Episode Details

Sooner Smiths Live #51 — Oklahoma 51-0 vs UTEP | Michigan Preview Hosts: Chad & Tierani Smith | Guest: TJ Ronin (MichiganVOCFB) Crossover setup so they could also appear on the Michigan VOCFB show with TJ.

0:00–3:00 | Open

Moved the usual Monday 7 p.m. CT slot earlier to do both shows. Baby is down; Grammy heading to Michigan. Sponsored by Fanduel. Pit Boss Labor Day grill promo mentioned (link in description).

3:00–16:00 | UTEP recap (51-0)

Tierani sandwich (pos/neg/pos)

• Pos: Special teams continued last year’s form; younger kickers got reps. Coach Deacon on the postgame mic is a good sign.
• Neg: UTEP moved the ball more than she liked even though the kicker missed three FGs. Venables clip of him going off on the defense — “it ain’t good enough” — is exactly the standard she wants.
• Pos: 51 points and a real run game. John Mateer looked solid (not great, not bad) in his first game back.

Chad on offense

• Ben Arbuckle lived in 12/13 personnel (52 of 57 snaps); first TD was 14 personnel (four TEs + FB). Exactly what fans were promised after camp.
• Rocky Beers TD was the highlight; High Noon celebration spilled on the people in front of them.
• Trené Washington at FB (also a TE). Isaiah Satania punt-return TD. John Mateer: calm feet, pre-snap recognition (back-shoulder to Elijah Thomas vs single-high). Still has “hero play” moments (2nd-and-long instead of checkdown).
• Lloyd Avant topping the RB depth chart was expected from camp reports (consistent ~95 grade from McCullough).
• Fasusi: 17 snaps, conflicting reports (Venables said fine; other talk of a few weeks for shoulder). Best OL if he’s out: Fojay LT, EPL LG, Mykula C, Noah Best RG, Marion Harris RT. Better to miss early non-con than Texas/Georgia.

Golf sidebar: Chad made an albatross (2 on a par-5) on the cliff hole at Dornick Hills. Typically scratch / +1.

21:00–52:00 | TJ Ronan joins — Michigan vs Western Michigan + OU preview

Clock / Hail Mary Chad: Probably wasn’t a second left, but once the call is made you live with it. WMU still had to stop the Hail Mary. Biggest actual problem is TV clock not synced with official clock. TJ: Evidence shows TV clock was ahead; Michigan likely got the correct call even if it looked bad. WMU coach was classy immediately after; later they flipped. Underwood launched it ~65 yards while getting hit; JJ Buchanan is a freak.

Michigan state of the program (TJ)

• Extremely underwhelming Week 1. Looked worse under Whittingham than under Sherrone Moore so far — but it’s Week 1.
• Fanbase already treating the season as over and calling for Underwood to be benched. TJ: premature. Circle the Iowa game at the end of September as the evaluation window. Don’t burn the bridge early (Dante Moore / Jayden Daniels examples).
• Youngest starting unit in the Big Ten. OL not creating holes; Western Michigan (MAC champs, G5 CFP contender) out-physicaled them. Strength & conditioning under previous staff was poor; new staff (LSI) just getting started. Still identifying two guard spots. Harding (Utah) is one of the best OL coaches in the country.
• Playbook was intentionally limited vs WMU so they wouldn’t show OU everything (some RPOs not live). Second half opened up more.
• Positives: WR room deepest/talented since 2004-05 (two 5-star freshmen, Travis Johnson, JG Buchanan NFL-bound, Andrew Marsh). Defense: John Henry Daly (11.5 sacks last year), Dominic Nichols (2 sacks), Trey Pierce interior pressure. Corners physical but played off early.
• Time of possession 41-19; defense kept them in it despite the offense.

TJ’s pick: Oklahoma. “I hate it… I’m not going to BS anybody.” Fanbase is “looking down from 40 feet.”

Hosts a