Of all the things I could have picked to watch on television Thursday, I certainly chose an option.
That particular evening three nights ago, I sat down, remote in hand, ready for some football. My favorite NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, had a rare primetime weekday slot against their perennial nemesis, the Buffalo Bills.
It was a chance to revel in the most popular sport in America.
Yet, there I sat instead, emotionally invested in college football’s Rice vs. Charlotte contest, only periodically checking the score of my woebegone ‘Phins.
Why, dear reader, did I have the TV on a broadcast between a pair of middling American Conference teams instead of a division battle between my favorite NFL franchise and one of the best squads in the league?
Well, go back to the opening sentence of this diatribe and look for homonyms.
It was Rice’s newly installed “option” offense that had me intrigued, to the point I was ready to write off the last stand of my adopted pro team to be able to watch a single option call from the Owls’ offense.
First-year Rice head coach Scott Abell came to the Houston-based school after a successful stint leading FCS-level Davidson. While there, he ran a unique, wide-open triple-option attack that comprised everything from wide receivers turning into quarterbacks, to reverses that involved nearly every level of skill position player: quarterback, running back and receiver.
It’s a delightful mess of an offense that has turned a trifling Rice program into must-watch action for college football deviants such as me.
It’s also smart. By switching to the option offense, Rice has simultaneously become harder to prepare for, since so few schools run the style, and made their recruiting easier and roster immune to modern-day poaching by bigger programs. (The market for option quarterbacks or pint-sized halfbacks isn’t bullish at the power conference level, you know.)
None other than Oklahoma legend Barry Switzer agreed with me, almost word-for-word, during an appearance on the Marty & McGee Show on Saturday morning.
Although Tulsa managed to beat a wretched Oklahoma State team on Friday night with a variation of the same offense every power conference team seems to run, is anyone really willing to bet on the long-term success of the smallest school at the FBS level being able to recruit passing quarterbacks and NFL-sized tailbacks?
As he fights for his program to escape “the third page of the paper,” Tulsa head coach Tre Lamb would do well to ask his own offensive coordinator about the option offense. Tulsa offensive coordinator Ty Darlington’s father, Rick, ran circles around high schools in Florida and Georgia the past few decades with option-based flexbone and single-wing offenses.
Imagine if Tulsa installed a variant of such an attack. Suddenly, instead of competing with Oklahoma State and Tulane for recruits, they’re only facing off against the academies and Rice. I also bet you couldn’t throw a football far in the state of Oklahoma and Texas without hitting some under-recruited speedster deemed “too small” to play in a conventional offense.
Of course, such an offense doesn’t provide for much upward mobility in the coaching ranks since nary a single power conference school runs it. So, maybe it’s more about ego than utility that makes programs avoid implementing such an offense.
I know one thing it’s not about: aesthetics. Sign me up to watch some attacking offensive football with some slight sleight-of-hand and the deftness of a magician instead of the same-old passing games every week that have devolved into 200 varieties of vanilla.
I sure signed up for it on Thursday evening … and wasn’t disappointed! I also hope you’re not disappointed with what my hangover has wrought below in this week’s Hangover Highlights!
- The Sooners found themselves in the middle of good, old-fashioned big-boy football Saturday in their 24-17 win over Auburn. Nothing came easily, and every play seemed contested for both teams.
- For most of the game, Auburn quarterback (and wayward OU signal-caller) Jackson Arnold was the better player between he and his Sooner replacement, John Mateer. Not that Arnold showed anything special: He continuously held onto the ball too long, was not nearly as effective in the running game as prior games this season and gained almost half his passing yards on two YOLO throws in the first half.
- Mateer, meanwhile, looked indecisive and inaccurate much of the game. I can’t help but think some of it had to do with what I’d best describe as conservative play calls by OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who seemed bound and determined to establish a running game that the Sooners simply seemed incapable of creating. OU running backs gained just 13 yards on 12 carries, many of which came on first downs, immediately putting the Sooners bad spots to start drives. Forced to pass on long second and third downs, Mateer couldn’t find open targets before his protection broke down.
- At times, it felt as if OU picked up a leftover playbook from Michigan’s visit two weeks ago and used it.
- When the Sooners found themselves in do-or-die straits with seven minutes left, trailing for the first time, they finally unlocked the shackles on the passing offense, and suddenly it all seemed so easy. Mateer went 4-for-4 on the drive for 62 yards before handling the rushing element himself with a nine-yard scoring scamper — his team’s longest run of the game.
- OU’s defense continued its elite play, setting a school record for sacks. Knowing his foe well, OU health coach Brent Venables rattled Arnold as much as possible with blitzes and stunts. It mostly worked, although untimely penalties helped Auburn prolong drives. Still, Arnold finished with 10 falls behind the line, meaning he now holds the distinction of being the most-sacked OU QB in a single game and the most-sacked OU opponent QB.
- Now, OU stands 4-0 with two of the better wins by any team in the country, a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender in Mateer and what seems to be one of the best defenses in college football. An off week and then an “off game” against Kent State await before the Sooners march into the Cotton Bowl (likely) undefeated in Week 7. I’m not sure what will happen there, but I feel confident predicting it will be a close game.
- Meanwhile, an all-time stink bomb went off in Stillwater on Friday night. For the first time since the Truman Administration — 1951, to be exact — Tulsa walked onto Oklahoma State’s home field and beat the Cowboys.
- The 19-12 loss had to be maddening for OSU fans. After three quarters, Tulsa led 19-3, which also marked the nadir of the Cowboys’ recent struggles: In their previous 10 quarters against FBS-level opponents, they had been outscored 140-6. Meanwhile, Tulsa had not punted to that point and had achieved back-to-back 15- and 16-play drives.
- The Cowboys did show some spunk in the final period, but it seemed only to prolong the agony of anyone wearing orange who was wondering why Tulsa running back Dominic Richardson never got this kind of run in Stillwater. The question now, though, is whether Mike Gundy’s coaching job will be prolonged further than this weekend?
- If it were any other coach — replace Gundy with “Generic Coach” at the end of a mediocre five-year run — I’d expect to see an immediate change. Since it is Gundy, however — an OSU legend whose own kids think he has single-handedly made his alma mater relevant — I believe he’ll be allowed to use the rest of the season as a de facto retirement party. Fresh off of firing a tennis coach who failed to cooperate with an NCAA investigation that yielded a three-year program probation, maybe the OSU administration will pull the old “he’s-stepping-down-at-the-end-of-the-season-but-will-finish-coaching-the-remaining-games” card, which we don’t see as often in college football as we used to.
- I honestly have struggled to understand the rapidity with which Mike Gundy has fallen from grace. After the Bedlam win and conference championship game berth in 2023, the wheels haven’t just fallen off over the last 12 months — they seemingly exploded. A nice comeback against Arkansas early last season left OSU heading into Big 12 Conference play undefeated and ranked in the top 15. One full season of games later, Oklahoma State is in a three-way pillow fight with UCLA and Virginia Tech to be the worst power conference team in the country. To make things uglier, Gundy’s famous mullet has devolved into a Jheri curl.
- Whatever the OSU administration has planned, it’s too late to salvage much from this season. Even when starting QB Hauss Hejny returns, it will be hard to imagine OSU winning any of their remaining games, as every team left on the schedule would likely be a two-touchdown-or-more favorite against the same Tulsa team that just left Stillwater with a win. The Baylor Bears will walk into a smoking ruin next week in Payne County, where Iron Monk Brewing Company will need to ramp up production of its delightful Exit 174 rye beer to numb Cowboy fans for the next two months.
- Texas Tech stamped themselves as the Big 12 Conference favorite with a huge 34-10 win at Utah this weekend. The game was much closer than its final score, as the Utes cut the lead to 13-10 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
- By that point, Tech was leaning on backup quarterback Will Hammond after starter Behren Morton was knocked out of the game. Unlike most backup quarterbacks, who shrink in the spotlight and become checkdown artists and sack targets, Hammond was so gutsy I half expected to see him use a wheelbarrow to carry his stones onto the playing field. Deep throw after deep throw, wild scrambles and plucky plays left Utes shaking their heads as the youngster piled up 169 passing yards and two TDs on 13-of-16 passes, to go along with 61 rushing yards.
- I doubt there will be a true quarterback controversy in Lubbock, as Morton was great before his injury, but the Red Raiders must feel good knowing they have a backup like Hammond.
- Like a scene from the old Scooby-Doo cartoon, Indiana unmasked Illinois on Saturday night and discovered a fraud. A 63-10 bloodbath befell the ninth-ranked Illini, who will likely fall completely out of the rankings after laying the egg.
- Michigan is still searching for a passing offense but didn’t need one Saturday night to knock Nebraska out of the ranks of the unbeaten. The Wolverines ran for a whopping 286 yards, compared to just 105 passing, in edging the hometown ‘Huskers.
- Thus far, the biggest disappointment of the season resides in Clemson, South Carolina, where the Tigers were walloped 34-21 at home by Syracuse. If Mike Gundy is the poster child of coaches unable to evolve with the changing times of college football, then Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney could be his sidekick.
- Finally, many kudos to Louisville, which provided our glorious king of college football, Pudge the Cat, with his own locker and facilities. Pudge’s Bowling Green team made the intra-state visit to Louisville where the Cardinals, as expected, easily handled the visiting Falcons, 40-17. At least Pudge was comfortable and treated like royalty on the visit … which is the most important thing on any college football Saturday.
