It started out like just another Unofficial 40 podcast in studio. And then after 30 minutes, Al Eschbach just decided to drop by the studios unannounced. So we did what we always do when people come into the studio during a pod. We put him on the air and talked some OU football and the future of OU's offense along with the future of Brent Venables.

What is going on in Auburn with their offense and Jackson Arnold? We of course get into some recruiting with Josh McCuistion, but we're still a little bit in awe of The Legend, Al Eschbach coming on the pod with us for the first time. We even hit on the state of media, Al's vacations and how much longer he's going to keep doing this radio stuff.

0:00 - Welcome back to the Unofficial 40! OU kicks the season off in 10 days! Rejoice. Week Zero is an appetizer 

15:00 - Congrats to Auburn winning a national title! Eddie would like to personally congratulate head coach Tommy Tubberville! 

29:00 - George wants to doom pod

33:50 - *SPECIAL GUEST* Al Eschbach in studio 

1:01:35 - George welcomed back to the program 

1:09:00 - Recruiting Report; Sooners get DL commit with 2026 Tank Carrington + 2027 Sooner State Rankings 

1:20:00 - Update on 2027 QB Peyton Houston

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Bill Bedenbaugh spoke this week about his offensive line and Carey, Josh, Eddie and George are here to give it all a hard look. Bedenbaugh has to find the right mix of experience versus talent on the offensive line if he wants to play two star freshman. We examine all the options and give our two cents on what we could see happening. The secondary also intrigues us with the talent and the buzz coming out of camp surrounding corners who haven't played a lot. And Peyton Bowen isn't a bust. He's just been hurt most of his career. Are we going to see Bowen step up at some point and take over with Billy Bowman type play in the secondary? We are ready for the John Mateer Venmo controversy to be over and we think that it is. And stop yelling at us for writing about it! It's our job! And the wide receiver spot might be a little concerning as far as quality depth now that we look at it closer. And of course we talk more recruiting with Josh and how big the official weekend will become for the Michigan game.

THE FULL BREAKDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

0:00 - Welcome back to the Unofficial 40! Week three of the preseason includes a little drama! Sooners offensive line at the very least has good options

21:00 - That John Mateer. What a character! 

36:00 - WRs talk; anyone emerging? 

46:00 - Defensive backfield talent is somewhat overwhelming 

60:00 - Recruiting 

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It's been a great preseason for the Scoop crew to get out and watch portions of practice thanks to Brent Venables' media friendliness this August. Carey and Josh get to weigh in on what they've been seeing and hearing from fall camp as we break down the standouts, the injured and maybe some disappointments so far. Josh updates us on the recruiting trail and whether OU fans should be worried about Jake Kreul moving up his commitment date. We also look at what's left for OU in recruiting. While we also get breaking news about a first commitment for 2027 as the pod is recording. A little bit of talk about OU hiring the Athlete Group to help with the Athletic Director search as well.

0:00 - Welcome back to the Unofficial 40! Week Two of the preseason. George’s family expands 

8:00 - Plenty of team talk ahead but what’s up with OU recruiting … why so quiet? Jake Kreul? Elijah Golden? 

20:00 - What’s the concern level for 2027 OT Cooper Hackett? 

24:40 - T-Ron Richardson set to announce Aug. 26; Sooners in good shape? 

27:00 - Small update on Sooners AD search; Jake Rosenberg’s Athlete Group joining the fold 

35:00 - FOOTBALL TALK FINALLY. Let’s start with the great Josh McCuistion & his thoughts on early portions of camp

44:00 - Anybody making a move at MIKE linebacker? How’s Sammy Omosigho doing? 

1:00:00 - There’s been some scare but minor injuries ONLY so far for Sooners

1:18:00 - One week into camp do you feel better or worse about the season?

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The gang is finally back together after honeymoons, flight delays and the start of fall/preseason camp. We just had a media gathering with 7 players, Brent Venables and Ben Arbuckle. What did we take from the preseason get together? First off, we're shocked by how big Jaydn Ott actually is as a running back. We pine over him for a bit during the show. We're also not going into a doom pod, but we're questioning as much as possible about the makeup of this team heading into the season. How big is this year? It's as big as it gets for the future direction of the program. We try and work our way through various positions and how we see things playing out this season. From the offensive line to the secondary we have plenty of questions. It's a full on preseason think tank going on in this episode.

THE FULL RUNDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

0:00 - Welcome back to the Unofficial 40! Sooners are back on the practice field!

22:48 - Jaydn Ott certainly looks the part

30:00 - Happy thoughts on a dominant OU defensive line

38:00 - Recruiting 

55:00 - Back around to the magnitude of the 2025 season

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It's a busy day as Josh is back from vacation and Carey and Eddie spent the afternoon at the OU coaches luncheon where Brent Venables, Ben Arbuckle and Todd Bates talked some OU football to raise money for Fostering Futures. Ben Arbuckle got to talk about his receivers and the offensive line while there was plenty of praise for some key defenders by Brent Venables and Todd Bates. We also had some breaking news mid-pod as Donald Trump announced an executive order for NIL. And Josh was back from vacation to catch us up on the latest in recruiting.

THE FULL RUNDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

0:00 - Welcome back to the U40! Football is kind of here

8:00 - Coaches Luncheon on Thursday where we heard from OU HC Brent Venables, OC Ben Arbuckle and DT coach Todd Bates

13:00 - Arbuckle talks OU offensive line 

25:00 - Could OU be better than they were last year defensively?

35:00 - WR talk 

41:00 - NIL talk specific with OU/House Settlement

1:00:00 - Recruiting. Con’t good news for 4-star WR Davian Groce? 

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Brace yourselves Sooner fans. There is a member of the Scoop crew who is high on the hopium after SEC Media Days. We take a look back at what we learned from OU's trip to Atlanta for talking season. And we learned that a lot of national media is high on the Sooners heading into 2025. Granted, hearts have been broken around here and we're coming off one of the worst seasons in recent OU history. But are the national people seeing something we're just not allowing ourselves to see? John Mateer was definitely one of the biggest stars in Atlanta. We've catch up on recruiting with Josh and find out what's left the rest of the way. Is OU trying to crack open some opportunities with players already looking elsewhere? It's just a massive edition of the Unofficial 40 with plenty of talk throughout about the upcoming season.

THE FULL RUNDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

29:00 - Brent Venables takeaways from ATL 

36:00 - Success this season WOULD lead to a better recruiting class in 2027. Duh. But thems the facts. 

54:45 - Daniel Odom shuts down recruitment 

1:00:00 - What’s left for the Sooners in 2026? 

1:12:00 - Georgie boy is a married man 

1:19:00 - CFB roundtable 

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Carey, Eddie and George reconvene after a long week of surprises and press conferences. And we're diving head first into what we feel is going to happen inside the OU athletics department. Football is a beast of it's own, but there were a lot of other coaches at Joe Castiglione's retirement press conference that are left wondering where they stand in the new world order without Castiglione at the helm. We talk about the power structure of OU's athletics department moving forward. What does OU need that they don't have? Do they know what they need? Or is that for the next AD to decide. And where with this new AD come from? Intercollegiate athletics, or from the outside world, like business or marketing?

THE FULL RUNDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

0:00 - Welcome back to the U40! Joe Castiglione announces retirement attempting to upstage George’s wedding this weekend

34:14 - Bob Stoops doesn’t want to be your next Athletics Director

50:00 - Talking BALL 

1:02:00 - Joe Jon Finley doing it! 

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We're back for another episode as the Thunder euphoria has died down. You're welcome Mavs fans who also listen. It's July so we're hanging on and hoping for a quick return of football. Today we caught up with George on his visit with John Mateer as he's ready to run an extensive series on OU's QB after talking to Mateer, family members, former coaches, analysts, everybody. We're not giving away anything, but we have seen the nearly hour long transcript and George has previewed some of the quotes for us. And we have one big takeaway about John Mateer. We also hit the recruiting trail and give our thoughts on some of the OSU wins over OU on the recruiting trail. And we also ask Josh to look back on his biggest impression about summer camps and offers. Are the Sooners being too aggressive? Or not aggressive enough?

THE FULL RUNDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

0:00 - Welcome back to the U40! Happy 4th of July!

14:00 - George spent time with John Mateer at the Manning Passing Academy 

33:00 - Are people sleeping on Jaydn Ott? 

42:20 - In-state recruiting discussion

58:00 - Wrap-up CFB discussion

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It may not have been something that was aesthetically pleasing to us, but the Jaden O' Neal/Bowe Bentley worked out as we believe Ben Arbuckle wanted. We are left to wonder, how much did John Mateer play a role in swinging Bentley to OU over LSU? A Fong Bomb that caught everyone's attention. We finally make Eddie happy and get into the Thunder parade discussion as Carey, Eddie and George all were in OKC for the big event. We're also looking at the wide receiver position in 2026 and how it could all play out. And a little more conversation about how things are going in the front office with Jim Nagy & Co.

THE FULL RUNDOWN FOLLOWS BELOW:

2:10 - Jake Kreul Fong Bomb 

7:00 - Bowe Bentley joins the Sooners 2026 class

20:00 - FINALLY! Thunder talk 

40:27 - Beau Jandreau & Daniel Norman also committed to Oklahoma 

45:00 - Looking ahead to commitment announcement dates 

52:00 - WR will be really interesting in 2026

58:00 - Is Jim Nagy college football’s Billy Beane? 

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Carey is trying to jinx the Thunder right from the start this week. But we quickly get into the news of the day for recruiting. And that is the decommitment of Will Conroy who flips to North Carolina. We also talk some Elite 11 and what performing well at the Elite 11 has meant over the years. Spoiler, it sometimes means nothing, sometimes it does. Josh talks about the upcoming BBQ recruiting weekend and we're trying to let you know we're not the ones pumping out all the John Mateer hype. We've barely reached peak offseason so that means time to talk OU's schedule. Also some baseball, some hoops and some softball.

0:00 - Welcome back to the U40! Thunder playing for a world championship; 2026 IOL Will Conroy flips to UNC 

19:00 - Bowe Bentley @ Elite 11

44:30 - 2026 RB DeZephen Walker commits

47:00 - BBQ Recruiting Weekend

59:00 - John Mateer hype continues to build

1:10:00 - Oklahoma schedule talk

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