{"id":2611,"date":"2025-09-06T02:49:03","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T02:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/06\/behind-enemy-lines-oklahoma\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T02:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T02:49:06","slug":"behind-enemy-lines-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/06\/behind-enemy-lines-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Enemy Lines: Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><em>The No. 15 Michigan football team is traveling to Norman this week for a highly-anticipated game against No. 18 Oklahoma. After the Wolverines prevailed over New Mexico in the season opener, this road game will be an early test for Michigan against a dynamic Sooners squad.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>To preview the matchup, The Michigan Daily spoke with Josh McDaniel, the sports editor for the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oudaily.com\/\"><em>OU Daily<\/em><\/a><em>, Oklahoma\u2019s student news organization.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Earlier this week, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore described John Mateer as an \u201celite quarterback.\u201d What did Mateer show in Week 1, and what should be expected from him against Michigan?<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Yeah, he called him a gunslinger, electric. And that\u2019s about what John showed this past Saturday. I mean, it was Illinois State, but still, he broke a record for passing yards in an OU quarterback debut. And that\u2019s beating Baker Mayfield, who, of course, later won the Heisman and whatnot. So he can definitely, he can throw it. He can throw it for sure, deep, short, and then he\u2019s quick on his feet too. He can run. He\u2019s got speed, agility, as well as being able to throw it well. We\u2019ll see what it looks like against Michigan. I know he had some good performances at Washington State last year too, but Michigan\u2019s a whole \u2018nother level. But John\u2019s been talking about how he treats every game, same process and same confidence. So we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Oklahoma held Illinois State to three points in Week 1. Give me some standout players on the Sooners\u2019 defense who can cause Michigan problems.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, the defense is solid, for sure. Because the offense was lacking so much last year, the defense actually did solid. They got some of those guys back, some newcomers too. Specifically, some of the important guys coming back, (redshirt junior) linebacker Kip Lewis, experienced guy. He had, I believe, 63 tackles last year. He\u2019s a real, real force on the defensive side, and an experienced guy too. He comes with the heat, for sure. They also have R Mason Thomas, defensive lineman, once again, experienced. He\u2019s a senior. He\u2019s been in the SEC, he had nine sacks last year. So he\u2019s a real force as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And then also they got some newcomers, one being Courtland Guillory. He\u2019s a freshman cornerback. A lot of fall camp, summer, spring, they were raving about how he just has a competitive maturity, even for a young guy. He has a real toughness to him, a real perseverance. He just, it just keeps going. He played solid against Illinois State. Once again, he\u2019s a freshman, so we\u2019ll see how he does against a team like Michigan. That\u2019s a whole \u2018nother ball game, especially for a guy that young. So maybe he\u2019ll shine, as the coaches and teammates have built him up, or maybe he\u2019ll fall a bit, since it\u2019s such a big matchup. We\u2019ll see, but he\u2019s definitely been a guy that\u2019s been, according to the coaches, showing a lot of maturity and toughness for a young guy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was Jaydn Ott\u2019s role in Week 1 and what\u2019s the status of the running back room right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-2{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>He didn\u2019t get a play at running back until, I think, it was the fourth quarter in this last game. He received a kickoff several times, but he didn\u2019t really get much run at running there, and so he wasn\u2019t used in many plays. I\u2019m not sure whether he\u2019s 100% for this coming game. I know he was working through some injuries over fall camp. So as far as going into next game, we\u2019ll see. Not to disrespect Illinois State, but I\u2019m sure they wanted to be a bit cautious with a big matchup like Michigan coming up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They also had Tory Blaylock in the last game, who\u2019s a freshman running back. He led the team in rushing yards in this past game. He was showing real promise, unfortunately for the Sooners he went down with an injury in a later quarter, and so he was sidelined as well, and so he showed promise and was injured.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So now you got two running backs that, I mean, Jaydn Ott brings a lot of excitement, a lot of promise, but it\u2019s like, how healthy is he? And then you got a freshman running back Tory Blaylock, and he\u2019s looking solid, that\u2019s respectable, but then he goes down with an injury. So it\u2019s like, how is it really looking at running back?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>What can Michigan expect going into Norman, what\u2019s the stadium environment like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The environment is significant. I mean, looking right at the Illinois State game, I was impressed by how many people were there. With all due respect, not an opponent of great quality. And, of course, Labor Day weekend. There are several excuses you can bring up, but I was impressed by all who were there.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 250px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-3{min-height: 90px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Honestly, there were some moments last year where Oklahoma was struggling, and you started looking around, and it\u2019s like people are leaving a bit and whatnot, and they\u2019re hitting the exits. Against a team like Michigan, in an environment that is College GameDay, people will be there, for sure, and people will be there in huge numbers, for sure, and people will be there with huge excitement, for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When College Game Day came last year for Tennessee, even in the midst of the rough season, people were camping out the night before. They were there all night, just excited for College Game Day. No matter the opponent, if College GameDay is in Norman, fans are going to be uber-excited.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finish the sentence: If Michigan beats Oklahoma, it\u2019s because\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If Michigan beats Oklahoma, may it be in a small margin or a big margin, it\u2019s because the Sooners\u2019 offense doesn\u2019t translate to an opponent like Michigan. It\u2019s a statement for this game \u2014 and maybe it\u2019s a statement for the season\u00a0\u2014 but it\u2019s at least a statement for the game if they lose to Michigan, especially in a big way, that the offense doesn\u2019t translate. With the defensive mind that (Oklahoma coach Brent) Venables is, and the players he\u2019s brought back, the defense for the season has very, very, very much of a high likelihood to be solid. But the offense, as much as John Mateer just had a great game and the excitement he brings, it\u2019s still in question whether it will translate against a team like Michigan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Score prediction for Saturday?<\/strong><\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-4    \">\n<style><![CDATA[@media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-4{min-height: 250px;}}]]><\/style>\n<\/aside>\n<p>I\u2019ll say Michigan 24, OU 21.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<div class=\"newspack-popup-container newspack-popup hidden  newspack-inline-popup      \" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#000\" id=\"id_162162\" data-segments=\"\" data-frequency=\"0,0,0,month\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Please consider donating to The Michigan Daily<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The No. 15 Michigan football team is traveling to Norman this week for a highly-anticipated game against No. 18 Oklahoma. After the Wolverines prevailed over New Mexico in the season opener, this road game will be an early test for Michigan against a dynamic Sooners squad. To preview the matchup, The Michigan Daily spoke with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[2802,2803,2788],"class_list":{"0":"post-2611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-enemy","9":"tag-lines","10":"tag-oklahoma"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2613,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611\/revisions\/2613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}