West of Everest: An Oklahoma Football Podcast

Lee strikes a negative tone to start the show, which Grant calls him on. Early thoughts on what to expect when OU plays Ole Miss this Saturday (0:00). Brent Venables talked for the first time about firing Seth Littrell. How is OU going to deal with recruiting offensive players during this time (8:00)? What will Venables be looking for in his next OC? Lee has a bit of a problem with what Venables said. We look back to what we were thinking when Seth Littrell was hired (19:50). Early look at who could be candidates for OU's OC job (30:20). Venables wanted a new voice, new perspective, new strategy and game planning when it comes to offense. Will we notice? What can Kevin Johns bring to the table now that he's an assistant coach (36:00)? We found out Gavin Sawchuk is injured. Why can't OU just totally change their offense moving forward? It can't get any worse right? The running back room is still not good (43:10). Grant's got a lot of good stuff on Ole Miss. The Rebels are a damn good team (49:40). What's the blueprint for an improbable OU victory (1:00:30)? Thanking listeners for their 5-star reviews (1:08:10). A brief look at the SEC slate (1:11:40) followed by our picks against the spread. We pick Boise State-UNLV/Notre Dame-Navy/BYU-UCF/Missouri-Alabama/LSU-Texas A&M (1:13:40). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Lot to talk about today. Grant wants people to stop saying "is this rock bottom?" (0:00). What does it mean for the future of the program now that Seth Littrell has been fired? Do you have any confidence that Brent Venables can find the right offensive coordinator? (6:00). The rest of the episode is essentially us talking about why it's over for Brent Venables (16:00). We go to the WoE Facebook page and X to read listener "3-word reviews" and comments before wrapping up the show with final thoughts (58:45). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

OU had a players-only meeting after the loss to Texas, so that must mean everything is fixed. Brent Venables had some puzzling thoughts about OU's running game against Texas when it comes to efficient successful plays and explosive plays. Is OU's offense too complicated? Grant gets going early with a rant about the state of the program (2:25). We're not interested in how Lincoln Riley left the program. It's Year 3 for Brent Venables (22:40). Let's say some nice things about Eli Bowen. Before we talk about OU's confusing cornerback usage against Texas (29:10). Lee says it's getting harder and harder to take this season one game at a time. Also, the running back room is not good and it's very frustrating. Yes Tawee Walker comes up (35:15). Deion Burks is questionable to play against South Carolina. What about the QBs? What's Venables' plan for Hawkins and Jackson Arnold the rest of the season (45:50)? What's there to say about this upcoming game against SC? Hoping for the best (51:20). Highlighting some past 5-star West of Everest reviews on Apple Podcasts (55:40). A quick look at the SEC slate before we make our picks against the spread. Games include Nebraska-Indiana/Alabama-Tennessee/Michigan-Illinois/LSU-Arkansas/Georgia-Texas (57:30). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

One host is a little more fired up than expected, while the other host is apathetic towards OU's latest beatdown at the hands of Texas. One thing we can all agree on is the offense being awful. The Sooners are officially the worst offense in P4 football. The one thing we can't agree upon is the state of the defense and how well (or not well) it played Saturday at the Cotton Bowl. How is it possible at this point to defend anybody on the offensive staff? We read your "3-Word Reviews" and briefly look ahead to next week's game against South Carolina. | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Grant briefly describes being at the Minnesota-USC game and storming the field after the Gophers' win (1:10). We jump into what we learned from the Brent Venables news conference. Should OU use Texas as a measuring stick? OU's been the better team several years over the last generation and we wish the Sooners would have won more of them (3:00). Lee was proven wrong following last week's injury-related game. Dasan McCullough seems to be on track to play this week. What will his role be? Will Deion Burks be available? If there's no Burks, will Jacobe Johnson have a role on offense (11:50)? Quinn Ewers seems likely to start for Texas. Talking about Ewers and Arch Manning (22:00). Did Trace Ford give Texas some bulletin board material (27:00)? Lee's got some bye-related OU-Texas facts and figures. It's been more than 50 years since the Sooners beat Texas coming off a bye. Could that win in 1972 be a blueprint for OU beating Texas Saturday (31:45)? The guys don't see much of a point to dive deep into the matchups of this game because OU's offense is just so poor and Texas is really good on both sides of the ball. Something unexpected is going to have to happen in order for OU to win. Grant is curious to see if OU's offense will pull back the tempo (40:50). If OU had just a "good" offense Lee would be very confident in OU winning (49:20). The SEC Availability Report is hot off the press. This may mean good news for one OU running back. We also praise Luke Elzinga for being good at punting (55:00). Michael Hawkins should not be intimidated by the moment. Random thoughts on Auburn's offense, Grant has a prop on Gavin Sawchuk, and we wrap up the OU-Texas preview talk (1:01:40). Thoughts on the 2:30 kickoff time, Lee's going to a lot of State Fairs this year, and the guys talk about their first OU-Texas experience which was the 2008 game (1:07:30). We thank listeners for your 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts (1:15:20). Thoughts on Vanderbilt's win over Alabama and we go over the SEC slate for Week 7. Also, Texas has a surprisingly difficult road schedule the rest of the season (1:18:30). Lee has one other thought about the QBs Texas has played this season and then we make weekly picks on Washington-Iowa/Penn State-USC/Ohio State-Oregon/Ole Miss-LSU/Kansas State-Colorado (1:27:15). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

The guys open the show talking about lunch, feelings about bye weeks, and Grant's plans to attend the USC-Minnesota game this weekend (00:00). Deion Burks and Taylor Tatum have a chance to play against Texas in a couple of weeks (7:40). We dive deeper into several of OU's injured players. Who will play again this season? Who will not be back? We play a stupid game to give our answers. Lee has a theory on Gentry Williams' latest injury and we also talk about how maybe Jacobe Johnson should be moved back to corner (10:35). OU's a large underdog to Texas right now. We give our early thoughts on the matchup (41:30). We go over the things we like and dislike so far about the 2024 OU Football team (53:20). The guys talk about how they got into following OU football and how we got to the point where this podcast is in the midst of its 8th season (1:10:00). We thank those who have left 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts. We appreciate your support (1:22:50)! There's some interesting SEC matchups this week. Grant really likes the new SEC on ABC theme (1:27:20). We make our weekly picks. The games are Missouri-A&M/Ole Miss-South Carolina/Michigan-Washington/USC-Minnesota/Miami-Cal. Plus some talk about the crazy world that is Big 12 football this season (1:33:45). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Join us as we go through OU's improbable win over Auburn. Kip Lewis made the play of the year so far. Michael Hawkins did about as well as you would have hoped given the situation. OU hit some explosive plays finally. OU's kicker was not the one who missed key field goals. J.J. Hester came up big on a couple of plays. OU's tight ends made way too many mistakes. Seth Littrell's offense is still not good, but hey you take any win you can get in 2024! | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

After some brief introductory nonsense the guys jump into Michael Hawkins being named the starting QB for the Auburn game. How are we feeling four days removed from the Tennessee loss (2:05)? What do we make of rumors that Hawkins had been looking better than Arnold at practice for a while now (9:30)? Jacobe Johnson is being moved to WR. Lee thinks this could go somewhere while Grant thinks it's a joke (22:30). OU's injury list is ridiculous. So many key players are hurt (27:00). Lee has a theory about Brent Venables' latest midweek press conference when he spoke for 19 minutes at the start (32:10). Venables wanted to set the record straight on Dillon Gabriel's exit from OU (35:15). OU's slightly favored against Auburn. The Tigers are a good football team that has made way too many mistakes on offense. Lee has a theory on Auburn's offense (43:40). We thank the listeners who've left us 5-star podcast reviews in the past and recently (1:04:05). A brief look at the SEC slate (1:09:50) followed by our picks in Minnesota-Michigan/OSU-K-State/Louisville-Notre Dame/Georgia-Alabama/Illinois-Penn State (1:12:15). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

It's all about extremes at OU. For several years we get to watch elite offense paired with truly terrible defense, and now we get to witness high level defense paired with truly terrible offense. Were there signs a season ago that Jackson Arnold would look this bad? How much longer does Brent Venables have at OU? When will Seth Littrell be fired? Hey, Michael Hawkins helped the offense show some signs of life, but what does that mean? We also read your "3-Word Reviews". | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Brent Venables opens the show talking about Josh Heupel's return to Norman this weekend. What do we think about this storyline (1:35)? The first SEC Injury report featuring OU has been released and it looks like some key players may be suiting up for the Sooners this weekend. May Tennessee be down a key player on offense (7:55)? We dive into OU's matchup with Tennessee. Tennessee's defense has not been tested at all, but it has been dominant. The problem is OU's offense may not be able to challenge them. Lee is still incredibly down on the offense and watching Tennessee's offense makes Lee even more frustrated about what Seth Littrell and company are doing. Grant pushes back a little bit (22:20). Tennessee's offense has been elite, but Grant provides some reasons why OU could find ways to make it difficult for them Saturday (31:10). Lee gets back to OU's offense and talks about why he's got so little confidence in what they're doing. This is on pace to be Seth Littrell's worst offense of his career. Musings from the NC State-Tennessee game (44:00). OU's corners better be ready to run Saturday. Grant wants to see more ball control from OU's offense and wants OU's defense to be aggressive against this Tennessee scheme (52:40). OU's had an alarming lack of explosive plays on offense (59:00). We highlight some podcast reviews and thank listeners for their feedback and support (1:01:30). We move on to the SEC slate and talk a little about Florida-Miss State and Arkansas-Auburn. Would you want Bobby Petrino calling plays for OU's offense (1:06:30)? Lee looks to keep making solid picks, while Grant has to turn it around. We make our picks on Illinois-Nebraska/USC-Michigan/Georgia Tech-Louisville/Utah-OSU/Miami-South Florida (1:12:30). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets