Oklahoma
How Oklahoma Players are Handling a Switch at OC
College football is business. Coaches obviously know that, and so do the players.
Oklahoma coach Brent Venables on Sunday fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell after only seven games in the role. With the move and five games still left, co-offensive coordinator Joe Jon Finley took over playcalling duties and offensive analyst Kevin Johns was promoted to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
“It’s hard, but we all trust Coach BV and the decision,” OU receiver Brenen Thompson said after practice Tuesday. “This is a players’ game. No matter who’s calling the plays or what’s going on, this is a players’ game and we can only control what we can control. Me and the rest of the guys, gonna give it everything we got.”
“The vibe has been good,” offensive lineman Troy Everett said. “We hate the news that happened. The offense has been great. The energy has been up the last two days. We haven’t had any practices this season where people have been moping or kicking the dirt. Everybody has had really high energy and wanting to get better.”
Although he missed the first four games of the season because of injury, Everett has remained a team leader as a redshirt junior who started four games at left guard last season. Those leaders are vital for a group that not only lost its coordinator seven games into this season, but also at the end of last year when offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby left to become the head coach at Mississippi State.
“When something like this happens, as a leader, you feel like you have to be responsible to help out,” Everett said. “For me, I’m very personable with all the guys. I love all those guys. Special teams, defense, everything. Just go out there and joke around. I just try to mess around and keep the energy high and spirits high. You’re going to go through stuff as a team. This is what makes us stronger is how we come out of it.”
Regardless of what happened earlier in the week, this week is ultimately time for the Sooners to prepare for their next game against No. 18 Ole Miss at 11 a.m. Saturday in Oxford. And at 4-3 already, with a daunting schedule still ahead, OU can’t afford to grieve a week.
“It’s unfortunate, but I think our biggest thing is we have to just focus on who we have next,” OU running back Jovantae Barnes said. “Just take it day by day. Just have to go out there and do our job, execute better as players.”
Like Everett, Barnes, a junior who currently leads the Sooners in rushing yards, is another leader on OU’s offense with the responsibility of keeping this group motivated after losing back-to-back games and fighting to stay above .500 while performing as one of the worst offenses in the country in the midst of quarterback and coordinator shuffles.
“I know what it looks like going 6-7. I know what it looks like having a positive season,” Barnes said. “So, just making sure guys keep going and just bring energy. Just making sure I’m heard, because I know I’m a quiet guy; sometimes I like to lean back and let people do what they have to do. I hate being a motivational speaker, but sometimes I have to be heard and show people this is serious, this is almost a job.
“This is all we’ve been dreaming about since we were little, so why not go get it now? So, just making sure I’m heard, and everybody’s just out there having fun and doing their job, working on the little stuff.”
Everett, Barnes and plenty others on the offense have been through this change before. But it’s nearly deja vu for tight end Jake Roberts. Roberts started his career at North Texas, where Littrell was the head coach before coming to OU. In 2022 after Roberts’ junior season, UNT parted ways with Littrell. He then joined OU’s staff as an offensive analyst for the 2023 season, while Roberts also left Denton for Baylor. But when Littrell was promoted to co-offensive coodinator, Roberts not only returned home to Norman, but was also reunited with his old head coach, at least for a little bit.
“I love Coach Littrell as a coach and a person,” Roberts said with a smile. “This doesn’t change a thing about that.”
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA (KOKH) — The Oklahoma City Fire Department responded to a home fire late Tuesday evening, around 10:42 p.m.
According to OKCFD, fire could be seen from a window of the home located in the 4200 block of N. Phillips Avenue.
Firefighters were able to rescue an adult female from inside the home. No injuries were reported in connection with the fire.
Investigators believe that the fire may have originated from an outlet near the refrigerator that had a power strip plugged in that was supplying multiple appliances.
There was also no smoke detector present within the home.
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NORMAN — The Sooners were behind the eight ball for much of Tuesday’s game against Oral Roberts.
But one swing of the bat got them in a more favorable position.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits blasted a grand slam in the sixth inning to give No. 14 Oklahoma its first lead before eventually winning 7-6.
The Sooners trailed by as many as five runs before they rallied late.
In the first inning, Oral Roberts’ Cooper Combs hit a two-out grand slam to give the Golden Eagles a comfortable cushion. OU infielder Deiten Lachance got the Sooners on the board in the second inning with a solo home run, but ORU responded with a solo shot of its own in the next frame.
The Golden Eagles made it a 6-1 run game in the top of the fourth, and they appeared to be on cruise control. But in the bottom of that frame, OU’s rally began.
Dasan Harris made it a four-run game again with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth before Camden Johnson hit a sacrifice fly of his own in the fifth.
Then, in the sixth, the Sooners took their first lead of the game.
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Harris singled before Kyle Branch and Connor Larkin walked to load the bases. Willits then swung at the first pitch he saw, sending it well over the right-center field fence.
Neither team scored after Willits’ home run, as OU relief pitcher Xander Mercurius retired nine ORU batters in a row to seal the Sooners’ one-run win.
Michael Catalano started on the mound for Oklahoma, but his outing was short-lived — he gave up four earned runs on two hits and five walks in 1 ⅓ innings.
After coach Skip Johnson relieved Catalano in the second inning, six different OU arms entered the game. Reid Hensley collected the win, while Mercurius got the save.
OU improved to 28-12 overall with the win, while Oral Roberts dropped to 23-15. The Sooners are 7-3 in midweek games this season, and they clinched the season sweep of the Golden Eagles on Tuesday.
Next, the Sooners will hit the road for a three-game series against Auburn. The Tigers, ranked No. 11 by D1Baseball, are 10-8 in SEC play and took two of three games against Florida over the weekend.
The series will open on Friday, and first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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NORMAN — After an up-and down week that saw Oklahoma drop the lone Bedlam match of the season, and then split two tight games with Arkansas before blowing out the Razorbacks on Sunday, the Sooners remained No. 1 in the NFCA/Go Rout coaches’ poll released Tuesday.
But there’s far from a consensus.
Oklahoma received 12 first-place votes — the same total they had last week — but five other teams received first-place votes.
Texas Tech remained No. 2 with four four-place votes and Alabama No. 3 with seven. Nebraska moved up two spots to No. 4 with four first-place votes, followed by Florida with two and UCLA with two.
Texas is No. 7, followed by Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida State.
Texas A&M, the Sooners’ opponent for the final regular-season weekend in two weeks, comes in at No. 11.
Other SEC teams include Georgia at No. 15, Mississippi State at No. 17 and LSU at No. 20.
OU hosts the Georgia Bulldogs in a three-game series beginning Friday.
Other Sooners’ opponents this season in the polls include No. 14 Duke, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Arizona, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 Washington.
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Oklahoma also remained in the top spot in the D1Softball poll, with Alabama No. 2 there followed by Texas Tech, Nebraska at Texas.
The Sooners dropped a spot in the Softball America poll, with Nebraska elevating to No. 1 behind the two-way stardom of former OU standout Jordy Frahm (formerly Jordy Bahl).
Frahm is 13-4 with a 1.36 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 118 2/3 innings in the circle and hitting .440 with 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. Another former Sooners player, Hannah Coor, is among the Cornhuskers’ regulars as well.
The Sooners have 158 home runs, just three away from tying their own season record in the category, but UCLA has closed the gap in a major way, sitting just four behind Oklahoma.
OU freshman sensation Kendall Wells leads the nation with 34 home runs, three ahead of UCLA’s Megan Grant. Wells tied Jocelyn Alo‘s program record for home runs in a season with her home run in Sunday’s win.
The Sooners host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their final non-conference game of the season before opening the series against Georgia at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Love’s FIeld.
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