West of Everest: An Oklahoma Football Podcast

Four first half turnovers (3 INT, 1 TO on downs) effectively was the difference in OU's 38-35 loss to Baylor Saturday. The guys jump around to what bothered them, what they liked, and as always we read your "3-Word Reviews" (there's a lot of them). And to all of those people who did not enjoy the TV broadcast of the Iowa State game, we totally understand where you're coming from after watching the most recent game on TV. | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Lee opens the show by taking an unwarranted shot at Grant to cover up for his lack of show prep. They then dive into Billy Bowman's health and the amount of snaps he played vs. Iowa State. Lee thinks he'll be back starting and playing a bunch this week against Baylor (1:30). Jovantae Barnes is a game time decision this week. Eric Gray will once again be super important this week and it appears we have discovered that UCF transfer RB Bentavious Thompson is a non-factor on this team (10:05). Lee was really hard on Woodi Washington last episode. Well, Lee was wrong to be so critical and Grant was right (18:00). C.J. Coldon is still not playing very many snaps. Freshman Gentry Williams looked good in very limited playing time vs. ISU. It also seems like they've tightened up the DB rotations, and what happened to Justin Harrington and Kani Walker (24:05)? OU's a short favorite against Baylor, but the Bears may be a lot better than their record indicates. Lee likes what he's seen from Blake Shapen, even though he didn't want to like him. Grant says Shapen has been up & down this year. OU may be able to make some plays with special teams this Saturday (31:40). Jeff Grimes is a really good OC, but Baylor does have tendencies on offense that OU could possibly recognize and anticipate certain plays and pass routes. Grant says Alex Grinch's system was horrible against Grimes' system (42:20). Lee thinks the OU offense has an opportunity to steal some yards against Baylor. Grant wants the Sooners' offense to throw it around the yard on Baylor's secondary (49:05). Does anybody care about the first CFP rankings (58:20)? We take a look at the Big 12 slate, which includes an intriguing OSU-Kansas matchup from a betting perspective. And are oddsmakers telling us to hammer Iowa State against WVU? Grant shares a betting story about his time in the free state of Iowa last weekend (1:03:05)? We make our weekly picks. Games include Oregon St.-Washington/Tennessee-Georgia/Texas-Kansas St./Clemson-Notre Dame/Wake Forest-NC State (1:14:00). Dave Aranda has bounced back from a bad first year at Baylor. Does that give you hope for the future in case OU struggles the rest of the season (1:26:35)? | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Oklahoma returned from the off week with a nice 27-13 road win at Iowa State. Despite uninspiring stats, Dillon Gabriel played really well. Eric Gray continued his terrific season. What was with Marvin Mims? Jalil Farooq continues to shine. The defense played its best game since Nebraska. Lee's happy with the takeaways, but he saw chances for more. Special Teams was fantastic and we read your "3-Word Reviews". | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

In the opening take, Lee addresses Brent Venables talking about OU's extended "self-scout" over the bye week. Then Grant joins to remind everybody we're taking this thing one game at a time, and what a "self-scout" means to him (3:35). Are we going to see Billy Bowman back against Iowa State (8:00)? DJ Graham has moved to wide receiver and this whole situation is bizarre (16:35). Lee asked Jeff Lebby if the backup QB position has changed since Dillon Gabriel's been healthy. Lee then reminds everybody that Gabriel's health is incredibly important and if he misses anymore time this season OU has no chance to win those games (22:00). OU's at Iowa State and this game is basically a toss up. OU's offense against ISU's defense is the matchup to watch for Grant (27:00). We rip on Hunter Dekkers a lot. He's probably not as bad as we make it out to be. Grant seems to think he's a less slippery, left-handed version of Brock Purdy. Xavier Hutchinson is ISU's whole offense (40:10). We read some comments from the WoE Facebook page, one of which involved former Baylor and Panthers HC Matt Rhule (50:40). We take a look at the rest of the Big 12 slate (53:30). We make our weekly picks against the spread. Ohio State-Penn State/Notre Dame-Syracuse/OSU-K-State/Kentucky-Tennessee/Ole Miss-Texas A&M. Texas A&M being a disaster this season has been fun to watch. We also drag Michigan State and Miami a bit as well (58:05). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

The Sooners got a much needed win Saturday over Kansas. Grant had a lot of fun watching OU play and the guys open the show talking about the return of Dillon Gabriel, and how the win over KU felt all too familiar (1:00). Eric Gray was terrific Saturday. Have we seen the end of Marcus Major (18:45)? Marvin Mims got 16 targets. Keep them coming. Brayden Willis continues to have his best season at OU. Welcome back Theo Wease (23:15). Lee applauds the offense for burning a lot of clock in the 4th qtr to help put the game away (31:15). Grant is more positive about the defense, while Lee saw some good things but ultimately was not impressed (33:25). We read your "3-Word Reviews" which includes comments on the "Unity" uniforms, Robert Spears-Jennings getting some meaningful snaps, C.J. Coldon's nice interception, concerns that OU's defense is so bad with a defensive minded head coach, is OU a good team?, our thoughts on Bye weeks, and early musings on Iowa State (41:45). We finish up with thoughts on the crazy Tennessee-Alabama finish, and USC finally losing a game. College football is awesome (56:20). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

No opening take. Brent Venables hints that he's changed the weekly schedule up a bit this week to freshen up his team. Lee clarifies where he's at with this OU team after rewatching the defense against TCU and Texas -- hint: this is a bad defense with bad players (1:30). We hit on a Facebook message with some wrap up thoughts and questions about OU's Wildcat decisions in the OU-Texas game. Also, is it possible Nick Evers is better than Davis Beville right now but the coaches just don't think he's ready for action yet? What about Micah Bowens in the Wildcat (14:45)? Brent Venables got a little defensive when asked about 3-man and 4-man fronts at his press conference this week. Lee watched back the first 6 games and tracked how many defensive snaps OU had 3 DL on the field and 4 DL on the field (25:00). We don't have a lot to say about this OU-Kansas game outside of the very surprising betting line (32:40). OU will wear alternate uniforms Saturday (41:00). A listener asks if Lincoln Riley deserves an apology? Some additional thoughts on how the defense could maybe improve a little bit in the short term and more thoughts on how crazy it is that the defense is this bad with Brent Venables as the coach (47:00). A look at the Big 12 this week (1:03:20). We make our 5 picks of the week. Penn State-Michigan/Alabama-Tennessee/OSU-TCU/NC State-Syracuse-USC-Utah. Apologies for last week being absolutely horrible (1:05:45). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

It's back-to-back blowout losses for the Sooners as we are now forced to talk all about it. It's perfectly reasonable to be way down on this team (like Grant), but Lee is not quite there because of one specific reason. We also read your "3 Word Reviews" (there were a bunch of them). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

In the opening take, Lee talks about how it's been many years since those who follow OU football have exercised a specific muscle. Then, Lee talks about how he's surprised OU-Texas has a betting line with Dillon Gabriel's status in doubt. Grant chimes in to talk about why he's not excited for this upcoming game, it doesn't seem like OU can win, and we talk more about previous OU games that are similar to OU's loss to TCU (6:15). Will Dillon Gabriel play vs. Texas (12:25)? Anything can happen in rivalry games, right? We talk about the 2009 OU-Texas game, which was the last time Texas was favored to beat OU (16:35). How does OU win this game if Dillon Gabriel doesn't play? The backup QB situation at OU is so terrible and we just figured out that Davis Beville was Pitt's 3rd string QB last season (22:00). How many points would it take for you to bet OU if you knew Beville was starting (29:00)? Lee thinks OU's defense can play better against Texas, but he's afraid it may not matter based on the QB situation. Grant is trying to figure out why OU's defense has looked this bad the last 2 games. It doesn't make sense (30:55). Texas has a bunch of really good skill players plus one of the best offensive playcallers in football. Super. Does it matter who plays QB for Texas (35:25)? We don't know who will be playing against Texas because there's so many unknown OU injuries (40:30). What's the deal with the major busts in OU's secondary (43:55)? We share our "gut feelings" on how OU-Texas will play out. Lee has a positive note about Davis Beville and it would be fun if Jaren Kanak played QB at times against Texas (47:20). Once again, there's some interesting matchups in the Big 12 this week (54:50). Time to make our picks, which were pretty good last week. Tennessee-LSU/TCU-Kansas/Utah-UCLA/Washington State-USC/Florida State-NC State (59:10). Grab bag topics at the end include Baker Mayfield playing bad football, Jalen Hurts looking great, and Tua's concussion (1:14:25). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

It was one of the worst OU football games in years as the Sooners were smoked 55-24 by TCU in Fort Worth. The defense was even worse than a week ago. What's up with the outrageous busts in the secondary? Injuries were everywhere. Before his exit, Dillon Gabriel was missing way too many throws. We read your "3 Word Reviews" and do our best to provide some psychological relief after what we saw on Saturday. | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

In the opening take, Lee explains how it took just 4 games for him to completely change his mind about a particular aspect of this OU football team. Then Grant joins to talk more about that stupid loss to Kansas State and how Brent Venables seemed super solemn at his weekly news conference. Plus Lee has more thoughts on that fateful 3rd & 16 play (2:20). We look at the positives of the K-State game, which includes Eric Gray's performance and the way OU ran the ball against K-State. Also, Dillon Gabriel played pretty well against K-State, save from 3 throws (22:20). Grant says one of the most impactful moments of the game was when OU was called for delay of game after K-State slow played their substitution on 4th down (27:30). OU's a 6.5 point favorite against TCU. The Frogs have an awesome offense and it's impossible to predict which OU defense we will see Saturday. OU's got some problems at linebacker and at safety (32:50). TCU's defense looks a lot like K-State's defense, which makes us feel pretty good about OU's chances of moving the ball (41:45). 5-star DL David Hicks commits to Texas A&M and Grant is shocked (50:00). The entire Big 12 slate is interesting this week. Will KU beat Iowa State? Texas will probably beat WVU (59:00). Our picks were bad last week. Grant thinks Arkansas will beat Alabama outright, and that's not even one of our official picks. We take a stab at Washington-UCLA/Kentucky-Ole Miss/Texas Tech-Kansas State/OSU-Baylor/NC State-Clemson (1:02:00). Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9