This Saturday, September 16 at 5:00 CST , the Sooners will kick off against the Tulane Green Wave.
Oklahoma is 2-0 through the first two weeks of the college football season, and after an impressive 31-16 win over #2 Ohio State last week in The Horseshoe, the Sooners seem like they’re unstoppable. Baker Mayfield had a great game, throwing for 386 yards with 3 touchdowns and placing himself at number one on the Heisman watch list.
Tulane isn’t regarded as a top football program as they have only two winning seasons since 1998. They are coming off of a tough loss at Navy, 23-21. All of that being said, they run an option offense. The Sooners saw a little read-option action against Ohio State, but nothing to the degree of what will be run this Saturday. Mike Stoops praised Tulane’s offense by saying, “They’re really good at it, and it’ll be a great test of our discipline and the structure of our defense, and make sure we get people — somebody on the quarterback, somebody on the drive, somebody on the pitch. That’s option football.”
With the Sooners athletic linebackers this year I don’t expect Oklahoma to have many problems. In the first two games, the defense has looked very fast and very impressive. Kenneth Murray did a great job last game and Obo Okoronkwo and Caleb Kelly on the outside got a ton of pressure. Expect the defensive line to get a good push on Tulane’s offensive line and not have much problem. Many thought that the weakest aspect of the Sooners was the young defense, but holding offensive powerhouse Ohio State to only 16 points at home, shows that the Oklahoma defense is a force too be reckoned with. Players such as Obo Okoronkwo and Parnell Motley had huge games against Ohio State, Okoronkwo having 6 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks, while Motley had a big interception to seal the win.
Many thought that the weakest aspect of the Sooners was the young defense, but holding offensive powerhouse Ohio State to only 16 points at home, shows that the Oklahoma defense is a force too be reckoned with. Players such as Obo Okoronkwo and Parnell Motley had huge games against Ohio State, Okoronkwo having 6 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks, while Motley had a big interception to seal the win.
What to watch for:
- How the linebackers contain/respond to the option offense.
- Baker Mayfield will get the deep ball going Saturday. He will hit Jeff Badet deep more than once.
- Grant Calcaterra should get some extra snaps. Andrews is still not 100% so expect Calcaterra to have a nice game.
- Obo and Caleb Kelly will each have at least one sack. Tulane cannot contain them on this outside.
- Jeff Badet has been extremely efficient in the return game and this Saturday, he’ll take his first one to the house.
The Sooners should really have no trouble in this game. The defense should be firing on all cylinders and the starters should get some rest in the second half.
Sooner Magic Sports prediction: Sooners, 52-13
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