Porter Moser declines to comment on state of officiating

Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners are getting ready to take on the BYU Cougars on Tuesday night. It’s a big game for the Sooners, as they try to snap a four-game losing streak and get back on track in Big 12 play.

Ahead of that game, Moser met with the media. There, he was asked about the state of officiating in recent games. In particular, he was asked if he had noticed more fouls being called in recent games. However, Moser declined to comment on the topic.

“Next,” Porter Moser said. “Sorry, I don’t mean not to answer your questions. I’m always available to answer. That one’s a tough one for me to talk about.”

Oklahoma is coming off a loss to UCF, where the Sooners were called for 20 fouls and the Knights got hit with 17 fouls. The game before that, against Kansas State, the Sooners were called for another 20 fouls while the Wildcats were called for 27 fouls.

For the season, Oklahoma is getting called for 16 fouls per game, which is 108th in the country out of 351 teams.

Porter Moser has his own reasons for not answering the question about officiating. However, it’s hard to say that the Sooners haven’t been called for more fouls recently than they have on the season as a whole. At the same time, there are a lot of possible reasons for it, including that Oklahoma is committing more penalties, and given that the teams Oklahoma has been playing have also been called for plenty of fouls, it’s not like the officiating is going one-way.

Still, when Oklahoma hosts BYU, it will be an interesting story to follow throughout the game.

Porter Moser explains having 1-on-1 sessions with players

After a hot start to the season, Oklahoma has now lost four straight games. Amid that, Porter Moser decided to have 1-on-1 sessions with his players.

“All about that they know that I’m in that with them. I could be mad and hold them to a standard, but that doesn’t mean they’re against me. I did some individual ones because I wanted to let them know, ‘Hey we’re in this together to find solutions. Let’s find this solution together.’ And accountability’s a form of love. You’ve heard me say that before. So although we’re going through that, I want to sometimes do individual ones because I want them to know that, ‘Man, he’s for me.’ I’m in this,” Moser said.

“And that’s what some of the message is, ‘Let’s figure this out together.’ You’re not fighting someone who’s holding you accountable and the opponent. That’s really important for young people to understand. You’re not fighting the person that’s holding you accountable and your opponent. The person that’s holding you accountable, you’re in it together. And that’s why sometimes you do some individual things.”