Oklahoma Sooners’ important decision before facing the Auburn Tigers has now backfired in their face
Bent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners tried to appeal the suspension of R Mason Thomas.
Against the Temple Owls, the Oklahoma Sooners saw their best defender, R Mason Thomas, get ejected for a targeting call. He has now been suspended for the first half of the game against the Auburn Tigers on Saturday.
After the game, head coach Brent Venables said the team would appeal the suspension, and that’s exactly what they did. However, it kind of blew up in their face. On Tuesday, when Venables talked to the media, he let everyone know that the appeal was denied. Thomas is set to miss the first half of the game on Saturday. We saw something similar, but against Oklahoma, two weeks ago, against the Michigan Wolverines.
Sooners will need depth to step up big time in place of Thomas
With Thomas out, the Sooners will be missing their best defender for the first half. Auburn has a much better offensive line than pretty much everyone thought they would, and could end up being the best offensive line OU has played this year.
But without Thomas getting pressure on the quarterback and creating havoc, causing tackles to miss their assignments and collapsing the pocket will be much harder. If there is one thing the Sooners are ready for, though, it’s depth out on the edge.
Of course, Marvin Jones Jr. will be the other starter across from where Thomas usually is, and he’s been one of the best players on the defensive line. They will also have P.J. Adebawore, who’s looked good in the limited action he’s gotten thus far.
Adebawore will be the starter in place of Thomas on Saturday. Behind him and Jones Jr. will be Taylor Wein and Danny Okoye, two guys who had some major love and attention in fall camp. With Okoye, Venables even mentioned how he was ready to unleash Okoye on the SEC.
The Sooners will be ready, even though the appeal pretty much backfired in their face. Thomas will be back in the second half, and the Sooners could be en route to going 4-0.
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The Oklahoma Sooners are going to be without R Mason Thomas for a portion of their game next week against Auburn.
