ARDMORE, Oklahoma (KXII) – While it may seem like there’s a spike in Oklahoma earthquakes this year, the data shows that’s more feeling than fact.
Since 2016, stats from the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) show a steady decline in the number of earthquakes magnitude 3.0 or higher, and this year is keeping with the trend so far.
“Between 2014 and 2016, you can see there are a lot of them, I mean hundreds per month,” OGS Director Nick Hayman said. “But here we are today in 2024, and it’s really not that many.”
Earthquakes occur when stress buildup along a fault line overcomes friction and releases in the form of energy, causing the ground to shake and shift.
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Hayman said humans can cause ‘induced earthquakes’ by excessive or irresponsible drilling and other ground disturbing activities.
Though, he says recent changes in legislation have led to less ground disturbances, which could be contributing to the decline in strong quakes.
Still, earthquakes are unpredictable.
“If you ask me if the earthquake number will keep going down, I can’t answer that,” Hayman said. “Nobody can.”
Though, he said OGS scientists don’t expect to see any big quakes in Oklahoma in the near future.
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“We, again, we don’t really think there’s gonna be the kind of earthquakes that’ll knock a whole building down,” Hayman said. “We certainly can’t guarantee that won’t happen, but we think it’s a very unlikely scenario.”
But, what most people would consider to be a strong quake, might not be as strong as the numbers appear.
Hayman said the scale is exponential, so a 3.1 magnitude earthquake is much stronger than even a 3.0 magnitude earthquake.
“By the time you get to a five, it’s hugely bigger than a three,” he said.
OGS has around 80 devices spread out across Oklahoma that monitor for earthquakes, so anyone who thinks they may have felt a quake is encouraged to check their seismic map.
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Hayman said, while it’s unlikely that a quake strong enough to cause injury will hit Oklahoma anytime soon, it’s important to remember, if the ground starts rumbling, drop to the floor, get underneath a table, and hold onto the table until the earthquake stops.
NORMAN — One game into the 2024 college football season, No. 15-ranked Oklahoma is struggling with the one thing no team wants to endure.
Injuries.
And it’s not a lot of injuries all over the place. It’s a handful injuries at two positions: offensive line and wide receiver.
The Sooners have enough players to beat Houston this week. The Cougars were routed at home last week by UNLV, 27-7 and are 28-point underdogs against Oklahoma.
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But what of OU’s game next week against Tulane? The jury is still out on the Green Wave this year. With a new coach, new quarterback and new vision, Tulane beat FCS opponent Southeastern Louisiana 52-0 last week. There will be more clarity this week as Kansas State visits New Orleans on Saturday ahead of Tulane’s Sept. 14 trip to Norman.
After that, of course, No. 14 Tennessee comes to town.
So Oklahoma needs to get to work right away on fixing its problems — in this case, that means getting healthy at wideout and o-line, or at least getting better production from the replacements.
As always, the discussion begins up front.
Coach Brent Venables has already said he expects right tackle Jake Taylor to be back Saturday night. That alleviates some consternation over the blocking, as Taylor, a third-year player, won the starting job over Michigan State transfer Spencer Brown in the preseason. Brown, a two-year starter in East Lansing, is a good player, but clearly is still getting comfortable at OU and last week posted an overall offensive grade of 58.1, according to Pro Football Focus, which included a pass-blocking grade of 49.4 and a run-blocking grade of 60.1. Those both need to be closer to 70.
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Taylor’s return would mean USC transfer Michael Tarquin can stay at left tackle this week, which means third-year player Jacob Sexton can stay at left guard. Sources have indicated that was the Sooners’ best combination on the left side during training camp.
Venables offered a little less insight on the center position, where he said Monday that starter and SMU transfer Branson Hickman “looked remarkably good” without confirming that Hickman was actually back at practice fighting through an ankle sprain.
Hickman’s first-quarter injury last week wasn’t a massive setback. If there was a championship or playoff berth on the line, maybe Hickman could have stayed in the game. And his replacements weren’t bad. But there was no reason to push the envelope against a team like Temple.
If Hickman is back, that means backup guard and Washington transfer Geirean Hatchett won’t be pressed into emergency action with his own arm injury to deal with. It also means maybe second-year center Joshua Bates can get some more quality snaps this week (he played 16 snaps there last week, per PFF).
And maybe it means another week “closer,” as Venables put it, for senior Troy Everett, who played 311 offensive snaps at center and guard last season and gave up just one quarterback hit, two hurries, three pressures and no sacks. Everett is working his way back from a knee injury sustained during spring practice.
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Good play at center, Venables said, is a priority.
“Having somebody available there is really important,” he said. “So we’re working through that. I like where we’re at from that standpoint and I expect us to only get better there.”
Hard as it may be to believe, things are actually quite a bit darker at the wideout position.
Purdue transfer Deion Burks caught three short touchdown passes last week against Temple and tends to make it look easy. As such, he papers over a lot of problems.
Once considered the Sooners’ deepest and probably most talented position on the team, the new reality is stark — and has only gotten worse since the start of training camp.
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Former Michigan transfer Andrel Anthony was WR1 early last year but is still coming back from a 2023 midseason knee injury. He made just one catch last week for 4 yards, and his contributions this season will be limited until probably October or even November.
Then big-play junior Jayden Gibson went down early in camp with a knee injury that will cost him the entire season. He averaged 27 yards per catch last year and scored five touchdowns.
Then last week, after hauling in a 47-yard deep ball on the second play of the game, senior Jalil Farooq suffered a broken foot — a re-break of the injury that knocked him out of spring practice. Farooq’s career numbers have been impactful: 87 catches, 1,276 yards and seven scores.
Third-year sophomore Nic Anderson also missed last week’s game with an undisclosed injury that limited him in preseason camp, and Venables said Monday he was “hopeful” that Anderson could be back this week (although it would seem wise to bring him back slowly, if at all, against Houston). Anderson led the nation in yards per catch for most of last season and hauled in 10 touchdowns. His health and big-play presence against the rest of the Southeastern Conference is paramount.
Replacements J.J. Hester and Brenen Thompson committed three drops last week and need to show coaches that they’re ready for the moment.
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Oklahoma struggled to run the football early against Temple, averaging just 4.1 yards in the first half and getting stuffed eight times for gains of 2 yards or less. Only a 30-yard run by Tennessee-Martin transfer Sam Franklin and runs of 19 and 35 by freshman Taylor Tatum late in the game skewed the yards-per-carry to an acceptable 6.2.
And with quarterback Jackson Arnold enduring three sacks, he only averaged 8.1 yards per completion. Other than Farooq’s catch, Arnold’s longest completion was just 14 yards.
If Taylor and Hickman return this week, both the pass blocking and run blocking will improve, and then the Sooners can work on developing consistency and chemistry up front with their best starting five.
And when that happens, if Anderson comes back and Anthony continues to heal, Arnold and the OU passing game will get better, too.
Assuming no one else on the o-line or at receiver gets hurt.
The No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners welcome the Houston Cougars (0-1) to Norman for a Saturday evening affair. The Sooners lead the all-time series, 3-1, with their most recent win coming in 2019 in Jalen Hurts’ debut.
Since that last meeting, both teams have changed coaches and conferences. However, Saturday night will make for an intriguing nonconference affair inside Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
The Cougars are coming off a disappointing 20-point loss to UNLV, while the Sooners beat Temple by 48. Oklahoma’s offense ranks 23rd in points per game at the FBS level, and Houston is sitting at No. 124 after week one.
However, the Sooners are likely to see a better team this Saturday night than the one that lost in week one. How will the game turn out, our team here at Sooners Wire predicts Oklahoma vs. Houston.
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Sooners Wire Staff Predictions
Week 2 has arrived in Norman, and after the Sooners dispatched the Temple Owls with little resistance, they turn the page and continue to gear up for their inaugural conference schedule in the SEC.
In front of them this week at Owen Field is the Houston Cougars. Houston lost some key pieces this offseason with NFL draft pick Patrick Paul and Matthew Golden transferring to the Texas Longhorns. Houston also lost convincingly to UNLV, so morale was depleted to start the season. I expect a better effort from them this week, but it won’t matter.
Here’s why.
This Oklahoma team is bigger, stronger, faster, and better. Improved health should help the stability and overall production of the offensive live that struggled against Temple. Bounce-back performances from some depth receivers will help the Sooners look more explosive this week.
Jackson Arnold throws for another three touchdowns, Jovantae Barnes touches pay dirt for the first time this year, and I think the Sooners’ defense forces Cougars QB Donovan Smith into a couple of turnovers. The Sooners improve from their dreadful 1/12 performance on third down and get closer to 45 percent.
NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma Athletics Department announced Wednesday it will dedicate a statue honoring head softball coach Patty Gasso, on Friday, Sept. 13. It will be the school’s first statue honoring a female coach or athlete.
The ceremony, which will be open to the public, will begin at 4 p.m. in front of Gate 1 at Love’s Field. The public viewing area will be standing room only immediately south of Gate 1, with a free livestream of the event available on SoonerSports.com. Public parking for the dedication is available in the Lloyd Noble Center lot.
Gasso, OU President Joseph Harroz Jr., OU Vice President and Athletics Director Joe Castiglione and an OU Softball alumna will speak at the ceremony. Following the event, photo opportunities at the statue will be available to fans.
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The statue was created by master sculptor Brian Hanlon of Hanlon Sculpture Studio.
In her 31st season at Oklahoma, Gasso, who is an NFCA Hall of Fame member, has molded the OU softball program into a national power, elevated the sport on a global level and permanently placed herself among the elite coaches in the history of the game.
OU has won eight national championships under Gasso, is the only NCAA softball program to win four consecutive national titles and is just one of three programs in NCAA history to win more than two national championships. Gasso has reached the Women’s College World Series 17 times during her tenure and has advanced to the postseason every season (no tournament was held in 2020).
With 34 seasons as a head coach to her name, Gasso owns a 1,676-411-3 (.802) career collegiate coaching record and is 1,515-352-2 (.811) at OU. She is the winningest active coach in NCAA history by both total wins and winning percentage and ranks third all-time in both categories.
She closed her time in the Big 12 Conference as the winningest coach — men’s or women’s — in league history and has more than twice as many overall wins as any other coach in OU annals. The Sooners claimed 15 Big 12 regular season titles, including an unprecedented 11 straight from the 2012 season through 2023, and nine conference tournament championships under her direction. Gasso’s teams finished second or higher 24 times in the 28 years since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996.
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Numerous Sooner players have prospered under Gasso’s tutelage and garnered national, regional and conference recognition. Most recently, Jocelyn Alo helped lead the Sooners to back-to-back titles en route to consecutive USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year awards in 2021 and 2022. Former OU pitcher Keilani Ricketts was also a two-time USA Softball Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013. Gasso has recruited and coached 79 All-Americans, 145 all-region honorees and 192 all-conference selections at OU.
In the Big 12 era, Sooners were named Big 12 Player of the Year a total of 16 times and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year nine times, while nine were selected as Big 12 Freshman of the Year and one as Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. In 2010, Amber Flores became the first player in league history to earn player-of-the-year honors twice. Shelby Pendley joined her in 2015 before Alo claimed the honor in consecutive seasons in 2021 and 2022.
OU’s softball success under Gasso is also evident in the classroom, where Sooners have been honored with 180 academic all-conference awards. Twenty-three of those went on to become Academic All-Americans, including former pitcher Lana Moran, the 2000 Academic All-American of the Year.
Gasso and her assistant coaches have consistently been recognized for their efforts on and off the field. The staff was awarded three consecutive Speedline/NFCA Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year awards from 1999-2001 and received the national honor in 2000, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2023 and 2024. Gasso and her staff have claimed the regional honor in 15 of their 29 seasons, with the most recent award coming in 2023. In addition, Gasso was named Big 12 Coach of the Year 15 times.
