Pandemonium Reigns
Episode 148 - 2024 Oklahoma Sooners Season Prediction
what's happening family and friends panda money rains back in your ears back in your business back in your car speakers just back it's been a long time we've worked our full time jobs it's Friday I'm off he's not don't tell his employer okay so keep this on the down low it's a major corporation we'll be fine hey we're gonna talk 2024 Oklahoma and Michael and I were just talking about this before getting on here and man this one was tough this one was really tough to pick but nonetheless we're so excited to be back with you again talking football football happens this month and matter of fact at the time of this recording Joe Milton has thrown a touchdown pass in the last what is that 14 16 hours I don't do time or math very well so football is back hand and hooker has seen the football field man when is the last time we saw Joe Milton and Hindon Hooker on the same field they're sorry the same TV screen on the same night insane it's back I can hear the pads popping already my boy your hair still long how are you you doing good I'm good I'm good how about yourself I'm well I'm feeling a little weird rock in this blue shirt but with the all the orange behind me so I'm gonna use that to segue and tell you guys a little bit about our friends over NFTF listen this is my gym this is these are my people so of course I'm gonna vouch for these guys but these guys are also proud sponsors of the podcast north for size training and fister training and fister training and fitness my man Jesse Foster this is what happens when you talk too fast and try to put two words together Jesse Foster listen we told you about class times running early in the morning late in the day they now have 24/7 access what other reason do you need what it like what other reason do you need you want it you want to get better you want to get healthy come join me 4510 Browns Bridge Road start by calling him 706 633 6609 in the past like two to three months I'm down almost three inches in my waist I'm feeling good I'm like I and like a half inch away from duck at a basketball again why would you not join why would you not I can't understand why not I don't know I mean you would if you were here right probably so yeah especially if I can get that that good Dan Tucker Dan Tucker friends and family discounting not a man you you know what I'm saying I will say say this if I keep losing stuff from my size off my stomach I'm working without a shirt for too long so I'm here maybe middle-aged yeah with a midlife crisis that's the word I'm looking for everybody's gonna put it a shirt anyway I'm done 2024 Oklahoma dude I usually start by what does Vegas think yeah seven and a half but you know didn't you quickly understand that when you just I mean personally I wrote the I wrote the schedule down just like I would in the old days in the the first fruit so depending on your Marines podcast I wrote this thing down got it on paper it's it's not in the cloud above my head somewhere sorry about that joke you know I got it on paper man I get it I get the seven and a half because and we're about to get into it but six of these games I mean are are really really tough really challenging yeah summit home obviously they've got some tough road trips and and really probably games they would shift to home and flip some others if they could obviously you can't pick your schedule usually that to that level of detail but yeah man about six maybe seven really tough games so I get it yeah dude well so here's what I do I laid all out and I start like where are the winds and I went let's let's go ahead and kind of tap into this a little bit pimples a win Houston's a win Tulane's a win I've got main a win hello and I've also got South Carolina a win so that's five right there yeah and then you look at the rest of you go oh yeah seven and a half makes sense actually listen to J.D. Pechel on the way over here to record he's got him at six and six he didn't make a game by game prediction in this episode and he's getting blasted for this prediction but you've got to make decisions on hosting Tennessee go into Auburn the Red River rivalry at Ole Miss at Mizzou hosting Bama at LSU and Baton Rouge you got to make decisions on this and those last three road games that's what I'm talking about if you could just flip Ole Miss Missouri LSU two of those one of those to home you would do that in a heartbeat especially something like LSU where the where Death Valley is just going to be maniacal if it's a night game yeah where they're offense man if they if they're able to continue the steam that they have last year and I know that they lose a Heisman winner I know they lose Malik neighbors I know all that but they they're on a really good path offensively tellies not really have the offense lacking it's really out of character that he had the defense lacking last year but they made wholesale staff changes they didn't exactly bring in what they probably wanted to defensively but I mean just a couple of those are examples of what I'm talking about if you could man let's bring Ole Miss to Norman I really like our chances a lot more maybe Missouri as a better example there since you know Ole Miss and Lane being important king all that you would maybe say that one but that's exactly what I'm talking about that's three really tough road troops right there in the back half of the schedule your only other road game is Auburn which is not the worst you know you're probably okay with playing that Auburn if in terms of flipping games down but yeah I mean just a rough introduction to the conference welcome to the SEC welcome to the SEC welcome to the SEC so a few other things before we get into this I want to make a couple of notes here and I want to ask you a question before we dive into it going through this just picking out the roster Casey Thompson has made us way to Norman Oklahoma who knew I didn't the guy has been all over the Midwest it makes me feel bad for the guy like man I wish you could come figure that out also I didn't realize that key Lawrence Tennessee fans will know that name has transferred out and landed at Ole Miss yeah that's what I'm talking about man Lane Lane friggin Kiffin so so there's that I like the defense for Oklahoma yeah Bekel pointed this out I wish I could take a credit for this 79% of their returning production on defense let's see if I go I'm gonna I'm gonna mess this up here we go where's my note 79% production I was sorry 79% of production on defense returns and that's a crew that allowed 23 points per game that's interesting you know the way that the people they really get some positive buzz man and it's formidable when you know that there's a certain air that comes with a name like that on defense we all know that we've all seen what he's done but yeah I mean 23 that's that's probably a little bit north of what they wanted a little bit closer to the middle of the road I would say that's obviously pretty good in a modern era of what we see offensively but you'd like it you've got to bring that down this year to avoid being like he said a six and 16 second of a kill let me throw this actually though that's that's where the jeff libby offense that likes to go fast it likes to put up a lot of points it likes to spread you out there you go playing defense and on an offensive system like that that's stupid hard yeah so absolutely so to be a 23 point per game defense that's that's stupid impressive to me yeah you're you're right on that that you're right on that because they are going to want to go fast you're gonna you know spare zero time on and snapping the ball you know from from play to play so yeah that's pretty impressive when you think about it that way um however and and that was in the big 12 obviously you know not shading the big 12 offenses but the Trent's play is probably gonna be where the biggest test comes maybe the beef is a backfield uh inside the SEC and getting acclimated to that I agreed agreed let's move two quarterback just for a second and then we'll get into this dawn is Dylan Gabriel insert Jackson Arnold maybe it's just just where I'm located in this part of the country but there's just not a lot of talk that surrounds Jackson Arnold and I want to defend that just for a second by saying show me a single team in this conference that would not take him as your quarterback I mean the he's I mean he's highly occluded blue chip five-star he in my mind he is the reason that Dylan Gabriel is out I think Jake McDonald took over that that that's just my thought say what you want that's I got no evidence to to prove that but even speaking to Tennessee fans for a second trade him out with Nico trade him out with Jake Merklinger you're talking about this QB room differently I mean or I should say you're talking about Jackson Arnold it's it's happened I mean if somebody else has Nico and we have Jackson Arnold we're excited about it because yeah I mean and don't put all your stock into that that that poor performance of a of a bowl game that they ended their season on so yep if if Jackson in my mind is a lot like Nico if he's half as hype and of course again they're talking about it in that part of the country you know Oklahoma where the when comes sweeping down the plains or however the song goes right in the Midwest where everything's flat and not here in the hills if he's half that high if he's half half of his recruitment I think they're gonna be all right because coming back to the defense for a second I think this defense is good enough to win you a lot of games yeah and they're certainly going to keep you in more than they're you know you're not going to get boat race because of this defense you know they they don't have those type of holes they don't have many holes at all in fact you know yeah every team loses players in fact I was going to get to this they lost 25 out of the quarter they brought in 24 so you know I trust intervals like I was talking about there's just some some serious equity that comes with his name in the game defensively and it's going to be a matter of did he make the right OC higher you know can Arnold really really is he ready to step in to being Oklahoma's starting quarterback because my god what a history they have there etc etc those we're going to be obviously the sagging factors and we're going to talk about a lot of yeah say they make the playoffs what's the reason what's what's the narrative like what was like what was their what was their main reason you know as they go into their first game in the playoffs you know the the the commentators talking about Oklahoma film the blank what is it if it's if it's if it's Oklahoma in the playoffs there's two variables for me variables for me for how to answer this question number one like we've talked about their defense pick up their offense what maybe about in term there gave their offense time to score uh kept them in every game like we're saying they shut a lot of things down because that's that's how good they were and number two is going to be Arnold is what they projected him to be being the recruiting analyst being Oklahoma who brought him in he was just he was good enough you know he he really burst onto the scene they picked up momentum in that early part of the season largely and thanks to him and they just kept it going all throughout and and they whether the storm i think you know they that would be the narrative if if they didn't play off yeah yeah no i i'm with you that i think you have to add something to it Arnold was not only half of his high half of his recruitment he was everything he's made out to be possibly more defense was elite and they caught lightning in a bottle somewhere around the Tennessee game yeah yep yeah the the games that the the two the two stretches of Tennessee and Auburn and um Ole Miss Mizzou you didn't split those you you got both of them yep so i don't think they're a playoff team we're gonna get to that just because i mean this this schedule is borderline florida yeah dude it's but like that is atrocious it's top if florida's and florida's the runaway number one hardest schedule in the country and maybe there's just no denying that this is a top five top eight difficulty of schedule just because of how brutal it is well like i've said who you who you travel to versus who you bring to Norman that's going to be the you know what it is for me with how tough the schedule is because it's it's uh it's a dandy of a schedule yeah super thankful that jeff libby is no longer there just i'm into that i think we'd be talking about them differently here we go let's jump into this let's make our predictions we're gonna write it in pencil they're gonna start off with hosting temple hosting houston hosting to lane i got it three and oh i've got it three and oh i just want to say that two lane is approaching Appalachian state territory of sure you don't look like you said this and you know i don't want to credit tennessee too much until they do something but don't be looking ahead don't be thinking about tennessee's hot powered offense and overlooking two lane because they can score points they're they're just a nasty program for the level that they play out you better not overlook them but i do have that as a win in you know a few weeks away from the seat sure yeah and the houston's no pushover either i mean second second year in a better conference yeah and for what that's worth that that conference in my mind is going to be the one to watch that is going to be the new uh mac conference in my mind like that that that conference is up for the taking with with with anybody absolutely but i think your spot on with to lane they're no pushover uh that is that one's going to be a lot of fun to watch it should it should then here we go the narrative there we go the narrative that is going to be josh hyple and returning to norman oklahoma and not only that oklahoma's first game in the sec i mean we're going to hear about all week if college game day is not in oklahoma it's it's because it's because oklahoma dropped one of these that they shouldn't and tennessee lost nc state and and who knows what else like there's just nobody cares anymore because oh it's the toilet bowl yeah holy crap but i didn't know i didn't know how to go with this one we haven't really talked a lot of you know we haven't made our season prediction on tennessee yet i had to make a pick right here i did choose tennessee with no confidence just because i had to make a pick there's a couple things that i like here that is in our favor i think that we're a little bit more battle tested nc state is no pushover defensively i think i think yards are going to be hard to come by yeah um this is going to be the game of the quarterbacks and i think it's who makes less mistakes yep at the quarterback position um i'm hoping this is where we see at a josh hyple like he's got a killer instinct about him like there's no feels there's no there's no empathy it smells blood steps on the throat i also like the fact that yes oklahoma is good on defense we arguably have one of the best defensive line rooms in the country we're deeper at linebacker than we've ever been we've got a whole new set of bodies in the secondary that that's getting a lot of hype our receiver room is one of the best in the country in my mind there's there are few that are better we don't ask our offensive line to win games and we've got trustworthy dudes in the backfield and just like oklahoma we have five star quarterback first year you know um if i think nico i know he was an early enrolle enrolle enrollee i'm not sure about jackson there's a couple things that send me a hair in the favor of the orange listen if if oklahoma comes out and tally waxes not going to be surprised this is no pushover squad but for the sake of today you gotta pick tennessee yeah uh that's what i've done as well and uh in my you know they're sure there's a scenario where i think oklahoma wins this game but in the real world i think tennessee wins this game in the real world i'm surprised actually that we haven't got to this yet's considering that we've got to levy being gone and that they've got to replace him um in the real world oklahoma replaces the an entire starting offensive line they do that with you know quarterback who is just as experience and cynicism they are the same level of experience i think i like nico's mobility attack more than jackson i'll just see in the way that he's ran before how long he has his stride or you know all that we don't know about jackson i mean we don't know we just don't know we we know a little bit more about nico and nico could go over there and wet the bed it gets a good defense offensive line cannot hold up but in the real world it is hard it is dang near impossible to replace an entire offensive line and your quarterback me you know i'll get to i was going to get to this in a minute as well but i know more north yolina state receivers than i do oklahoma receivers at this moment you know stoops is one stoops is one yeah there's a stoops over there that's that's true but it's just going to be tough i think to keep all of the bodies that tennessee's got just in the front seven alone off of jackson Arnold for root for root that's true that's true okay so there's a couple um it's probably even with north yolina state then is what it is but um i think it's gonna be tough with keep jackson Arnold clean upright long enough especially with the secondary getting more athletic if they can at least be in the vicinity of the football you know that's those are the reasons for me just trying to pick from a a level-headed standpoint of facts or what we think are facts at this point versus picking with my heart i still think it's Tennessee i'm with you and i think i think a major factor in this game is tennessee's front absolutely defensive front uh that's not out of respect for this respect of oklahoma just don't know much there's a lot about ours there's a lot of bodies coach gardener james pierce he's he may not be the number one overall pick he's a top five pick i mean yeah if he's not gone on the top five he had a conditioning injury yeah yeah um all right so it doesn't get any easier they traveled to the plains at auburn i gave this a loss as well for them this was super tough for me again if i'm wrong come come september yeah come september when this guy played maybe the first week of october not surprised i'm not surprised here's what i came down to now oklahoma is traveling jordan hair is going to be on fire yeah please give me a night game yeah i mean you get you got the whole voodoo factor this is what it came down to me there's there's not a single scenario there's not a single fan base that i want to be a part of and looking and to look at and say yay auburn's on my schedule don't want it you for easier to yeah now patent-thorn uh so what you want to you didn't have a spring last year didn't have a receiving core he's got a year in this system now he's got a better receiving core perry tobsen uh cam coleman revaldo fairweather who's going to be an NFL tie-in yeah it's on the plains auburn okay so we did split here i like it when we split you know in in the fifth game of the season rather than maybe in like the 10th game of the season like usual i've gone oklahoma win here just because of this is one where i expect our defense to carry a large load of this game okay auburn is looking to have a breakout year for patent-thorn for a lot of receivers to break out because of what like you just said they didn't have a receiver room last year and i don't think oklahoma home is the team that you want to do that against even though you've got them at home i think you're gonna get off to a really good start for their season like we've looked at um i think i like you know there's actually no doubt i like jackson onald's upside more than patent-thorn on any day of the week um it will be again a battle of can you keep them upright on the road when it's super loud and you know everything's new oc's new yada yada um but there are those are the basic reasons that i went oklahoma here because i think this is one where your defense really can carry you and even if auburn's proven hey look at our weapons this year they're gonna have to prove it against a team a defense of this caliber like oklahoma is expected to have i'm fine with that and i think i actually made a different prediction when we did auburn back you know i'm probably i think i had a um i think i had an oklahoma win there i since flipped again y'all written written in pencil uh good for them they're gonna get a bi-week yes then the red river robbery boy boy boy i here here's what this came down to for me coin-overs steve's archesian and i just don't see texas losing again to them yeah i mean nobody ever needs bulletin board material or bad blood in the red river robbery texas has got it this year texas is looking man they're talk about being tested they're gonna be have gone to michigan at michigan at this point of the season they've got the quarterback superior order seniority uh excuse me almost chose the wrong word there they have again more known weapons they're putting dudes in the league across the across the roster again just again looking from the facts that we that we think we know today that's why i went texas um you know of course of course oklahoma can win this game because this series makes as little sense as maybe the armbold or yeah how state michigan you name it but today i'm going texas yeah the only reason i i was a little hesitant is that that season ending injury on cj backster that sucks yeah but coin-users and sorry as archesian can dial it up man say what you want boy can he look what he did with mac jones yeah oh gosh dude no kidding he fooled an entire NFL now he did have a Heisman receiver yeah he he fooled the entire NFL yes yeah no kidding uh all right so uh i've got that as a loss you've got that one as a as a loss as well uh south carolina this is a win oklahoma for me yep i'm gonna put those i'm a hot take ready yeah this is the game in shane beamer's career because because at this point oklahoma is three and three south carolina travels and they just they don't look at like a like a like a third year lead coach program that they don't know what to do with nik harbor by this point it's bad you're four you're four you're four yeah yeah um he's got he's got a history at oklahoma i'm gonna say oklahoma hangs a 50 60 burger and this is the end of beamer i'm okay with it i'm okay surprised oh yeah i mean they could obviously do better but good luck because of how it's going how your roster looks all that yeah dude this is a big oklahoma win i mean talk about all the bad all the bad of you know new offensive line new offensive coordinator man oklahoma i mean south carolina has been going through that with the exception of of uh you know having a spencer good god at quarterback uh bradler wow brad yeah if having a rattler at quarterback you know on loan from oklahoma that's that's really been your only known thing but you've still lost so many games in so many ways that you shouldn't have been way uglier than you should have lost them there's just no chance in my mind that they go to oklahoma and win this game wouldn't be surprised at all if they far be my hair yep yep so you got that as a win dude we're gonna travel down to mississippi and play at ole miss the biggest thing for me was what is ole miss done thus far this this one was tough this this last one two three four games obviously not including main this is tough this is really tough i like vennables here i like vennables here kiffen is just known to do things that he shouldn't i i can see this being one of those get your popcorn ready speeches yep did he pisses the bed can see this i'm going to take oklahoma to go down and get a win here ok that's really interesting and yet again we split because i do think ole miss wins this game i i hate doing this but it's almost like copy and paste everything i said about tennessee's defense against oklahoma and what they what they're bringing in what they're really baptizing with fire this season you talk about man princely from florida you talk about big boy from texas a&m this defensive line is going to be nasty they love love love to bring pressure and so much like oklahoma has done for the years in exotic ways and and more than you can block is what ole miss is love proving that they've loved to do and you know it's it's kind of now or never for jackson dark to really take another step because i think he's a little overvalued as we stand now but i just keep saying this but man too many football reasons too many seemingly known commodities for me to take oklahoma on the road in a spot like this where ole miss can't be losing games you know such as this one if they want to really make a playoff push and run that's fair i i won't be surprised if ole miss hangs a hundred i'm not going to be surprised if and gets that one yeah pardon the interruption there excuse me uh they're going to get a breather here and host main that's a win that is a win powerful to columbia missouri this is again this is missouri is another one where i am so thankful that they are not on our schedule a lot like auburn even more so though i don't want to play missouri this is a top 10 program i hate it and i hate to admit it and it's it's re uh reigniting re uh reunited what's the word kindling an old flame there we go uh an old big 12 rivalry mazoon we give a split again and i'm so here for it we never split three times in the 12 game schedule i love this oklahoma wins this game on the road ok but just like i've talked about what oklahoma home is replacing boy missouri is replacing a lot of production now that's a largely in the form of uh one day i'll think of names cody shrader uh yes they brought back with the burden and brady cook i think with the losses with the upside of Arnold and and i'm speaking again largely to oklahoma's defense to carry a large portion of the load to throw the kitchen sink at looser burden and brady cook i think those are the reasons man i think they go up there i think this is the second toughest game on missouri schedule probably and i don't know that they've played the other one by this point they're gonna be the one thing missouri's gonna be fighting this year is how battle tests they are and this schedule sucks it's it's terrible for missouri so there's just several reasons several factors how how tested they've been i think oklahoma's got the options to throw it burden i think he's also someone that's a tad bit overvalued i really love his upside but oklahoma goes to columbia missouri wins the game ok i i don't hate that at all okay if i've said this once this off season i've said it a thousand times i know i'm wrong i just don't know where same what y'all it's perfectly said so they get another breather they get bi-week and then they host bama the the battle of crimson crimson white crimson and cream which crimson comes on top i'm gonna take bama i'm gonna take bama i've also taken bama the cupboard is more full you're talking about game 11 by this point with kaylin debore i think i don't know i don't know how it's gonna look but i think i'm not gonna be surprised dude when when kaylin debore has jaylin millrow in new york whether it be on the ground or through the air yeah i don't know how but i think he's gonna do it and it scares the piss out of me yeah you think he's gonna do it i'm gonna take bama here yeah i've done the same thing now this is one that i you know it with the trajectory on here i'm surprised we didn't split again but and you know it's tough to put my finger on because this is a home game from oklahoma this is one they're gonna desperately need but i just couldn't pull the trigger on him here and i think it is what we know even though it's a lot of guys needing to take a step for bama uh such as the entire wide receiver room that they need to take a step they need to get back to form that they were in a couple of three four years ago um but man millrow i trust him over Arnold because we know again what a weapon he can be how how beautiful that deep ball is if they're if they're cranking that out and lord knows debore has a thousand different ways to hurt you you know it's he's done it everywhere he's won everywhere and they're gonna have plenty of pieces on defense you know if if bama's or if oklahoma's receiver room was maybe more proven than they are that would really give me a push here for them but there's just too many reasons i'm taking oklahoma in this i'm uh bama in this one excuse me yeah no i'm with you i'm with you let's begin to wrap this one up they're gonna end the season in Baton Rouge man i cannot wait for this one either yeah i'm taking oklahoma here's why all right until lsu shows me they could that they can stop the bleeding on defense i'm pretty sure they've allowed points to be scored in the off season somehow yeah jane daniels is gone that's no that's no diss on on nuss mire he's not jane daniels who you take you take daniels off that team and that there's a lot of dudes you could put there and but because of his mobility is the reason why they won so many games and don't get me wrong too heck just heck just heck of a quarterback heck of a quarterback but until lsu can stop the bleeding on the defensive side and maybe they will i mean this is game 12 maybe they will buy this point that at this point in early august they haven't yet oklahoma yeah this is yet again i'm surprised we didn't split here as well um but i've got i've got a oklahoma winning this game this is one of their more impressive wins on the year it's probably between this and at mzuri in my book uh just depending on how wrong i am but i'm with you man lsu's got to get stops you know you can point to Arnold's ticks in the ball game but he also had something like 360 yards or something correct i mean he chucked it around the yard that's why he threw the ticks back because he threw it about 50 times you know and they're not going to have to do that in regular season in the real world i think for that matter nuss mire did the same thing against wisconsin in the ball game i believe it was um they both threw it around and they may and this may be the biggest shootout on their schedule this year i really don't know with what we think about lsu's defense with how how above average to good we think oklahoma's defense is don't be surprised if they really go down there and you know lay the lay the law down somehow yeah dude but i just think they edge them out because i'm with you i need lsu to have hit on some more of their targets maybe or or something like that to give me a little bit more confidence you know like i said they they flipped the defensive staff but they weren't able to quite flip the defense roster so those are going to be the the major factors in that game but months away from it at this point i'm going oklahoma yeah dude uh and and i would just want to end the whole thing by saying this if they're at eight and four which is what you got them doing you might want to sign vennables to an extension because that is one heck of a schedule first year in the conference you overcame some serious challenges uh what's funny is i'm right below the over under you're right above the over under it's at uh seven and a half you got eight and four i got seven and five i think vennables is the guy i think you just need to continue to give him more time even if you do something like a five and seven i don't think you're going to do that uh i don't think you're going to go five and seven i think at worst you're going to find some kind of six and six situation yep but you can you can do something as bottom as six and six and you can still do something as crazy as ten and two i think i think your roster is is good enough especially if you get half the height out of jackson any any quick ceiling floors there for oklahoma no you six and six is my floor and and that will not be well received among the fan base but i really i'm with you i hope the administration is like hey that was a beast of a schedule we're returning a at this point junior jackson Arnold we're going to give him some weapons we're going to fill in the gaps you know we're going to do those things and we're going to take care of vennables we're going to take care of our god Arnold etc and and i'm with you too i think there is a ten and two path there that would be their playoff scenario obviously and they are getting clean playoff buzz they're getting plenty of of high-end buzz i just have the concerns that you know the the offensive line they'll used to be a huge thing and it's like everybody's forgotten about it i don't know but i will say to that point their last five recruiting classes two or six one is tent two or twelfth so you've got options to replace the guys that you have lost with it's just how proven are they is is really it um but yeah i'm i'm with you ten and two at best i don't think you're eleven one six and six i think it's probably your worst case because there's just no way they lose all these games that that you and i have split on and all that i just don't think they're capable of losing all those games they're they're oklahoma they're a proud program plenty of talent they're like we've just laid out and and vennables i think is going to prove in the long run to be a heck of a coach i agreed absolutely agreed he's too good at what he does oh yeah absolutely agree all right we're going to land this thing thank you guys so much for hanging out with us and talking 2024 oklahoma football season is right around the corner it will be here sooner hey i'm dan he's mike thanks to our sponsor north beside the training and fitness we love you guys god bless go balls give me up (upbeat music)