OU mailbag: What to watch against Arkansas State
Every Monday, SoonerScoop.com and On3’s George Stoia will be answering your questions in his weekly OU mailbag. This week, Stoia previews the Arkansas State game, gives his confidence rankings for each position group, and gives his surprise contributor of the season.
Below are Stoia’s answers for Monday, Aug. 28.
What are the biggest things you will be looking for against Arkansas State? Both sides of the ball?
Rotations. I want to see who is rotating where and what young guys get playing time and in what situations they’re thrown out there. I think we will have a better understanding of which young players will be contributors, or at least that the staff trusts to be contributors.
On offense, I want to see if Dillon Gabriel improved, how they split the carries, who is the deep ball threat, what the tempo looks like, and how they perform on third down.
On defense, I want to see what kind of pressure the d-line can create, how often they rotate ends, who starts at corner and who is the first to rotate in, is the communication seamless, and does Danny Stutsman look like the leader they expect.
Confidence from most confident to least confident by position group?
Most confident to least confident…
Running back: So much depth and talent. Linebacker: Experienced leader and depth. Offensive line: Lots of talent, needs to stay healthy.Defensive line: Good size and depth, not sure how talented. Safety: Lots of talent, but need to mesh. Quarterback: You know what you’re getting.Cornerback: Need a young guy to be a dude. Wide receiver: A lot of questions, but talent is there. Tight end: No depth and not super talented.
Who makes a push at All American this year? And in 2024?
Stutsman feels like the obvious choice. He could have a massive year and will likely have the statistics to put him in the conversation if OU wins. Tyler Guyton is another one I’d put in the conversation. Billy Bowman if he stays healthy the entire season. I think there are three freshmen who could be freshman All-Americans: Peyton Bowen, PJ Adebawore and Jaquaize Pettaway.
In 2024, those three freshmen I mentioned plus Jackson Arnold. Savion Byrd could if he stays another year and I’d also say Jaren Kanak — I think he could be a household name by the end of this season.
Was Melvin Gordon a good interview? Seem like a good guy?
He was a great interview because he was always honest. But that can also hurt guys because he would openly say how he felt about coaches and players. I appreciated it as a media member, but I don’t know if his teammates would say the same. He often became a distraction in the locker room. But generally, yes, he’s a good guy.
We won’t really know if this team is improved until at least Cincinnati, more likely Texas, but what three things will you watch Saturday to get an idea of how good this team is?
Third downs on both sides of the ball. Just have to be a lot better in that area. Arkansas State likely won’t tell us much, but I’m interested to see how the staff calls those situations and how the players react. Connection between Gabriel and his receivers. They’re going to have guys open on Saturday. Will Gabriel find them? Will they be in the right places? Building that chemistry early in the season is going it pivotal. Pressure and containment. Arkansas State isn’t going to have a good offensive line. Oklahoma should dominate up front defensively. Don’t want to walk away without seeing that.
Is there a scenario where this team finishes ranked inside the top 10?
Of course. I think that’s definitely in the realm of possibility. In my opinion, this team’s ceiling is winning the Big 12 and making the College Football Playoff. I personally don’t think they will reach that, but I do think they could go, say, 10-3 or 11-2 and that could get them in the top 10 to finish the year.
Do you think OU tries to get Pettaway involved early and often so that by Texas, be can be a fairly big contributor?
Yes. I think they want to get him involved early because he’s already one of their best playmakers. Of course, they want to see that develop quickly because the back half of the schedule is tough. I’m starting to buy more and more into him being their top receiver by the end of the season. His ceiling is probably the highest.
If OU lands David Stone does that help with Dominick McKinnley?
It can’t hurt. But I would not bet on McKinnley right now. Feels like Oklahoma is on the outside looking in currently.
For OU to go undefeated, OU must ___________.
Win all its games… Kidding.
Gabriel has to be pretty damn good — like, a Heisman Finalist good. Jalil Farooq or someone else has to be a 1,000-yard receiver or have a couple of backs around 1,000 yards rushing. The defense probably needs to be top 10-15 in a lot of categories, including sacks and tackles for loss. The transfers have to have a major impact on both sides. And a handful of freshmen have to live up to their lofty expectations.
Most importantly, OU has to stay healthy. Especially up front on both sides.
Was there ever any talk from upper management of a pink-out game for the coach’s wife? I know these things take time to plan and it hasn’t been that long since we learned about her cancer I was just curious if that was ever given consideration
Not that I’m aware of. It’s a very personal matter and I don’t think it’s something that will happen without Venables giving the green light.
When do you expect Venables to announce the starting QB?
Depth chart is out Tuesday.
Is the Caden Durham tweet just friendly banter or do you think he’d seriously consider flipping?
Friendly banter is my guess. He obviously likes OU and got to know guys like Stone on visits, but flipping him from LSU will be really hard to do. And as we’ve seen, he seems to be a guy who enjoys the attention on social media.
Is there another HC that has had 3 generational QBs in such a short time frame and didn’t win a natty than Lincoln Riley with Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams?
Good question. I don’t think so. You could even throw Jalen Hurts into that group considering how well he’s doing in the NFL right now. There have been a lot of programs that have had one or two, like Texas A&M with Johnny Manziel, or Louisville with Lamar Jackson. Oregon had a good run with Dennis Dixon, Marcus Mariota and Justin Herbert. But there were gap years and spanned over different coaches.
So, no, I don’t think anyone has had that type of talent at quarterback over an expanded time and not won a national title.
George, what do you guys need to see from this team in September that gives you a reason to believe they can leave Dallas 6-0?
As I said above, need to see Gabriel improve, young guys to assert themselves, playmakers emerge, and stay relatively healthy. And you want to see them dominate. OU should, in my opinion, win all five of its first games by double digits.
I’ve always felt like teams lose in-conference bc they play schools that know them well and what they want to do. The advantages lie with familiarity. But the Big 12 is getting a lot of new teams this year. Is it going to be harder to play so many unfamiliar teams in-conference than it would be to play a full 11 game schedule in any other year?
That’s an interesting question. I don’t think it will play a huge role this year. But I do believe it could make preparation a bit harder when they face Cincinnati, UCF and BYU because they are so unfamiliar with those schools. It goes both ways, though. In the end, I think this schedule is still easier even with the unfamiliarity. You’re playing those three schools instead of say, Kansas State, Baylor and Texas Tech, which all three have played well against Oklahoma recently and are more than familiar.
What’s the story line about this team at the end of the year that no one is talking about now?
The offensive line is one of the best units in the country. This could be a swing-and-miss, but my bold take is that this will be the best o-line since 2018. You’ve got a really good group up front that I think will make the run game even better than it was a year ago. Oklahoma is going to lean on that and that will inevitably be why OU wins 10 games and plays for a Big 12 title.
I contribute to Crimson and Cream for NIL, is this still the recommended option?
Yes. If you’re looking to help OU’s NIL fund, this is the place to donate. They are the ones organizing the most NIL opportunities for the players. Or buy SoonerScoop.com’s softball merchandise.
Who are the main remaining targets to look out for from now till December?
Nigel Smith, Danny Okoye, Dominick McKinley, Grant Brix, Devon Jordan. Those are the big ones right now who are uncommitted elsewhere. We will see if they add a couple more to that list.
The bar I have for the Sooners on Saturday is to score 21 or more while holding Arkansas State to 3 or fewer points in the first half. That shows the team on both sides of the ball is focused and ready to go. Am I being unrealistic or not, why? What’s the intel on Arkansas State? What are they going to try to do to score some points and get some stops against a more talented team?
That is a fair expectation. Arkansas State is not supposed to be good. In fact, they were chosen to finish second to last in Sun Belt’s West Division and did not have a single offensive or defensive player voted to first or second team all conference list. Butch Jones will have his guys ready to play, but Oklahoma should have this game put away by halftime and it wouldn’t shock me if the game is a shutout.
Name a player on offense who you did not mention in your story on what we learned in camp who we will be talking about as a significant contributor by the end of the season. Essentially, I am asking you to name a potential surprise contributor.
I’ll say Nic Anderson. I’m not sure if he counts as a “surprise contributor” but I think there’s a scenario that he’s one of the leading receivers. Other than Farooq, my guess is that Pettaway, Anderson, and Andrel Anthony become the guys at receiver. I think one of those four will lead OU receiving yards and touchdowns.
BONUS QUESTIONS
Top 5 George’s of all time? You can include yourself.
George Stoia — my grandpa who paved the way for George Stoia’s everywhere. George Costanza — arguably the best television character of all time.George Strait — an American hero. George Foreman — I own his grill. George Lucas — gave us lightsabers.
Money and logistics are not an issue, what’s your dream vacation? Let’s go with a max of 10 days though.
I’d love to spend 10 days in Europe traveling from London to Paris to Rome. I love sightseeing and those are three destinations on my bucket list. Or just 10 days in Amsterdam. That would be a fun trip.
If you didn’t have any gameday responsibilities with SoonerScoop or other, what would your “standard” OU gameday be? (Pregame tailgate/location, drinks/food, post-game, etc)
Growing up, I spent most of my pregame at the O Club with my dad. That would definitely continue to happen.
At the Daily, you had your signature post-game lay down pic. What will you bring doing as a Scoopster?
Great question. Haven’t decided yet. Might collab with Eddie. Stay tuned.
For the inevitable drunk doom pod, what will be your liquor of choice?
Bob Stoops’ Rock N Tequila. I’m actually a beer guy. So probably some Modelo.
Are you changing your X to @ autumn of George?
Negative. I only claim the summer as mine.
What was on the agenda for the last ‘summer of George’ weekend before the season starts?
Working on this story.
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