Three storylines for Saturday’s OU-TCU showdown
A Heisman campaign builds
A week ago in Stillwater, Baker Mayfield solidified his spot as the Heisman front-runner with nearly 600 yards of total offense and six touchdowns.
Against No. 6 TCU, Mayfield can separate himself even further from the pack.
In six quarters against Gary Patterson and his defensiveminded Horned Frogs, Mayfield has racked up 498 total yards of offense and six touchdowns. He missed the second half of the 2015 game with a concussion but had two touchdowns and 127 passing yards before he was sidelined.
A year ago, Mayfield’s deep threat started to emerge with Dede Westbrook’s 158 yards and two touchdowns.
The Sooner quarterback enters this year’s matchup with another home-run player emerging in Marquise Brown, who’s averaging 92.9 receiving yards per game and 19.6 yards per catch.
Youth movement in the secondary
With Oklahoma’s secondary in flux, there’s a good chance that three rookies could be on the field at once early against TCU.
With Jordan Thomas’ injury, Will Johnson’s first-half suspension for targeting and Parnell Motley’s struggles, defensive coordinator Mike Stoops may elect to start three true freshmen in Tre Brown, Tre Norwood and Robert Barnes.
Barnes, a safety, has the most experience of the three and played at Ohio State but has missed a handful of games due to injury.
Norwood got in a good chunk of action against Oklahoma State and led the team with seven tackles. He gave up a couple catches, but he didn’t have any major breakdowns. Brown nearly had two interceptions, but both were overturned.
With the veterans struggling, the Sooners could see a surge of young guys in the defensive backfield against TCU.
Put the boom in Boomer
Will Saturday night live up to the 2008 “Jump Around” game?
Mayfield sure hopes so.
He issued a challenge to fans on Monday afternoon to create a crazy game atmosphere, and it’s almost time to see if the more than 86,000 fans that will pack Owen Field can answer his call.
The Sooners have continued to rally fans througout the week on social media, asking for song requests and other suggestions to get the crowd fired up.
How much will that really impact the game?