What we can take from the Utah St. game this weekend

This Saturday at 6pm OU will open the season against Utah st. in pursuit of win no.800, championship no.8, and victory number 118 of Coach Stoops career, other than that, what can we possibly get out of a game against Utah St?

The obvious answer would be, NOT MUCH.  I dont agree with that notion though, sure Utah St. is bad and we should win by 40 but there is alot to be learned from game no. 1 of the 2010 season.  First, can our offensive line get a push up front when running the ball?  You might think that this is obvious or wouldnt matter against a team like Utah St. but if OU fans remember, we couldnt score from inside the 3 last year against Idaho st, that was an ominous sign of things to come and because of that, I will be thoroughly interested in the way we run the ball this weekend.

Second, I want to see what kind of push our Defensive Tackles get, after losing a guy like Gerald McCoy who required so much attention from the other team, you wonder who will take up that same space this season in order for our Ends to get free.  We are young and fairly inexperienced at the Tackle position, especially with Adrian Taylor out or limited if he does play so I want to see if we can wreak havoc against an over matched team from the defensive tackle position.

Third, I want to see if our receivers can consistently catch the ball, a simple request it would seem but for anyone who watched OU play last season you remember distinctly that our receivers outside of Ryan Broyles were wildly inconsistent. I want to see how Kenny Stills looks, if Dejuan Miller steps up and builds off of his good freshman year, and if our group as a whole can catch the ball and make Landry Jones job that much easier.

Finally, I want to see if Demarco Murray has that old burst that he had his freshman year.  It is always frustrating as a fan when you watch a player with so much talent be limited by injuries year after year and now Murray is a Senior who has had a good career so far and with a solid final season, he might go down as one of OU's best at the position.  He has had a full season of being healthy, getting to work out, and has also done some different things in the offseason to help with the future prevention of injuries such as yoga.  As frustrating as it has been for us fans to watch Murrays career falter due to injuries I cant imagine how frustrating it has been for Demarco and I really hope we can see the 'real' Demarco Murray this season.

While many fans have already chalked up the Utah St. game in the win column and are just excited to get the season going I will be extra excited to see how OU handles the above situations.  This game may not tell us alot about our team but it can certainly give us a glimpse into what we can expect.

Predictions Week 1

Every week I will pick 5 random CFB games, 5 random NFL games and I will choose the winner of the Sooners and Chiefs games in addition for a total of 12, Since the NFL doesnt start til next week I will be choosing 12 CFB games this week.  Each week I will tally my totals and at the end of the season we will see how good I am at this, I wont be picking any 'gimme' games unless im picking a big upset.

Week 1

Pitt vs Utah
West Mich vs Mich St
Illinois vs Missouri
Purdue vs Notre Dame
Uconn vs Michigan
UCLA vs Kansas State
Washington vs BYU
Memphis vs Miss St
Oregon st vs TCU
LSU vs North Carolina
Boise St vs Va Tech
OU vs Utah St

Last Week- 0-0
Season- 0-0

My Predictions for College Football and the NFL

College Football

ACC- BC vs Va Tech in the conf title game, VT  Wins

Big 12- OU vs Missouri in the conf title game, OU Wins

Big East- Uconn wins the conf

Big Ten- Ohio State wins the conf

Conference USA- Houston vs Southern Miss, Houston Wins

MAC- Temple vs Central Michigan, Temple Wins

MWC- TCU wins the conf

Pac 10- USC wins the conf


SEC- Florida vs Auburn, Florida Wins

Sun Belt- Troy wins the conf

WAC- Boise St. wins the conf


BCS National Title Game- OU Sooners vs Ohio State Buckeyes
OU wins their 8th national title!







NFL

AFC Division Winners- NY Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers
AFC Wild Card Teams- Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens


NFC Division Winners- San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys
NFC Wild Card Teams- Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins

AFC Championship Game- Ravens vs Bengals
NFC Championship Game- Vikings vs Cowboys

Super Bowl- Ravens vs Vikings

Super Bowl Champs- Baltimore Ravens

OU Sooner Football Outlook-2010

I cant think of any better way to start my blog than by giving my outlook on the 2010 Sooner football team...

The most important questions going into the season,

1) Can our D-line get enough push to take the pressure off of our inexperienced CBs?
2) Can our O-line create a push off the line so we can have a run game this season
3) Can we stay healthy?

These 3 questions are the difference between OU competing for a national title and OU competing for a 10 win season, here is how I see it all breaking down.

Utah St W 52-10
Florida St W 35-21
Air Forice W 38-17
@Cincinnati W 35-17
Texas W 31-21
Iowa St W 27-17
@Missouri L 28-24
Colorado W 33-16
@Texas A&M W 31-24
Texas Tech W 42-17
@Baylor W 38-23
@Oklahoma State W 32-23

Although I have OU losing 1 game, I feel like I can safely say that this is the season that Coach Stoops gets a little of that brashness back as he leads OU to a 11-1 regular season and a matchup with Missouri in the Big 12 Title Game.