OU vs UTEP – Saturday 2:30 pm kickoff. Pay per view. 50 yard line ticket price: $99.
When fans drove home from the Sooners’ Sugar Bowl win in New Orleans last January, would that drive — spent optimistically looking forward to a return season of Baker Mayfield and one of the top offensive lines in the country — have been so pleasant had they known Bob Stoops would not be returning as the coach?
On the other hand, was there ever any doubt that Lincoln Riley, the up-and-coming young offensive coordinator who has done nothing but impress during his two-year tenure in Norman, would offer the most seamless change at head coach?
Those questions become academic on Saturday, when Oklahoma begins the 2017 football season at home against Texas El Paso at Memorial stadium at 2:30 pm.
The No. 7 Sooners are prohibitive favorites to launch Lincoln Riley off to a winning start as head coach at Oklahoma. The Sooners are 44 point favorites according to Vegas oddsmakers.
The game will not draw the attention of Oklahoma’s last time on the field, a 35-19 win over Auburn. And UTEP likely won’t have the same experience as their last outing, a 52-24 win over North Texas last November.
Greater attention is already given the Sooners’ second week opponent, Ohio State (kickoff 6:30 pm CDT, September 9 in Columbus on ABC).
But first things first.
Oklahoma fans know that Mayfield will likely find enough receivers who can catch to move the ball passing. The stable of running backs, although significantly less proven than last year’s Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, will likely be adequate to buttress a solid offense for the Sooners. It will certainly be enough to run roughshod over UTEP’s 3-3-5 defense.
But the 2016 defense stumbled early — allowing Houston and Ohio State to trounce the Sooners and land two losses before conference play even began. In other words, the big questions that will be addressed Saturday will be on defense.
Attacking that defense for UTEP will be Miners’ junior receiver Warren Redix, who has had a strong pre-season camp. He is part of a six-deep receiver corps, which includes JUCO transfer Alan Busey, that will test the Oklahoma secondary.
Throwing to him will be QB Ryan Metz, a tall strong passer who was 130 of 201 passing attempts last year for 1,375 yards and 14 TDs, with a 64 percent completion average.
The Sooners are expected to go to a four-man defensive front. That could give DT Matt Romar room to play man on man, instead of being subjected to double teams when he was at nose guard. Key will be the secondary, where Jordan Thomas and Steven Parker at the corners are expected to lead that side of the ball.
“We’re somewhat embarrassed about what happened a year ago and we’re hopefully going to play with an edge,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said.
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