Hangover Highlights: All that 1990s bad football and a bag of chips

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(Update: University of Oklahoma offensive coordinator Seth Littrell was fired on the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 20. The following article remains in its original form.)

In the 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, the villain, Bane, chastised Batman for extinguishing the lights in the middle of their fight.

“Oh, you think darkness is your ally,” Bane states. “But you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it.”

As I dined on ashes after yet another pathetic performance by the University of Oklahoma football team Saturday in a 35-9 loss to South Carolina, I found myself channeling Bane as I stared balefully at the TV.

“Oh, you think a bad football team will scare me,” I said to nobody in particular on the Cowenstan National Stadium patio. “But you merely adopted the persona of a bad football team. I went to college during the 1990s. I was molded by it.”

I can only sneer at the Halloween fright the Sooners have attempted to instill in me this terrible season. Any other emotion is futile because I have seen this before: the terrible penalties, the dreadful quarterback play, an offense stuck in neutral, a coaching staff that appears in over its head.

Trust me, I was molded by the bad football of the 1990s:

• My freshman year of college was 1992. I was excited to have my first-ever season ticket that fall, only to watch the Sooners swoon to their lowest win total (five) in 27 years.
• My first year as a sportswriter, when I joined the OU student newspaper, was 1995. I was thrilled to have an opportunity to sit in the press box during games and gain behind-the-scenes access as a media member. I also had an up-close view of a season where the Sooners posted their first losing record in conference play (2-5) in 30 years.
• When I was named sports editor of the student newspaper in 1996, I was pumped to lead our paper’s coverage of the football team that fall. The thrill landed with a thud, though, as the Sooners finished with their first overall losing season (3-8) in 31 years.
• When I got my first full-time job as a sportswriter — in 1997 at the Lawton Constitution — I was elated to be a peer among other reporters covering OU that football season. It allowed me, however, to join them in scrutinizing a program that had its lowest winning percentage in conference play (.250) in 66 years.

Of course, the 1990s also prepared me to watch OU’s in-state brethren in Stillwater have their hearts broken. The Cowboys posted just a single winning season during the decade, so after OSU’s fourth-straight loss of this season — 38-36 at BYU on Friday night — I only nodded my head knowingly.

Yes, I’ve seen it all before — all that and a bag of chips, one might say.

In fact, let’s see what I saw this weekend in the Hangover Highlights!

• OU literally gave the game away to South Carolina in the first 5½ minutes Saturday morning. Three straight turnovers by OU quarterback Michael Hawkins led to three straight touchdowns by the Gamecocks. By the time the dust had settled, South Carolina had, by itself with its 21 points, already achieved half of the over/under set by Vegas for the entire game … with 9½ minutes still left in the opening quarter.
• The OU coaching staff finally came to the conclusion most realistic Sooner fans had reached a while ago: Hawkins is not an SEC-level quarterback at this point in his career. So, after Hawkins’ third turnover, the coaches returned to deposed starter Jackson Arnold, who had not taken a snap since the first half of the Tennessee game last month.
• The switch did little initially to help the OU offense. At one point in the second quarter, OU punter Luke Elzinga was OU’s highest-rated passer thanks to his completed pass on an unsuccessful fake punt attempt.

  

• South Carolina meanwhile — and predictably — was happy to play conservatively and let the Sooners’ ineffective offense flail around. The Gamecocks put together a couple more scoring drives but really needed to do nothing but sit back and watch as their defense shredded the Sooners. OU suffered nine sacks, fumbled six times and threw two interceptions.
• There’s simply not a lot OU can do to mend things offensively, regardless of the quarterback. The Sooners’ offensive line is a mess and gets no help in blocking from the tight ends and running backs. Arnold does give the Sooners the semblance of a passing threat, which allows the running game to be somewhat spunkier. So, I guess OU’s best chance going forward would likely involve being as conservative as possible, avoiding turnovers and shortening the game with a running attack.
• At this point, OU offensive coordinator Seth Littrell is a dead man walking. Co-offensive coordinator (and — even more damningly — tight ends coach) Joe Jon Finley is likely gone, too. Running backs coach Demarco Murray, and his weird player rotations, should be on the hot seat as well. With all that said, it doesn’t do much good to change horses mid-gallop, so they might as well stick it out until the season finishes or the December signing day is done.
• The real question is will/should OU clean house entirely and punt head coach Brent Venables when his team finishes a predictable 5-7 this year? It’ll be hard to convince a top-flight offensive coordinator to join a staff that might not survive another year. Remember when former head coach Bob Stoops fired Josh Heupel and grabbed the best o-coordinator on the market in Lincoln Riley in 2015? At the time, Stoops’s OU program represented desirable stability for coaching candidates. Venables wishes he could say the same as he likely enters a do-or-die campaign in 2025. The same holds true if Venables wants to hire a new tight ends coach or any other position in which he would want to make a change. It all leaves the nagging question of whether it might be easier to wipe the entire slate clean and start over with a new head coach and staff? However, that $44 million buyout is a factor that cannot be ignored.
• Speaking of head coaches on hot seats, always bury a Mike Gundy team at your own peril. His Cowboys traveled to undefeated BYU on Friday night carrying a three-game losing streak, and they didn’t appear to have much of a chance. Predictably for Gundy, who has made a career of midseason turnarounds, OSU made things incredibly tough on the home team. A 21-14 halftime lead boded well for the 9½-point underdog ‘Pokes, and a touchdown with 1:18 left in the game seemed to seal a big-time win. It wasn’t to be, however, as BYU scored from 35 yards out with just 19 seconds remaining to win.
• Gundy did make a much-anticipated change at quarterback, going from ageless wonder individual Alan Bowman to sophomore Garrett Rangel. The move had mixed results as Rangel only managed 57 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception in the first half, but he did add 77 rushing yards. The real change was all-world running back Ollie Gordon II being more involved in the offense with 107 rushing yards, despite being banged up throughout the night.
• Rangel was injured after the first half, so Bowman returned. After a slow start, he gave OSU a spark that almost won the game. Count me as one who still believes Bowman — although still incredibly mid — remains the signal caller who gives the Cowboys the best chance to win.
• Much ire has been placed at the feet of OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn, some rightfully so. I’ve pointed the finger to the Cowboys’ struggles this season at their defense, however, which has been a sieve to say the least. Don’t be surprised if Gundy joins the coordinator tilt-a-whirl this offseason on both sides of the ball.
• In the biggest game of the weekend, Georgia toppled Texas from its top-ranked perch, 30-15, in Austin. Texas’s much-ballyhooed offensive line had serious problems with Georgia’s defensive front, making quarterback Quinn Ewers’ life miserable. At one point in the first half, Ewers was benched a few series for the world’s most famous backup quarterback, Arch Manning.
• The loss upheld my suspicions that Texas — while undeniably good — is just not a true top-five team. The real question to me is, are the ‘Horns a true top-10 team that can make the playoffs? Land-mine road games await at Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Another loss, coupled with a generally overall weak schedule, could make things precarious for the postseason.
• Tennessee stormed back from a scoreless first half to down Alabama 24-17. After a head-spinning start to the season, the Tennessee offense has settled into mediocrity the past few weeks. Yet, coupled with a tough defense, it might prove enough to make the playoffs. As for ‘Bama, their season is teetering on the edge as the Crimson Tide have to figure out why quarterback Jalen Milroe was forced/trusted/asked to throw the ball 45 times Saturday.
• Indiana mangled Nebraska, 56-7, to stay undefeated. There’s no rhyme nor reason Indiana is undefeated. Could anyone name a player on the Hoosiers’ team? Can anyone name their coach? Yet here they sit at 7-0. Although they certainly aced their biggest test of the season to date against the Cornhuskers, it was a low bar to clear: either a win at woebegone UCLA or a home victory against mediocre Maryland counted as their previous “best” triumph.
• Still, what makes one’s eyebrows rise about the Hoosiers is HOW they’ve gone about whipping their opponents. Saturday’s effort was the SIXTH straight time they’ve scored more than 40 points, and only two games have been as close as two touchdowns. Could we see Indiana, of all schools, in the playoffs this season?
• Iowa State somehow survived an upset bid at home to UCF. The Cyclones won 38-35 on a last-minute touchdown drive. The Clones remain the Big 12 Conference’s only top-10 team and one of two undefeated teams, alongside BYU.
• I did not have Baylor going to Lubbock and blowing out Texas Tech on my bingo card for this weekend. Speaking of neither rhyme nor reason, Baylor sat with a 2-4 record, winless in conference games and appeared to be playing out the string before firing their coaching staff at season’s end. Tech, meanwhile, was 5-1 overall, undefeated in the conference and playing at home. None of it mattered as the Bears blindsided the Red Raiders, 59-35.
• Coupled with a Colorado blowout at Arizona, and Cincinnati’s home win against Arizona State, there are six teams in the Big 12 with one or no conference losses. None of those include preseason title pick Utah. It’s going to be a delightful mess to watch things sort out in the last half of this season.

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