OU-Baylor: Three Keys to the Game

CDC to the Rescue ... Keep the Momentum Going ... Is Baylor Coming On?

Joe Castiglione / OU Athletics

CDC to the Rescue

The biggest key to Oklahoma’s home finale with Baylor on Saturday night is just getting it played.

The game seems imminent now after a change in quarantine policy on the OU campus, thanks to new guidelines Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on reduced isolation from quarantining and contact tracing.

“Immediately,” athletic director Joe Castiglione said Thursday of when OU will implement the new guidelines. “It’s effective immediately.”

The CDC now suggests people who have been exposed to COVID-19 can leave quarantine after 10 days without a coronavirus test, rather than 14, or after seven days with a negative test result.

That may indeed hasten the return of not just several OU players who have been exposed to COVID in the past two weeks, but also coaches. Sources told SI Sooners Thursday that a handful of Lincoln Riley’s assistants might miss the game, though the new guidelines could impact their window to return.

“Any quarantine shorter than 14 days,” the CDC says, “balances reduced burden against a small possibility of spreading the virus.”

Although OU adopted the new guidelines “immediately,” Castiglione said there are other elements to consider than just suggestions out of Atlanta.

“Well, local health authorities can overrule anything,” he said, “so we have been consistently following the health protocols in our own state. In most cases, they've had some level of consistency or they've been tougher.

“As I understand it, the part of testing somebody who is asymptomatic could create a situation where they would be released from isolation sooner than the 14 days previously. But that test has to be within 48 hours of the seventh day. Preferably, it's the seventh day, but if for whatever reason there’s a situation where you need to test earlier, it’s allowable in the guidelines. And if someone were to test negative, they could be released on the eighth day. That’s the way I understand it.”

Castiglione said a lot of OU’s problems “have been really exacerbated by the contact tracing, basically holding athletes out from competition because of contact tracing.”

Castiglione also said the recent surge of new cases in Oklahoma won’t impact the university’s fan attendance policies.

“We discussed it,” he sad, “but there isn't any kind of solid reason from any of our medical experts to change our approach to fans in the stands. We're constantly reinforcing the protocols for them to be there: wearing masks, the distancing, washing hands. And obviously we've taken precautions all year long to be able to provide the safest fan experience. Now, if the leaders within our state or other experts provide us information where it would be in our interest to either reduce or eliminate fans coming to the game, we certainly would. That's something we're monitoring all the time.

“While opinions might vary a little, they all coalesce around the importance of wearing masks and how it can really be an effective deterrent. And if people are protecting themselves, it can still be a very safe experience. Being outdoors is helpful. And again, we'll continually follow the data as it develops. The one thing about this is, we're learning about a lot of different parts of this virus and how we can manage it all the time. We're learning about it in real time. So we're paying very close attention to tweak any kind of our approach, guidelines, whatever, if it's necessary.”

Rhamondre Stevenson versus Baylor / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Keep the Momentum Going

Lincoln Riley said this week that his team took five days completely off last week — away from the facility, away from each other. There were no organized workouts and certainly no practices.

Then on Monday, the team reconvened and resumed normal practice operations — or as normal as can be expected with at least two defensive starters (Nik Bonitto and Brendan Radley-Hiles) and as many as five assistant coaches missing.

He said with three open dates built into this year’s schedule, the team has gotten used to being idle. But last week’s complete shutdown was different.

Was it enough to disrupt the momentum that Oklahoma had built up through five consecutive victories? Since losing at Iowa State, OU has routed its last five opponents by an average score of 50-22. Has that been affected?

“Yeah, I mean, listen, it’s still a very motivated team. There’s no question,” Riley said. “Very disappointed to not be in a position to play last week. (But) I don’t think it stole the excitement and the anticipation of the opportunities that we have coming up. I don’t think it does in any way. It’s just another thing that we have to overcome.

“And so I think our guys understand that, and our leadership understands that. … These things are challenging enough in their own right, to make the run that we’re kind of attempting to make. And you add this in and it’s even tougher.

“So, you know, that’s the way it goes. It’s hit us. Everybody’s going to have to deal with it at certain points; this is the hardest it’s hit us. But if our resolve is strong enough, and leadership and guidance from staff, everybody, then, you know, I believe this is something this team can overcome.”

Matt Rhule tells Lincoln Riley to "go win it all" last year in Arlington, TX / Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Is Baylor Coming On?

At 2-5 and as a 22-point underdog, Baylor hardly looks like a threat to an Oklahoma team surging through a five-game winning streak and toward a possible sixth consecutive Big 12 championship.

But in his first season in Waco, former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda seems to be patiently building.

He’s got a ways to go in recruiting — Baylor’s 2021 class is ranked 44th nationally, according to the 247 Sports composite (fourth in the Big 12 behind OU, Texas and West Virginia) — but seems to be making inroads.

After losing 10 players from last year’s defense who were drafted or signed free agent contracts in the NFL, the progress this year’s team has shown has been steady and, lately, impressive.

The Bears have held each of their last four opponents below 400 yards total offense: TCU had 385 (just 138 passing), Iowa State had 362 (164 passing), Texas Tech had 381 (257 passing) and Kansas State had 344 (88 passing).

The Baylor defense has nine interceptions on the season, and nickelback/linebacker Jalen Pitre has brought both of his picks back for touchdowns.

Aranda was one of college football’s top defensive minds when he was at LSU. He coordinated the Tiger defense that not only went 15-0 and won the national championship in 2019, but helped put an epic 63-28 beatdown on the Sooners in the College Football Playoff.

That game allowed Aranda and his staff three weeks to study Lincoln Riley’s offense, and he’ll likely draw heavily from that scouting report on Saturday night.

OU this year, Aranda said, is “different than last year. I think some of the pass game, the concepts are still the same, you know, but then last year looked different than the year previous.

“… Just quarterback-wise, and going to the strengths of their quarterbacks, last year was a lot more quarterback run, obviously they had (Jalen) Hurts and that was a big part of the game, and this year there is not as much of that. Last year there wasn’t a lot of drop back pass, it was a lot of play action, RPO’s, now there is a lot of drop back pass. So I feel, they’ve found a niche there.”

Aranda said he’s spent the week trying to break down “what they’re doing and how they’re doing it,” filtering out and identifying tendencies wherever possible.

He’d have better success if he had guys like James Lynch and Bravvion Roy and Grayland Arnold and Clay Johnston and Terrel Bernard (injured this season) available instead of a defensive two-deep with just 121 career starts (last year’s had more than 280 when they played Oklahoma in Arlington for the Big 12 title.)

“It’s tough to do,” Aranda said. “I think there is a great confidence right now with (Oklahoma) and you see it when you watch them. Just their ability to execute and get big plays. A lot of misdirection with OU. So I think our ability to be good with our eyes, which I thought was very suspect in this last game that we played. So our improvement is going to be a critical piece to all of this.”

To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.