Sooners, Longhorns share kicking conundrum
NORMAN — OU’s Austin Seibert has made just two of his four field-goal attempts this season. He missed a 44-yarder Saturday in a loss to Iowa State. Seibert hasn’t made a field goal of at least 40 yards since 2015. Meanwhile, Texas’ Josh
Rowland, a junior-college transfer, has made just four of nine field-goal attempts this season, including misses of 27 and 45 yards Saturday against Kansas State.
OU coach Lincoln Riley admitted his staff has considered a change but says he still has confidence in Seibert.
“He’s a really, really good kicker, and I feel like he hasn’t had a ton of opportunities this year, but I think he’s getting ready to get on a roll,” Riley said. “We’ve scored a lot down in that area. Then the ones that we’ve stalled out have been kind of that mid-50-yard range where it’s a little bit tight on whether you go for it or not.
“I thought last year on the field, some of those he simply wasn’t hitting the ball well. Several of those last year weren’t close. They just didn’t look like him where the one the other day, he’s really hitting the ball well. He’s done really well in practice. I’m still pretty confident in Austin Seibert.”
Mayfield second in Heisman odds
Though OU lost its game Saturday, Baker Mayfield still turned in a pretty impressive stat line. The redshirt senior quarterback completed 24 of 33 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. He also picked up 57 yards on his feet and ran in a 13-yard touchdown.
While the Sooners’ national championship odds took a hit, falling from 12-to-1 to 25-to-1 in Bovada’s books, Mayfield’s slide wasn’t quite as steep. He’s second in the race at 13-to-4, down from 9-to-4, just behind Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.
Walk-on Wednesday: Tanner Baum
Tanner Baum’s teammates offer the walk-on defensive back a ride to the Owen Field pretty often.
But every time, the South Dakota native turns them down.
“I walk every day,” he said, “And on that walk, I just look up.”
Because Baum didn’t want to buy an expensive parking pass for an on-campus spot, he parks down E. Lindsey Street, right across from Brandt Park.
On his short walk to the stadium, he passes the old weight room where he continued the strength training program he first picked up from OU alum
Russell Dennison at Wyoming.
Then he walks by the Everest Indoor Training Center where he had his tryout earlier this year.
From there, he strides past the Bud Wilkinson House, where so many coaches he heard about from his dad built the Oklahoma football dynasty.
And finally, he arrives at Memorial Stadium, where he takes a minute to marvel at how far he’s come in his journey to get to Norman.
“It’s like a humble thing for me,” he said. “Look where you started and now where you’re at.”
Since he graduated from high school in Windsor, Colorado, Baum has been clawing for a college football career. When he didn’t have many DIvision I offers out of high school, he went to Midwest Prep outside of Chicago, hoping to get a couple more looks.
He wound up with an offer to try out for a walkon spot at Wyoming, so he headed to Laramie.
The Cowboys weren’t the right fit, but as he headed to sign up for spring classes on a snowy day in November 2015, a white SUV pulled out in front of him.
On the back windshield was a giant interlocking OU.
It was a sign.
“I knew,” he said. “It was like, this is where I’m supposed to go.” Quotable
“This is Oklahoma. This is still a Top 15 team, and I guarantee we’ll be on top towards the end.”
Mayfield on how the Sooners will respond to Saturday’s loss.