True freshman QB on OU’s first SEC road game at Auburn
Oklahoma essentially has half a college football team. An SEC defense, but a Pop Warner offense. And
that just won’t win you many football games.
It certainly didn’t last Saturday in our first loss of the season to Josh Heupel and the Vols.
It’s either the injuries, the coaching, the players, or all the above. Probably all the above. Why can’t we have a good defense and a good offense all at the same time?
Seems it’s either one or the other for the Sooners in recent memory. And it does not look like it will get
better anytime soon. Have you seen the latest injury report? Anderson, Anthony, Gibson, Tatum….all out or doubtful.
And that’s just scratching the surface. Our most productive wide receiver, Deion Burks is now listed as questionable. Even the kicker is out with what is believed to be an appendectomy.
All this and now we are faced with the prospect of a true freshman starting quarterback for the foreseeable future.
Don’t get me wrong, the change had to be made. If the offensive line can’t protect Jackson Arnold long enough for him to get off the throws, then we must have more mobility behind center to try and make something out of broken plays.
Whether it was the offensive line or just Arnold making bad decisions, Arnold has turned the ball over nine times in his first five starts. That is untenable.
So now Michael Hawkins Jr. will lead the Sooners in their first ever road SEC game this Saturday against the Auburn Tigers.
Auburn is 2-2 on the year and have lost two games at home. You can be sure that the heat is on Hugh Freeze to turn the ship before their season gets out of hand.
You might say Venables is in the same position. The bottom line is that while Auburn is not as stiff a test as Tennessee, they are much better than the Temples and Houstons of the world. And going into Jordan-Hare for the first time will be a daunting task, much less with a true freshman signal caller.
If Oklahoma cannot get some semblance of a consistent offense going, it will not matter how good our defense is.
So, the Worry Meter is high again this week at 90%. It wasn’t that long ago that a true freshman started for the Sooners at quarterback. We thought we had found the future then. I hope it works out much better this time around. With all that being said…BOOMER!!!
–Dave
UPDATE: The Sooners announced late Thursday WR Deion Burks will not play in the Auburn game due to injury.
Oklahoma at Auburn Kickoff: 2:40 pm Saturday, ABC-TV.
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