Eddy Pierre-Louis has brought a somewhat unhinged energy to Oklahoma's offensive line, which now has three freshmen starting. "It's a very infectious thing — the mindset, the attitude, the passion, the energy. To me, it starts there." For EPL, "it was always about the intensity level."

Alec Blair signed with Oklahoma as a two-sport athlete, but just one game into the Sooners' basketball season, he has left the team to focus on baseball. The 6-foot-7 G/F/CF was the No. 52 prospect in this year's MLB Draft but went undrafted, as he was intent on playing both sports in college.

Just 2 1/2 mins into OU's season opener, Mo Wague was getting an earful from Porter Moser after a turnover/foul. Moser reminded him of their offseason convos and Wague's potential -- if he can limit fouls. Message received. Wague "picked up where he finished off" last season with a career night.

The latest on R Mason Thomas, as Brent Venables says Oklahoma should "get a few guys back" from injury when it comes out of the bye week to take on Alabama

Brent Venables says R Mason Thomas is still being evaluated after his quad injury against Tennessee.

Brent Venables is filibustering his SEC teleconference appearance during the bye week. END THE FILIBUSTER (NUCLEAR OPTION)

Brent Venables says Oklahoma “will get a few guys back” from injury coming out of the bye week. Didn’t name names, but among key players dealing with injuries are CB Gentry Williams (shoulder), LB Kobie McKinzie (groin), DE R Mason Thomas (quad)

Just 2 1/2 mins into OU's season opener, Mo Wague was getting an earful from Porter Moser after a turnover/foul. Moser reminded him of their offseason convos and Wague's potential -- if he can limit fouls. Message received. Wague "picked up where he finished off" last season with a career night.

Oklahoma wide receiver Isaiah Sategna has been added to the in-season watchlist for the Biletnikoff Award. Satgena has 49 receptions for 692 yards and five touchdowns this season.

Seems simple enough for Oklahoma: Win out -- at No. 4 Alabama, at home against No. 22 Missouri and then LSU -- and you're in the playoff.

Oklahoma is No. 12 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings. Sooners would be outside of the 12-team field as of now, since the highest-ranked ACC team is No. 14 Virginia, while no G5 team was in the first batch of rankings. OU off this week, then at No. 4 Alabama on Nov. 15.

Shoutout to YouTubeTV and Disney for making work more difficult for me again tonight.

John Mateer watched "Gladiator" on Friday night, for the first time, before Oklahoma's game at Tennessee. Then he had his best game since returning from hand surgery -- "good enough" thanks to a sharp second half that lifted OU to its biggest win of the year. Can he build on it after the bye week?

Kuol Atak stole the show in Oklahoma's season opener, as the 6-foot-9 forward scored a team-high 18 points -- all in the second half -- off the bench in a 102-66 win. Atak, who redshirted last season while developing within the program, put his year's worth of growth on display Monday night.

90th+ percentile FEI game ratings (opponent-adjusted possession efficiency) vs FBS opponents through Week 10: 6x - Indiana, Ohio St 5x - Alabama, Oregon, Utah 4x - Miami, ND, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech Game ratings for every team: bcftoys.com/2025-gr

@mrbill11.bsky.social you good?

Oklahoma's defense has been so good, elite even, in so many areas this season. Except for turnovers. The Sooners had 4 through the first 8 games. They had 3 against Tennessee, including R Mason Thomas' scoop-and-score. A look at what happens when the turnover pendulum swings back in OU's favor:

This is an ALL TIME Football guy anecdote lmao

John Mateer watched "Gladiator" on Friday night, for the first time, before Oklahoma's game at Tennessee. Then he had his best game since returning from hand surgery -- "good enough" thanks to a sharp second half that lifted OU to its biggest win of the year. Can he build on it after the bye week?

Oklahoma trailed Saint Francis -- a team dropping from D1 to D3 after this season -- by four in the opening minutes of the second half. Then the Sooners woke up, pulling away with a 33-2 run to ease to a 102-66 opening win. Five players scored 16+ points, including a team-high 18 for Kuol Atak.

Oklahoma leads Saint Francis, 99-64, with 1:24 to play. the Sooners have five players with exactly 16 points.

Redshirt freshman Kuol Atak with back-to-back 3-pointers and a finger roll in the lane to put Oklahoma up 67-52 on Saint Francis with about 12 minutes left. Sooners on a 22-3 run.

Oklahoma with a 12-2 run over the last 2:40 to take a 57-51 lead on Saint Francis with 15:41 left here in Norman. Tae Davis, the Notre Dame transfer, now with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists for OU.

Halftime mascot basketball going about as well as you’d expect

Just want to get on the record that I have not seen anybody of that name commit any sort of crime, felony or otherwise

Oklahoma leads Saint Francis, 45-44, at halftime here at the LNC. -- Oklahoma shot 52.9%, while Saint Francis shot 50% from the field. -- Mo Wague has already tied his career high with 12 points, along with four rebounds, three blocks, a steal and an assist

Oklahoma's Dayton Forsythe was called for a foul on a box-out in which he got put in a headlock by the Saint Francis player. Play was reviewed to see if there was a hook-and-hold on Forsythe, and the official's correctly overturned it and ruled it a foul on Saint Francis. Miracles do happen.

At the under-12 timeout, Oklahoma leads Saint Francis, 19-14. Mo Wague looking really good so far, moving more fluidly. You can tell a full healthy offseason helped him. He has two points, two rebounds, three blocks, an assist and a steal already. Stuffing the stat sheet.

Oklahoma basketball is to tip off Year 5 of the Porter Moser era, which, incidentally is also Year 16 of college basketball for new Sooners guard Nijel Pack.

On Oklahoma's Jeff Nwankwo, his lime green Challenger and his debut tonight, 15 months after a torn Achilles. "I used to play with Legos as a kid; you build a nice little tower, and it all gets knocked over, and you're literally back to that first yellow block. Slowly but surely, built it back up."

Oklahoma's road finale at Alabama on Nov. 15 is set for a 2:30 p.m. CT kick at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Game will air on ABC

Oklahoma’s Tate Sandell was named the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week after going 4-for-4 on FGs — with makes of 55, 51, 40 and 55 yards — against Tennessee. Owen Heinecke was tabbed as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after totaling 13 tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble.

On Oklahoma's Jeff Nwankwo, his lime green Challenger and his debut tonight, 15 months after a torn Achilles. "I used to play with Legos as a kid; you build a nice little tower, and it all gets knocked over, and you're literally back to that first yellow block. Slowly but surely, built it back up."

Snap counts, advanced stats and player grades -- via Pro Football Focus Data -- from Oklahoma's 33-27 win at Tennessee. -- Really impressive defensive efforts from Peyton Bowen, Owen Heinecke and R Mason Thomas (before his quad injury) -- Febechi Nwaiwu continues to be nails in pass pro -- More:

Oklahoma's up to No. 11 in the Week 11 AP poll after its win at Tennessee.

The vibes in Auburn during those few Cadillac Williams interim weeks were remarkable. And fun to write about!

news: Auburn has fired Hugh Freeze ———— his last great season came, arguably, a decade ago he further regressed in the specific on-field areas that Auburn hired him for in the first place so Auburn shouldn't look to the past again for his replacement a new piece for subscribers at The Observer:

Hugh Freeze: fired after his offenses couldn’t score more than 17 points against SEC opponents. His predecessor: fired after his teams allowed 40+ in three straight games (as the icing on top of all the other issues of his failed tenure). These have nothing to do with each other, but still funny.

Blind résumés… Who’s better? Team A: 6 wins vs. FBS teams who are a combined 4-24 vs. other P4 opponents, 1 win vs. SP+ top 40, loss to SP+ No. 2 Team B: 6 wins vs. FBS teams who are a combined 13-15 vs. other P4 opponents, 3 wins vs. SP+ top 40, losses to SP+ Nos. 9 and 14

Still processing this. R Mason Thomas one-handed the fumble recovery while entangled with Tennessee’s tight end — and then dragged him 25 yards before stiff-arming him into the earth.

Brent Venables posed a question to his team in the days after its home loss to Ole Miss: “When are we going to bring real respect to the name on the front of our jerseys?” After a week of introspection, the Sooners decided “enough is enough” — and proved it with a statement win at Tennessee.

The realization that I experienced 1:59 a.m. three separate times last night.

Tate Sandell was asked about his short pants after his icy performance against Tennessee. Said they (somehow?) got ripped pregame and kept falling, so he had to hike em up to keep em in place. "I didn't know they were that short. But I'm not gonna say I'm gonna change it, because it's working."

The Morning After™️ is back for another week, this time with 33 additional (sleep-deprived) thoughts from Oklahoma’s 33-27 late-night win at Tennessee.

Tate Sandell is no stranger to pressure. Oklahoma's kicker welcomes it, in fact. Don't believe it? Just check his performance vs. Tennessee: 4-for-4, with two 55-yarders, a 51-yarder and a 40-yarder at Neyland Stadium. "You can rattle his cage a little bit, and he’s going to give it back to you"

Tate Sandell is no stranger to pressure. Oklahoma's kicker welcomes it, in fact. Don't believe it? Just check his performance vs. Tennessee: 4-for-4, with two 55-yarders, a 51-yarder and a 40-yarder at Neyland Stadium. "You can rattle his cage a little bit, and he’s going to give it back to you"

Goodnight from Rocky Top. I have a flight out of Nashville in — well, I’m not sure how many hours because of the time zone change and the clock change. ✌🏻

Brent Venables: “That’s what the doctor ordered there. Really proud of the fight, belief of our football team… a team that’s hard to kill.”

Man of the hour

Oklahoma just got the biggest win of the Brent Venables era and kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a big-time 33-27 win at Tennessee Takeaways from a wild night on Rocky Top...