Sooners must play to win, no matter the QB, no matter the offseason consequences
Note: With apologies, a busy real-life Friday left me forgetting the Oklahoma-South Carolina pregame column remained in the queue. It seems the great Gwenda and I are buying a new house and today involved activities. Still, perhaps you’ll get this before Saturday’s pre-noon kick. Or, just maybe, the game already played, remain curious about what I had to say before it happened. Either way, thanks for reading.
Because it may not be mentioned again in this column, South Carolina visits Owen Field Saturday morning.
As you may know, the Gamecocks were a successful two-point conversion from forcing overtime against Alabama last wek and because South Carolina then recovered an onside kick at the Tide 49-yard line with 43 seconds remaining needing only a field goal to win, it probably should have gone ahead and won.
Also, Oklahoma very nearly failed to gain 200 yards and managed only three points in an unfathomable and embarrassing 34-3 loss to Texas inside the Cotton Bowl.
That done, let’s move on because here are some of the “expert” opinions floating around the program.
Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell’s gone at the end of the season and so, too, may be other offensive assistants … When Oklahoma made Michael Hawkins its starting quarterback, it turned the page on Jackson Arnold, who’s surely transferring at season’s end … Not so fast, it could be Hawkins or Arnold who exits the season atop the QB heap … Arnold could step right back in for a struggling Hawkins just as Hawkins did for him … Brent Venables’ job is safe after this season but not the next one if current struggles continue; of course the defense resents the offense’s ineffectiveness, because how could it not?
As for me …
Barring a big offensive turnaround, I don’t see how Littrell makes it … Venables will not be given the chance to suffer four different five-, six- or seven-loss seasons and this one’s on pace to be his second, making next season make or break … As for the quarterbacks, I don’t know, but I’m quite sure about one thing and it’s this:
Like Herm Edwards famously said, “You play to win the game.”
Period.
Thus, the idea you can’t go back to Arnold is repugnant and asinine, because if you really can’t go back to him, because he won’t let you or you already know you never will, there’s no reason for him to remain on the roster and yet he’s still on it.
Basically, what the Sooners cannot be allowed to do no matter how corkscrewed the logic might become to take them there, is tank. Be it in the name of development or easing future roster headaches, it still cannot go there.
OU’s not stuck with Hawkins come hell or high water, because not only is Arnold still around, but Casey Thompson, too, who might be better than both of them.
The Sooners aren't “stuck” with anybody, because they’ve got a big roster, full of athletes working their hardest to get on the field and win and if that’s not what it’s about why are any of us even here anyway?
Yes, it’s an NIL world with playing time and cold hard cash available elsewhere.
Yes, roster building and subtracting is a dynamic enterprise given the new rules (or lack of them), so much so I’ll be shocked if head coaches who work for general managers rather than the other way round doesn’t soon become a thing.
There’s so much to keep track of and we wonder who might, certainly not the NCAA.
But the moment winning becomes secondary, though it’s commonplace in the pros, all’s lost.
Whatever OU has planned for its quarterbacks, what it shouldn’t do is commit to one over the other for good, but commit to the one offering the best chance to win right now, knowing it could change, and let the chips fall.
Really, if the Sooners aren’t trying to put their best offense on the field, why should any individual defender care any longer about putting the best defense on the field?
Experts have a tendency to overthink, to try to sound smart, to make things more complicated when they’re not.
The truth is, though oddsmakers originally made the Sooners a tiny favorite, I still don’t see how they prevail.
Simultaneously, no matter the implications or unintended consequences that might arise, the assignment remains the same.
Put your best players on the field and go win.
Well, another sh#t show from OU. This one was well-rounded though, with the offense going Int-fumble-Int in Hawkins first three possessions...and the vaunted defense unable—as has become customary—to cover any receivers downfield. Arnold was given a chance and managed to actually put together a drive for a touchdown, but that has to be tempered with the number of poorly thrown balls to open receivers and fumbles of his own. Let's see, that made a handful of fumbles from QBs, another couple by RBs, and then the interceptions. About the only thing to build on was that OU won the second half. That's right, OU's starting teams managed to beat SC's second and third stringers. The best thing about the day was that the new version of Drake Stoops caught a bunch of passes: Jordan, number 88, instilled some life into the moribund offense. So much for good news on the prairie today.
That was a well written column, Clay. You’re right on the money, put the best on the field to win! 100%.