Week 13 Pick'em - FRIDAY Deadline!!

[EMan]

PLEASE NOTE THE EARLY DEADLINE FOR SUBMITTALS THIS WEEK – 11 AM FRIDAY, November 24th!

Well, that wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly, with a capital U! One of the worst offensive teams in the Big 12 ran at will for much of the game against OU, shredding the Sooner defense and marching up and down the field to make a most uncomfortable afternoon (morning) for Oklahoma in Provo, Utah. BYU had lost their previous 3 games by a combined score of 117-26. Yet at the end of the first quarter against Oklahoma, the Cougars already had 14 points on the board, and more was on the way. Cougar RB Aidan Robbins had a season-high 182 yards on the ground. Unacceptable! But I guess that’s why they call it an “ugly win” because that’s exactly how it turned out, a W for Oklahoma. How that happened is still kind of surprising.

With BYU sitting on the Oklahoma 2 with first and goal, poised to take a 24-17 lead with 6 mins left in the third quarter, the Cougars inexplicably decided to turn to the pass instead of pounding the ball into the end zone with a run game that was working. Perhaps it was the well-publicized goal line stands the Sooner defense had already put up in games earlier this year that dissuaded an initial inside attack. Whatever the reason, the result was a game-changer! The call came in for Sooner DB Billy Bowman to blitz on first down, however he recognized an uncovered BYU receiver to his side. Instead of blitzing, he took the initiative to call an audible for himself and instead jumped the route and was off to the races with a 100-yard Pick 6, giving Oklahoma a 24-17 advantage instead. But the game was far from over as BYU marched 75 yards in 8 plays on their next possession to tie it up again, setting up a seat-squirming finish. Last season, Oklahoma probably loses this game, as they were involved in 5 one-score games last year and lost them all. But this team has grown, with a better understanding of their assignments and is finally figuring out ways to win instead of lose. A 16-yd Gavin Sawchuk TD run gave OU the lead again, and this time the Sooner defense responded to force a BYU punt that put Oklahoma 5:08 from victory. Taking a page from the “Play to Win” book, Oklahoma went for the jugular, calling a deep pass on first down to Nic Anderson who had worked his way 5 yards behind all the BYU defenders, but Jackson Arnold’s pass was overthrown. Undaunted, the Sooners managed to grind out a couple of first downs on the ground before facing a 3rd and 8 with 2:04 left in the game. That’s when the freshman signal caller, forced into action when starter Dillon Gabriel was injured just before the half, had the guts to call an audible when he saw a defensive alignment he recognized. Instead of forcing a run, Arnold switched to a pass and found receiver Jalil Farooq open for the needed 8 yards and a first down. After that it was Victory Formation Time, and the Sooners came away with an “ugly”, 31-24 win. I don’t think anyone will accuse Oklahoma of being where they need to be yet, but signs of growing in that direction certainly appear present. And winning when you don’t play well is one of those signs. It may be baby steps, but at least it’s steps in the right direction.

And speaking of heading in the right direction, our Week 12 Pick’em winner is certainly at the head of the class! OU-Native strung together 16 wins this week on his way to the Pick’em penthouse and our coveted weekly bragging rights! Well done, Native! Your victory wasn’t in the books until U-Dub put the finishing touches on their road win in Corvallis Saturday night, but with that pick it became a convincing 16-point beatdown over your closest challengers! Enjoy your week lording over the rest of the nameless Pick’em rabble. There was a two-way tie for our runner-up position this week between SoonerLynx and mthatch190, while sitting in fourth is OU Guy followed by yours truly, EMan in fifth. It was another tough week, so congrats to our Top Five finishers!

Meanwhile, over in the race for our regular season championship, the sprint to the tape is on! And the question is, who will have the kick to finish this puppy off? This race is still very much up for grabs so hold on to your popcorn! With his strong Week 12 win, OU-Native has regained the advantage as we head into the next to last week of our 2023 regular season. This is Native’s third time to occupy the Pick’em catbird seat this season, but as before, that seat is far from secure. Triple Option, sitting in second, remains well within striking distance, as does Bixby_Sooner, Soonerator and OU Guy who round out our Top Five. In fact, there are probably at least 10 players that could make a serious run with a strong close to the season. Stay tuned as we approach the club house! You can see all the year-to-date standings by clicking HERE.

So, now it’s on to Week 13 and our next lineup of contests! With OU kicking off on Black Friday this year, we’ve had to move up our deadline. As stated above, please note the EARLY deadline for submittals this week, 11 AM on FRIDAY, November 24th. You can access this week’s games by clicking on the “EMan’s Pick’em Contest” button at the top of the board, or by clicking HERE. This week our lineup includes:

Texas Tech @ Texas*
Oregon St. @ Oregon
TCU @ Oklahoma
Iowa St. @ Kansas St.
Texas A&M @ LSU
California @ UCLA
Missouri @ Arkansas
Kentucky @ Louisville
Clemson @ South Carolina
Florida St. @ Florida
West Virginia @ Baylor
Kansas @ Cincinnati
Northwestern @ Illinois
Tulsa @ East Carolina
Ohio St. @ Michigan
Virginia Tech @ Virginia
Maryland @ Rutgers
Iowa @ Nebraska
Wisconsin @ Minnesota
North Carolina @ No. Carolina St.

One final time, remember to make sure you get your picks in by the EARLY deadline of 11 AM on FRIDAY, November 24th. As a reminder, you can always go back before the deadline and change any pick you’ve made. Just use the “Review Pick” button on the Pick’em page to edit your selections. Good luck! And may your darts be true!

[OU Chinaman]

...CONGRATULATIONS OU-NATIVE! Good job.
This week booted me in the butt.

[Echo]

Congratulations OU-NATIVE....indeed, very impressive.

I was among the rabble this week.

[EMan]

With Thanksgiving the day after tomorrow, it's real easy to get busy and lose track of time. Just want to keep this near the top to remind everyone to get your picks in by Friday this week. Enjoy your T-Day!

[EMan]

Here's who's in so far for our Friday deadline...

Aries
Blue
Bronco
Charliedontsurf
Chiefs16
Echo
EMan
Fiascosdad
Fly
gcruse7
MHSooner
mthatch190
Oklahombre
OU Guy
OU_Tom2
OUcharlie
pippen
poh302
SD-OU
Soonerator
SoonerLynx
SwampSooner
TheComedian
Triple Option
walt
White River
whitefeather
WishBone

[EMan]

You have until tomorrow morning at 11 to get your picks in. If you're not on the list below, you're not in yet...

Aries
Bixby_Sooner
Blue
Bronco
Charliedontsurf
Chiefs16
Echo
EMan
Fiascosdad
Fly
gcruse7
IMAsooner
KySooner
MHSooner
mthatch190
Oklahombre
OU Chinaman
OU Guy
OU_Tom2
OUcharlie
OU-Native
pippen
poh302
SD-OU
Soonerator
SoonerLynx
SwampSooner
TheComedian
Triple Option
walt
White River
whitefeather
WishBone

[EMan]

Looks like we're still missing a few players. We normally have 39 to 40 each week. So far, only 35 submittals. Only a few hours left to get your picks in.