NORMAN, Okla. — The second-most penalized team in the nation can’t afford any self-inflicted wounds in its most important regular-season game. So there will be no Oklahoma players throwing the “Horns Down” during Saturday’s Red River Showdown with No. 11 Texas.
“Our players won’t do it,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said during his Monday news conference.
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Horns Down — no matter how upset it makes Sam Ehlinger or anyone else in burnt orange — isn’t going away. There will be plenty of Oklahoma fans doing it in the Cotton Bowl stands and around the State Fair of Texas. And if the Sooners win, it’s a near-certainty that plenty of players will throw the Horns Down during the postgame celebration with the Golden Hat.
But OU players won’t be doing it during the game, Riley said. It’s not worth it.
Will officials throw a flag? Greg Burks, the Big 12’s coordinator of officials, was asked about this subject at conference media days in July and said “it depends.”
“It’s like any unsportsmanlike act,” he said. “If somebody scores quickly, turns to their cheering section, and it’s quick and they move on, we’re not going to do anything with that. If it’s to a bench or to another player, and it’s prolonged, it would be an unsportsmanlike act. Like any play, there is a degree. … If they do it in their bench area, we’re not going to look at it. It would be like any other celebration foul, so it has to be like any other foul we have. Does it rise to the level we need to deal with that?
“It’s a hot topic. I know people want us to be definitive on that, but it’s like any touchdown celebration.”
Sam Ehlinger isn’t too pleased when someone throws the ‘Horns Down.’ But he wasn’t shy about throwing the ‘Hook ‘Em’ sign during last season’s Sugar Bowl. (Ken Murray / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Touchdown celebrations, of course, haven’t been Oklahoma’s problem this season when it comes to penalties. Only Tulsa has been penalized more often this season than the Sooners, who are averaging 8.2 penalties and 90.4 penalty yards per game.
Penalties have especially been a problem with the offensive line. Sooners linemen have been penalized 13 times this season, with 10 for holding. The only offensive lineman to start this season and not have any penalties is sophomore center Creed Humphrey; he’s also the lone returning starter up front.
Oklahoma coaches have struggled to find a cohesive, five-man unit. Because of injuries, the Sooners have started a different offensive line group in each game this season, though only six players have started. R.J. Proctor has played both left tackle and left guard, and Tyrese Robinson started the first three games at right guard before moving to right tackle because of an injury to Adrian Ealy. Riley said both starting tackles — Early and left tackle Erik Swenson — are questionable for Texas.
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As for the penalties, “we’ve got some ways that we’re going to attack it a little bit differently here this week,” Riley said. “As is my nature, I don’t know that I’m going to sit here and spell it all out for you, which is exactly what you are looking for. But, yeah, there is. I mean, if you are not getting different results, then you can’t just keep doing something over and over.
“We are going to attack it a little bit differently and put a premium on it, but like I said the other day, I am not going to take away their aggressiveness. We are good enough to do both.”
Meanwhile, the controversy around Horns Down will be a big storyline this week. Texas rivals have been throwing Horns Down forever, but it became a bigger story last season after West Virginia’s David Sills was penalized for doing it in Austin last November and Ehlinger tweeting — then deleting — “I remember every single team/player that disrespects the rich tradition of the University of Texas by putting the Horns down. Do not think it will be forgotten in the future.”
Last week, the OU Daily reported that spirit squad members are being “heavily discouraged” from throwing Horns Down. Monday morning, someone hung a banner on the iconic Seed Sower statue in the middle of OU’s campus.
Good morning from Norman pic.twitter.com/fVosCtULJ3
— Jason Kersey (@jasonkersey) October 7, 2019
So, yes, it will continue to be part of the conversation this week.
“Obviously, we know about the recent things with the Horns Down thing,” junior linebacker and team captain Kenneth Murray said. “And so, for us as a team, none of that is really our focus. … At the end of the day, the only thing that matters to us is winning this ballgame. And so if that’s going to hurt the team, then that’s not going to be done.”
Hurts as serious as ever
Jalen Hurts’ media availabilities are almost becoming a parody of themselves. He does not enjoy this particular obligation and it shows.
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Monday, he had an opening statement.
“I just want to say the culture here at Oklahoma right now is all set on us playing to our standard, us playing our brand of football,” Hurts said. “We try to go out there and have the right mental intensity, the right effort, the right approach, the right attention to detail and discipline to do our jobs. Looking back at this last game we played in, there is a lot of opportunity and room for growth and maturity, a lot of lessons we can learn from and will learn from. So I think the biggest thing as we go on and continue to move forward is to keep the main thing the main thing: Attacking every day and improving every day.”
Then he took questions.
• On his recruitment by Texas (Hurts is a Houston native): “Charlie Strong liked me a lot, ended up not going there.”
• On what he liked about Texas: “I liked Vince Young, great player.”
• On what he liked about Vince Young: “He’s a winner and he made plays.”
• On why he didn’t choose Texas: “I ended up going to Alabama.”
Tulsa World writer Guerin Emig tried to get Hurts to loosen up by asking about his 2017 bet with Auburn basketball legend Charles Barkley, in which Hurts agreed to wear an Auburn jersey after Alabama lost that season’s Iron Bowl. In a video, Hurts wore the Auburn jersey, but when he turned around, the Crimson Tide’s national championship trophy peeked out of his backpack.
“I mentioned it to him preseason,” Hurts said. “That’s what it was, ended up
winning a national championship.”
Emig asked a follow-up, to which Hurts replied, “I don’t really want to talk about that. That’s the past.”
Emig tried one more time.
“Old news.”
Hurts is coming off his worst game as a Sooner — “worst” is a relative term, especially when someone accounts for four touchdowns. He is so laser-focused on winning and proving his worth as a quarterback that news conferences just aren’t something he’s interested in right now. And that’s fine. Some guys like it and some guys don’t. My philosophy always has been that guys shouldn’t have to do media if they don’t want to, but that it should be their choice.
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Odds and ends
• Oklahoma’s Oct. 19 home game against West Virginia will kick off at 11 a.m. CT, making it the Sooners’ fourth consecutive 11 a.m. kickoff. “Yeah, it is what it is,” Riley said. “Is it ideal? No. But that’s when they tell us to play. We’ll figure out the recruiting end of it. We’ll make it work. Like I said before, it doesn’t matter if it’s 6 a.m. in the parking lot, just tell us when and where and we’ll show up ready to play.”
• True freshman Trejan Bridges experimented at nickelback for a couple of weeks but was back at receiver for the Kansas game. Riley said the situation remains fluid and unresolved. “You could do both,” Riley said. “Game plan last week made a little more sense, we used him a little bit more on the offensive side. I wouldn’t pigeon-hole him anywhere. I do want to find a role, but I’m fine if that role’s on either side or both sides. And he’s certainly capable of it. He’s a really good football player. He’s been a dominant special teams player for us up to this point. He’s done a nice job in other roles he’s served, offensively and defensively. Had a great catch the other day. I think he’ll just keep growing. Eventually does it take one permanent turn or the other? Probably. He’s got a very, very unique skill set that’s a lot of fun to think about all the possibilities.”
• Riley was asked about pregame speeches and his response was good: “I’m kind of with Coach (Bob) Stoops on this. He said that Knute Rockne died a long time ago. You don’t win games because of a pregame speech. It’s about what you’ve done leading up to this. It’s not like the movies.”
• Oklahoma has had all five of its games well in hand by start of the fourth quarter. Riley was asked if he has any idea how his team will play if it gets into a fourth-quarter battle like it could find itself in this weekend in the Cotton Bowl. “I’m confident with the way we will play,” he said. “I’m confident with the leadership of this group and the motivation level. I think we’re excited for that. I really do. I’m definitely confident, but there’s nothing like getting in there and doing it.”
(Top photo from 2012 Red River Showdown: Tom Pennington / Getty Images)