caller was anything but today. Check out this box score:
a. Jalen Hurts: 19 for 96 yards
b. Trey Sermon: 3 for 9 yards
c. Kennedy Brooks: 3 for 2 yards
Riley is well-known for being able to memorize all his play calls and cite them on his radio show. Well, he should forget today’s batch because they were John Blake-era trash.
I’ve read some folks comparing Jalen to Vince Young. I can see it a little bit in terms of his running style, but I can also see why he ended up second-string at Alabama. The drop-off from Baker and Kyler to Jalen, to me, is pretty significant.
That Kennedy Brooks only ran three times, and that Rhamondre Stevenson didn’t even touch the ball is baffling. Unexplainable.
Grant Calcaterra’s absence.
Going back to the start of the Bob Stoops era at OU, the tight end has been a huge part of Oklahoma’s success.
No tight end caught a pass today for the Sooners.
Calcaterra has been out for three weeks with an “undisclosed injury,” and his absence today was killer. No tight end? No running game?
Anyway, them’s my thoughts. The good news is that Oklahoma has been very resilient after losses in years past, and they lost at a good time of year.
Win out, and the Sooners will be in the playoffs.
My hunch though is that this team has 1-2 more losses in them.
The Oklahoma Sooners named Jalen Hurts starting quarterback on Monday in breaking news that nobody doubted. The Alabama graduate transfer was a shoo-in for the job, it seemed, over the underrated Tanner Mordecai and the future superstar Spencer Rattler.
Hurts has played in three national championship games and helped the Crimson Tide win the 2017 natty.
But come September 1, Hurts might not be the best QB on Owen Field.
D’Eriq King is coming to town, and he’s got a Dana Holgorsen offense in tow.
Everybody who thinks that Week 1 versus the University of Houston is going to be a cakewalk is grossly mistaken. New defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and the Sooners D will get a stiff test in Week 1 against a proven offensive system and a QB who has a puncher’s chance at a Heisman Trophy in 2019.
They write: We’ve said it for a while and we’ll say it again: D’Eriq King is the best player in this conference, no question. He was robbed for Conference Player of the Year last year, and deserves more respect from all of college football.
King was one of three players to account for 50 or more touchdowns last year. He did that in 11 games, and might have led all of college football in touchdowns if he didn’t get hurt. Dana Holgorsen’s staff gives him yet another playbook, but that won’t slow him down at all. Holgorsen said he won’t run King as much this year, so his passing numbers should improve. Regardless of what happens, King’s talent is too good to ignore, and we need to give him the respect he deserves.
Check out this pass. This is the type of stuff that killed the Sooners time and time again the past few years, especially against teams that had taller receivers (think Texas and Iowa State):
D'Eriq King QB Houston makes a great throw towards the pylon, his WR gives him a enough room to put the ball where he can go up and make a play! @DeriqKing_@UHoustonpic.twitter.com/OQq9pfUa4Z
Let’s check the roster. I’ve got some good news, Oklahoma. Houston doesn’t have any upper-classmen taller than 6’2″ and their one 6’3″ receiver is a freshman.
But to be brutally honest, this YouTube video should scare the devil out of Oklahoma fans. King is a fantastic passer, and Sooners fans know darned well that Oklahoma’s defense of the past two seasons wasn’t really any better than any of the teams you just watched in that video.
There are zero guarantees Oklahoma wins Game 1. The battle versus Houston in Norman on Sept. 1 is basically a Big 12 game from the past couple of years. Winning is surely expected, but by no means should anybody fail to understand how big a test this really is.
This could be a 55-48 type of game.
So, while Monday was all about getting the Jalen Hurts-as-starter news out of the way for the Sooners, OU fans should be getting to know D’Eriq King.
Dude could be the stuff of Oklahoma’s nightmares come Sept. 1.
I’ve only begun to dive into Netflix’s QB1 series featuring Oklahoma Sooners phenom Spencer Rattler during his time at Pinnacle in Phoenix. I’m struck by how small he is compared to other big-time quarterback recruits.
And then we see him throw. Crisp.
And then we see the attitude. Confident.
And, damn, if it isn’t like seeing a young Baker Mayfield get after it.
As a Sooner fan, the thing that strikes me the most is how committed Rattler was to Oklahoma from the get-go. His coaches had to tell him to stop wearing his OU gear at practices.
But could this freshman, who didn’t go through spring ball at OU, have a chance to supplant incoming transfer Jalen Hurts as opening week starter? I don’t think there’s a chance of that — but there is a lot of buzz at how Rattler is performing.
This article from the Norman Transcript suggests Rattler is in the thick of the QB race with Hurts and Tanner Mordecai, who is no slouch for the Sooners. The reporting is that while Rattler hasn’t necessarily made ground on Mordecai or Hurts, he has come into his own as far as execution.
OK, then. But could Rattler see playing time this year? I’d bet the farm that he at least gets his four games before taking the redshirt, probably. In fact, I predict we’ll see him Week 1 versus Houston.
Former OU nose tackle Dusty Dvoracek talked with News 9 Sports Director Dean Blevins about Rattler, noting how impressive he’s been in practice.
I think the biggest question I have is whether Rattler is actually redshirted. My current hunch is that he won’t be. We’re in an era of win-now, and if Lincoln Riley thinks No. 7 can help Oklahoma in a Big 12 title game or a national playoff, then Spencer Rattler will be playing when it counts — even if it’s only for a couple of packages.
So, I ain’t gonna lie. I’m beat. Kristi, too. I’m lying in bed as this blog is being crafted.
We’re both super busy at work. We’re both still managing multiple trips per week to the chiropractor after a car wreck in November.
We’re both getting married in April. To each other. There’s a substantial to-do list that goes with that. We’ve got two houses we’re trying to sell, including one that belonged to Mom, and a car settlement in the works and all sorts of side projects and various kiddo-centric to-dos.
A nice dinner out isn’t a luxury. It’s therapy.
We had wanted to try Chigama, a Korean-Mexican restaurant, in northwest Oklahoma City, for quite awhile. A colleague’s recommendation this week, however, sealed the deal — and we visited tonight.
It’s at Memorial and May, just off the Kilpatrick Turnpike. It’s in a strip with other restaurants, including Wagyu and Metro Diner. The first thing you notice upon entering is the interior design.
It’s colorful, modern and brilliant. The blue and orange-themed insides matched the color scheme of the hometown Oklahoma City Thunder on the television.
Because Kristi and I were already pooped from a January that, this year, lasted 74 days, we took forever to order anything. Our waitress, Sarah, stopped by 6-7 times before we could get it together.
We weren’t lallygagging. Kristi was plotting different foods for us to try (our thing is to split food so we can try more dishes), and I was researching on my phone every cocktail in their alcoholic arsenal.
I settled on the poma jalapeño margarita. It was sweet, and it had a serious kick. I think the glass might have been lined with salt and chili powder.
The lady had sake. Cold, sweet pineapple sake. She likes it; I hate the stuff.
My cocktail was a 10 out of a 10. Terrific beginning to the evening out.
Next course was bao. I thought Kristi was saying, “bowel,” and the funny part was that I didn’t flinch. I was like, “Well, I guess this is happening.”
But it was a steamed bun with goodies inside, namely soft-shell crab and pork belly.
Then came the scallion pancakes.
The sour cream sauce paired perfectly with the side dish. Loved this.
Kristi tells me this is “elote.” I responded, “you mean corn?” She squeezed the lime over it, giving the sweet corn a tangy flavor.
The theme of the night at Chigama was “flavor combos.” At no place we’ve been in Oklahoma City has had as interesting a mix of flavors as Chigama.
Our main course was a couple tacos — a beef steak taco on the left and a sweet-and-spicy shrimp taco on the right. My favorite taco was the shrimp. Kristi’s, too.
We were supposed to dip the tacos in this chili sauce but we forgot.
Oh, well. Not that the tacos needed it.
Last but not least, we ordered some churros. By then, the Thunder were up by 25 over the Heat, and the last big table had paid up for the night.
We had the place to ourselves.
I don’t rave about a restaurant unless I mean it, but Chigama was both a culinary delight and an experiential one. And it cements my love of Korean food or at least Korean-influenced foods, especially given that the late, great Chae had been my favorite Oklahoma City restaurant.
Anyway, give this place a try. High marks. Totally affordable, too. $$ on prices and I’d say 9 out of 10 on food + experience.
We’re three days from college football’s playoffs, a pair of semifinal matches stuffed in between relatively meaningless bowl games.
Oklahoma fans learned today that Heisman winner Kyler Murray wasn’t feeling well and missed media time. They also learned that Marquise Brown practiced.
“Thank the good Lord,” it was proclaimed even by the most agnostic football fans in the Sooner state.
Hollywood! And Hallelujah.
If only it were that easy. If dressing out for practice meant anything for sure. If Marquise’s injury was to his shoulder and not a lower extremity.
I’m not overly confident that Marquise Brown is going to be close to full-strength come Saturday night versus Alabama in the Orange Bowl.
But he doesn’t have to be to help Oklahoma. Mostly, he needs to be on the field and drawing Alabama’s best coverage. He’ll be the deadliest decoy in the sport, for one night.
Maybe Hollywood plays dead for a quarter and then busts out in the second. Maybe the third. Or the fourth.
Or maybe Marquise is good for a few possession catches and to free up other Oklahoma receivers. That’s a damned big deal if so.
Hollywood could finish the Alabama game with only a catch or two and have a major impact on the Sooners’ success.
But from one Sooner fan to another, can I give you some news that has me even more fired up?
Remember when we lost Rodney Anderson for the season, and we thought all was lost relative to Oklahoma’s ground game?
All I have to say is: Trey Sermon + Kennedy Brooks. Oklahoma is going to have a full-strength running game.
Sermon brings the thunder, and Brooks flashes lightning. They’re both effective tools for the Oklahoma passing game.
And if Hollywood is out there drawing double-teams, whether he’s full-strength or as gimpy as Kerri Strug, he’ll be making opportunities for CeeDee Lamb and Grant Calcaterra and Myles Tease, Lee Morris, Sermon and Brooks.
So, will Hollywood Brown be ready to go at full-strength?
Don’t know.
But it sure looks as if, with three sleeps before kickoff, that Hollywood Brown intends to play.
The question on everybody’s mind is: Will Oklahoma make the College Football Playoff with Alabama beating Georgia Saturday hours after the Sooners took care of Texas, 39-27, in Dallas?
The answer is almost certainly will Oklahoma be in as a four-seed at worst, third at best.
The question on my mind is: how is Marquise “Hollywood” Brown? He left the game in the second half with a foot injury and not only didn’t return for Oklahoma, he was carted off and returned in a boot and on crutches. Hollywood is one of the best receivers in Oklahoma history, and definitely the most explosive. He’s ‘Little Joe’ explosive.
In a national title game situation, he’s an X factor — against anybody.
To be honest, the injury appears to be a foot injury, not an ankle injury. My fear is that he broke his foot on the top of it or along the midfoot, also known as a Lisfranc injury. That makes me sound smart, but I’m not. I got the idea from a tweet:
I’m gonna say broken foot/Lisfranc injury for marquise brown. 😣
I thought, “That’s a very specific proclamation,” so I looked it up. It fit what I was seeing in how the trainers were looking at Hollywood’s foot. For what it’s worth, head coach Lincoln Riley had nothing to say about it other than stating the obvious: Brown suffered a lower-body injury, and they’d examine him further. Multiple reports indicate that Brown seemed to tell his coach that he’d be OK although that could just be him saying it’s out of his hands and not to worry about him.
Without Brown, the Sooners are much less lethal on offense. With him, Oklahoma has a chance to win the whole thing.
Eventually they’re gonna win it all, you know.
And with or without him, what Saturday’s 39-27 win over the Longhorns showed is Oklahoma’s resiliency. This is the second season in a row in which the Sooners lost midway through the year and still made the playoff. Or so we think. I think it would be the third in four, too. To be able to come back and win out in each instance is highly impressive and speaks to a team’s mental fortitude as much as anything else.
Yes, I hate that the team’s defense was non-existent for much of the season.
Yes, I’m over those 59-56 games. That’s not good football.
These Sooners had every reason to throw in the towel or let up after the Texas loss. They had every reason to cave after getting blistered on social and in the press for a defense that gave up 47 to OSU or 40 to Kansas. Yuck! It’s not like they didn’t have it coming; they weren’t really improving.
However, they just took care of business, won games and waited for the moment the defensive side of the ball would step up.
That resiliency is proof positive that Oklahoma fans don’t need to sweat too much the loss of Marquise Brown. Hollywood will be back if he can, and if he’s not available for a Dec. 29 national semifinal, these Sooners of all Sooners are well equipped to figure it out.
Not because it wouldn’t hurt losing a player the caliber of Hollywood Brown.
But because this team, even though they’ve made us crazy for much of the season, might just be the most resilient Sooners of them all.
Resiliency is a winning quality. Winners are resilient.
A few years ago, you wouldn’t have ever heard me say that the NFL was more fun to watch than college football.
The tailgating. The atmosphere. The tradition.
But now, between 74-72 football games and conference rules stifling even the most modest of player celebrations, I find myself at the end of the college football season eagerly awaiting its end — and it’s been like that for at least the past five years. Mind you, when the Sooners make the College Football Playoff, I’ll be gung-ho if but for one more day.
Today’s decision by the Big 12 Conference to penalize Oklahoma if a Sooner player, or coach presumably, makes a “horns down” gesture just cements the conference among a sea of snowflakes in an over-sensitive universe. Of course, the rule-follower that I am, I’m not overtly among those who are suggesting the Sooners as a team do it at the beginning of the game — but the conference has practically begged for it, and I bet we see something a la Georgia-Florida a few years ago.
Lol, this was awesome, btw.
Georgia went on to win 42-30, fwiw.
This isn’t even an OU vs. Texas issue. We both agree.
Are we going to ask Longhorns fans not to chant, “OU Sucks!”? Never. If I don’t hear “OU Sucks,” how am I to even believe it’s Texas?
It’s part of the game. Heck, does anybody remember that once upon a time, Longhorns and Sooners would line up along Commerce and basically drunkenly yell at each other for hours?
My capacity for caring about this topic hasn’t even lasted as long as the writing of this post, except to say this: The NFL figured it out. In desperate need of a PR boost in the wake of Anthem Kneeling ’17, the league decided to let their players have fun again.
They allowed them to celebrate touchdowns.
The horror.
And, trust me: there is plenty of shade being thrown in some of these celebrations. It just takes a little sleuthing.
But besides it being the right thing to do, it’s smart marketing. If we’re going to have to sit through a four-hour 59-56 game, let’s see these guys bring their best celebrations. Heck, get the audience in on it and have a vote for the celebration of the game in the fourth quarter for $25,000 to a worthy charity?
We were heading to dinner, ready to try a new place, new for us. A place called Kwan’s Kitchen was calling, and we were ready for a chance to unwind before the holiday weekend.
As we headed down Memorial Road, past Rockwell Avenue, in Oklahoma City. I was daydreaming into the distance. Like usual. And, no, I wasn’t driving.
Kristi was, and I suddenly heard her scream.
“Bam!”
We had been hit and hit hard in the intersection of Memorial and Rockwell. Kristi somehow managed to wrest control of the vehicle and keep us from flipping. I was 90 percent sure we were headed down the embankment and maybe onto the Kilpatrick Turnpike below.
As the person in the passenger seat, I’d describe it is being on a really bumpy boat ride on the lake. The vehicle was just thrusting about, and the morning after, I was quite sore — more sore than after I finished my half marathons. By a lot. Some of that was compounded by achy hips from a golf outing earlier in the week.
Getting old sucks, folks, haha!
I got out of the vehicle instantly and urged Kristi to get out. See, I watched too many Emergency!-like shows in the 1970s, and I knew that the car always exploded in the aftermath of a wreck.
It didn’t.
Right as I was walking toward the other driver, to whom I was going to ask, “What the ****?,” a gentleman walked up to me and gave me his name and number. He and his wife had seen the whole thing. The other dude ran a red light, a light that had been red for quite a while.
We’re not sure how fast the guy was going, but I immediately got concerned for him and walked up to him, not in anger, but just to make sure he was OK. He was extraordinarily apologetic, which made me immediately conciliatory, and I stood with him as his teenage daughters got out of their Honda Odyssey. For the record, we think he was going 30-40 mph through the intersection.
What struck me is how hard the hit was. It was really hard. Two airbags went off, both on Kristi’s side of the car, and she whacked her head. The hit was so hard, it popped the gear shift out of place in the middle of the front of the vehicle. The hit was so hard that it BENT MY SUBARU FORESTER CAR KEY.
I shit you not. The key must have been against something in my left pocket, but the impact bent it. We got it fixed pretty easily with WD-40 and duct tape, which is how you do it in the South.
How much harder then is an impact at 55, 60, 70 miles per hour or beyond?
If you weren’t a believer in seat belts before, you became one.
If you weren’t a believer in staying hands-free with any device before, you were now.
Oklahoma City Police came out to help, and while they were helpful, I would also note that they’re short. No time for any extra commentary or questions. All business, and that’s understandable and standard. I add that as a word to the wise if you’re ever in an accident: minimize the number of words you speak and maximize their impact.
“Ma’am, do you want an ambulance?” the officer asked Kristi.
“Yes,” I replied, “She does, at least to get checked out.”
“I’m not asking you,” the officer said.
Clap the heck back, why don’t you?! Ha!
My response emanated from the brief conversation I had with the witness, who (it turns out) is a former police officer. He said, “Have the ambulance come over and check you out, even if you don’t think you need it.”
And here’s why.
When you’re in an accident, your body automatically goes into fight-or-flight, meaning the adrenaline is at the max, and while you’d be likely to feel a broken bone, you’re less likely to feel what they call “soft-tissue injuries.” In this case, Kristi had sustained a nasty bump to the head. The paramedics checked her out and held her for a couple minutes for high blood pressure that quickly went down.
We’re both pretty sore today. I’d say that I’m much more sore than I expected to be. Achy like the flu.
The other reason you need to get checked out by the ambulance at a wreck is for insurance documentation. In fact, at every step, if you have symptoms of anything after a wreck, you need to get checked out. What makes the whole process feel very shady is that average folks like us often err on the side of not bothering people.
“I’ll be fine. Don’t bother the doctor or paramedic!”
“It’s just a bump!”
In the hard, cold, real world, that just translates to, “not really hurt,” even if that’s not true.
It’s enough to make a person pretty jaded — or get that law degree and chase a few ambulances!
However, we’re lucky. We lived. No broken bones. A big pain in the ass, figuratively and literally, but aside from some paperwork and administrative headaches the next few weeks, all good.
And the other guy and his family lived. And he has insurance, too. Thank the good Lord. I can’t tell you how little sympathy I have for anybody who’s driving without insurance. Driving is a privilege, not a right.
Later over dinner, watching the Thunder game, I told Kristi, “Hey, it was another first for us. Our first car wreck together.”
“How romantic,” she responded.
We both agreed though: we’ll never forget this Thanksgiving! It could have been oh, so much worse.
They allowed Kansas 544 yards of total offense including 405 yards on the ground.
On the ground, they allowed the Jayhawks 8.3 yards per carry.
The ‘they’ I’m referring to is 1-10 Rutgers, one of the worst teams in all of college football.
It could have as easily been Oklahoma. The Sooners, despite a 55-40 win, allowed Kansas 524 total yards, 348 on the ground and at a 9.7-yards-per-carry clip. Oklahoma’s pass defense was also on par with Rutgers’, given the common opponent.
Oklahoma is 10-1, and Rutgers is 1-10.
Thank God for the Sooners offense because this team — without Kyler Murray and a brilliant offensive mind in Lincoln Riley — could as easily be 3-9.
The downward spiral of the Oklahoma defense absolutely started with Bob Stoops, the third best coach in the history of Oklahoma football. The man has a national championship to his name, and he brought the Sooners an entire era of winning. However, the move toward the spread offense went from 1999 gimmick to plague for the entire Big 12 conference, whose teams never bothered to learn how to defend against it.
And in the past five seasons, Oklahoma has gone from a modicum of aggressiveness to playing a permanent prevent defense against virtually every team, per the strategy of Bob’s brother, Mike and a full staff of coaches who have supported him, including current interim defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill.
So, what’s the big deal, you ask? We’ll just out-score everybody.
You’re right, but that becomes tougher when you play teams out of conference, especially teams from the SEC, Big 10 or an Independent team like Army. The Black Knights, in a 28-21 loss, held the potent Oklahoma offense to 355 yards and four scores, and they did it with ball control.
Where this philosophical discussion becomes tougher to argue is in discussing Alabama. If you were to poll 1,000 pretty knowledgeable college football fans, I think they’d say (aside from Clemson), the two teams that stand the best chance against the Crimson Tide would be Michigan (because of its awesome defense) and Oklahoma (because of our unstoppable offense).
I firmly believe Oklahoma could beat Alabama under close-to-perfect circumstances, but that score would probably look like 52-49. Maybe as many as three or four out of 10 times.
But Oklahoma could also, potentially, lose to virtually any team in Division I on a close-to-perfect day.
The Sooners are an injured quarterback away, a head coaching change away from reverting back to the Blake years. I think it’s super naive not to see that, and it’s not the end of the world if that were to happen. Makes you appreciate the great years, right?
I’m of the firm belief that Lincoln Riley is at once an offensive genius and quite possibly woefully incomplete as a head coach. But he’s got the opportunity to right that side of the ball.
This year, the terrible defense is on Mike Stoops and, largely, too, Ruffin McNeill.
But next year, can we agree that Lincoln Riley owns this?
Two games was all it took for the Oklahoma defense to return to its mediocrity, an underwhelming performance that is all too common in the Big 12.
Except for one team: Iowa State.
Matt Campbell is quietly leading a renaissance that the rest of the conference should pay close attention to. The Cyclones’ 20th-ranked defense was only good enough to hold Oklahoma to 37 points, but they are a refreshing step in the right direction for a conference in desperate need for better optics.
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech Saturday night 51-46, and West Virginia beat Texas 42-41 in games that I would characterize as complete garbage.
On the other hand, Alabama went to Baton Rouge and shut out LSU 29-0.
And that’s why we can’t have nice things.
Before this weekend’s games, Iowa State was No. 20 in total defense, allowing 323.3 yards per game. Against the Jayhawks, Iowa State held Kansas to 332 yards and three points. Oklahoma held Tech to 473 yards and 46 points.
By any standard, that’s poor. I see lots of defense of this type of performance, and it’s enabling and delusional.
After the game, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill was quoted as saying, “My whole deal with winning guys, for 40 years, my motto has been ‘Win by one, let’s get out of here.'”
Defense gets job done, but returns to reality in win over Texas Tech. #Sooners
"My whole deal with winning guys, for 40 years, my motto has been 'Win by one, let's get out of here.'" — Ruffin McNeillhttps://t.co/9zkLofnKt5
And that’s how I know he’s not the right guy for the job.
Defensive coordinators should be obsessed with takeaways and shutouts and bone-crunching hits, not merely giving up 9 on third-and-10. There’s no “bring the pain” mentality in college football anymore, well, except in the SEC.
That might be optics. Sure.
But 51-46 is ultimately bad for the brand, and as a conference, they need to work together to improve national perception of its defense. They need to beg Matt Campbell to stay in Ames because what he’s doing has a chance to flip the script not just in Ames but in Norman and Stillwater and Austin and beyond.
Let’s look at a common opponent.
Iowa State beat Texas Tech 40-31 but held the Red Raiders to 363 yards and 31 points. To be fair, two Texas Tech touchdowns against OU were on short fields after Kyler Murray interceptions. But also to be fair, Alan Bowman didn’t play the second half. If you’re being honest, you know that Tech wins that game if he plays.
So, how does Oklahoma get there defensively?
I don’t know. Ask Matt Campbell. Dude is doing it, and Iowa State is about to become a formidable force in college football if he stays.
A rising tide lifts all boats, and every team in the Big 12 should be borrowing from his playbook.
At this point, thank the good Lord for Iowa State. They’re making us all look better.
