2023-11-17 19:52:13
PROVO, Utah — OU’s chances of making the Big 12 Championship Game took a hit this week with the “clarification” issued by the Big 12 regarding the league’s tiebreaker procedures.
But the chances aren’t dead.
While OU doesn’t control its own destiny, the biggest hurdle the Sooners have to climb is winning out, which includes Saturday’s trip to BYU, which kicks off at 11 a.m. CT and is televised on ESPN.
Here’s a look at the game in this week’s edition of Four Downs:
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Safety Peyton Bowen: The freshman made a huge impact early, both with his versatility on defense and on special teams, where he blocked a pair of punts during the first part of the season.
An injury slowed Bowen in the wake of the win over Texas, but his playing time ticked up last week against West Virginia. He played 33 snaps against the Mountaineers after playing a combined 24 in the previous three games.
Bowen had four tackles against West Virginia, his first tackles since the UCF game.
The Sooners could use production from Bowen against BYU and beyond.
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19: The Sooners have not only never played at BYU, but have never played any game in Utah.
How many states have the Sooners’ not played in?
After Saturday’s game, 19.
Some are easy to pick out, while others are harder to figure.
Here are the states where the Sooners have never played — Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Arkansas isn’t on the list, but it’s been a LONG time since the Sooners played in the Natural State.
The last of OU’s six games taking on Arkansas in Fayetteville came in 1918. It doesn’t figure to be long before the Sooners make another trip, as OU will join Arkansas in the SEC next season.
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17: OU has 17 interceptions — tied with Liberty for the most nationally.
The Sooners have already equaled their interception output from last season, when they had their most since recording 20 in 2015.
Billy Bowman leads OU with four interceptions, tied for ninth nationally.
BYU has thrown eight interceptions this season, including two in last week’s loss to Iowa State.
The Cougars have won just one game this season where they threw an interception — against Southern Utah in the second week of the season.
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OU defensive lineman Jonah Laulu has faced BYU before, playing the Cougars twice during his time at Hawaii.
He’s also a regular in Utah, where he has plenty of relatives — he’s expecting around 30 family members at Saturday’s game — and visits the state every year to go snowboarding.
Here’s three questions with Laulu:
How’d you get into snowboarding?
I started snowboarding when I was like 17. I was out there, scorpioned a couple times. … It was just really fun. From Vegas, we have mountains out there and I ended up going for free one time with my neighbor because they won something and (I’ve gone) every since then. It was really fun.
Where’s your favorite spot?
Brighton. This year I went for spring break. Last year, I went for spring break. I always wear an Oklahoma hoodie. Everybody’s always talking about, ‘Oh, Oklahoma.’ Surprising, there’s a good amount of Oklahoma fans out there. I expect to see a good amount of fans out there.
Are you the biggest guy on the slopes?
Yeah, probably. The bigger you are, the harder you’re going to fall. It does accumulate damage. … You’ve got to go through trials and tribulations. I would say do it. If you fall, you’re going to fall.
OU vs. BYU
KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah (ESPN)
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