Go ahead and get the clichés ready for this week.
You know the drill ... OU is a wounded, dangerous animal.
Or ...
You can throw the records out the window when these two teams play.
Or ...
You can never count out a team that has given up 96 points in its last two games.
Ok, maybe I just made that last one up. The bottom line is that it's Texas/OU week and for the better part of the next week, we're going to hear a lot of rhetoric about the importance of respecting an OU team that was beaten so badly on Saturday in Fort Worth that the person running the TCU Football Twitter account literally ran out of fear.
Here's the reality of what awaits the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday ... a pretty piss poor Oklahoma team that has been exposed as a team with a terrible defense and will probably arrive to the fairgrounds without its starting quarterback if its coaching staff takes brain injuries seriously at all.
Meanwhile, the status of starting running back Eric Gray, wide receiver Theo Wease, offensive tackle Wanya Morris and safety Billy Bowman remains unclear.
In the 20+ years this site has existed, I'm not sure any OU team has ever entered this game more primed for an outright butt-kicking than this year's team.
In a game that Texas must win, it absolutely should win. It's the better team. It's the healthier team. It's the better-coached team ... I think.
Frankly, of the final seven games the Longhorns have left on the schedule this season, the game on Saturday might rank as the second easiest on paper. That's not me taking potshots at OU as much as it's me respecting the remaining true road games that exist, as well as the performance levels of teams like TCU and Baylor.
This isn't a Bob Stoops- or Lincoln Riley-led OU team. There should be no fear, only extreme confidence.
It's time to slay the dragon.
No. 2 - Hudson Card or Quinn Ewers ...
From my perspective, the decision at quarterback for Steve Sarkisian is a fairly easy one.
If Quinn Ewers looks like Quinn Ewers this week in practice, he gets the start.
If Ewers is still struggling to look completely like himself this week in practice, Sarkisian should start Hudson Card.
There's no reason to panic.
One of the good things about the last month is that Card has emerged as a player that can play well enough to win as the starter after looking like a player that you didn't want on the field at all based on the optics of the season-opener against La-Monroe.
Given that Oklahoma could come into this game with a quarterback situation that is so undesirable that the Sooners might chop off a finger for a chance to have someone like Card running their offense, there's just no reason for panic if you're Sarkisian.
Through five games this season, Card has put together a passer efficiency total of 158.3, which is 7 points higher than Sam Ehlinger's best season total (151.8 in 2019) while he was with the Longhorns. That's not to say that Card is better than Ehlinger as much as it’s to say that Card is playing a fairly rock-solid brand of football. If you merely focus on what he's doing instead of what he's not, you can win with him on Saturday.
Simple as that.
If Ewers is ready to play and can let it rip without issues, he's the guy.
If not, there's no need to rush it like we all probably would have guessed there would have been a month ago.
No. 3 - The Dillon Gabriel dynamic ...
As soon as I saw this hit on Saturday, my first impression was that there could be no way that Gabriel plays against the Longhorns less than seven days later.
After the high-profile concussion issues that Tua Tagovailoa suffered in front of the entire football world in the last week, any player that takes a hit like the one that Gabriel did is going to find a general public that is going to stress using extreme care with his return.
The last thing the Sooners can afford to have happen is bringing Gabriel back too soon, only to have him suffer another brain injury in less than a week. As important as the Texas/OU game is for everyone involved, it's not more important than ensuring Gabriel's long-term health.
If Oklahoma lets him play, it'll be a sign that Gabriel's brain and the optics of their care for his brain matter less than beating Texas.
That just can't happen.
No. 4 - Fool's Gold In College Station ...
We've reached the point in Jimbo Fisher's tenure at Texas A&M where the crazy talk has turned insane.
None other than Paul Finebaum was telling anyone that would listen on Sunday that Aggie alums are prepared to spend whatever it takes if Jimbo continues to drag the Aggies into the depths of mediocrity.
Of course, that would mean paying a NINETY-FIVE MILLION DOLLAR BUYOUT if they wanted to put their money where their mouth is.
There's no way that's happening any time soon, but the mere fact that A&M boosters are getting the word out that they will go YOLO with their money if they have to should give everyone an idea of how much money is flowing through the hands of recruits in College Station.
Meanwhile, A&M opened as a 20-point underdog on Sunday to Alabama and the line had climbed to -24 in less than an hour.
Basically, everyone can see that the only thing A&M has going for it is its willingness to throw money around, which isn't a terrible thing to have going for it in recruiting, but it isn't going to help win games in the immediate future.
No. 5 - Football Scattershooting ...
... After not making a single tackle in the season-opener, Jaylan Ford ranks first in the Big 12 in tackles per game with 10.2. No other player in the league is averaging more than 8.8. I really can't say enough about how well he's played in the last month. He's gone from a no-show in week one to showing up every week since then. As someone that had real questions about him coming into the season, he's earned a tip of the cap.
... It's kind of crazy that the Longhorns have created only two turnovers all season. The Longhorns rank 128th in the country in turnovers created. Only Notre Dame has turned teams over less. That changes this week, right?
... Bijan Robinson ranks 14th in the nation and second in the Big 12 right now in rushing yards, but it doesn't feel like he's quite having the nuclear season that a lot of us thought he might have in store in 2022.
... Regardless of who starts at quarterback on Saturday, it feels like Xavier Worthy is poised to have a monster game against a secondary that can't seem to help leaving wide receivers wide open.
... Barryn Sorrell is on pace for 7.2 sacks this season. He still has to bring more consistency to the table, but that would be a very solid sack number for him in year No. 2. He currently ranks seventh in the Big 12 in sacks per game, while no one else on the defense is in the top 25 in the Big 12.
... Bert Auburn has made 83.33 percent of his field goals this season and is a perfect 6 for 6 from 40+ yards. No one saw that coming.
... D'Shawn Jamison is tied for 1st in the Big 12 in pass breakups per game (1.2).
... Bijan Robinson's 183-yard performance against UTSA is the No. 1 rushing performance in the Big 12 this season, but he doesn't have another performance this season that ranks inside the top 20 rushing performances in the Big 12.
No. 6 - Still undefeated ...
The No. 1-ranked Texas volleyball moved to 11-0 over the weekend with a sweep in Lubbock. Of those 11 wins, two were over the No. 6 team in the most recent rankings (Ohio State), while the team also has wins over No. 7 Minnesota and No. 9 Stanford. As it stands, Baylor is the only other ranked team in the Big 12.
TCU comes to town on Wednesday night.
No. 7 – BUY or SELL …
(Sell) No, I don't have a sense that Arch is wavering behind the scenes. We've checked and it's not the vibe we're sensing.
(Sell) It's possible ... very possible ... but he's a young quarterback and it's impossible to say with certainty what would have happened had he played all four quarters against Alabama or played in Lubbock. There's an assumption that he would have gone buck wild over four quarters against Alabama, but the trend of this offense since Sarkisian arrived is to regress as the game goes along and Sark is forced off of his pre-game script once opponents have adjusted.
(Sell) I'm not sure that Oklahoma State will lose twice. Its opponent in the Big 12 title game will definitely have at least two losses.
(Sell) I just don't think OU can play him.
(Sell) I expect Texas to win, but I don't think it automatically translates to picking up a commitment.
(Buy) A&M boosters are gonna A&M booster before we get to 2025.
(Buy) That was the easiest game on the Big 12 schedule. No one should overreact.
(Sell) Nah, I think he sticks with Texas.
(Sell) I love the Game of Thrones spin-off and merely like the Rings of Power.
(Buy) Pretty much.
(Buy) It probably doesn't happen right away, but I can definitely see that happening.
(Sell) Texas will not be doing well to go 7-5. That's not doing well. That's doing mildly ok.
(Buy) If they have to play their back-up quarterback, I'm not sure an Alabama-like game plan is even needed, but I expect Patterson to have cooked something up in the last 6 months.
(Buy) At some point, Quinn Ewers will be back and start to develop into the type of player he's expected to become.
(Buy) Yes, if by undercover recruiting you mean working back channels to make sure their unhappy players know there's a place waiting for them.
(Buy) And it's not even close.
(Sell) I don't buy that they will be massively improved this week. Not at all.
(Sell) I'm not ready to say I believe that PK is going to be the long-term answer as the DC.
(Buy) Card currently has the highest passing efficiency of any Texas quarterback since Colt McCoy in 2008, but there's so much focus on the plays that he doesn't make that it causes a lot of people to lose sight of what he actually does.
(Sell) That's illegal and I haven't sensed that Texas wants to break the law.
(Sell) Not yet. His winning percentage is just barely ahead of Charlie Strong's winning percentage through 17 games. Forgive me for wanting to see more proof.
No. 8 - Scattershooting on anything and everything ...
... If I had a vote that mattered ...
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3 Ohio State
4. USC
5. Michigan
6. Clemson
7. Ole Miss
8. Oklahoma State
9. Tennessee
10. Penn State
... Jalon Daniels has one of those games that young quarterbacks can sometimes have out of nowhere and KU still found a way to win. I'm not sure I would have guessed that would happen.
... Consider me incredibly impressed with Alabama after winning convincingly at Arkansas with Jalen Milroe pulling the strings.
... Clemson exposed NC State as just a pretty good football team and nothing more.
... Spencer Sanders has been pretty exceptional all season. I'm starting to believe he's a slightly different guy than he's otherwise been in his career.
... I still kind of view Max Duggan as fool's gold.
... Adrian Martinez is the worst-rated starting quarterback in the Big 12. The Wildcats will come crashing back to earth at some point.
... The Dallas Cowboys are 3-0 without Dak Prescott. I didn't see that coming from a mile away.
... Dan Campbell is not going to want to do it, but he might have to fire Aaron Glenn before this season is over.
... I award the Houston Texans a moral victory for fighting so hard against the Chargers.
... Out of words.
... Pretty much.
... Someone pitch to Aaron Judge. Stop the cowardice.
... Man City was scary good on Sunday. They end up winning the Premier League by 10+ points when the season concludes.
... I'm really, really, really, really concerned about Liverpool.
... Not everyone needs to sit ringside at a UFC event. It's not for everyone.
No. 9 - The List: Top 10 TV Shows of All-Time ...
Rolling Stone Magazine came out with its Top 100 TV shows of all-time earlier in the week.
Let's just say that I didn't agree with a lot of it, especially when talking about the best of the best ... the top 10 shows. For instance, I can't rank The Simpsons over The Wire and Breaking Bad. Give me a break.
Here's how I would rank them.
10. ER
9. Veep
8. Seinfeld
7. The Office
6. Saturday Night Live
5. Game of Thrones
4. The Sopranos
3. Better Call Saul
2. The Wire
1. Breaking Bad
No. 10 - And Finally ...
I didn't see a single thing all weekend better than this. Instant tears.
