Sooners announcer says OU-Notre Dame has makings of a classic
By DOUG GRIFFITHS
ISL Correspondent
Each and every week during the Irish football season, IndySportsLegends.com interviews Notre Dame’s upcoming opponent’s radio play-by-play announcer.
This week, ISL spoke with Toby Rowland, the Voice of the Sooners. Rowland went to high school in New Castle, Ind., and played basketball for the Trojans.
Following is what Rowland had to say about No. 8 Oklahoma, who is 5-1 overall, 3-1 in the Big 12 following a 52-7 home win against Kansas last Saturday, and its game against the fifth-ranked Irish Saturday night in Norman.
IndySportsLegends.com: At the time of the loss to Kansas State, Sooner Nation probably thought the sky was falling, but now that’s a narrow loss to a very good team. Do you think all of Oklahoma’s goals are still attainable?
Rowland: I think so. They need to win out and hope some stuff happens, which seems like is the case every year. If they win out, they’ve got a good chance of landing at where they hoped they would be at the beginning of the year.
They played OK in the Kansas State game, but they committed three turnovers that just killed them. They gave away 25 points and lost by five so they were pretty disgusted with themselves.
We’ve seen a completely different team since then. The last three weeks they’ve been great. They’ve been great in all phases of the game. They kicked a good Texas Tech team, then the Texas game went nicely if you’re a Sooner fan and last week they kind of methodically destroyed Kansas early and put it on cruise control and it would’ve been real easy to overlook Kansas.
It seems like they are getting it in gear just before just in time for a difficult stretch.
IndySportsLegends.com: Is the true Oklahoma team the one that drilled Texas and racked up nearly 700 yards of total offense?
Rowland: Well I hope so. This team the last three weeks has been pretty consistent. The offense has been balanced and good. They’ve been able to run the ball and throw it.
They’ve kind of discovered a four-receiver set now with the addition of that Fresno State transfer Jalen Saunders. It’s difficult for secondaries to be deep enough and talented enough to stay with all those guys because they’re all pretty good.
(Quarterback) Landry (Jones) has found a comfort zone there. Plus, Damien Williams has been a great discovery at running back this year.
Defensively they’ve gradually gotten better and better. I think they’re understanding (coordinator) Mike Stoops a little bit more as the year goes along.
Their secondary is really good and the front, which struggled early has started to get pressure on the quarterback, which is causing turnovers.
And on special teams, they’ve returned a punt and kickoff for touchdowns.
Not everything is rosy, but they’re certainly playing their best football of the year.
IndySportsLegends.com: Entering the season, Jones was thought of as one of the nation’s best quarterbacks and seems to be living up to those high expectations having thrown for more than 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns, right?
Rowland: He’s playing well. Landry took a lot of the brunt of the criticism for that Kansas State loss because two of the turnovers were his and they were bad turnovers and we had an off week after that so it was two weeks of him really being under fire.
He’s responded like a champion. He played great against Texas Tech, Texas and Kansas. He’s a good football player.
The problem Landry has is he’s coming after Sam Bradford, Jason White and Josh Heupel and there is a really difficult and almost impossible standard to live up to there. He’s had a great career, but he hasn’t yet had that game where he’s played the role of hero to kind of get everybody on his side, a big fourth-quarter comeback or a BCS championship game.
He has steadily put together monstrous numbers and a really nice season and he’s playing his best football right now.
IndySportsLegends.com: What kind of running back is Williams?
Rowland: He’s a very physical, who never looks to run out-of-bounds. He always wants to hit somebody one more time before he goes out-of-bounds.
He’s gone 65, 89 and 95 yards for touchdowns this year so obviously he has home run potential.
The guy is not afraid to put his head down and punish you as well.
He’s not real big (6-feet, 208 pounds), but other than size he’s kind of a complete back.
IndySportsLegends.com: Is the reason why Oklahoma has so much success offensively because of the sheer amount of weapons it has?
Rowland: I think they overwhelm you a little bit. You kind of have to pick your poison. What do you want to try and take away? That’s a dangerous proposition because if you try to take away the run game, their quarterback and receivers on most Saturdays are good enough to beat you. If you try to overload the secondary with DBs, than Damien Williams has been good enough to beat you this year.
I think the last three weeks they’ve flooded the opposition with offensive weapons. Now, they’re beatable. Kansas State beat them so it’s not impossible to slow them down or stop them, but it’s a challenge.
Obviously Notre Dame’s defense is good enough that they’re going to make it difficult on them Saturday night.
IndySportsLegends.com: What do the Sooners do really well?
Rowland: There are two things that really jump out at me.
Offensively it’s their balance. They can hurt you in a bunch of different ways so they make it difficult on a defense to figure out what to take away.
Defensively I think their strength is their secondary. I think they have three guys back there that are going to play in the NFL. (Free safety) Tony Jefferson is really good. Aaron Colvin is one of the best cover corners in the nation and (cornerback) Demontre Hurst I think is going to get a shot at the next level, too.
Their secondary allows them to put guys on islands a lot and throw more people in the box than you traditionally would to try to stop the run.
Their front seven has been good and has gradually been getting better, but I don’t know if they have a bunch of guys up there that you would say are NFL guys. They might, but they don’t jump out at you. Because their secondary is so good, they can overplay the run with a lot of teams and obviously they’re going to need to do that against Notre Dame’s run game.
IndySportsLegends.com: OU’s defense hasn’t given up more than 21 points in a game this season and with its potent offense, barring turnovers its difficult to find a weakness on this Sooner team. Are there any weaknesses and is there a way they lose to the Irish on Saturday?
Rowland: Well, it’s easy for me to see how they lose it because it happened (to K-State).
The formula that Notre Dame brings to the table is the same formula to an extent that Kansas State brings to the table and it worked for them. Kansas State plays solid defense, they run the football and they don’t make mistakes. They kind of wait for you to mess up and then they take advantage of it. Well, that’s certainly possible on Saturday. Oklahoma may throw it to the wrong team. If Notre Dame gets pressure on them and they turn it over on their own 10-yard line and Notre Dame gets ahead and is able tostick with the run game, eat the clock and play good, solid defense, there’s certainly a formula there whereby Notre Dame wins this game.
This is not the kind of team that I think Oklahoma would choose to play. They would much rather play a team that’s going to throw the ball all over the yard and is just as likely to turn it over as they are. A patient, ball control, rushing attack team tends to give them fits at times.
Maybe if you just add up firepower Oklahoma may have more check marks than Notre Dame, but if you’re a Sooner fan, this is definitely a game to be very worried about. This is a very good Notre Dame team.
IndySportsLegends.com: Is the turnover problem OU’s biggest weakness?
Rowland: It was early. For the first three games of the season, their turnover differential was one of the worst in country. But over the last three weeks, they’ve reversed that.
They’ve done a better job taking care of the football and have done a great job of turning it over themselves. They’ve created nine turnovers in the last three games.
IndySportsLegends.com: When you’re calling the game, what will you be looking at to give you a good indication of who may win it?
Rowland: I think the most important matchup in this game is whether Notre Dame can successfully run the football. If Notre Dame can eat up four or five yards a chunk like they’ve been doing all year and if Oklahoma can’t slow them down and put this game on the arm of (Everett) Golson and/or (Tommy) Rees, the Sooners are in trouble.
I think we’ll know relatively early how much success Notre Dame is having on the ground. That’s a big, physical offensive line and some great running backs. They want to smash you. Oklahoma did a good job against Texas, a similar team with similar philosophies, but Texas isn’t Notre Dame.
IndySportsLegends.com: What do you think concerns the Sooner coaching staff most about Notre Dame?
Rowland: I think it is stop the run and physicality. They haven’t run into a team that is as physical as Notre Dame. Oklahoma tends to and likes to be the bully on a football field. They like to be the harder hitter and have been really good at that the last three weeks. I think they’re going to run into another bully on Saturday. Notre Dame hits back. They are very physical defensively and in their rushing attack.
Matching the physicality or exceeding the physicality of Notre Dame is going to be a major emphasis for them.
IndySportsLegends.com: How much has Oklahoma and its fan base been looking forward to this Notre Dame game? Has this been a game they’ve circled for quite some time?
Rowland: Oh yeah, off the charts excited. It’s different.
Texas is a big deal every year. There is hatred there. Oklahoma State is a big deal every year because that’s your instate rivals. That’s bedlam around here.
But since Notre Dame was put on the schedule a few years back, people have been building towards this Saturday because these are two aircraft carriers in the sea of college football.
These are arguably two of the three most historic programs that have written the history of this great game. For them to be on the field together is big for college football and there is some history.
There are some people who remember 55 years ago and Notre Dame ending Bud Wilkinson’s (47-game winning) streak. There are still some old timers who have some hard feelings about that game in 1957, but for the most part, I think people just really respect these two programs and what this Saturday means.
When you throw on top of it what has happened this year with these two being in the top 10 and that this is a really important football game, it’s a really special Saturday.
I think giddiness best describes what the state of Oklahoma is going through right now.
IndySportsLegends.com: And you really couldn’t ask for much more with the game being under the lights and with ESPN’s College GameDay being in town, could you?
Rowland: It’s as good as it gets. I don’t know if we get too many Saturdays like this in our lifetime so I hope everybody just soaks it in and enjoys it.
IndySportsLegends.com: The Oklahoma-Notre Dame game has all the makings of a classic. Do you think it will live up to all the hype?
Rowland: I don’t know how the script can go any other way. The lead up to this game is too beautiful. It’s two great programs, both in the top 10, a primetime Saturday night with national championship implications on the line.
I think I would be disappointed if the script for this game didn’t call for this game to go into the fourth quarter still undecided and somebody has to make a great play to win it. I think that’s what we’re probably in for.
