Football question

[WTSooner]

I’m not worried about the fans. I’m worried about his teammates. And I can’t really recall a player doing this when a playoff berth is still very much within reach. I might be forgetting someone, and it’s probably happened, but by a guy who could still play a meaningful role given the injuries at his position?

You can't recall it because none of us follow other teams' 3rd or 4th running backs to even know if it was happening.

Barnes has been redshirting basically since the first game he missed. I have mixed feelings. But most OU fans did nothing but blast the kid last year and at the start of this year, but now we want him to be a team player? Kind of weird. Sawchuck is plenty capable of running the ball a few times tomorrow. Kanak even. Or Hawkins.

How many times have we been handing off to our running backs? Not many. I suspect X will do fine, with a little support from somebody else.

 

[daqman]

You can't recall it because none of us follow other teams' 3rd or 4th running backs to even know if it was happening.

Barnes has been redshirting basically since the first game he missed. I have mixed feelings. But most OU fans did nothing but blast the kid last year and at the start of this year, but now we want him to be a team player? Kind of weird. Sawchuck is plenty capable of running the ball a few times tomorrow. Kanak even. Or Hawkins.

How many times have we been handing off to our running backs? Not many. I suspect X will do fine, with a little support from somebody else.

being a team player is sitting on the bench when others are better....and being ready when/if you're needed.
hawkins is redshirting....not sure how many games he's played in but he's not going to play unless mateer can't.

 

[WichitaSooner]

You can't recall it because none of us follow other teams' 3rd or 4th running backs to even know if it was happening.

Barnes has been redshirting basically since the first game he missed. I have mixed feelings. But most OU fans did nothing but blast the kid last year and at the start of this year, but now we want him to be a team player? Kind of weird. Sawchuck is plenty capable of running the ball a few times tomorrow. Kanak even. Or Hawkins.

How many times have we been handing off to our running backs? Not many. I suspect X will do fine, with a little support from somebody else.

Who cares if fans bashed him? He isn’t a great back, that’s obvious. And the guys who took over earned those roles. Barnes was treated very fairly for four years. Hell, he got more playing time than he should have for much of his career. And if every kid who wasn’t starting quit, no team could even field a roster. I’m second string right tackle? Not gonna play in a fifth game. Second string corner? Same thing. All kinds of guys on OU could have done the same thing but decided to keep playing and burn a year of eligibility.

 

[daqman]

I’m not worried about the fans. I’m worried about his teammates. And I can’t really recall a player doing this when a playoff berth is still very much within reach. I might be forgetting someone, and it’s probably happened, but by a guy who could still play a meaningful role given the injuries at his position?

aren't you the chivalrous one.

there were reports of multiple receivers who could have played last season...but chose not to

 

[WTSooner]

being a team player is sitting on the bench when others are better....and being ready when/if you're needed.
hawkins is redshirting....not sure how many games he's played in but he's not going to play unless mateer can't.

You brought up Hawkins, what is the difference? He's second string. Newbauer has had to come in once or twice for a snap. Once in a pretty tight spot late in the Ole Miss game, I believe.

If you think it would have been stupid to have played Hawkins for a single snap, potentially ending his redshirt, I'd argue handing the ball off to Barnes 5 times against Mizzou wouldn't be much better. When Barnes decided to redshirt, he was running 4th string most likely.

How about we wait and see what X and Blaylock can give us tomorrow before kicking Barnes for not making himself available for a couple of snaps.

 

[WichitaSooner]

aren't you the chivalrous one.

there were reports of multiple receivers who could have played last season...but chose not to

My bad I forgot that we were number 8 in the country and two wins from the playoffs last year.

 

[WTSooner]

Barnes was treated very fairly for four years.

That's debatable, at least from a "should be be asked to burn his final season to get a couple of snaps, perspective. He burned a year in 2023 getting 37 carries. He has 19 carries this season. It's not his fault Ott hasn't worked out. For all we know he had an agreement with the staff before the season started that if he lost the job or wasn't the primary backup, he'd redshirt and leave. Ott being a nut-job and Tatum having issues makes that harder, but I don't fault the coaches for trying to honor that until they can't. Going to be hard to recruit RB's if we have two guys both play 5 games and get a combined 40 carries, both losing a year of eligibility. Those are terrible optics.

All kinds of guys on OU could have done the same thing but decided to keep playing and burn a year of eligibility.

Who? Name me five guys that have lost their redshirt this year that have played less than Barnes. There is a difference in being a backup, on say defense, and getting 20 snaps a game, and being Barnes who has less than 20 carries on the season. BIG difference. There are sites out there that show snap counts, so I'd recommend you go check them out before you assume you know how much Player A has or has not played this season.

 

[daqman]

You brought up Hawkins, what is the difference? He's second string. Newbauer has had to come in once or twice for a snap. Once in a pretty tight spot late in the Ole Miss game, I believe.

If you think it would have been stupid to have played Hawkins for a single snap, potentially ending his redshirt, I'd argue handing the ball off to Barnes 5 times against Mizzou wouldn't be much better. When Barnes decided to redshirt, he was running 4th string most likely.

How about we wait and see what X and Blaylock can give us tomorrow before kicking Barnes for not making himself available for a couple of snaps.

the difference is...if mateer got injured for the season or multiple games...hawkins would likely burn his redshirt and play.
if it's for one play...yeah...newbauer would do that.

 

[Eielson]

My bad I forgot that we were number 8 in the country and two wins from the playoffs last year.

But we suck, our defense isn't elite, QB is awful, and our HC should be fired.

 

[Boom Soon]

I can’t blame a dude for not wanting to play for Demarco anymore and run behind another suspect offensive line under an offensive coordinator who doesn’t stick with the run anyways. Maybe he just wants to have one more year of enjoyable football.

By all accounts he put in a lot of work in over the summer. I think he was a team guy. Atleast at some point.

 

[WTSooner]

Who? Name me five guys that have lost their redshirt this year that have played less than Barnes. There is a difference in being a backup, on say defense, and getting 20 snaps a game, and being Barnes who has less than 20 carries on the season. BIG difference. There are sites out there that show snap counts, so I'd recommend you go check them out before you assume you know how much Player A has or has not played this season.

The only guy that that description really fits is Thomas, the freshman WR. He has played primarily on special teams and burned his redshirt.

 

[Boom Soon]

But we suck, our defense isn't elite, QB is awful, and our HC should be fired.

Only one of those is true

 

[daqman]

My bad I forgot that we were number 8 in the country and two wins from the playoffs last year.

when were they healthy enough to play? several close games down the stretch where a couple of receivers might have been the difference.

 

[WTSooner]

We're averaging about 15 carries per game for our RB's the past three games.

I'm sure between X, Blaylock, and Sawchuck they can handle that tomorrow.

 

[WichitaSooner]

You brought up Hawkins, what is the difference? He's second string. Newbauer has had to come in once or twice for a snap. Once in a pretty tight spot late in the Ole Miss game, I believe.

If you think it would have been stupid to have played Hawkins for a single snap, potentially ending his redshirt, I'd argue handing the ball off to Barnes 5 times against Mizzou wouldn't be much better. When Barnes decided to redshirt, he was running 4th string most likely.

How about we wait and see what X and Blaylock can give us tomorrow before kicking Barnes for not making himself available for a couple of snaps.

The difference is clear. Hawk and the coaches have said all along that if Mateer got hurt and would miss more than a handful of plays in a competitive game, Hawk would play, regardless of it counting as a game toward his redshirt. Barnes is doing the opposite and declaring in advance that he won’t play regardless of what happens. Sure, maybe things will work out and X and Blaylock or Ott can get through the game healthy. And if so, great. But for him to decline to play even if needed is much different than Hawk not coming in for one play because Mateer’s helmet comes off.

 

[WTSooner]

the difference is...if mateer got injured for the season or multiple games...hawkins would likely burn his redshirt and play.
if it's for one play...yeah...newbauer would do that.

Probably. We literally haven't played Hawkins in a mop up roll except for Kent State just to keep from having to make that decision. Now he can play all of the games and still keep his redshirt, if necessary.

But I'd argue Hawkins getting multiple games as a starter and losing his redshirt that way is much less of a waste then asking Barnes to carry the ball 8 times tomorrow. If we ran the ball 25 times per game, or if Barnes was going to get a lot of carries over 2-3 games? Different story. But not for one game and limited carries. Again, Sawchuck isn't terrible. He was a 3* kid with offers from Iowa State, Colorado, Cal, and USC.

 

[WTSooner]

The difference is clear. Hawk and the coaches have said all along that if Mateer got hurt and would miss more than a handful of plays in a competitive game, Hawk would play, regardless of it counting as a game toward his redshirt. Barnes is doing the opposite and declaring in advance that he won’t play regardless of what happens. Sure, maybe things will work out and X and Blaylock or Ott can get through the game healthy. And if so, great. But for him to decline to play even if needed is much different than Hawk not coming in for one play because Mateer’s helmet comes off.

And if you can't see the difference in that they've been saving Hawk's games so that he would almost certainly redshirt, then it's not the same comparison to Barnes who was forced to play early and doesn't have the option of "helping out" for a game without losing his redshirt.

Gut feeling, but I really feel like Barnes and the staff had some kind of agreement. Most people figured he would transfer. Most had him running behind Ott and Robinson for sure. Who wants to spend their Senior season running 3rd string? Again, I think there were probably things discussed before the season or very early on, so I'm not going to fault Barnes. No reason Sawchuck can't take a few carries tomorrow if needed.

 

[daqman]

it appears there might be a couple o-linemen doing the same as barnes.

 

[Eielson]

The University wants nothing to do with funding an arena. In their eyes, dollars pumped into basketball are dollars lost.

I don't really know what prices are for things anymore. But not long ago, 1M could land you all but a few 5 stars. It wouldn't land you Flagg or Peterson, but I'm pretty confident Fears was less than that.

I think 330M was the projected price for a new arena?

Give me 10M of donations a year toward NIL for an entire starting lineup of top 50 recruits and a few strategic transfer portals sprinkled in. After a decade of great teams and a 2-3 titles, our newly rabid fanbase will be able to fund a new arena if needed. But the reality is, LNC was hopping with Blake Griffin. LNC is mediocre but with the current product on the court, a stadium would have to be the size of Mccasland to be rabid.

 

[Boom Soon]

I don't really know what prices are for things anymore. But not long ago, 1M could land you all but a few 5 stars. It wouldn't land you Flagg or Peterson, but I'm pretty confident Fears was less than that.

I think 330M was the projected price for a new arena?

Give me 10M of donations a year toward NIL for an entire starting lineup of top 50 recruits and a few strategic transfer portals sprinkled in. After a decade of great teams and a 2-3 titles, our newly rabid fanbase will be able to fund a new arena if needed. But the reality is, LNC was hopping with Blake Griffin. LNC is mediocre but with the current product on the court, a stadium would have to be the size of Mccasland to be rabid.

Agree about the LNC. NIL makes facilities less and less important. These guys will play anywhere for the $$.