Chris Plank, Sooner Radio Network

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This upcoming weekend, a Top 15 matchup. We welcome in Chris Plank from the Sooner Radio Network who's kind enough to join us. Chris, always a pleasure when we have you on. Thanks so much for doing this and how you been?

Good, Zach. The center of the college football world is in Norman, Oklahoma. I think we're ready, so it should be a fun weekend, man. Thanks for having me on.

Yeah, thanks so much for coming on. You know, it's funny. Obviously, when it was announced Texas and Oklahoma was going to the SEC, right, that was such a huge talking point. But entering this season, I feel like I've only heard about Texas and I haven't heard a ton about Oklahoma, so I'm very curious to see what Oklahoma does this weekend. I know that they crushed my alma mater, Temple, to open up the season. A close game against Houston and then they did a nice job up against Tulane, who's a solid football team, but kind of gave me the lay of the land since you're there day to day on the Sooners this upcoming season for this season.

All right, Zach, I'm gonna tell you something. I'm one of your biggest fans. Your alma mater is terrible at football. So I don't know what you can do to help them out, but I mean, all this big money you're making on national radio, maybe you can get in that NIL game, buy you a quarterback or something, but it's not pretty.

So, I don't say that to dog on Temple. I mean, my alma mater is Tulsa. We just got smoked last week by Oklahoma State, but more than anything else, it's hard to tell what Oklahoma is or what they can be because, you know, Temple wasn't very good and that was their best game.

You know, I felt like they played pretty well against Tulane and I think Tulane's better than any of the three teams that Tennessee has played so far this year, but it's just so hard to tell. So, there hasn't been a lot of buzz about Oklahoma because it's real simple. Oklahoma doesn't have a returning starting quarterback.

I feel like the college football world, the media world is very lazy. If you have a returning starting quarterback, we think you're great and if you don't, we think you suck unless it's a five star that everyone falls in love with like Nico and they should because he's looked great so far. So, you hear a lot about Texas because they had a Manning, they have a Manning who's going to start this weekend and Quinn Ewers is back.

You don't hear a lot about Oklahoma because, you know, Dylan Gabriel went on to Oregon and Jackson Arnold is a first-year starting quarterback. So, it's interesting, Zach, I don't know if you know this, but the last time I went on your show was literally two days before Brent Venables got hired. Trust me, I remember. You said that was going to happen and then it went viral.

So, we appreciate that. Okay, so what's funny about it is I got my backside reamed because everyone's like, it didn't happen yet. What's wrong with you? And I was like, hold on guys, you gotta chill out a little bit.

It's gonna happen and everyone was mad at me because it didn't happen like that night and then it happened two days later. So, thank you for giving me the platform but what's hilarious about it is, bro, it's been a 180, right? You think about Oklahoma football and you've covered college football. You're a great college football mind but in the past, it's the offense, right? It's all about the offense and outscoring everybody and they can't play defense.

Well, now it's the defense and it's been a complete 180. So, I think for a lot of people, it's been kind of hard to accept that Oklahoma can play defense football but in that same vein, it's even harder because their offense isn't out there putting up a bunch of numbers. So, Texas has the returning starting quarterback. Oklahoma doesn't.

Texas has all the stars and they're number one in the country right now. Oklahoma's a little under the radar but with a good performance on Saturday night, that can 180. It just needs to see if Oklahoma's offensive line can hold up. Is the Oklahoma fan fully bought in yet on Brent Venables or is it still, we like him but we gotta see more?

Right. Well, I think, Zach, the fan base is bought in on Venables. I think the problem is, you know, he's just got to win a few more games. You know, last year was a really good year for Oklahoma but in two of their biggest games, they laid an egg. Now, in fairness, in those two games, their star linebacker, Danny Stutzman, got hurt. So, that makes a major difference in their defense but the depth is a little better this year.

So, you know, it's wild, man. I question myself so much because I'm such a fan of Brent Venables and I love what he's doing. Like, if I had a son, I would want him to go play for Brent Venables and what he's doing with this program.

But if I had a son and he was a five-star, you know, I'd probably want to go get the most money I could possibly get and Oklahoma's been competitive in that space but have they been competitive enough? So, I'm really excited to see how this team responds on Saturday night because I feel like they're being slept on but I also feel like they're like a year away from really being what they can and could be. So, it's an interesting mix between those who are buying in and have bought in because he's Brent Venables and those who are like, well, I need to see a little bit more.

And I feel like the former is winning out over the latter. I mean, Zach, Oklahoma believes they gave him a contract extension before the season started and you know, he hasn't won a conference championship in his first two seasons and I mean, he hasn't won a bowl game. And I'm his biggest believer but this is a season where they need to win some big games and I think Saturday night would be a huge step in the direction towards thinking that he's the guy that can get you back to a national championship contender. And also with the Josh Heiple storyline too.

One of your own. We know what happened as the OC too when you separate the playing days from the coaching side of it. So, how about just that storyline entering this one? It's great and here's the thing.

I've said this a lot. The Oklahoma story in the 2000s can't be told without Josh Heiple. I mean, he was, he's one of the best quarterbacks to ever play here and there's names like Bradford and White and obviously Kyler Baker but Josh Heiple did something none of those guys did. He won a national championship.

So, the Oklahoma story can't be told without telling the Josh Heiple side of things. The problem is he had a couple bad years as the offensive coordinator and after he was fired in 2014, the question remains, you know, should he have been given another year? Should he been given an opportunity to be the offensive coordinator of the Baker Mayfield as his quarterback? And he didn't get that chance and Oklahoma moved on to Lincoln Riley and the rest is history. I think it's been good for all sides but at the time and even still today, I think there's some hard feelings but you know, Oklahoma realizes, I think Oklahoma fans realize that in this modern era of OU football, you know, when you talk about the great Jack Mildrens and the Steve Davis's and Jamel Holloway's and the Thomas Lots, well, the story in this, in this like modern era can't be told without Josh Heiple. So, I think fans are excited to get him back.

I don't know how they feel about him as a coach but again, I mean, I feel like I'm echoing a lot of the same takes for you but it would change a lot if he goes out and beats the snot out of Oklahoma on Saturday night because there's a lot of ill will, a lot of bad feelings about the way that the season ended in 2014. It's a great test game for both teams. I know Tennessee blew out NC State and NC State's a respectable program but then on the other side, right, we talked about it, this Oklahoma's best opponent that they've played yet, a top 15 matchup but we know Venable's background is defense. In Tennessee, Nikko Iemaliava is just an absolute stud.

Yeah, I've been practicing it a lot. So, I'm just hoping to get in the right zip code on that one but this is a quarterback in Tennessee. I said this, they're the team through the first three weeks of the season.

I didn't know what to expect out of them. I've been the most impressed with Tennessee and I can't wait to see that offense and defensive showdown coming up tomorrow. So, let me play Oklahoma, Homer. We do this every year. Last year after three weeks, Colorado was the greatest thing we've ever seen and USC was 3-0. I mean, last year after two weeks, Joe Milton was going to be the number one pick in the draft and Tennessee was amazing and they went out and got beat by Florida on the road. So, you know, I always try to preach some caution early in the season and maybe it would be reversed if Oklahoma was in the category of Tennessee. Definitely would be.

Right, exactly. I'd be all about them like, look at this amazing team that Oklahoma has. But I'll tell you what, I really like Oklahoma's vibes going into this game. I know that sounds crazy but, you know, Zach, all week long it's been very anti-Oklahoma, right? It's all about Tennessee and that's fine but I don't know if I've ever seen more of a quiet confidence in Brent Venables and, you know, we do a coaches show with the assistants and we had Zach Ali, their new defensive coordinator, and DeMarco Murray on this week and they were kind of a quiet, confident guys.

I don't know how to quantify that. I don't know if it matters but there's really good vibes coming out of the Switzer Center. That's the OU football offices and, you know, I'm really excited to see how they respond. Bottom line, Jackson Arnold's got to play better.

I mean, you know, we all know this. Jackson Arnold's got to play better and their offensive line has to be better if Oklahoma's going to win this game on Saturday night. Why were they so adamant to go to Arnold's right now? Like, did Dylan Gabriel know that they wanted to go to Arnold and that's why Dylan Gabriel elected to leave Oklahoma and go to Oregon? Well, it's a good question and I think it's one of those more, you know, interesting stories because it's part calculated gamble, part just, you know, it is what it is to use a horribly overused phrase in the sports world but the whole the whole plan was for Jackson Arnold to be the starting quarterback for Oklahoma this year whenever he signed. What happened is whenever Dylan Gabriel got his NFL grade, it wasn't what he expected. So, in his mind, he could make more money playing college football than he could going to the pros where he might have got drafted late or not drafted at all. So, whenever he decided to come back a year, it threw Oklahoma into a bit of a tailspin from the perspective of, we love you Dylan but this is Jackson's team now and if you want to stick around, you got to compete for the starting job and I think Dylan Gabriel realized, bro, on the open mark, you got Ohio State, you got Oregon, you got Auburn, you got other national championship contenders that are out there looking for a quarterback.

I can make a lot of money in quote unquote college football free agencies. So, you know, it's the same thing that happened in Kansas State, right? Kansas State went with Avery Johnson and now you have Will Howard that's up at Ohio State. So, it's a fascinating time to see how these two huge decisions will play out for both these teams. So far, it's looking a little bit shaky for Oklahoma, right?

With the way Dylan played on Saturday against Oregon State and how, you know, Jackson struggled a little bit but Oklahoma felt like its future was in Jackson Arnold and that their best bet was to give him the reigns and see how it rolls from there. He is Chris Plank. Chris, I could talk to you all day.

I'm up against this. We'll have to get you on soon because there's a lot more that we could talk about inside the SEC but I appreciate the insight today. Zach, I think you're the best, man. Keep crushing it. Keep grinding and thanks for having me on.

Really appreciate it. There he is, Chris Plank. Love his energy and love his insight. I listen to him a bunch. He's on like everywhere, all across Sirius XM, all the time.

I know he's doing some shows of Bad Chick as well in the summer which was a lot of fun to listen to as well if you listen to a little Mad Dog Sports radio. So, we'll have Chris Plank on a ton more but wanted to get his feel on this Oklahoma-Tennessee game which to me, that's the game this weekend in college football. Next week, if you listen to this show, it will be Georgia, Alabama, Alabama, Georgia, Georgia, Alabama, Alabama, Georgia, Georgia, Alabama, Alabama, Georgia. That's what next week's gonna be. I'll tell you that right now. I don't even need to look at the rest of the college football schedule but this week, Tennessee, Oklahoma, I can't wait because I think it's a good test for both teams. Take a time out when we come on back. Who do you trust more this weekend, the Cowboys or the Ravens?