[upbeat music] Well, it's that time again to talk Oklahoma and Oklahoma State football. We call this podcast Bedlam Buds. My name is Ryan, I'm your Boomer Sooner, and this is my buddy Jeremy. Go Pokes. It was an interesting weekend, to say the least, of football. Interesting in terms of result, not interesting in terms of the competition in Lubbock. Y- um- What are you gonna say? Yeah, what can you say?
So, here, here's what I'm gonna say, is that, uh, when you let the opening kickoff get returned for a touchdown, that's a bad sign against a top 20 team on the road. Uh, a top s- 20 team or top 15 team that just lost a game, uh, that's a ba- that's a bad way to start. I mean, Texas Tech basically, their offense really didn't do a lot. I mean, they got some of the fewest amount of yards that OSU has allowed all year. OSU honestly didn't look t- terrible.
Uh, I mean, the traditional bad for this year, unfortunately, um, didn't get a lot of yards on offense. Uh, coach even said, you know, "We just weren't ready to play." Um, but I mean, two of the touchdown... One touchdown was directly from a, a fumble, one touchdown was directly from a special teams play, and there were a couple others that were very short drives because of that. Tech didn't have to do a lot to win this game, and that's unfortunate.
But I mean, and I hate to say it and I, and I hope the guys feel it that, you know, a- as an OSU person, uh, you know, we're proud of these guys that are continuing to play, that are continuing to put out effort. You can see some of these guys care. And at this point, you know, the season's over, uh, f- mathematically eliminated from everything. Um, you know, so you just wanna see, do they still care?
Do they still care for our brand a- and play for that brand? And there are some of the guys that are absolutely still laying it on the line, they're just as a team, just not very good. When you're starting wide receivers, your quarterback, because of the injury situation, um, I mean, that's, that's a bad sign. But it- it's been, it's been a forgettable year for, for Cowboy football.
A year, a forgettable year that won't be forgotten. I mean, y- y- you lose your head coach, you start the coaching search, there's questions on, on Chad Weiberg, our athletic department, uh, uh, director, AD.
You know, did he have a contract? They've announced his new contract, so that's been settled. So now whomever we hire as the next coach will know that the guy hiring him is also going to be there. Mm. So that kind of opens up the pool of where you can go with coaches, because probably there's not gonna be a lot of guys from the current staff, uh, still around.
I mean, I have no reason to say that other than I would suspect that a new coach coming in wouldn't wanna keep guys from a, a one and whatever season. Um, you know, I'm sure there'll be, be some, and, and hopefully a lot of the support staff and those guys will, will be kept around. But my goodness, I, I d- I just don't know.
I, I've, uh, I mean, I've sat through a lot of bad OSU football, but it ha- it's been 25 years. It's, uh, it may have been 35 years. I mean, it reminds me of- [laughs]... the early '90s. I mean, there was a winless team, uh, way back in the day. And I- Golly, it, it... Yeah, I sat through, oh, 10 and 1. Yeah. That's the s- s- When people ask me how'd y- Yeah. Right.
P- when people would ask me how your team did this year, I would go, "Oh, 10 and 1," and they thought we were great. So now some breaking news over the weekend that theoretically could trickle down to Oklahoma State. Brian Kelly being let go by LSU. Of course, James Franklin already gone. Not that either one of those guys is a good fit for Stillwater. And before we started recording, we were talking about good fits and, and people.
Um, I've long said that whoever Oklahoma State hires needs to somebody who would enjoy Stillwater. Smaller town life, a lot of fun. We always say you always have a good time in Stillwater, but- Yeah... it, it can't be a culture shock to you. That's why a lot of people mentioning Jon Gruden, I'm like, "You can forget that. It's, that's not gonna happen." Norman wouldn't be a good fit for him either.
Not, not that he's a, a huge city guy, but I, just is there anything about the carousel of coaches right now that has you leaning towards somebody, or maybe fearful that somebody you were looking toward might be off the table because of the recent firing? Well, I mean, a- again, I don't have any way to know exactly who they're looking at, but the Eric Morris guy out of, uh, North Texas, um, I think he's, he's very intriguing.
And the concern would be, you know, does an LSU or somebody like that come and get him? Or does LSU hire away and then him step in? Or does Sarkisian leave Texas? You know, there were rumors about him leaving Texas at the end of this year to maybe coach a pro team. Do they, you know, do they hire a, a Texas kid, you know, a kid that came out of the state of Texas, played at Texas Tech, has had success with quarterbacks? And again, quarterback is the position.
Uh, that's why I'm intrigued about him at Oklahoma State is because of his track record with offenses and with quarterbacks specifically. Um, and so, you know, does, uh, does something happen at Texas that causes that merry-go-round to really spin around? Um, uh, you know, it, it, it's a great question. You have to be a cultural fit for a Stillwater, Oklahoma. It's not a big city, it's not a, a small town, but it's a, you know, it's a college town. It's that traditional college town.
Um, you know, everybody here bleeds orange. It is the pro team i- in town. And so it's, it's all about how the Cowboys are doing this, this week, this year, th- you know, this season. Um, so you do have to find a cultural fit, and I think somebody like, uh, like I said, Morris out of North Tex- Texas would be more of a cultural fit. If he can survive Lubbock-For four or five years when he was playing there, he can survive Stillwater. Okay? Now, that's the only name I've really looked at.
I, I mean, you know, I'm sure that there's a lot of names out there. It, it's not a bad job to come and get. Oh, absolutely not. LSU, of course, is going to flirt with Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin's daughter dates a linebacker from LSU. Although, I don't think it's a great fit for Lane. If Lane were to go anywhere, Florida seems to be it.
Although, I would argue that if Sarkisian would leave Texas, Lane ought to pounce at that. Barry Switzer once said that Texas is the best job in college football. One could argue that it w- used to be Notre Dame. I don't think so. Best college job in football is Alabama, and that's, that's your number one. But LSU's top five. It's really, really good. I think it's important for whoever the Bayou Bengals hire to be a cultural fit.
That's why I posited in a video that Mike Gundy might be a good fit, as you educated me on or reminded me of, Les Miles left OSU and he won a Natty- Yeah... in Baton Rouge. So it's- Yeah... but I, I think about a guy like John Sumrall, I believe that's his name, uh, the guy from, uh, uh, Tulane. Is, is it, uh, that, uh, y- you know, he's already in- I think so... I think he's, he, he's already in Louisiana.
I mean, Tulane's there in New Orleans. That's just, uh, a few miles down I-10. That might be- Yeah... a good fit. Not that I would think that Eric Morris would go from North Texas to Tulane. I wouldn't. You're in a top five market in the Dallas area right there. And what he's done with, is his name Drew Mestemayer? Uh, whoever that quarterback is, didn't even play quarterback in high school.
And, and I, I just have a beef with the whole scouting system. Somebody said, "Well, if Oklahoma fires Venables, there go all your, there goes your number one recruiting class." And I'm like, "In 2025, any accolades with regard to your recruiting class mean zero to me. Four star, five star, three star, I don't care. Show me what he does on the field in a college setting.
I, uh, you could make him seven, eight, nine, 10 star. Eric Morris took this guy who had not played in high school and turned him into somebody who's gonna play in the NFL. That is a fascinating prospect for whoever might be the next OSU coach, because that's exactly what Mike Gundy was. Well, absolutely. And, and, you know, again, the concern with Arkansas being open, with some of these other jobs like that, that could also be cultural fits for some of these guys that, that we're looking at.
Um, of course, again, I think Gundy to Arkansas would be terrific. I think he would fit in right well there. I think he would be very successful there. Um, LSU, possibly the same. I think maybe more Arkansas than LSU, but I think Mike Gundy could be very successful at LSU as well.
Um, and so, you know, as far as that goes, it, it, it makes for some, some interesting conversations because it's not just guys coming in, it's what happens to our coach who, who, who is leaving or who, you know, who left. Uh, where does he go? Because he's still a, he's still a OSU Cowboy. He's still, you know, an alum and, and- Mm-hmm... a great player and great coach and all of that. So, you know, we wanna make sure that he's successful elsewhere.
Um, but yeah, I mean, the, it, it's interesting and I think, and I could be wrong here, but w- what I think's starting to happen is I think schools are starting to panic. I think that, that schools are starting to panic, that holy cow, this, this carousel is already starting to spin.
And since, I mean, again, you know, with the rumor of, of the Sarkisian leaving Texas to g- maybe go pro, just that rumor I think is gonna cause some more to spin because there's gonna be a lot of schools that go, "If we don't get rid of our guy here to get, you know, this guy, X, what are we gonna do?" You know, if Texas becomes open, everybody will want the Texas job and maybe we can't get a Lane Kiffin or those types.
I think that we're about to see, the next few weeks, um, we're about to see a really interesting coaching carousel because of that. And as more teams, uh, OU has a really tough schedule. Mm-hmm. OU has a really tough end of year schedule. And so is Venables, could he possibly himself end up on the hot seat and have OU AD panic? But again, I'm with you, I don't think they should for a lot of reasons.
Main thing is guy's not gonna be there next year. Right. Uh, Jo- Joe Castiglione's not gonna be the AD, he's gonna be AD emeritus. Not gonna be there. By the way, I don't know that AD emeritus is a good idea. Retire. Retire. Yeah. Just- Yeah... uh, because you're just- Well-... gonna have him hovering. Yes, y- he's gonna be hovering over. I, I just don't think it's a smart idea from a business perspective.
Uh, but it's a contagion and it's starting. And it, and I, I think Brian Kelly's behavior and how he was perceived within LSU led, it made it easier for LSU to let him go. We talked a few weeks ago, if you're liked in the athletic department, well, it's gonna be difficult to let you go. That was something that UCLA... I mean, of course, Chip Kelly left of his own accord, but they loved Chip Kelly and, and, or at least they, he, he got along with everybody. The Venables situation is interesting.
And just one note, though, about Sarkisian. In my opinion, that was a planted story, and his whole rant afterward about that reporter this and that is so disingenuous. It is just, it's, uh, it's assholery, is what it is. It's just Sark being an asshole. Uh, because the thing is, is that that story is planted by his agent, Jimmy Sexton, or, or whoever it is. I forgot if, uh, that, that's the guy who's going around.
Anyway, that gets planted. Here's why Sarkisian's not going to go to the NFL. It's because he would have to take a massive pay cut. It's, to coach the Titans, he mentioned the Titans. Talk to me about the Dallas Cowboys, but the Titans? You would be going from 10 million to, like, 3 or 4 million. Why would you do that? Sarkisian is in line theoretically to be the next Alabama coach.
The only problem is Alabama, yo, looks pretty good this year. Now a lot of people- Yeah... are like, "Kalen DeBoer's not the guy." And, and some will say, "Well, that proves you gotta give him patience."Bro, it's his second year. It's his second year, and if, if he goes on to win a national title, I'm a big believer you should see changes first year. You should be in it to win it by second year. The big schools, not everybody. Not Oklahoma State.
Oklahoma State should be on a five-year plan, but you should see the difference immediately. The- Hey, didn't Stoops win his title in his second year? In his second year.
So did Jim Tressel, and it happened, uh, just sort of back to back there. And, and, but you saw the changes immediately with Stoops. Remember- Yeah... and, and I think, you know, if, if we could ever have Barry Tramel on this podcast, he would confirm it, but the late David Boren wanted to fire John Blake before he ever coached a game because he couldn't run a meeting.
He was incompetent. And I will tell you, before Venables was hired, I had lots of conversations with Dean Blevins about this. Dean was not a fan of Brett Venables being hired, and I, I think Venables knows it. Dean wanted Dan Lanning, and- Mm... it, it, Dean's concern with Venables, having been around him for a long time was, is that he wasn't up to the task of being the CEO of a football team. He is a coordinator.
And I would point to you, as we segue into the Sooners here, that a lot of the marks of John Blake's Sooners are showing up in Oklahoma in terms of a lack of discipline, a second week of massive number of penalties, although not nearly as many yards. Uh, last week it was 10 for 98. This week it was eight for 52. But just a lot of detail and discipline left on the table. Everybody trying, just like in Stillwater. In Norman, everybody's trying their best.
But I will tell you, and, yeah, I listened to about half of the two and a half hour Oklahoma breakdown with Gabe Ikard and Teddy Lehman, which is always an educational listen. But they saw a lot of the... They saw more than what I saw, but they felt what I felt. And, and the, um... So just a quick tangent. I don't know if you saw this, but Jackson Arnold got benched in Auburn, and then Auburn came back to win.
He got benched. I didn't see that. He, he got benched because he threw a 95-yard pick six. Uh, and, and Hugh Freeze, by the way, OU fans said mid-season last year, "This guy isn't it." And then he goes to Auburn and proves us all right. W- Well, y- you know that joke. Someone told, I think I might have mentioned on one of our earlier pods, is somebody said, "I'm just glad to see Jackson Arnold finally get a chance to throw passes to OU players." [laughs] Right, 100%.
Well, if, if the OU defense, the vaunted OU defense could even get any takeaways. None again- Yeah, yeah... this week. This, it's been the, the hallmark of this defense has been that it's been good, but it hasn't been ferocious. It really hasn't. The, the Bob Stoops defenses of the early 2000s, now of course I know that that was Venables and, and Mike Stoops, they took the ball away a lot. They were ball hawks.
But- Well, but you had, you had Rocky and you had Roy and you had, you know, Teddy, and you had some absolute monsters back there. You can't do that all the time. You know, that's lightning in a bottle type o- of defense those guys had. But I th- I, I think. I mean, they were terrif- They were fun to watch I'm sorry, I- You know, until they were kicking my team's butt.
But- I, I thought Brent Venables was the master defensive coordinator. What, that can be taught. Well, it, absolutely. You know, it, it, uh, what did Eddie Sutton use to say? "Sometimes it's, it's not the X's and O's, it's the Jimmy and Joe's." 100%, and by the way, that's why he and Kelvin Sampson were friends.
Kelvin Sampson's w- he, he, Kelvin Sampson would put like a lid on the bucket and have the guys go fight for the ball on the floor. Uh, those w- the, Kelvin Sampson taught his teams to be gritty. It's pr- Yeah... he's doing it in Houston. That's why I, he, he's a Hall of Fame coach. But the Sooners on, on Saturday, the big problem, it wasn't really the defense. The defense did give up 32 points of the 34 and 400 yards.
The big problem was John Money Mateer. The, it was the quarterback, and he comes from Washington State, and he looked all right. A'ight, as Randy Jackson would say on American Idol. It's a'ight, dog. Um, he was okay the first few weeks, and, and, and in one of our first episodes, I said, "I don't know that I'm that impressed with John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle" at a time when everybody was still, like, on the train.
He's only gotten worse, and Gabe and Teddy in their podcast pointed out just how many times Mateer didn't see down the field, guys wide open. You think when you're watching it on TV, the quarterback's scrambling, you just assume he can't find anybody. Nobody's open. But what if that weren't true, and he's just not seeing them? To wit, the play that, it was a beautiful play. Mateer improvised it beautifully and found Sitani, and then Sitani was hauling ass down the sideline, 76 yards.
Jerrion Cannick was wide open over the middle, wide, wide, wide open, and as you noted, you watched the OU Mississippi game. That wasn't nearly the first time Mateer was missing guys. No, he missed several dudes downfield. He missed several dragging across. Now, I can understand, you know, when you're in a panic, when you're, when, uh, you're being pressed, when that defense, and, you know, and Ole Miss has a good defense.
You know, when they're putting pressure on you, you know, doing some panic throws or maybe misreading some guys. But, I mean, there's a, there's a pattern of him not being able to see downfield. I don't know if it's size. I don't know if it's training, uh, 'cause Kyler Murray had that problem, but Kyler Murray was so f- so quick and so agile, he could get around the big guys to where he then could see, right? Mateer's not doing that.
Mateer is just missing guys downfield, whichIs, is kind of surprising to me and, and I wasn't watching specifically for that, but I just noticed that a couple of times, and I think even the, the announcers kind of mentioned something about- Mm-hmm... a couple of guys coming wide open. And so yeah, that's something that needs to be fixed.
He needs to watch some, quite a bit of game tape so he can get that, and he needs to run some extra practices with those receivers so he knows, you know, so they get on that same page as, you know, if I'm having to break out because of pressure coming from my backside, I need you to drag across wi- with me, those type of things. But yeah, y- I- you're 100% right, he's missing some pitch-and-catch throws.
Something is not right there, and the, the, uh, momentum of this game really turned, I believe it was the second quarter, when Mississippi got the safety. Uh, there were a couple of penalties that bogged the Sooners back down at the five, and then another penalty that got them to the two, and then for some reason were running, uh, Tory Blalock out to the side, and he was tackled in the end zone.
The running game had some sparks with Xavier Robinson, but a lot of the play call was, was just bizarrely bad, and Venables called it out. Sometimes, and I remember when the Cleveland Browns, the year that Baker was coming in, you watched Hard Knocks with Hue Jackson, and you essentially had a team of coaches who were undermining him on purpose, hoping he would fail.
And this is why Brent Venables should have probably cleaned house when he came to town and hired his guys. That's why whoever gets hired in Stillwater should be able to hire his guys. There's something that is off because Venables in post-game is saying, "Yeah, I think it's fair to say that we should have run Xavier Robinson more than we did today, especially in the fourth quarter."
I got news for you, bud. You're the head coach. You can make that happen. Make that call. There's a level of micromanagement that needs to be had. I posted a video today about the owner from the Indianapolis Colts, Carly Irsay Gordon, who's on the field taking notes. She's up in their shit. She's watching what's going on. She's listening to what's going on in the headset.
Maybe that type of thing needs to be happening with OU because there's, you talk about Mateer and the receivers not being on the same page, I don't know that Venables and his own coaches are on the same page. Well, here's the thing though with that, with the Colts owner is that as far as I know, she's not interfering. She's just paying attention to the process- Right... letting it happen, but so she understands the process.
Now, the problem is that at OU if you had that, you're gonna have somebody starting to interfere. If somebody, you know, if the president or the AD or whomever- Well, that, that-...
is down there, right- I'm not even, I'm not even suggesting that. Well, I- What I, what I'm suggesting is Venables is the head coach. Well- Get involved... well, and that's exactly it 'cause there have been rumors forever, and I still don't know if this is true, that if a play call would come down, if Gundy didn't like it, he would change the call.
Because ultimately, he's the head coach, ultimately it falls on him and the responsibility. So Venables needs to realize that. You have to be a CEO in modern college football. You know, it's a CEO. It's hard for a coach to be a coach and, or a head coach and a coordinator at a big successful program because there's just so much. You gotta be that CEO. However, you also have to understand that the buck ultimately stops with you. And so ultimately that's where the fall guy is going to be.
That's what happened with Gundy, and Venables kind of seems to be walking down that path as well. It looks better for OU in terms of a chance for victories down the road with Kelly leaving, although maybe the, the Bayou Bengals, you know, get a little boost from whoever takes over. Eli Drinkwitz, is that his name?
Eli, uh, the guy from Missouri. I- I'm not sure... I don't [laughs] So not a fan of Missouri. He's a good coach, but he is- Not a fan of Missouri... he's gonna be a candidate for a lot of these gigs. What if he were to... He's, he wouldn't leave during mid-season, um, but, uh, it's another team that OU's gonna play. Um, OU's gonna get their tail kicked in Knoxville this week.
Uh, I do- it's, I, I think Heupel will have mercy on the Sooners, but they're gonna score a lot, and the Tennessee defense is better than the Mississippi defense. Okay, so that was gonna be my question is if that actually happens, is there suddenly calls for OU to get Heupel? Well, I, I- And would Heupel leave Tennessee? I think that Heupel might leave Tennessee for Oklahoma. His family relocated, and I, I, I think his mom is not with us anymore. I'm, I'm not 100% sure about that.
But they moved to Muskogee, um, and from Aberdeen, South Dakota. And so they, they lived in Oklahoma, and he's got a lot of roots here. I don't know that I would, I don't know that it has to be within the Oklahoma family, but you'd have a good offense. You'd have a good offense. Well, and he's been gone long enough. It's like what we were talking last time. He's been gone long enough. He is a part of the OU family, and he is a legend forever there because of what he did early 2000.
But he's been gone long enough, and he's had enough of these other experiences, and he's had time to run his own program fairly successfully. I think he would be a great hire for OU. I mean- I mean... Heup- Heupel's a legend in my mind. He, he- Yeah... achieved the impossible, taking a Blake team and turning them into national champions in two years. Uh, I'd be all about it, but this isn't going to be a Baker Mayfield miracle in Knoxville like it was 10 years ago.
This is going to be a Tennessee team that just beat Kentucky, which by the way, Texas had trouble with Kentucky in Lexington. Tennessee beats Kentucky in Lexington, like 56 to 27 or something like that. I, the, the problem is there is that, yeah, I don't know that Tennessee's gonna score 56, but I don't know that Oklahoma's gonna score 27. I mean, this is a game that I could absolutely see being 41 to 13, 41 to 20.
That's fine. Okay, you got Missouri. You got LSU. You got Alabama. Which one are you gonna win?I, the problem is, is that I don't know that it's any of them. Now, I get LSU will be here in Oklahoma, but at that point, that's second to the last game or the last game. I mean, could the air be completely out of the balloon at that point? It, it wasn't just a loss that LSU had to Texas A&M at home, it was a beat down. What if the Sooners go out to Knoxville and get beat 51 to 19?
Well, that's where you gotta have that coach and that coaching staff rally the guys. I mean, uh, but if, if they're done, and I'm kind of afraid of that at Oklahoma State, there, again, there are still a lot of guys playing, but it, it's not enough. Um, do the guys there at that point at OU go, "Well, we're six and six again. We might as well just not even bother." Uh, 'cause y- Alabama's the last game, right? Uh, it's one of them. LSU or Alabama.
I was thinking LSU might be our post-Thanksgiving game, but Alabama's toward the end also. That's not gonna be a win. Well, no, Alabama won't be. But... And LSU, you're right. I mean, there's that new manager bounce. Y- you know, you get a new coach and I mean, UCLA, look what they did right after- Right... you know, they fired. So, uh, golly, it's, it's interesting times in college football out in Oklahoma.
I liked it better when we were good. I, you know, I, it's, I, I do too, but I also love the come up. I, I will tell you, uh, one of the, the things that I'll always be grateful for, to John Blake for is that he was a good recruiter. It was r- and, but it took a, it took a coach to, uh, a CEO if you will, to put it all together. Uh, I definitely want them to be good, uh, but I don't want them to be regular.
I would almost rather it be bad than regular, and the fear is Nebraska. No offense Corn, Cornhuskers, but you've become the symbol, the literal symbol of going from greatness to just mediocrity. Absolute abject mediocrity. You're right. They're not even bad. They're just average. They're just- And- I mean- I mean, 'cause a, so a bad team can be fun to watch.
Uh, the Cincinnati game a couple weeks ago, that was fun to watch. I mean, you know, and the crowd was having a good time and all that. But there's nothing about Nebraska that in any way, shape, or form that screams fun. You're... And they've been average for 30 years now.
Well, if, if you're, if you're a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Dallas Cowboys, the frustrating thing for me isn't that, uh, you're not winning titles, it's that you're sitting around at, you know, seven and 10 or nine and eight, Mike Tomlin. The year after year of eight and nine, nine and eight, 10 and seven. My goodness, crapper, get off the pot, man. [laughs] What are we doing here?
A- a- and, but the fear, the fear is though, if, if the minds of recruits are very, very short, they don't remember the glory days of the 2000s. Even with Oklahoma State, you, you go around and say that Oklahoma State, "Well, we almost won the national title in 2011." They're not gonna remember that. Dude, they were four if, if that old. That's right.
That's, that's, I do think that college football is going to turn into the pros in this respect. You're going to have a lot of coaches get recycled at this place and that pla- in hockey, there's almost a rule in hockey. It's like Methodist ministers, five years and out. Gotta go. [laughs] Find somebody else. Um, and, and it's just because they get stale, and I think that's gonna happen. I don't know what happens with Venables.
I think he's safe if he, uh, if the Sooners end the year seven and five, but I think they have to win one of these final games, otherwise I think he's done under this AD. It's a conta- Okay... it's a contagion. And it's- Right, right... but the contagion could be a blowout loss prompts it. And what's happening is these schools, you're like, where does LSU get $54 million? Where does, uh, Penn State get $45 million?
I think these schools, it's not that they're going to eliminate the buyouts, they're going to figure out how to pay the buyout before they ever sign the dotted line with these guys. Um, so. Well, I mean, I, I don't know, again, don't know this for a fact. However, uh, when Oklahoma State played Oregon, the AD and a whole bunch of bigwigs flew out early and hung out with the, a, a guy that supposedly is, like, a multi, multi, multimillionaire, has, like, a winery type of thing.
And then we, the next week we lose to Tulsa and Gundy's gone. Hmm. So there's very little you can convince me that they weren't talking to that guy lining out a buyout. I don't know, but that's, to me, that's smart business. And what you're talking about is smart business. Know that you have that lined up, and stop... I mean, good Lord, schools, stop doing $93 million buyouts. Right. What are you doing? Right, right. I mean, Penn State deserves some of this for that stupid contract. Right.
And, and, and, the, the, so it's, I get it, you want a big name coach, but I will tell you, Bob Stoops wasn't a big name coach when he came to OU. And your Eric Morris's, your Summeralls, um, your guys across the country who are going to become big name coaches, you, you might not have heard of them yet. And, and it's maybe time to stop recycling these same old people around.
Maybe it's, maybe it'd be better for James Franklin to go to a, a Bowling Green, uh, or, or a Toledo or something like that and just sort of, like, reinvent his career. I- imagine the recruiting pop a Bowling Green or a Tulane or a, a school like that would get from a James Franklin. Uh, you know, a b- a big, an LSU, you know, someplace like that, it's not gonna make a wave because of what they're used to, right?
But if you go to one of those, or heck, even an Oklahoma State, it would be a huge pop and a huge recruiting pop for that first couple of years. Hmm. Um, but you're right, it's not the same game, and schools... And right now, again, I think just like we b- we've both been saying, it's, it's contagious and it's a contagion, and we're in the middle of it, and I guarantee you, for the next two or three weeks you're gonna see more
big name coachesNot there Right. Yeah, dis- they're, they'll be disappeared. So, um, we'll, we'll see how it goes in Tennessee. Uh, Oklahoma State, they've got Kansas next. Is that in Lawrence or is that in- St. Lawrence In Lawrence. Uh, by the way, I saw pictures of the stadium in the Kansas State game. It was empty. That's a newly renovated stadium up there in Lawrence. Yeah, they...
Uh, I went up there at, when we played 'em two, three years ago, and they were starting that renovation, and it was like at 70 million or something like that. I mean, it was a big time deal. Um, and, uh, unfortunately, it's still Kansas football. Right. Right. And Lawrence is a great- It's a, that's a great environment. Yeah. Kansas is a fun to go watch a f- a football game. Yeah.
Uh, i- I've been up there a couple of times, and it's always been a great environment. Um, I'm not making it this weekend, though. I, uh, I went to Lawrence for, it's, it's, um, to visit friends, and that particular weekend OU played Nebraska, and we went to a bar called Jester's. It was the year that Oklahoma got beat by Nebraska 69 to 7.
It was 69 to nothing, and I was several drinks in, and we all did shots when OU scored the one touchdown. We were like, "Woo, we scored." So I, I- Get the victories where you can. Yeah, I mean, y- you'll remember some of those times more than... You'll definitely remember them more than the 7-5 seasons, that's for sure. All right. Let's, let's move on to a little bit of World Series talk.
The World Series so far has gone pretty much how we said it would. It would be a split. Yeah, 100%. Get that, you know, the Blue Jays get that first win. LA gotta remember how to play baseball again. They've been off for so long. And then they figured it out. And I mean, honestly, the Blue Jays had one inning in that first game of where they scored, like, 90,000 runs. Um,
but you know, and outside of that, it was pretty even up actually. And so LA settled down. That pitching took over just like we said it would, uh, their, their playoff type of experience. And when you have a team of, of guys that love to play for each other and lo- Mm-hmm... and know how to win, uh, losing one game's not gonna phase them at all. You know, it's a long series.
And now we got three in a row in LA, so it's, oof, Blue Jays are already under the gun. The Blue Jays, uh, performed well in Seattle, but this is not Seattle. It's not like the, uh, I would say probably the actual home field advantage, if you will. It's probably tougher in Seattle. LA's very much a party environment, and that's cool and everything, uh, but the Dodgers have the mystique that the Yankees always had. They're still the Dodgers.
And stars in your eyes and young guys and, and I think it'll be hard for them. You got three games in a row there. Uh, Toronto really needs to take two of three to have a real shot because I think if LA takes two of three, obviously if LA sweeps, the series is over, and it would be the first time since 1965 that the Dodgers would've captured the World Series, clinched it, at home.
At home. At, at Dodger Stadium. Of course, in 2020 they, they were technically the home team, but that was pandemic. Eh, it didn't count. So I think that the Dodgers win two of three, and the Dodgers clinch it in Toronto. Uh, I would, uh, I would love to see some spark out of Toronto for this to be an interesting series, but the Dodgers, Yamamoto was so dominant in game two. He's gonna pitch again. That's a loss. He'll probably pitch in game six.
[coughs] Excuse me. But the starting pitching, as long as if it... Toronto's goal has to be to get into the bullpen. As long as they're not in the bullpen, the Dodgers are cruising in my opinion. Well, I, I'm afraid that if the, if the Blue Jays don't win game three, I think it's over. Yeah. I think that, that the Dodgers will just continue to win by more, if that, if that makes sense. To where, you know, the, they might win the next one by one or two runs, but then it's three or four runs.
And then by game five, if they're up 3-1, I think they're just gonna s- you know, 'cause then they can throw everybody, uh, every arm that they have to get that win, and I, I think they would win big. Now I'm... Am I predicting that? Well, yeah, I guess I'm, I'm gonna have to say that. Um, just to be a little bit different than you from game six, I'm gonna say Dodgers in five, uh, like we said previously. But yeah, you're right.
The Dodgers ma- they know how to win. Their goal was to make the playoffs. They made the playoffs, and they have not looked back. Uh, they've lost, I think, one? Two games? Oh, uh, two games. They lost one to Philly, and they've lost one to Toronto. Yeah. Two games? Yeah. I mean, good Lord, that's some, that's playing well when you need to play well. Mm-hmm. And I think the Dodgers are gonna continue that.
They know how to win. They've been there before. Um, and I, I, uh, I think that it, I think that that's that. I hope it's an entertaining series, but I fear that it won't be. [laughs] Right. Yeah. I just, it's, I think it's gonna be just like we're talking. It's just gonna be average. It's just gonna be s- average three baseball games. Okay.
It's not gonna be anything exciting, but then it's over, and you're, it's anticlimactic. Right. What won't be anticlimactic is the CFL playoffs. We'll talk about that in a second 'cause I, I love Canadian football. But a little bit about the NBA first. I was gonna say anticlimactic will be another Thunder, uh, championship, but it's very early in the season, and we've already had two games that were incredible to watch.
The game against Houston, incredible to watch. The game against Indiana, or as one person said on Twitter, X, they said, uh, "Oh, Oklahoma City won game eight." And, and that was an incredible game. And then they go to Atlanta.
Atlanta's a very interesting team because the Hawks were expected to be much better than what they are, and they've got a guy in Trae Young who's in s- I, yeah, I don't know what his contract situation is, but he's a guy who I think is probably gonna get moved this year somewhere different. Not, not to Oklahoma City, you know, but, but y- y- you never know. But they, they were real disappointment to watch. I thought they were gonna be much more competitive.
Have you watched any of the Thunder, and do you have any thoughts? My, my primary thought about the Thunder in terms of, like, news, SGA is good. Breaking news, shocker. No, it's, it's A.J. MitchellAJ Mitchell is awesome, and AJ Mitchell's a star. I'm like, "How many stars can this team have?" Uh, 13. [laughs] Well, yeah, I, I, I actually have watched the Thunder the first couple games, especially the Rockets game. Um, I caught it at the beginning or midway through the third quarter, right?
Midway through that third period, and they were down, and I'm like, "Oh, come on." And then that ga- and it, and you're right, that game just kept going. Uh, free basketball. I think you even texted- Yeah... me and was like, "Hey, man, free basketball." Oh, yeah. I'm like, "Heck yeah." Well, uh, the other thing I- Let's get it...
the other thing I texted you about was the, there was nobody who impressed me more on that court than Şengün, that Turkish guy from- Oh... from Houston. He was incredible. That dude was d- he was just a scrapper. He should be playing in Serbia. I mean, he was just a scrapper. He's that type of dude that you hate to be on the other team, but you love him on yours because he, he's not dirty or anything like that.
He just never stops. He just always goes. He's that proverbial gym rat who is good just because they want to be good. Yeah, he was terrific to watch. It was a shame he's for the Rockets. But no, Oklahoma City, I, I'm kinda s- not surprised they've started a little bit slowly i, in the game so far. I think that, uh, they're gonna, they will continue to pick it up.
Last year was a, the second-best season ever in NBA history with record and all of that, so you can't expect them to replicate that. However, um, I mean, they've already won some of these tough matches. And of course, again, the first one, I just... Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful that it was Kevin Durant who got the foul, who fouled out, that our new star got to lay the points down to win, uh, over Durant and his Rockets. So, um- Yep... I was very happy about that.
But I... Trey Young, if he ended up at, at Oklahoma City, I'm not sure who you'd have to get rid of to bring him on, but my goodness- I-... they might not lose. I will tell you, the things I heard about Trey while he was at OU, I don't know that you want him messing with that chemistry. Yeah, probably not. He, he wa- he, everything I heard was he was a me, me, me dude.
So is what it is. Thunder had the Mavericks tonight. I had to check. And I watched the Mavericks tonight because, uh, listener, you don't know this, but my second favorite team in the NBA is the Toronto Raptors. And I, so I watched them. And so the, the Raptors went down, and they got their tails kicked by the Mavericks, and the Mavericks were wearing the cool green uniforms from the '80s.
You remember when Dallas would play the LA Lakers in, like, '87, '88 in the, like, the Western Conference finals? Um, it was... Dallas has a scrappy bunch, and I will tell you- Mm... Cooper Flagg is going to be a star. It is going to be enough to get Dallas fans to forget about Luka. I could already sense them forgetting about Luka or... Dude, he was a m- They, they have to... he, he was- They have to... he, he was amazing.
Cooper Flagg was ama- He's going to be an All-Star this year. He was the best player on the floor. It was, uh, either team. It was n- it was... I mean- My problem is, where did he play college ball? Duke. So I'm automatically don't want him to do well. [laughs] No. I, but- I, I, I mean, if it's Duke or North Carolina or any of those guys, I don't want those players to do well, but he's, he's, he's legit.
He played at Duke, right? Am I just dreaming that? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. No, you're right. Yeah. He, he, he, he can take it to the hole. He can shoot it. He can, he can strong up people down low already, body them. And, and being so young as he is, uh, you could see the older guys on the floor giving him his, you know, propers.
They, they were like, "Dude, he's really, really good." And I don't know that we, we've seen this since Luka in terms of a- Mm... I mean, I'll just say it, a white guy coming on just all of a sudden. You know? And, and i- I hate that sociologically, that people latch on to the great white hope of some of these things, but he, he's a, a really good player.
Um, and that is probably what it was gonna take to make Dallas fans forget about Luka. Well, I mean, you have to find another superstar because Luka's is next level. You have to find another superstar coming in. You know, that's, that's why, uh, the NBA arranged it for them to get the first-round draft f- for the first draft pick when the, it was- Him-... 3% against them. It makes you wonder...
conspiracy we should talk about sometime. I mean, that's a conspiracy we need to talk about sometime. But the, you know, so the i- so then he goes to Dallas. They get this next superstar. He is legit. Uh, he can be that. He's gonna sell a lot of jerseys, and that's exactly what the NBA needs. I agree.
Well, and, and it, i- it makes you wonder, though, and I, I commented on this in the Oklahoma Memo newsletter, uh, on Friday about the, uh, NBA gambling s- scandal, which personally, not to get too political, as a distraction for everything, release the Epstein files. And, and, and [laughs] so I'll just say that. Thank you. You can send your cards and letters to me.
Uh, but, but the, the thing is, is that, uh, the minute you have a scandal like that, and Chauncey Billups, if this is true, he's done in the NBA. He'll never be involved with the Associ- That- They'll take, they'll take him out of the Hall of Fame. They will... Pete- Rose... Pete Rose, man. Rose, that guy. He, he's done, and I don't thi- I think it may just be the beginning. I hope and pray Michael Jordan's not involved.
You know, there's the conspiracy theory n- theory that Jordan was, uh, sent to baseball for three years because of gambling. They, they allowed him to retire and play baseball until he served his actual suspension, and then he came back. Yeah, I just was seeing that over the weekend. The, these leagues ha- I loved it... these leagues have to, they, they have to nip this in the bud. I'm not a big fan of the growth in sports betting from the perspective, especially in college.
November 1st, they're allowing college players to bet on pro games. That's a disaster waiting to happen. A- and, and the reason they have to police it is because the minute we actually find out that something is rigged, Jeremy, we'll never believe anything againWell, and, and I think that the NCAA, here's their logic, is that they think, "Okay, if we allow our athletes and our coaches, et cetera, to bet on pro sports, maybe they won't gamble on college sports."
Because there was some Iowa and Iowa State players a couple years ago who just, like two or three years ago, a whole bunch of Iowa people, Iowa and Iowa State, got busted for gambling and had to s- they had to sit a whole year. There was a, a Iowa receiver that had transferred to Oklahoma State that couldn't play because of, of the gambling issue up in the state of Iowa. Mm-hmm. And I- Iowa, it was not just happening in Iowa.
There just happened to be somebody in the state of Iowa who caught them, right? And I, I'm not sure if they were betting on pro or college. I suspect more college. Um, and I, I honestly think that the NCAA, what they're doing is, "Okay, we will allow you to bet on the NFL so you don't mess up the NCAA." And that's... Or, you know, NBA, MLB, those type of things. Mm-hmm.
That is what I suspect their logic is. All right. I just sort of like, uh, I had thoughts there, and I was like, "No, that's a good, a good place to end that conversation." Um, I've already, uh, spoken way too much from the front, frontal part of my brain. As you get older, you just start saying things that come to your brain. This week is playoff week in the CFL.
I don't know how much you watch Canadian foot- uh, the football league up there. I watch the Canucks. They're changing the game. They're ruining it. A whole bunch of rule changes. I, I don't like it. They... As long as the receivers can still be going forward before the ball is snapped- Yeah... that, they got- I, I think, I think they are, but they're getting rid of the center line.
They're gonna make the field 100 yards long. I'm like, "What are we doing here?" Um, anyway, very interesting this year because the defending champion, the Toronto Argonauts, are not in the playoffs this year. But because of their rule, they have an Eastern and a Western Conference, and if you don't, if...
So what they do is it's not just the top three from each league who are in the playoffs because if the third place team in either division has a lesser record than the fourth place winner in the other division, then they just move that other guy to the other way. It'd be like, "Oh, okay, Dodgers, we'll move them to the AL this time." So Winnipeg opens up on the road at Montreal. I've been to McGill Stadium, uh, or McGill University.
A lot of these, uh, uh, teams play on university property. McGill's a beautiful campus. Uh, but Winnipeg, they've been to the Grey Cup, like, I don't know, four or five times in a row. Uh, I like- Grey Cup is the, uh, Super Bowl cup for those, uh, uh, translating from- Yes... American, Canadian to American. Yeah. Uh- It's the Lombardi Trophy. About the organization, eh?
Uh, it's, by the way, the Grey Cup game has been more entertaining than the Super Bowl for several years now. It's a great game. Uh, Christie, she makes poutine. She makes, uh, she orders me ketchup chips from Canada. Let's have a watch party, baby. Let's have a watch party. Dude, come on down, man. Come on down. I'll convince her to make poutine. The poutine is fantastic. She puts bacon and jalapenos in there. It is so good. Oh.
But, but the team that I root for, that I, that I have the biggest heart for is the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They are the longest suffering of the Grey Cup, uh, uh, contestants. They haven't won in, like, 30 years, and the game this year would be played in Winnipeg. I've actually been to Hamilton's stadium, though, and I wandered onto their field. It's CFL, man.
You can just walk onto their field, and I remember one of their marketing people was like, "Can I help you?" And I was like- [laughs]... "I, I just wanted to take some pictures." They're like, "Hey, our shop's that way," and I went and bought, bought a whole bunch of stuff. I love the CFL, love everything about it, love watching it.
Um, but I, I like Hamilton to get to the Grey Cup this year, and I like... I have no idea who they're gonna play. I really don't know that much about it. I just like talking about it. It's kind of cool. I, I, s- believe it or not, two weeks ago on The Sideline, we were talking i- in one part of the game because it was when OSU was playing Cincinnati, uh, we started talking about the CFL.
We started talking about those rules because somebody jumped offside and, um, or an illegal motion. I was like, "Hey, buddy, this isn't the Canadian league. You gotta have your feet set. You can't be running forward," you know? Or as I discovered, uh, watching a game at home, I believe it was Toronto versus Saskatchewan, if you're a CFL watcher, you know exactly what game I'm talking about.
Um, but at the end of the game it was 20 to 20 and, uh, Toronto was lining up to kick a field goal, and I had an epiphany, and I was, I realized c- and there was no time because what'll happen is you don't kick the field goal with two seconds left. You kick it with zero seconds left. You get one more play. Uh, but I had an epiphany. I, maybe, maybe it was just my wife. I don't know.
Sometimes my brother John will come down and watch the Grey Cup, but I was like, "Holy crap, Toronto wins either way, miss it or make it," because of their rules. But- Because if he misses the field goal, it's one point as long as you kick it out of the end zone, and they won on a rouge, or a single, if you will. I love that. It adds so much more strategy, and that's one of the rules they're taking away, the one-pointer on field goals. Boo, hiss. No kidding.
That's one of the fun things about Canadian football, is that you can have a one-point play, uh, as opposed to an extra point, you know? Well, I think, uh, they're gonna have it, I think, on other kicks, but not on the missed field goal, uh, because they don't want the games ending like that. I'm like, "No, that was a game that we talked about for weeks."
I say we, me and- [laughs] Right... in my mind. So- Right. [laughs] We have, we have gone on long enough. We're at the 48-minute mark. Uh, this one may be edited for clarity and for, uh, you know, who knows? But it's been- Conciseness... uh, conciseness. It's been fun, man. Uh- Yeah, it was good... if, if you're not doing anything on November 18th, let's do get together and watch the Grey Cup. Okay. I'll look at my schedule.
Yeah. Yeah. That'll be fun. Picks for OSU-Kansas this weekend, who wins? What's the score?I think if, if Daniels plays for Kansas, and I don't know if he's healthy or not, the quarterback, uh, I think Kansas wins going away. I think it'll be, um,
uh, I think that OSU is gonna score this week though. Um, I'm looking at, like, a, a 38-13 type of game. Um, I, you know, if, if, if their quarter- if the Kansas quarterback doesn't play, if Daniels didn't play and then it, it changes things quite a bit, Kansas, I think, still wins. Uh, but if there is any game of the three or four that are left that Oklahoma State has any semblance of having any possibility of possibly maybe having a chance [laughs] to win, it's this weekend.
But I, I'm, I'm thinking Kansas wins by double digits. The score that I had in my mind was 38-22, and it's just, you know, one of those games you don't know whether Kansas will be up by a ton and Oklahoma State makes it closer, or if it's close and Kansas pulls away. But I agree. Yeah. Another loss. Oklahoma-Tennessee, how do you see that one shaping up? I, uh, unfortunately I also see the Volunteers winning this one. I think it's gonna be a closer game. I think it's gonna be, um...
Gosh, I'm, I'm, I mean, honestly, I was looking at a, a 31-21, uh, type of game. I think that Tennessee, it's gonna be one of those that's gonna be very frustrating for OU fans, I think. It's gonna be you're just gonna be close enough, but Tennessee's just gonna keep just enough ahead to keep that score. Like, it'll be a two score, OU will cut it to one, Tennessee'll stretch it to two. OU will cut- I think that's gonna be kind of the pattern of the second half. Um, I, I think Tennessee wins.
I think Brett Venables will focus so much on offense this week that somehow the defense has a little bit of a letdown. Uh, I like Tennessee to win 41-17. Yeah. That's a, that's a big margin. It's a big margin. Uh, that's why they pay me the big bucks, you know? That's right. [laughs] That's right. That's why DraftKings or whatever. [laughs] Right. Yeah. Th- this podcast brought to you by FanDuel, DraftKings.
I, we're not opposed to gambling on sports. No. No. If they wanna- Yeah... absolutely advertise, we will let that happen. Absolutely. That's what we're all about here at Midland Buds, just talking about whatever we're gonna talk about. Anyway, until next time, folks, it's Ryan here saying Boomer Sooner, hope for the best, pray to God for something good to happen. And you got Jeremy. Jeremy Cook saying go Pokes, and we'll just cross our fingers, man.
If, if you get a chance while you're out there, if you've made it this far, go to oklahomamemo.com where you can sign up for my daily local news recap. It comes out weekdays Monday through Friday at 7:00 AM. Bright and early, man. I'm subscribed. You guys should too. [upbeat music]