West of Everest: An Oklahoma Football Podcast

Ep. 260 - Kansas Win Brings Much Needed Joy to Sooner Nation

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

Ep. 259 - OU is Favored to Beat Kansas. By More Than a Touchdown.

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

Ep. 258 - OU Gets Blown Out Again. This Time at The Cotton Bowl

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

Ep. 257 - A Not So Cheery Outlook For OU-Texas Week

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

Ep. 256 - One of the Worst OU Saturdays in Years

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

Ep. 255 - It’s Once Again Impossible to Predict Which OU Team Will Show Up

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

Ep. 254 - What the Heck Was That? OU’s Defense Bad in Loss to K-State

Well, we didn't see that coming Saturday night. OU's defense was really bad against an offense that played its best game of the season. We complain about a lot of stuff, read your "3 Word Reviews", and get a lot of frustration off our our chests. Meanwhile, the Sooners' offense was pretty good against the best defense it had faced so far this season. | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 253 - OU Looks to Avoid Letdown Game Against K-State

No opening take. The guys immediately address whether they think Brent Venables will have OU ready to play by kickoff Saturday night (1:30)? Brent Venables said the Nebraska game wasn't bigger to him than other games, which leads to Lee ranting about how Texas has been able to play OU close and beat them over the last decade. Grant doesn't buy it though (7:10). Will it be easier to predict what kind of OU team we will see week to week under Brent Venables (12:20)? We hope this is the most nuanced, intelligent discussion regarding the end of football Bedlam that you'll hear (14:40). What do we make of Adrian Martinez's slow start so far at K-State (30:45)? Deuce Vaughn's still K-State's best player, but he did not do a whole lot against Tulane (36:45). Brent Venables and OU's defense gave up a healthy amount of points to K-State from 1999-2011 (41:00). Malik Knowles and Phillip Brooks are still on the K-State roster, but zero wide receivers are over 100 yards receiving (43:35). K-State's defense is really good. Could it end up being the best defense OU sees during the regular season (44:55)? OU will have to run the ball effectively through K-State's 3-3-5 look. What will Jeff Lebby's game plan look like (51:45)? Lee struggles to explain why he thinks OU -12.5 has a lot of value. Does it make sense in the end? You decide (56:10). Dillon Gabriel has not played well against high level defenses in his career. Will that trend continue Saturday (1:03:15)? Over to the Big 12. West Virginia may be the worst team in the conference. KU is favored to beat Duke. We don't know anything about TCU yet. Grant like Tech to beat Texas outright (1:04:30). The guys are each 10-5 so far this year on their weekly picks. Our 5 games this week are Clemson-Wake Forest/Baylor-Iowa State/Washington St.-Oregon/Arkansas-Texas A&M/USC-Oregon State (1:09:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 252 - Sooners Look Awesome in Drubbing of Nebraska

OU dominated Nebraska on the road and there's not many things we can complain about. Dillon Gabriel certainly answered the call, the defense was fantastic (after the first series), Eric Gray made us look really stupid, and yay Jaren Kanek! | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 251 - Will Dillon Gabriel Handle the Biggest Stage of His Career?

In the opening take, Lee takes a look at some interesting developments in the movement of the OU-Nebraska betting line. Then Grant joins to go over some of the latest news surrounding the Sooners including the upcoming return of Wanya Morris, an injury update from Brent Venables, and future series with Georgia and Tennesse getting canceled (3:00). Turning our attention to OU-Nebraska. This will be the most hostile environment Dillon Gabriel's ever played in (13:45). Nebraska's offense is very good, led by Casey Thompson (26:10). Nebraska has the worst defense in P5 football (40:00). Lee tells you his OU-Nebraska prediction, although he doesn't love the pick. Plus we give final thoughts on the matchup (51:05). We read questions and comments from the "West of Everest" Facebook page (58:25). Let's talk about the Big 12, but first Lee has to rant about hating Iowa. K-State blew out Missouri last week, Kansas looks competent, and we were both dead wrong about the Texas-Alabama game (1:02:40). We do our weekly picks which include BYU-Oregon/Penn State-Auburn/Texas Tech-NC State/Michigan State-Washington/Miami-Texas A&M (1:14:25). Fresno State-USC could be interesting (1:27:40). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9