All Sooners

Oklahoma-Cincinnati: Three Keys to the Game

Contain Emory Jones ... Keep X on the spot ... Ride the Big 12 wave

John E. Hoover

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Contain Emory Jones

Anybody remember Emory Jones?

When he was a freshman at Florida back during the 2020 COVID year, he was the Gators’ most effective quarterback against a Sooner defense that chased Kyle Trask to the sidelines with three first-quarter interceptions.

Now Jones is a fifth-year senior and two-time transfer at Cincinnati, where he’s taken over as the starting QB after a short stay at Arizona State.

Jones is a dangerous dual-threat athlete, with a couple of 100-yard rushing games in his career — including last week’s overtime loss to Miami-Ohio.

He was also named Big 12 Player of the Week after accounting for 345 yards passing and seven total touchdowns in the Bearcats’ season-opening win over Eastern Kentucky.

Back in the Cotton Bowl in 2020, Jones led the Gators with 60 yards rushing and a touchdown, while also throwing for 86 yards off the bench. OU won that game 55-20, and Anthony Richardson went on to win the job the following year as Jones transferred to Arizona State.

As Tulsa’s Cardell Williams showed last week, Oklahoma could struggle trying to contain a run-around quarterback like Jones.

Keep X on the Spot

One of Jones’ teammates in that Cotton Bowl loss to OU was wide receiver Xzavier Henderson, who caught a 12-yard pass in AT&T Stadium but now finds himself making grabs for the Bearcats.

Henderson leads the Big 12 with 20 receptions, including 12 for 140 in last week’s loss to Miami-Ohio. He also delivered 149 yards against Eastern Kentucky, and has 299 receiving yards on the season.

Henderson has game-breaking ability, so it’ll be big for senior Woodi Washington and the rest of the OU corners (Gentry Williams, Kani Walker) to maintain disciplined coverage.

The balance Cincy’s offense has shown — No. 8 nationally in rushing offense (239.3 yards per game) and 29th in rushing defense (286.0) means an emphasis on the run game, which means a lot of play-action and RPO reads from Jones. And that means even more stress on the OU secondary.

Ride the Big 12 Wave

It’s the very first Big 12 Conference game in school history. Brett Yormark has designated this game the Big 12 Homecoming. The Nippert Stadium crowd (capacity 38,193) will be delirious. And loud.

Oklahoma will hit some rough patches against a roster that’s full of dynamic, explosive players.

The Sooners’ most hostile setting so far was last week’s game at Tulsa, where the crowd split might have been 70-30 in OU’s favor.

Oklahoma must maintain its poise under duress in difficult situations and not be swept away by the emotions of the crowd.

Riding those emotional swings like they’re surfing a big old Midwestern wave would serve the Sooners well.

That goes for the coaching staff. When times get stressful, Jeff Lebby must keep his composure and call a balanced game.

“When it's time that everybody in the stadium knows you've got to run it and the opponent knows you've got to run it — or throw it — you've got to have the ability to execute in those situations,” Brent Venables said. “That's what a championship team can do. Even when you know it, you're still able to. Whether that's physicality, precision, play decision, whatever that is. That is imposing your will, if you will. To me, that's what it takes to be a team that's playing in January. You can't go broke taking a profit.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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