West of Everest: An Oklahoma Football Podcast

It was much better this week as the Sooners withstood a second half surge from Tulane. OU's defense was really good, and outside of 2-3 drives Tulane did not do much of anything. That's a really good offense, so the Sooners' defense was up to the challenge in their first real test of the year. The offense was much better than last week, but still has a ways to go. Grant was encouraged by the performance more than Lee. The running back situation is still perplexing. Maybe at some point the Sooners will get some of their important injured players back? We finish up the show by reading "3 Word Reviews" and briefly talking about the day in college football. | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

In the opening take, Lee tries to mentally prepare you for the content in this upcoming show. Then Grant joins as we talk way too long about OU's busted coverage that gave up a TD against Houston (03:30). Then we get to more pressing issues, like our lack of confidence in Seth Littrell and Brent Venables at this moment. We play soundbites from each coach that do not instill a lot of hope for the rest of the season. Aaron Murray released a video breaking down several plays from the OU-Houston game. Did this really make you feel better about OU's offense (10:30). OU gets a real test against Tulane. The Green Wave will come in thinking they will win the game. Tulane's offense is very good and should let us know if OU's secondary knows how to cover this year (42:00). We don't have as much on Tulane's defense, but it's very clear they are much better than Temple and Houston (53:45). We want to thank you for leaving positive ratings and reviews on the podcast. We highlight and showcase reviews from the past, before highlighting recent reviews (59:10). Brief thoughts about the SEC. It's sad that Texas is good and the A&M-Florida game could be interesting (1:07:00). We make our weekly picks on Arizona-K-State/Alabama-Wisconsin/LSU-South Carolina/Boston College-Missouri/Oregon-Oregon State (1:09:20). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

If the first two games of the 2024 season are any indication, we should be preparing for a not very fun next three months of OU football. The guys go over the GOOD -- OU won the game, before spending almost the entire show on what was BAD -- which was pretty much all of it. The offense is terrible. Was Seth Littrell a bad hire? People are calling for Michael Hawkins to play. This team is undisciplined and was fortunate to escape Saturday with the victory. Brent Venables has a lot to account for as the Sooners welcome a really good Tulane team to Norman next week. We also read your "3 Word Reviews"! | | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

In the opening take, Lee recaps what he saw in his rewatch of the OU-Temple game. Then Grant joins to give his thoughts on the rewatch (5:00). A listener brought up other recent poor OU offensive performances on the WoE Facebook page. Was the Temple performance really the worst we've seen in years (18:10)? Jake Taylor will be available this week. Will Branson Hickman play? Can Jaquaize Pettaway become a contributor now that Farooq is out? What about Nic Anderson's availability (26:15)? Let's talk about OU-Houston. It was stunning how bad the Cougars looked vs UNLV. Grant couldn't figure out what Houston's offense was trying to do. QB Donovan Smith was terrible, and the offensive line may be a swinging gate (33:40). Houston's defense played better on paper, but Lee thinks the secondary might be horrific. We'll see if this is a game where OU chooses to get Jackson Arnold going (47:30). Taking a look at the SEC slate this week, plus Week 1 thoughts. We were both dead wrong on Florida. USC played very well against LSU, plus more thoughts on Week 1 (59:40). We make our picks from Texas-Michigan/Arkansas-OSU/Iowa-Iowa St./Tennessee-NC State/Colorado-Nebraska (1:16:30). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

The guys are recording 15 minutes after OU beat Temple 51-3 to open the 2024 season. They spend the next 20 minutes or so going over the poor performance by the OU offense. A great start transitioned into a horror show for a significant part of the game (1:20). The defense forced 6 takeaways and did exactly what they should have done against a bad Temple team. Nothing really to complain about there, and the kicking game with Tyler Keltner did it's job as well (22:40). Okay, back to the offense being bad on 3rd down. We read your "3 Word Reviews" from the WoE Facebook page and Twitter/X (29:25). We learn that Jalil Farooq broke his foot and will miss the next 6-8 weeks. This is not a promising development. We read and react to some more postgame updates from Brent Venables' press conference (40:30). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Hey Friday Night Lights are almost upon us! The guys begin the show talking about the NCAA suspending DeMarco Murray for one game. Lee rants about how much he doesn't like documentaries (2:00). OU is a 42.5 point favorite over Temple. The Owls' QB situation is a mess, they've got a bunch of new players on their team, their defense is going to atrocious, and if OU struggles at all during this game, that would be a letdown (8:50). We answer one quick message from the WoE Facebook page before looking at some of the Week 1 SEC matchups that are outside of the mainstream (24:00). We make our weekly picks against the spread. Games include Clemson-Georgia/Penn St.-WVU/Miami-Florida/Notre Dame-Texas A&M/USC-LSU (36:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

OU's Week 1 depth chart came out just before we started recording the show. There's actually a lot of stuff to talk about. We go position by position beginning with the offense (1:40). We switch over to the defense where Grant is quite worried by Jayden Jackson being listed as a starter by himself at DT. And I guess they're going for it with Billy Bowman taking kickoff return duties (15:40). Now it's time to throw out hot takes about OU. Lee had a difficult time thinking of hot takes, while Grant brings quite a few to the table (28:00). Grant has some fire SEC-themed hot takes (51:30). We get to the rest of college football. Lee is coming around on USC for 2024, while Grant is absolutely not. Plus Grant has some more Big Ten hot takes and Lee comes up with a Penn State hot take off the top of his head. Grant finishes up with an interesting hot take about Oklahoma State (53:30). We go to the WoE Facebook page to read off your hot takes to end the show (1:06:30). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

Lee previews what to expect from the show over the next four days. We will release new episodes each day through Wednesday to celebrate the first full week of the college football season (0:00). What will we be looking for in the upcoming depth chart release this week (3:40)? We learned this week that Dasan McCullough is still not practicing (9:00). Andrel Anthony has no limitations right now in practice. We'll have to monitor his role as the season begins (16:20). Who do you want to see returning kicks and punts this season? Brent Venables gave us some names this week and the guys are not all that excited (18:20). If Zach Schmit is OU's kicker this season, perhaps history tells us that having Tyler Keltner as his backup is a good sign (26:35). A rare dive into recruiting for this show to talk about OU getting the commitment from a 5-star OT this week (32:30). A couple of former OU quarterbacks got some positive news this past week (37:40). Ga Tech upset FSU in Ireland and the guys have thoughts about it (40:00). It appears SMU may not be very good, and we field a question from the WoE Facebook page asking if we'd like to see OU play a game in Ireland at some point (52:35). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets

After some brief talk about the incredibly hot weather in Oklahoma, the guys talk about the recent anxiety surrounding Jackson Arnold's play at fall camp (6:30). After listening to other OU podcasts, it certainly seems like the team is dealing with a lot of minor injuries that are keeping players out of practice. Is this a problem, or just a way to keep the guys fresh for the season (23:40)? Lee rants about something that is annoying him that always seems to happen this time of year (32:00). Seems as if J.J. Hester will get his shot this season. Is R Mason Thomas finally healthy (42:00)? We check the WoE Facebook page and read comments and questions. What is the one road game you'd go to this season and next (45:15)? Is there a concern that multiple WRs have injury history (50:30)? We do a brief preview of Week Zero. FSU-Georgia Tech might be somewhat competitive. Grant has been practicing pronunciation ahead of the season (53:50). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonTweets