Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
6 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

He had trouble with accuracy beyond 15 yards. I don't know whether that was his thumb or not, although it seems logical, but I do know that whatever it was, it was physical. 

Agreed but a lot of that seemed like decisions and footwork to me. Both of Muhammad's picks were thrown almost without looking and while turning or off the back foot. The kind of stuff he has always seemed to do against quality defenses.

  • Hook 'Em 7
Posted

Here's an article about Jayden Gibson leaving the team, as of today. If you'll recall, the sooners have been decrying his absence with the WR corps since he went down last August. They rushed him back in the spring and he got hurt again, but, by golly, he was going to be fine for the 2025 season, per Venables in May, and that was going to make a big difference! I've been mocking the notion of his return throughout this thread. 

Spoiler

NORMAN — Oklahoma and wide receiver Jayden Gibson have parted ways.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Wednesday, when asked during the SEC coaches teleconference, that Gibson is "no longer with the team." The Sooners' fourth-year head coach did not provide any further details on the reasoning Gibson's departure from the team.

As of late Wednesday morning, Gibson was still listed on Oklahoma's official online roster.

Gibson has been sidelined since August 2024, when he tore the patellar tendon in his knee. He missed the entire 2024 season and was set to return this year, but he sustained a setback with his knee before the start of spring practices while running routes on air.

*** LAST CHANCE: JOIN SOONERS ILLUSTRATED NOW AND GET 60% OFF AN ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP***

The last update Venables provided on Gibson's status was in late May at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida, when he said the 6-foot-5, 186-pound receiver was "on schedule" to return toward the beginning of this season.

Midway through the regular season, Gibson has not appeared in any games for the 14th-ranked Sooners, and he has not been spotted on the sideline in street clothes. He was with the team at the start of fall camp, when he was seen on the field doing light stretching but not participating in practice as he continued to work his way back from injury.

When Gibson was last healthy during the 2023 season, the Apopka, Florida, native caught 14 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns during a bit of a breakout sophomore campaign. He averaged 26.7 yards per reception and established himself as one of Oklahoma's top downfield threats in the passing game. His average depth of target was 23.3 yards downfield, according to Pro Football Focus, and he made four contested catches on six contested throws during the 2023 season.

He was expected to see an increased role in Oklahoma's offense last season before sustaining a ruptured patellar tendon in fall camp. Gibson was one of five Sooners wide receivers to miss significant time — or in his case, the entirety of the season — during that program's frustrating 2024 campaign.

Oklahoma's wide receiver corps this season has been led by Arkansas transfer Isaiah Sategna, former Purdue transfer Deion Burks and Southern Illinois transfer Keontez Lewis, while the Sooners recently welcomed back Arkansas-Pine Bluff transfer Javonnie Gibson, who returned from a broken leg he sustained during spring practices.

 

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Haha 2
Posted
5 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Here's an article about Jayden Gibson leaving the team, as of today. If you'll recall, the sooners have been decrying his absence with the WR corps since he went down last August. They rushed him back in the spring and he got hurt again, but, by golly, he was going to be fine for the 2025 season, per Venables in May, and that was going to make a big difference! I've been mocking the notion of his return throughout this thread. 

  Hide contents

NORMAN — Oklahoma and wide receiver Jayden Gibson have parted ways.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Wednesday, when asked during the SEC coaches teleconference, that Gibson is "no longer with the team." The Sooners' fourth-year head coach did not provide any further details on the reasoning Gibson's departure from the team.

As of late Wednesday morning, Gibson was still listed on Oklahoma's official online roster.

Gibson has been sidelined since August 2024, when he tore the patellar tendon in his knee. He missed the entire 2024 season and was set to return this year, but he sustained a setback with his knee before the start of spring practices while running routes on air.

*** LAST CHANCE: JOIN SOONERS ILLUSTRATED NOW AND GET 60% OFF AN ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP***

The last update Venables provided on Gibson's status was in late May at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida, when he said the 6-foot-5, 186-pound receiver was "on schedule" to return toward the beginning of this season.

Midway through the regular season, Gibson has not appeared in any games for the 14th-ranked Sooners, and he has not been spotted on the sideline in street clothes. He was with the team at the start of fall camp, when he was seen on the field doing light stretching but not participating in practice as he continued to work his way back from injury.

When Gibson was last healthy during the 2023 season, the Apopka, Florida, native caught 14 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns during a bit of a breakout sophomore campaign. He averaged 26.7 yards per reception and established himself as one of Oklahoma's top downfield threats in the passing game. His average depth of target was 23.3 yards downfield, according to Pro Football Focus, and he made four contested catches on six contested throws during the 2023 season.

He was expected to see an increased role in Oklahoma's offense last season before sustaining a ruptured patellar tendon in fall camp. Gibson was one of five Sooners wide receivers to miss significant time — or in his case, the entirety of the season — during that program's frustrating 2024 campaign.

Oklahoma's wide receiver corps this season has been led by Arkansas transfer Isaiah Sategna, former Purdue transfer Deion Burks and Southern Illinois transfer Keontez Lewis, while the Sooners recently welcomed back Arkansas-Pine Bluff transfer Javonnie Gibson, who returned from a broken leg he sustained during spring practices.

 

Hope he lands somewhere, gets a chance to play OU, makes a sideline catch, and punches Venables square in the dick

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted
Other random and somewhat humorous OU stuff right now:
-OU is down to two OTs - Fasusi and some back-up transfer. They're claiming Simmons could be back soon, but also not explaining what his injury is and they're vague about the whole thing.
-The fans are arguing amongst themselves on several divisive threads and I am not sure which one is the most entertaining. They're flummoxed that USC and Riley are performing well after expecting Michigan to shred them. Numerous guys want Bedenbaugh gone while others are questioning the fandom of those posters doing so. On the Big 12 vs Venables quote thread, a mod has defended Venables' take and he's getting run over by his constituency. 
-No one can understand what the fuck is going on with Ott not getting PT, but numerous posters are simply unwilling to believe that it could be a byproduct of Demarco Murray not being very good at his job. 
-There is a growing consensus that Fatty Arbuckle sucks and they need Kevin Wilson's "uptempo offense" installed, with Wilson playing a bigger role on the staff. This is the same guy that was run off from Indiana after getting them to two consecutive bowl games and then only getting two seasons at Tulsa before being shitcanned there as well. Both places pushed him out because his team, his admins and the booster base all wound up hating him. He fits right in at OU, I guess. 
-They have a decent-sized faction of fans who honestly believe that they would have won the game on Saturday had those meddling refs not ruined things for them. This same group is projecting a 5-3 SEC finish with a win at SCar and then a sweep of their home SEC games remaining, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU. 
-Another faction of posters is actively pleading for Venables to get shitcanned so "Nagy can get his guy" in there, with a return to top 10 national status being all but assured with that change. 
I'm enjoying witnessing where things are heading for the sooners and their program. 

Rumors from a low level on staff is ott is a head case. Whatever that means and you would’ve thought they would know that before buying him in the portal. Or maybe they did and thought the juice was worth the squeeze.
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
28 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Mateer has struggled with accuracy even before he got hurt (in snaps/games I've seen). His mechanics are lazy. 

So a Johnny Football wannabe without a Mike Evans to bail him out?

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Posted
1 hour ago, William Bludworth said:

I'll raise you a man who knows no bounds when it comes to money and keeping "their man". 

IMG_2652.jpeg

Ross Bjork may be giving the thumbs up here, but his eyes say, "Please get me the fuck outta here".

  • Haha 2
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

The fans are arguing amongst themselves on several divisive threads and I am not sure which one is the most entertaining. Numerous guys want Bendenbaugh Flood gone while others are questioning the fandom of those posters doing so. On the bathroom quote vs Sark thread, a mod has defended Sark's take and he's getting run over by his constituency. 

Interesting. Let's replace a few names and see how they compare 

Edited by William Bludworth
Posted
2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Other random and somewhat humorous OU stuff right now:

-OU is down to two OTs - Fasusi and some back-up transfer. They're claiming Simmons could be back soon, but also not explaining what his injury is and they're vague about the whole thing.

Yeah, the way he got injured was hilarious. The play was over, but an OU OL pushed or DL (who was already on the ground) into the back of Simmons leg and his knee and/or ankle got destroyed. He's not coming back any time soon with the way they took him off the field.

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
  • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
Posted

Have the same fans that want Nagy to pick a HC looked at Nagy's recruiting class this year? There isn't anything there to brag about - it's worse than the typical coach transition class. Why trust the same guy to get a good HC?

This class stacked on to the past couple of classes and it is easy to see that there are many dark years ahead for OU. I don't think the portal can solve the woes of recruiting this poorly.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

Seeing ou being so downtrodden and shitty makes my Justice Haynes miss  travesty look like we won the golden ticket. Their Offense, and the RB room in particular are so shitty, it makes the ou Van Fleet area of diarrhea look like the Amber Room in St. Catherine's Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

We at least looked competent in the second half with replacing that walking fecal impaction with Brooks during Sark's dumbassary after being down 3 scores to that mouth breathing luddite, Napier. 

I sincerely hope and pray Burnt Vaginals gets at least one more year. That's all I want. Just one more year because next season we will be fucking back. 

This is how we should be feeling seeing them suffer after we wandered the desert for 12 years. 

IMG_2657.gif

Posted
4 minutes ago, Danimal said:

This class stacked on to the past couple of classes and it is easy to see that there are many dark years ahead for OU. I don't think the portal can solve the woes of recruiting this poorly.

the-office-the.gif

Posted
12 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Yeah, the way he got injured was hilarious. The play was over, but an OU OL pushed or DL (who was already on the ground) into the back of Simmons leg and his knee and/or ankle got destroyed. He's not coming back any time soon with the way they took him off the field.

Such karma. When their cheating doesn't work, they always resort to dirty play.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
4 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

Now I'm not necessarily one to pat myself on the back, but...

 dance marathon good job GIF by Children's Miracle Network Hospitals

 

I pretty much called exactly who Mateer was this offseason. He looks like a Heisman guy against overmatched competition and puts up great stats, but once he faces good defenses that aren't at a big talent disadvantage, he starts throwing a lot of intercept-able balls and struggles to complete more than half of his passes.  Sometimes he could salvage those performances with his legs, but he's going to struggle to do even that against good SEC defenses.  OU's expectations got set extremely high with a joke of a first 5 games leading to a bloated #6 ranking. They're in for a rude awakening from here on out and I can't wait to see it.

In summary:

 Minnesota Vikings Football GIF

 

 

I remember your specific post because it immediately made me feel much better about them getting him. There was one other poster who also called it, maybe CTJ or one of the other recruiting board guys. 

Posted
4 hours ago, William Bludworth said:

Buddy, name a single time Strong ever even lucked into a 10-win season, or started 5-0. 6-7, 6-7, 5-7....in the Big XII.

Sam Pittman, in a much more difficult conference, has one 9-win season, and two 7-win seasons. He's better than Strong. 

Even Billy Napier had one 8-win season at UF. Again, in a much more difficult conference.

Charlie Strong is the worst coach to coach at even a helmet school, much less a blue blood in a conference that was just a notch ahead of the WAC. 

No one alive today, who has coached at a blue blood/new blue blood are worse than Charlie Strong. 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4tmfOeGcEeo2uP66lDec

  • Like 1
  • Haha 8
Posted
Yeah, the way he got injured was hilarious. The play was over, but an OU OL pushed or DL (who was already on the ground) into the back of Simmons leg and his knee and/or ankle got destroyed. He's not coming back any time soon with the way they took him off the field.

Saw on Twitter where they claimed 93 (Watson?) intentionally rolled into his leg to hurt him.
Posted

OU reporters are saying that OT Simmons is a go for Saturday against South Carolina. Dude couldn't walk on his own this past Saturday, but he's going to be out there at full speed this coming weekend. Either he's a complete pussy or this is a Jerry Schmidt special. 

Also, OU has never scored more than 2 offensive touchdowns against an SEC opponent since joining the conference. There's a shot that that holds true into the winter break. 

  • Hook 'Em 6
  • Like 1
Posted
23 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Other random and somewhat humorous OU stuff right now:

-OU is down to two OTs - Fasusi and some back-up transfer. They're claiming Simmons could be back soon, but also not explaining what his injury is and they're vague about the whole thing.

-The fans are arguing amongst themselves on several divisive threads and I am not sure which one is the most entertaining. They're flummoxed that USC and Riley are performing well after expecting Michigan to shred them. Numerous guys want Bedenbaugh gone while others are questioning the fandom of those posters doing so. On the Big 12 vs Venables quote thread, a mod has defended Venables' take and he's getting run over by his constituency. 

-No one can understand what the fuck is going on with Ott not getting PT, but numerous posters are simply unwilling to believe that it could be a byproduct of Demarco Murray not being very good at his job. 

-There is a growing consensus that Fatty Arbuckle sucks and they need Kevin Wilson's "uptempo offense" installed, with Wilson playing a bigger role on the staff. This is the same guy that was run off from Indiana after getting them to two consecutive bowl games and then only getting two seasons at Tulsa before being shitcanned there as well. Both places pushed him out because his team, his admins and the booster base all wound up hating him. He fits right in at OU, I guess. 

-They have a decent-sized faction of fans who honestly believe that they would have won the game on Saturday had those meddling refs not ruined things for them. This same group is projecting a 5-3 SEC finish with a win at SCar and then a sweep of their home SEC games remaining, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU. 

-Another faction of posters is actively pleading for Venables to get shitcanned so "Nagy can get his guy" in there, with a return to top 10 national status being all but assured with that change. 

I'm enjoying witnessing where things are heading for the sooners and their program. 

Say it again.. but slower this time. 

  • Haha 4
Posted
On 10/14/2025 at 10:41 PM, LTtxfan said:

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer seeks redemption after worst start of his career

Oct. 14, 2025  AP

NORMAN, Okla.  — Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer is coming off the worst start of his career.

He barely completed 50% of his passes for just 202 yards and threw three interceptions in a 23-6 loss to Texas last Saturday that sent the Sooners (5-1, 1-1 SEC) tumbling to No. 14 in the AP Top 25. Now, for the first time since transferring from Washington State, Mateer is forced to try to bounce back from a loss.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Tuesday that Mateer has handled the aftermath of the Texas game well so far, though he might be taking too much of the blame.

“I’ve got even more respect for him,” Venables said. “You want to carry all the weight for all your guys, but you can’t do that. ... He wants to take the whole team on his back and that’s not fair to him at all. So (I) try to help him with his perspective.”

Mateer said after Saturday's game that the pain in his right (throwing) hand that he played with against Texas less than three weeks after surgery was not a factor. Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who came from Washington State with Mateer, said his quarterback's mindset was the bigger issue, and that needs to be fixed.

“It’s a mental reset,” Arbuckle said. “Do I trust John Mateer? Absolutely, I do. But I wouldn’t be doing my job as a coach if I just sat back and said, ‘I’m going to just trust that he’s going to get it right.’ So it’s a mental reset. It’s back to the basics.”

Arbuckle said Mateer, who had not thrown more than two interceptions in a college game before Saturday, pressed too hard.

“He’s his harshest critic," Arbuckle said. "And he knows that stuff he did on last Saturday wasn’t what winning requires. He does a really good job of resetting his mind, whether it’s footwork or his reads, and really honing in on that and cleaning that up, making sure he’s very intentional with that in practice.”

Venables said Mateer has done a good job of picking up the team while trying to absorb the Texas result.

“He’s a humble guy that likes to work," Venables said. “He doesn’t live in La-La Land. He knows what’s good and what isn’t good and what’s good enough and what ain’t good enough, so he’ll go right back to work, and did. The guys really respect that. That helps everybody step back in line.”

Mateer has moved on, and he sees an opportunity in Saturday’s game at South Carolina (3-3, 1-3).

“First road SEC game, so I’m excited,” he said. “If your confidence is fragile in this league and in this game, you don’t have a chance. So being a man, I mean, it (losing to Texas) was tough ... But you’ve got to step up and find a way, and I will.”

Just a few weeks ago, Mateer was considered a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. He still has plenty of opportunities to regain that status. Either way, Arbuckle said Mateer needs to focus on the little things.

“Stay true to who you are.,” Arbuckle said. “Stay true to the process that has gotten you to where you have been in life and as a player. Don’t listen to the outside noise because that’s nothing pertaining to you.”

 

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
On 10/15/2025 at 9:51 AM, Hank Kingsley said:

Mateer has struggled with accuracy even before he got hurt (in snaps/games I've seen). His mechanics are lazy. 

 

Yep. Even pre-RRS he was a career sub-60% passer against P5 competition with a tendency to throw INTs. In hindsight, what played out in Dallas was pretty predictable and I'm not sure the OU offense would fare much better if we ran it back.

  • Hook 'Em 3
Posted
On 10/15/2025 at 2:10 PM, William Bludworth said:

We at least looked competent in the second half with replacing that walking fecal impaction with Brooks during Sark's dumbassary after being down 3 scores to that mouth breathing luddite, Napier. 

Picking nits but Texas was never down 3 scores to Florida.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted
On 10/15/2025 at 11:53 AM, closetojumping said:

Other random and somewhat humorous OU stuff right now:

-OU is down to two OTs - Fasusi and some back-up transfer. They're claiming Simmons could be back soon, but also not explaining what his injury is and they're vague about the whole thing.

-The fans are arguing amongst themselves on several divisive threads and I am not sure which one is the most entertaining. They're flummoxed that USC and Riley are performing well after expecting Michigan to shred them. Numerous guys want Bedenbaugh gone while others are questioning the fandom of those posters doing so. On the Big 12 vs Venables quote thread, a mod has defended Venables' take and he's getting run over by his constituency. 

-No one can understand what the fuck is going on with Ott not getting PT, but numerous posters are simply unwilling to believe that it could be a byproduct of Demarco Murray not being very good at his job. 

-There is a growing consensus that Fatty Arbuckle sucks and they need Kevin Wilson's "uptempo offense" installed, with Wilson playing a bigger role on the staff. This is the same guy that was run off from Indiana after getting them to two consecutive bowl games and then only getting two seasons at Tulsa before being shitcanned there as well. Both places pushed him out because his team, his admins and the booster base all wound up hating him. He fits right in at OU, I guess. 

-They have a decent-sized faction of fans who honestly believe that they would have won the game on Saturday had those meddling refs not ruined things for them. This same group is projecting a 5-3 SEC finish with a win at SCar and then a sweep of their home SEC games remaining, Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU. 

-Another faction of posters is actively pleading for Venables to get shitcanned so "Nagy can get his guy" in there, with a return to top 10 national status being all but assured with that change. 

I'm enjoying witnessing where things are heading for the sooners and their program. 

sexy girls GIF

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Drool 1
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Picking nits but Texas was never down 3 scores to Florida.

It was more hyperbolic, but it felt like it. Being down by anything more than 3 pts to Luddite Napier might as well be 4 scores. 

Edited by William Bludworth
  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Rage+1 1
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, William Bludworth said:

It was more hyperbolic, but it felt like it. Bring down by anything more than 3 to Luddite Napier might as well be 4 scores. 

We were down 15 twice. Which lets you maintain some illusion of hope as a fan.

Edited by ztejas
  • Rage+1 1
Posted
4 minutes ago, BigHornedLurker said:

sexy girls GIF

My pain is being healed slowly. Give up the name 

Just now, ztejas said:

We were down 15 three separate times. Which lets you maintain some illusion of hope as a fan.

Just seeing that typed out makes me want to cry, but I don't want anyone in any surrounding offices to hear me wail.

Posted
28 minutes ago, ztejas said:

We were down 15 twice. Which lets you maintain some illusion of hope as a fan.

It felt like the Ohio st game to me. We play like absolute dogshit. Don’t catch any breaks, and almost stole the victory. If we had beaten Florida and Ohio st. We’d still be same team and those teams would wonder how they lost to us. Thems the breaks. I feel like we are headed for a good finish hopefully great. Just stay healthy from here on out. 

  • Hook 'Em 4
  • Like 1
Posted
On 10/15/2025 at 2:58 AM, Hard Times said:

The pain may not have been a factor, but I have no doubt it affected his ability to control the ball. Reality is he shouldn't been playing and dumb to risk a career to just to beat Texas and it bit them in the ass. Hawkins couldn't have been worse and probably would've been better.

At the risk of saying "I told you so," a couple of weeks back on this thread I suggested that I'd rather play against Mateer than Hawkins. My thought at the time was "yeah, rush him back and let's play his injured ass, because he's gonna suck." Glad the ou coaches obliged and put his sorry ass in there. Dipshits. 

  • Hook 'Em 4
Posted

Great stat @closetojumping. I shared it with SEC friends and they were stunned. SECN take a bow. You fooled everyone not paying attention.


The Ikard and Lehman Plan is to fire every offensive assistant, and let Arbuckle hire his “own guys.” Do tell Teddy, how has a 30 year old, former GrubHub driver compiled a coaching tree or coaching network? 
 

The whole Skeletor is the head coach of the defense, and Arbuckle is the head coach of the offense premise was always doomed to fail because this set up never works and Arbuckle has to lean on Skeletor for offensive hires. Frankly, he hasn’t been coaching long enough to develop contacts. 

  • Hook 'Em 3
  • Haha 1
Posted
3 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

The Ikard and Lehman Plan is to fire every offensive assistant, and let Arbuckle hire his “own guys.” Do tell Teddy, how has a 30 year old, former GrubHub driver compiled a coaching tree or coaching network? 

Yeah, let him run the Seminole High Indians offense!

Posted
11 hours ago, William Bludworth said:

Playing Mateer after surgery 17 days prior I will never understand. I hoped they would, but I also said if they want to win some games, they might as well let him heal and just accept defeat from us again. But nope. 

Uh yup.

Losing to Texas with no Mateer would have been a total mulligan game for BV, with a whole year of Gooner fans telling us they would have beaten the brakes off of Texas if their guy got to play, blah blah blah, wait until next year. BV's job is a lot safer Saturday night than it is now, when you peek ahead at their schedule. 

Upcoming DCs are going to watch that tape on repeat and try to replicate how we beat them, and if/when BV is out of a job in December, you can go ahead and point to October 11, 2025 as to why.  Losing 3 of 4 to Texas, in the way they have (0, 3, 6 points scored) is going to be the reason, but at least with a backup QB in last Saturday, that game becomes a lot less of a black mark on BV's personnel file and more of a "well if this happened, we win" type of game. 

  • Hook 'Em 5
Posted
On 10/15/2025 at 2:54 PM, NorthLoop said:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4tmfOeGcEeo2uP66lDec

He's not entirely wrong. Strong is one of the worst coaches to ever coach at a helmet school. But Willie Taggart was worse at FSU and Rich Rod was at least as bad at Michigan. Shit, look at Mike Shula at Bama - not only did he suck, but he was a cheater to boot. Depending on your definition of "helmet school," Chad Morris was worse at Arkansas and Jimmy Lake at Washington has to be up there. Tyrone Willingham at Washington also, and arguably even at ND.  

A lot of good schools have had some really bad coaches. Usually most are somewhat up-and-down (like Mackovic) and we just perceive Strong to be the worst because he was the worst at Texas. But there are definitely worse coaches out there. 

Posted
35 minutes ago, Chili dog said:

I love this thread. I truly hope this period is just the beginning of OU’s march to irrelevance. 

I've always thought that the move to the SEC combined with NIL was going to turn OU into Nebraska. We're not nearly there yet but it's moving in that direction. And I'm all for it. 

  • Hook 'Em 4
Posted

It's time for the Oklahoma Sooners to pull the plug on a longtime offensive assistant if they want to fix their rushing attack

By AJ Schulte  |  Last updated Oct 16, 2025 

I'm normally hesitant to call for a coach to outright lose their job. It's a tough industry with plenty of variables that are completely out of the coach's control, and sometimes the results don't match with the process because of dozens of other factors affecting the game. I understand the nature of the industry and how difficult it is to sustain success. However, I've finally reached that point with one Oklahoma Sooners' offensive assistant coach, and one who has been here a long time.

I am, of course, referring to tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley. It's time to move on and find someone who can actually coach this position and find talent instead of the complete zero Oklahoma's tight end room has been.

At this point of the season, the Sooners can't do much to fix the woes of their However, if they want to fix it moving forward, this is the only move they have left to take. He has had enough of a leash.

Enough is Enough for Joe Jon Finley

I can't say for certain what goes on in the tight end room, I can only look at the film. What the film tells me is that the state of the Sooners' tight ends is in embarrassing sorts. There is a lack of fundamentals and talent To make matters worse, it's been a repeat problem for years.

Oklahoma's run game has mainly been attributed to the offensive line. After all, it's very easy for casual viewers to look at the run game struggling and say "Yeah it's the oline's fault" because they don't really understand blocking. And that's ok, it's a tricky thing to pick up live. Yet I can promise you, it's not the offensive line's fault. At least, mostly not.

The tight end room is completely unplayable. Even with Jaren Kanak's prowess as a receiver, the room is at best a zero on the field and at worst completely derailing Oklahoma's offense on a down-to-down basis.

It doesn't matter what Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle tries to run. Time and time again, the tight ends are whiffing the blocks or getting blocked right into the path of the runner. Texas steamrolled everyone in the room, shutting down any hopes the Sooners had of mustering anything on the ground.

Over and over and over again, a tight end lost his battle or blew his assignment. Where is the coaching? How is every player in a room completely messing up his assignment every time? It's a complete disaster

It's getting to an embarrassing state for Oklahoma, and it's a problem that has stretched on for years. Ever since Finley took over the tight end room in 2021 (as an aside, why is a Lincoln Riley hire still in Norman?), the talent and production has dropped year-over-year and the bottom has finally fallen out.

If Kanak, who converted from linebacker this offseason, didn't look as good as he has a receiver, there would be absolutely zero reason to play any of these tight ends. Finley lucked into a position convert being a really good athlete. None of the other players have shown anything that should be the standard at Oklahoma. I'm loathe to say Oklahoma should just live in 4WR sets, but at this point, they might as well. That room is several leagues more talented than their tight end room is.

At this point of the season, I don't think there's anything you can do to salvage this room. There's just a dearth of talent at the position, and it's been that way for years. A school that has long produced playmakers at tight end has been reduced to taking in talents from Pittsburg State and Kennesaw State, because nobody else would come here. It's sad, and there's no reason for this to continue. Change has to come.

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Haha 1
  • Drool 1
Posted
13 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Over and over and over again, a tight end lost his battle or blew his assignment. Where is the coaching? How is every player in a room completely messing up his assignment every time? It's a complete disaster

 

laughter.gif

  • Haha 3

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...