We spoke with the former Crimson and Cream Machine editor.
Tennessee has arrived in Norman to face the Oklahoma Sooners later tonight. The Volunteers are off to a white hot start to the Nico Iamaleava era, coming away with four consecutive blowout wins in his first four starts. Tonight will serve as his first true road test, however.
It’s Oklahoma’s first ever SEC matchup, it’s Josh Heupel’s return to Oklahoma — and there might just be a spot in the College Football Playoff on the line. To get ready for the game, we reached out to the former editor of Crimson and Cream Machine, Jack Shields.
Thanks to Jack for helping us out here!
1. Through the offseason, the media has been pretty zeroed in on what to make of how Josh Heupel — and to some extent, his team — will handle the return to Oklahoma and the frenzy that will come with it. But what’s the pulse of the fanbase there on this topic, as best you can guess? I wouldn’t think there would be any bad blood with Heupel being fired and all, but these days you never know.
From the Oklahoma fan base’s perspective, there is zero bad blood whatsoever in this instance. This also goes for the university administration, as well as his former coaches and teammates. Heupel not only led OU to a national championship as the QB in 2000, he was also one of the primary contributors to the football program’s renaissance following the Dark Ages of the 1990s. To put it simply, he’s an OU legend, and every Sooner fan over the age of 30 fully understands his significance.
The only contentious relationship at play here is the one between Heupel and Bob Stoops, and there are a lot of layers to it. Josh had a very successful run as this program’s QB coach before taking over as OC in 2011. He did a decent job and had his moments in this role, even if the fan base was fiercely critical of his play-calling abilities. Then came 2014, when Bob Stoops insisted on him running a zone read offense for Trevor Knight, but without an actual read occurring. Predictably, the season went horribly, and heads needed to roll. Bob was beginning to take some serious heat from the fan base, so Josh (as well as current Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell) ended up being the scapegoat. If anyone truly deserved the boot, it was Mike Stoops, but that wasn’t going to happen, unfortunately.
By many accounts, things are beginning to thaw a bit for Josh and Bob, and I truly hope they can make amends. On Saturday, I fully expect a tribute video and a loud ovation.
2. The way I see it: Oklahoma is looking at an opportunity here — the team’s first-ever SEC conference is gonna be played in its home stadium, against a team that has run away with all of its games and hasn’t really been tested yet. So, do you think the OU squad is ready for SEC football, and what needs to happen for the Sooners to snag the dubya?
From an overall roster perspective, Oklahoma is ready for the SEC. Venables has signed a top 10 class in each of his first three cycles, filling each position group with quality depth in the process — particularly on defense. The painfully unfortunate part is that OU is trotting out an entirely new offensive line and an inexperienced quarterback in the same season. That’s a tough situation for any program, but it’s a particularly tough one for a program that is coming into its first season in the SEC.
The tragic irony is that OU finally has a great defense, but the offense is uncharacteristically inept at the moment. To be clear, this group could be very good by the end of the season, but it simply isn’t right now. With that in mind, Seth Littrell is going to have to scheme around this weakness. The ‘how’ of it is one of the most important variables heading into this game, as it seems as if he has avoided showing his hand up to this point.
3. Explain to Vol fans how you think Jackson Arnold can lead the way to victory and then give an idea of generally the stats you’d see on his box score and think “oh yeah — Oklahoma won that game.”
This isn’t exactly hard-hitting analysis, but he has to avoid turnovers and take advantage of what is given to him. Additionally, the downfield passing game has to get going, and I think the return of Nic Anderson at receiver can open some of that up. His first 300-yard effort of the season would certainly improve OU’s chances.
4. For the season so far, Arnold has been sacked nine times, which is tied for second in the league. The offensive line looked to be a bit patch-work effort against Tulane, What’s going on there? I know some guys are banged up, but does it go deeper than that? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
In each of the last two games, OU has been without its top three centers. Not ideal! On top of that, people just simply do not appear to be on the same page and have been missing blocking assignments. For what it’s worth, the situation did improve last week, which was encouraging.
5. This one is from a fellow RTT staff member, Matt Seese (@BelowAverageOPS). “Does Oklahoma have enough speed to stay with the Vols’ WRs on the outside?
I would say so, and this is also a relatively large secondary with a lot of length, particularly at corner. That length has played a large role in this group’s ability to create turnovers, and if OU can win the turnover battle, this could be a tight game.
6. Alright — matchup wise… where do you see advantages for Oklahoma over Tennessee and shoot a prediction over if you feel so inclined.
I really don’t see a particular position matchup where Oklahoma has a clear advantage, as Tennessee really hasn’t shown any glaring weaknesses up to this point. What I am itching to see, however, is what Brent Venables throws at young Nico. Make no mistake, Nico is incredible and will probably be playing high-level football for the next two decades, but Venables has a history of making life hell for inexperienced QBs. OU’s best chance of winning this game is finding a way to rattle him early, and you’d better believe Brent will be doing everything in his power to make that happen.