OU mailbag: Would you rather have Lincoln Riley’s best offense or Brent Venables’ best defense?
Every week, SoonerScoop.com and On3’s George Stoia will be answering your questions in his weekly OU mailbag. This week, Stoia answers questions about Lincoln Riley and Brent Venables, the Women’s College World Series and attendance at Oklahoma sporting events.
Below are Stoia’s answers for Monday, May 27.
Who will give OU the toughest time in OKC at the Women’s College World Series?
Texas or Oklahoma State. It feels like those two teams and Oklahoma have been the three best teams all season. Now, would it surprise me if those two end up not making the champ series? No. Anything is possible at the WCWS. But I do think one of Oklahoma, OSU and Texas will be playing for a national title and I’d wager that two of them will make it.
If Oklahoma wins the national championship in 2008, and then Texas gets the national championship vs Alabama in 2010, does that change the future regarding conference realignment?
Good question. I don’t think so. This always felt inevitable with the way college athletics has changed since then. Maybe it would have delayed it but the transfer portal and NIL were always going to happen and I think those two things have really driven a lot of the realignment. That and the TV deals, which also were always going to happen. Maybe the Big 12 would have been more proactive in keeping the two, but I think conference realignment was always going to happen in this current climate.
Who is your pre-season pick to hoist the Heisman come season end?
Jalen Milroe. I’ve said it before, but I love his game. And I think DeBoer’s offense is a really good fit for his skill set. I think he will put up some monster numbers next season. My other choice is Dillon Gabriel. Oregon is going to win a lot of games and I think Gabriel will put up big numbers in that offense.
Whatever happened with the D-line visitors?
They visited and did not come to OU. ULM’s Adin Huntington visited Norman two weeks ago but ended up at Tulane. Chris Hardie visited this past week and committed to Ole Miss. I’m not really sure how interested Oklahoma really was in either. I don’t think they made big offers to either and they would’ve been PWO + NIL scholarship-type players, which I’m guessing was not the case at Tulane or Ole Miss.
George, where would this program be right now if Dan Lanning and Tosh Lupoi were running the team vs where they are with BV? Would recruiting be similar? How would the first two years look and how would the next two look?
Interesting question. I think it’d be around the same results with obviously different personnel. It does seem that OU and Oregon have gone after some of the same big-time recruits in high school and the portal. And I do think Lanning and Venables have the same general philosophy of building a defensive program.
No matter who took over the program after Lincoln Riley was going to have an uphill battle considering where Riley left it. So I do think the results would be similar. Maybe Lanning wins a couple more games, but I don’t think it’s some drastic difference. Oregon has had more success under Lanning in two years, but that program was in a better spot and in an easier conference when he took it over.
Should Patty Gasso retire after this season if they win it? Big rebuilding coming next season.
I think Gasso should retire whenever she wants. And I don’t think she will retire because next season is a “rebuilding year.” The same thing was said about the 2017 and 2021 seasons and in both years they won the title. So I don’t think that will factor into her decision. If anything, I could see her viewing it as a challenge. That said, I do wonder when she decides to hang it up. It would not surprise me if it were in the next few years.
Will revenue sharing dramatically curb the facility’s arms races going on? I’d imagine locker rooms, etc. will look more pro than they have been in the past 20 years.
I think facilities are going to go on the back burner for most big programs. I’ve said this before, but you’re likely not winning over recruits because of facilities anymore. Every big program has nice facilities. And I think while college athletics continues to change, most things like this are going to be put on pause while admins figure out what the hell is going on.
Tell me exactly why I should be looking forward to the Thunder’s future?
Jalen Williams and Chet Homgren are 23 and 22 years old, respectively. That’s all you need to know. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is also here for the long haul.
For Memorial Day: if you were a hot dog and you were starving, would you eat yourself?
Yes.
If you had to eat spam for the rest of your life how many different ways could you eat it?
Zero. I am not a good cook. I’d be screwed in this scenario.
You’re the OU coach next year in the SEC. You have a choice of taking Lincoln Riley’s best offense at OU or Brent Venables’ best defense at Clemson – which do you take?
Oh, this is a tough question. I think I’d have to go defense. Teams that have won the national title in recent history — Michigan, Georgia, Alabama — have consistently had great defenses and above-average offenses. I think to win a national title you have to have an elite defense. You can get away with having just a good offense. You can’t get away with having just a good defense, I think. Teams with bad defenses get exposed a lot more than teams with bad offenses.
I’ve started to really think people are sleeping on this team. I just checked the schedule again, and am I crazy to think we will be 8-2 into the Bama game? If that happens, I suspect we split the last two for 9-3. Since there are no longer divisions does that get OU into the SEC championship game? Let’s assume for the sake of argument that they lose that game to go 9-4. Does a four-loss to OU that’s only losses were to Ole Miss away, Texas, LSU away and UGA in a championship game miss the playoff?
You are not crazy. I said when the schedule was released I thought OU could win 10 games. They could also win seven, and it wouldn’t surprise me. In your scenario, if Oklahoma gets to 8-2 that would put them in a good position to end the season. And I think 9-3 would be a good season considering the schedule and the youth you have at quarterback.
I’m not sure if that would get OU in the SEC title game. It would largely depend on the other teams, obviously. I’d assume it wouldn’t because it’s likely two other teams go 10-2 or better. And I don’t think any four-loss team is getting into the playoff even in that scenario.
Does our home football attendance get better with the move to the SEC?
It’s already one of the best in the country. But I do think it gets better in the sense that there won’t be many empty seats. The numbers they announce at games are how many tickets are sold, not how many people are at the game. So I think you’re going to see fewer empty seats and therefore the number announced will actually be closer to the real number. I also think the student section will be more full than it’s ever been.
If OU played Bama in a playoff game in Dallas, who would have more fans?
Alabama. Even though it’s closer to Oklahoma, Bama takes over stadiums like that. I do think it’d be close, but you have to remember the national brand that Alabama has become over the last decade or so. OU doesn’t have that same brand right now.
Would Arkansas fans outnumber Sooner fans if they played a weekend series in Norman?
I think it’d be 50-50. Arkansas fans are crazy and they love their baseball because it’s one thing they’re good at. And baseball just isn’t a sport OU fans have really supported as much. However, I do anticipate the regionals to be an electric atmosphere at L Dale.
If he had it to do over again, would BV have been better served taking one of the “smaller” jobs he could have had and had a few years to get his sea legs as a head coach? He seems to have struggled with the transition more than Stoops or even Riley (who’s certainly had his own issues) did.
I think there are certain things that he would’ve benefitted from like game control. But he actually made pretty good improvement in that area this past year. I think any time you get experience at something it helps prepare you for a bigger job. But he knew he was going to have opportunities to coach at the Power Four level at some point. I don’t think taking a lower job just for the experience was something he was interested in. And it’s clear there are also certain things he was ready for without head coaching experience. Recruiting and culture building are two things I think he excels at and those aren’t easy to learn. You can learn when to call timeouts and how to control a game.
The post OU mailbag: Would you rather have Lincoln Riley’s best offense or Brent Venables’ best defense? appeared first on On3.
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