West of Everest: An Oklahoma Football Podcast

Ep. 230 - Caleb Williams to the Portal & Dillon Gabriel Commits Mid-Pod

In the opening take, Grant fears the Caleb Williams transfer portal fallout could lead the Sooners into a very difficult time. Then Lee joins to talk all about Caleb Williams' decision to enter the transfer portal. Joe Castiglione and Brent Venables released a statement. Lee continues to drink the Venables kool-aid, which has him looking at everything in an optimistic way (5:50). Where is Caleb Williams looking to go? It sounds like he's looking for the best place to prep him for the NFL. More on this whole situation not sitting well with Grant (24:40). Was Year 1 with Brent Venables always supposed to be a year without high expectations? Lee always kind of expected to give Venables a pass no matter what (33:00). We find out in the middle of recording that Dillon Gabriel has flipped his commitment from UCLA and has committed to OU. Plenty of immediate reaction to this news (37:40). Okay, should we be concerned by Ole Miss's offensive performance against Baylor (48:20)? Todd Bates is coming to OU which is a massive hire for the Sooners. Also it sounds like OU will be getting Alabama cornerbacks coach Jay Valai (49:50). OU picked up another running back for the 2022 class (54:50). Now we wait to see who else is going to enter the transfer portal (58:15). Grant says this may be the most down in the dumps he's ever been in regards to OU football. And we end with a comment from a listener in regards to our last episode (1:01:30). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 229 - OU, Stoops Beat Oregon & Caleb Williams is Still Undecided

In the opening take, Lee regrets a bet he didn't make. Then Grant joins to briefly talk Alabama-Cincinnati as that game kicks off during this recording. Total crossfire on how they think the game will go. Then we get into how cool it was to see Bob Stoops coaching in the Alamo Bowl. Was that the most prepared OU has looked for a game all year? OU ran the ball well and Cale Gundy called a heck of a game (10:30). Kennedy Brooks had a great game. What kind of NFL career will he have? Marvin Mims caught a long TD, Drake Stoops caught a TD and had a cool moment with his dad (21:35). Mario Williams had a TD taken off the board, Eric Gray was very involved. We take this time to rip on Lincoln Riley (29:30). Grant says Caleb Williams was very good and there were some areas that he clearly worked on the last month. Jalil Farooq looked pretty darn good and we take more time to rip Lincoln Riley by talking about Charleston Rambo at Miami (35:40). Grant doesn't think the defense played well at all. We hit on some of the players who stood out. Ultimately we are happy the defense will get a total overhaul under Brent Venables (42:15). Okay let's talk Caleb Williams and his future. Is he gonna leave? Grant's super concerned. Lee's not too worried. They have a spirited discussion (51:10). We share your "3 Word Reviews" from Twitter and Facebook. Topics include players committing to schools based off of coaches vs. the actual school, Stoops handing off his visor to Venables, OU getting revenge on Oregon, Taco Bell, no penalties for players transferring, and wrapping up a super weird OU season (1:20:00). Final thoughts on bowl season so far, Grant's super fired up about mayonnaise, and when our next podcast episode will be (1:40:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 228 - Awaiting Caleb Williams’ Decision & Oregon Onside Kick Rants

In the opening take, Lee explains why he hopes a decision about Caleb Williams' future comes soon. Then Grant joins to briefly talk about Grant's favorite NFL team the Indianapolis Colts. Since nobody cares about that, we move on to looking back at the OU-Oregon onside kick debacle. We've never talked in depth about this on the show. It's incredible looking back how bad this was (7:40). It's fascinating that the TV broadcast did not think to ask "who recovered the football"? Lee goes back and watches the onside kick and comments on the refs in real time. Grant provides more perspective on what was going through Sooners' fans minds back in 2006 (15:15). Replay review later missed another call that went against OU. Lee rips the officials 15 years later (25:30). What does it say about the Alamo Bowl that the Oregon stuff is the most interesting storyline (28:05)? What's the deal with Caleb Williams? Lee's heard that he still has not made up his mind (34:00). What would Caleb Williams try to accomplish if he transferred? Ohio State and Alabama wouldn't make sense. Sure, he could still go to USC. What about Georgia (37:30)? Grant thinks Williams has to be leaning in some direction at this point. Is Williams holding the team hostage (48:40)? Both OU and Oregon have multiples players out for the Alamo Bowl. We're both pretty comfortable with OU's roster, despite the opt outs and transfers. We're both interested to see how Brian Odom calls the defense and how Cale Gundy calls the offense (59:25). Lee thinks Oregon's interim head coach could be distracted. Meanwhile Bob Stoops is here to win a football game (1:08:30). We share our gut feelings about the Alamo Bowl result (1:16:00). It appears that Jaren Kanak is enrolled at OU. Plus we go over some other possible players who've been rumored to be OU targets (1:18:55). Finally, the guys spotted a WR out of Texas who has zero stars and zero D1 offers. And they don't get it at all. Please someone explain recruiting to us (1:26:05). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 227 - OU’s Puzzling New DC & the 2022 Signing Class

In the opening take, Grant gives his take on OU hiring Ted Roof for the defensive coordinator job. Then Lee joins to talk about the state of the OU football program in the early stages of the Brent Venables era (6:30). Lee goes over what OU's 2022 recruiting class looked like before Lincoln Riley left compared to what it looks like today. We also talk about why we don't get super into National Signing Day (11:00). To further our argument about why we don't get super into NSD, we look back on the absolute bust that was the 2019 OU recruiting class (18:30). We don't normally talk about OU recruits, but since it's signing day we decided to watch some HS tape of a handful of OU's signees. We go over some of the guys on offense that we like including WR Jayden Gibson, OT Jake Taylor, and RB Gavin Sawchuk (22:30). Now over to some of the defensive guys that have gotten a lot of publicity. Both of us aren't all that impressed with LB Kobie McKinzie's HS highlights. Does LB Kip Lewis have more upside? And Grant is excited for Tulsa Union's Jayden Rowe (31:00). Grant doesn't understand how a person like DT Alton Tarber was rated so low given his position and body type (38:20). Lee gives his take on DC Ted Roof and provides a bunch more background on his career and how we got here. It matters that Roof has been a part of a National Championship team... right (40:30)? We were really hoping Venables would bring over elite DL coach Todd Bates from Clemson. Not going to happen. We still don't know OU's full defensive assistant coaching staff (56:45). Who the heck is Thad Turnipseed? Brent Venables sure does love Clemson still, but will one of his Clemson commits come play at OU (1:01:10)? We're still waiting on Caleb Williams. We didn't listen to his appearance on the Jeremiah Hall/Brayden Willis podcast. Sorry (1:08:50). Spencer Rattler and Austin Stogner are off to South Carolina. Has your feelings on Rattler totally changed in the last month or so (1:11:30)? Cale Gundy and Brian Odom will call the plays in the Alamo Bowl. Lee makes it clear why the Alamo Bowl matters. Grant has learned to not read into the results of bowl games. Lee has some push back (1:16:00). This turns into an OU basketball podcast for a little bit as Grant takes a deep dive into Porter Moser's team (1:24:00). We finish up the show trying to figure out the upcoming podcast schedule and we try to figure out if OU should be favored by more than 4.5 points against Oregon? And how forgettable was the Heisman Trophy ceremony (1:31:45)? | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 226 - Is OU Better Off Now With Brent Venables at the Helm?

In the opening take, Lee says OU's in a better position now than they were 10 days ago. Then Grant joins to talk about his favorite celebration style (5:45) before we stop messing around and talk about what we think of Brent Venables getting the head coaching job at OU (7:25). Venables addressed "why now" is the time he finally took a head coaching job. What are the chances he's going to be a good coach (14:10)? Lee begins pitching to Grant why he thinks OU is in a better place now compared to when Lincoln Riley left the program. Culture and team identity are important and it's going to chance under Venables (28:35). OU's defense is going to be better under Venables. We're excited to see how some of the current players develop under a new coaching staff (39:00). We pulled a soundbite of Venables talking about his offensive philosophy. We like that Venables is a coach who will tweak and coach game-to-game based on opponent. He also sounds like someone who wants to get the ball to his playmakers as much as possible. Lee also talks about that time the "Freezing Cold Takes" Twitter account got him (51:30). Was halftime during the OU-Georgia Rose Bowl the highest point of OU's Lincoln Riley tenure (1:02:05)? Lee continues his pitch to Grant. OU's offense will take a dip, right? Well... maybe, but also the ceiling could be higher with Venables/Lebby compared to Riley/Grinch (1:06:20). Do we think Caleb Williams is going to stay at OU? OU's got a better shot to win a National Championship in the next 2 years than USC, right (1:18:15)? We give our thoughts on Venables' coaching staff coming together. A lot of the original OU offensive staff sounds like they're staying on (1:26:35). Who the heck is Venables going to bring on as defensive assistants? No Jamar Cain is a bummer. Will anything come out on the Roy Manning/USC recruiting stuff? What's going to happen with Calvin Thibodeaux and Brian Odom (1:32:15)? Who's going to be the defensive coordinator? It's not going to be Mike Stoops is it? Jerry Schmidt is returning to OU. The gang is getting back together -- is that a good, or bad thing? Is OU more injured than other teams (1:42:40)? We do a horrible job of explaining players who have opted out of the Alamo Bowl. We're probably delirious at this point (1:53:00). We read a comment from a long time listener who has a few hot takes about the recent shake up at Oklahoma (1:55:30). Grant tells us which Bowl games he's interested in. He thinks Cincinnati has a shot to beat Alabama (2:05:20). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 225 - Welp, Riley Totally Duped Us. Time For OU to Find a New Coach

In the opening take, Lee looks back at the last time a head coach left OU for a different college job. Then Grant joins as the guys give their initial thoughts on Riley's decision to leave OU (4:20). Bob Stoops is the Sooners' Interim Head coach. Lee also shares a story about Bob Stoops that he recently heard that will make you smile (11:45). Who's going to be OU's next head coach? We go over the potential candidates who've been mentioned and rumored beginning with Brent Venables. What about Matt Rhule? (26:00). The OU men's basketball team beats Florida as we are recording the podcast (47:30). What about Shane Beamer? Would he leave South Carolina to come to OU? We also discuss Luke Fickell, Dan Lanning, Mike Leach, and Lane Kiffin (49:15). Okay, we go all in on Lincoln Riley taking the USC job beginning by talking about what we were doing when we found out the news Sunday (1:02:05). Lee wants to break down the "Pros" and "Cons" for OU now that Riley is gone. Lee begins with his "Cons" list (1:07:40). Now over to the "Pros" of Riley leaving. Plus Lee tells the story about his final interaction with Lincoln Riley as OU's head coach. Alex Grinch is out the door, and Lee rants about what his lasting memory of Lincoln Riley's final weeks at OU will be (1:15:35). Grant wants to rant more about Riley's ability to seemingly stretch the truth at the end and also since USC has hired him. Grant wishes Riley would have just left OU in the middle of the season instead of the way he chose to leave (1:42:30). OU's not naming a coach today. Grant points out that there is a chance this could go south for OU (1:50:00). We give our thoughts on the bizarre Roy Manning story that came out Tuesday night. Grant once again just tells Lincoln Riley to go away (1:55:20). Grant has more hate for Riley. Which leads to some small CFP talk about Oklahoma State, Michigan, and Cincinnati to end this incredibly long podcast (2:04:10). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 224 - Let’s Gather Round for a Jam-Packed Bedlam Preview

No opening take today, but Lee admits off the top that he's already picked OSU to win Bedlam. Will his opinion change by the end of the podcast? Is this the biggest Bedlam game ever (3:00)? We go over what impresses us the most about OSU's offense (17:15). Where does OU's defense have an advantage in this one? Grant thinks the Sooners will be able to slow down OSU's run game (23:00). Lee provides his thoughts on OSU's skill position players (27:15). OSU's offense wasn't very good a year ago against OU's defense. Which Spencer Sanders will we see Saturday night (29:50)? OU could struggle with OSU's play action boot game and Grant's convinced the Cowboys will do everything they can to exploit OU's weaknesses on tape (34:05). Over to OSU's defense. It's time for us to say a bunch of nice things about this group and watching the Cowboys' defense has made Lee angry (35:20). Does OU's offense matchup well anywhere against OSU's defense? Find out why both of us thought of Eric Gray while watching film of OSU's defense (40:20). Is OU running the ball effectively the key to winning the game? But... what happens if OU can't run the ball? Can Caleb Williams win this game with his arm (48:00)? Lee wants to talk about OSU safety Jason Taylor's pick-6 against Texas and why it reminded him of a recent play that OU's defense *did not make*. All Lee wants to know is... why does OSU make plays like this, but OU's veteran players seemingly can't (52:15)? Grant gives his final thoughts about the game. He was pretty confident early in the week, but since then Grant's confidence in an OU win has decreased (1:00:25). Lee tells you what he likes about the way this game is setting up, which includes a weird soundbite from a very confident Spencer Sanders (1:04:10). Then Lee talks about what he doesn't like about this game coming in, gives you the keys to the game, and then gives his final pick for Bedlam (1:11:40). Over to Playoff Rankings talk. We try to figure out a healthy amount of scenarios that would include OU or OSU in the field. Is Cincinnati in if the Bearcats win out? It would be horrible for college football if both Georgia and Alabama make the Playoff. Also not great if both Cincinnati and Notre Dame get in as well (1:20:30). Grant addresses his recent comments that CJ Stroud is Ohio State's version of Landry Jones (1:29:00). Over to the Big 12 slate. Why is Texas favored over K-State? Iowa State's primed for a blowout win. Grant points out all the reasons why Texas Tech could beat Baylor. Would you dare bet Kansas over West Virginia (1:30:30)? We go to our weekly picks. Grant is 36-18-1 this season. When will his hot streak end? We pick Ole Miss-Miss. State/Iowa-Nebraska/Ohio State-Michigan/Alabama-Auburn/Penn State-Michigan State. And we finish up with some final Bedlam thoughts (1:37:45). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 223 - Defense Shines But OU Still Has to Hang On

In the opening take, Lee explains why he thought that was OU's best defensive game of the season. Then Grant joins as we jump in to talking about Jalen Redmond's fumble return TD. That leads into a discussion about OU's great game on defense (3:40). It was great to see OU's defense finish plays in the backfield. The D-Line was fantastic led by Nik Bonitto and company (16:45). Perrion Winfrey's monster hit on Brock Purdy (21:15). The guys have very different opinions on the Iowa State catch/no catch that led to ISU's first touchdown of the day. Grant doesn't think the rules make sense, Lee thinks the rules are pretty easy to understand (23:00). We dive into "3 Word Reviews" where we get into the offense playing poorly. A lot of Lincoln Riley criticism coming out of this game. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an easy "fix" (33:00). Lee didn't like that OU called timout on Iowa State's final series with the clock running and the Cyclones facing 4th down. Also, Iowa State totally killed its own drive by calling a bizarre trick play that backfired (47:20). OU still has a good chance to make the Playoff. We go through some quick playoff scenarios. Lee calls out a random podcast he listened to that had some bad college football takes (53:20). More thoughts on Riley and the struggling offense along with a struggling Caleb Williams. A little early Bedlam talk. Did a simple offseason change make OSU's defense elite (1:01:00)? We finish up "3 Word Reviews" and have a stupid debate about how to pronounce the word "Redux". Grant explains one of his biggest disappointments from this OU season (1:09:40). Dan Patrick said this week the Playoff could be expanded as early as next year but other news outlets have said that's not true. We talk expanded playoff and complain about how long it's taking (1:16:40). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 222 - Riley Rumors & Uneasy Feelings Ahead of Iowa State

In the opening take, Grant wonders why Creed Humphrey has done so well in the NFL so far while he seemed to not play anywhere up to this level at OU. Then Lee joins as we dive right into these rumors that Lincoln Riley is a candidate for the LSU job. Given all we know, should we be preparing ourselves for Riley to leave OU? We put ourselves into Riley's shoes and go over the pros and cons of leaving OU for LSU (3:50). Lee wants to talk about all the key players OU lost from the 2020 team. Tre Brown, Tre Norwood, Ronnie Perkins, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Creed Humphrey. Did we take Tre Brown for granted at OU? How good was Stevenson compared to other recent great OU RBs (36:00)? More on Creed Humphrey's time at OU vs. his short stint in the NFL. Lee talks about something Gabe Ikard recently talked on his podcast about OU's run game that may shed some light on to why Creed's game was different at OU compared to now (43:50). OU is a short favorite at home against Iowa State. We are going to learn a ton about the Sooners this Saturday. Both guys aren't feeling great about this game, and there's disagreement about how we should interpret the recent bizarre comments by Matt Campbell. Lee apologizes for not having a hard and fast game pick for you all (52:10). Let's talk Big 12. Could Texas go 4-8? Lee's an idiot for thinking TCU would keep it close last week against OSU. How good is OSU's defense and is it good enough for us to automatically take OSU -10 over Tech (1:22:30)? Grant continued his hot streak last week. He went 4-0-1 with his picks and on the podcast this season he's picking at a 67 percent clip. At some point this run will fizzle out but will it be this week? We pick Michigan State-Ohio State/Wake Forest-Clemson/SMU-Cincinnati/Baylor-Kansas State/Oregon-Utah (1:29:20). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9

Ep. 221 - Sooners Get Whacked in Waco

In the opening take, Lee highlights 5 separate plays that soured what turned out to be a pretty good OU defensive performance. Then Grant joins to react to that ugly Sooners loss at Baylor. Does OU have a problem playing well when they have more than one week to prepare? Does Lincoln Riley have a problem making in game adjustments (3:45)? Do we all need to pump the brakes on Caleb Williams (13:30)? More talk about the OU defense. Lee keeps trying to figure out if OU ever is supposed to have a guy set the edge (16:30)? Grant says Gerry Bohanon was awful on Saturday and Lee points out a play that OU could have had an easy INT, but instead Baylor picked up a first down (21:40). Grant makes sure to point out again that OU's defense played well enough to win and the offense did not hold up its end of the bargain. Brian Asamoah had maybe the best game of his career (29:30). Grant is fired up about the decision to take Caleb Williams out of the game and insert Spencer Rattler. Lee tries to get into Riley's head. That's got to be it for Rattler at OU, right (34:00)? Grant wanted OU's offense to space it out more against that Baylor defense (44:30). Over to "3 Word Reviews" where we talk about the end of the game. Grant is not happy with Lincoln Riley's postgame comments. This is a fired up Grant podcast (48:15). More "3 Word Reviews" lead to discussions about OU losing a game super late in the season for the first time in a long time. What's going on inside that locker room? Lee says this team looks to have an entitlement problem (52:15). Iowa State's been giving up a lot of points lately, but you know the Cyclones are going to be prepared to play OU(58:50). Why is tackling such a problem? Even if OU figured it out, they're not winning the National Championship this year anyway right (1:01:45)? More grab bag thoughts on OU-Baylor (1:08:15). We look big picture and Grant asks if Riley makes any kind of coaching move/change in the offseason (1:11:30)? Finally we talk about Texas losing to Kansas. This leads to a stupid debate about Texas and whether you should invest much time in caring about what they do (1:18:00). | Like the show on Facebook: @westofeverest | Follow Grant on Twitter: @GrantBenson25 | Follow Lee on Twitter: @LeeBensonNews9