Happy Monday, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of Mussatto’s Minutes.
Today, I’ll introduce you to an Oklahoma-born boxer who’s chasing a world title and share my NBA MVP ballot one month in. Then we’ll get to some football. What is Nic Anderson up to at LSU? And what’s the deal with Ben Arbuckle’s pens? We’ll close today’s edition with an Oklahoma State men’s basketball item.
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CARLSON: How OU football's winning formula flips script from previous CFP teams
Ben Arbuckle’s pens
OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle has a signature look. Every game, he clips two pens — one red, one blue — to his necklace.
Call him Pen Arbuckle.
What’s the deal with his pens?
“I didn’t know it was really gonna be a thing,” he said. “People have asked me about that a lot.”
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle gestures during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Ole Miss Rebels at Gaylord Family Ð Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. Ole Miss won 34-26.On his play sheet, the red pen is his cross-off pen: “Don’t run that play again,” Arbuckle said. “Whether a one-hitter, like, ‘Oh, hey, it hit, there’s no way they’ll fall for that again,’ or ‘That was stupid, don’t run that.’”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith the blue pen, Arbuckle circles plays he might want to come back to. He also uses his blue pen to write notes: “Hey, maybe this isn’t in the game plan, but what they’ve been showing us, hey, let’s get to this right here.”
It’s a habit he learned from Zach Kittley, whom Arbuckle worked with at Western Kentucky. Kittley is now the head coach at Florida Atlantic.
Dangling the pens from his necklace offers Arbuckle easy access to them.
“I don’t want to be digging around in my pockets the whole time,” Arbuckle said.
Is he particular about the kind of pens? You betcha.
“Yeah, the (Pilot) G2,” Arbuckle said. “Best pen in ball.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementREQUIRED READING: Can OU football offense find something vs LSU with Sooners one win from CFP?
Checking in on Nic Anderson, Sooner turned Tiger
Nic Anderson was on the receiving end of Dillon Gabriel’s heroic touchdown pass to beat Texas in 2023. After making the catch in the corner of the end zone, Anderson turned to Sooners fans and stomped his right foot — the lasting image from that game.
Anderson finished his redshirt freshman season with 38 catches for 798 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was OU’s deep-play threat, averaging 21 yards per reception.
Anderson has 12 catches in the two years since.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAfter missing all but one game last season due to a confounding quad injury, Anderson transferred to LSU last December.
OU hosts Anderson and LSU — and Bauer Sharp (don’t forget about OU’s leading 2024 pass catcher) — at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. It’s unclear if Anderson (knee) will play.
A guy who once looked like a surefire NFL wideout (6-foot-4 and 208 pounds) has made a minimal impact in Baton Rouge. In nine games played, Anderson has 12 catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Sharp, by the way, has 23 catches for 235 yards and two touchdowns.
MUSSATTO: How Brent Venables, OU football defense made Eli Drinkwitz, Missouri tuck tails
Oct 18, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Louisiana State Tigers wide receiver Nic Anderson (4) makes a catch against the Vanderbilt Commodores during pre-game warmups at FirstBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn ImagesCowboys pushing the pace
Steve Lutz’s most exciting attribute when he was hired at OSU was his up-tempo brand of basketball.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn Lutz’s last season at Western Kentucky, the Hilltoppers ranked No. 1 in adjusted tempo (possessions per 40 minutes), according to KenPom. OSU that year, Mike Boynton’s last in Stillwater, ranked 205th in adjusted tempo.
OSU was predictably bad last season in Lutz’s debut, but hey, at least the Cowboys played fast! OSU ranked 12th in tempo.
Through six games this season, the undefeated Cowboys rank third out of 365 Division I teams in tempo. Playing fast doesn’t necessarily equate to winning — IU Indianapolis (2-5) and Cal Poly (3-3) rank 1 and 2 in tempo — but Lutz has made good on his promise to play fast.
OSU has scored 90-plus points in four of its six games after doing so only once last season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Cowboys are 6-0 for the first time since Cade Cunningham’s 2020-21 season.
Big 12 basketball power rankings: Arizona takes top spot after red-hot start
NBA MVP race one month in
1. Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: He leads the NBA in rebounds (13.0) and assists (10.8). A player hasn’t done that for a full season since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967-68. Jokic is also fifth in scoring at 30.4 points per game and he’s shooting 63% from the floor. Jokic is leading just about all of the advanced stats categories. The three-time MVP is playing better than ever.
2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: SGA is averaging 31.9 points on 53/40/89 shooting splits. He leads the NBA in total points. He’s averaging a career-best 6.6 assists per game. Imagine if he played fourth quarters.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: Antetokounmpo (groin strain) has finished top-five in the MVP race in seven consecutive seasons. Go ahead and pencil him in for an eighth if he meets the 65-game threshold. Giannis is averaging career-highs in points (31.2) and assists (6.8).
4. Tyrese Maxey, 76ers: Holy smokes. Maxey is averaging 33.4 points, 7.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds and a combined 2.5 steals/blocks per game. He’s playing a league-high 40.7 minutes per game — a number that has to come down. The Sixers are Maxey’s team.
5. Luka Doncic, Lakers: Doncic leads the league in scoring (34.6 ppg). He’s shooting an absurd 61.7% from inside the arc. He and Austin Reaves more than kept the Lakers afloat when LeBron James was out.
More: How OKC Thunder rookie Thomas Sorber became 'one of the guys' despite ACL injury
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementOKC’s Elijah Pierce vying for featherweight belt
One of Oklahoma City’s own is trying to close in on a featherweight boxing world title.
Elijah Pierce, who spent a good chunk of his childhood here and attended Moore High School as a freshman and sophomore, will face Venezuela’s Lorenzo Parra on Nov. 29 in Temecula, California.
The Pierce vs. Parra fight is the headliner for Manny Pacquiao Promotions’ U.S. debut.
Pierce (21-2, 17 KOs) is ranked second in the featherweight division (126 pounds), according to the World Boxing Organization.
Rafael Espinoza (28-0, 23 KOs) is the current WBO title holder, but a win against Parra would move Pierce, 29, one step closer to the belt.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Oklahoman caught up with Pierce ahead of his fight. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me about your background and growing up here.
Pierce: “I was there until about 5 or 6 years old. I moved with my mother to Georgia when she remarried and was pretty much back and forth. I would travel in the summers back to Oklahoma and would box with my father. The special thing about it was that I always would retain the information that he would teach me from the previous summer. That’s kind of when we realized I had a knack for it.
“I spent my first two years of high school (at Moore) … I was also an avid basketball player. I was very good, but due to my size and stature, my dad had pretty much convinced me to just box.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“The agreement was for me to do my first two (high school) years in Oklahoma then my junior and senior years in Atlanta. I found a gym to train at and decided to turn pro after my senior year. I turned professional and I went back to Oklahoma and that’s where it all began.”
How did you get nicknamed The Wolf (spelled “The WXXXLF)?
Pierce: “I wanted to change the way I approached fighting and just how I came at life in general, so that’s where The WXXXLF was born. I spell it with the triple X because X represents unpredictability and you never know what you’ll get when you step in the ring with Elijah Pierce. I can defeat you in a number of different ways. I can attack you head on, if we wanna bang, we can bang. I can outbox you. If I need to counter punch you, I can counter punch. I’m very adaptable.”
Your dad still trains you. What’s that like?
Pierce: Nobody knows me more than my father … Family is everything to me, so being able to have that element involved in my career just makes it that much sweeter. I’m getting to enjoy the celebratory moments with my father, with my mother, with my family in general.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhat does this chance mean for you?
Pierce: “My story is an underdog story. Even from where I’m from, Oklahoma, it’s not a boxing state … I’ve been a professional nine years, and here we are. After all the trials and all the battles I’ve endured in my pro career, it’s finally here, the chance for me to fight for a world title.
“Not everybody has the opportunity to live their dreams or even be close to actually touching their dreams. For me to be this close, it’s almost like there’s just no way that I can allow it to fail or allow it to slip. That feeds my hunger and feeds the desire that I have to make sure I follow through.”
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at [email protected]. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why OU football OC Ben Arbuckle is particular about his pen necklace
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