As if the close win against TU, while providing some positives, wasn't still a bit disturbing...as if TCU's loss to SMU this weekend wasn't even more demoralizing (I hadn't seen that TCU had lost to SMU until this very morning. Try following THIS logic chain: Baylor beat SMU, who beat TCU, who beat Oklahoma)...
I spent a few minutes this morning on College Football News, the sport's finest online news site. I say that with no hyperbole...ESPN used to provide the finest online coverage, but couple declining quality of online material with the sizeable jump in links that go to pages where only "ESPN Insiders", i.e., those who pay for subscriptions, and you have a recipe for disaster. Don't even get me started. Hands down, CFN now provides better, broader news coverage of the sport, as well as crisper, more engaging commentary and features, all written by guys who it's easy to see really, truly love college football and aren't just stuffed-shirt, self-important sportswriters. For someone like me, for whom college football is the best season of the year, that in itself is a huge boost. And it's still 100% free, and we're all hoping it stays that way for a while.
Anyway, every week, CFN does a ranking of all 119 Division I-A football programs, top to all the way to the bottom. This week, OU was ranked 54th. 54TH OUT OF 119!!! As if that wasn't bad enough, such perennial football powers as NC State (34th), University of Alabama-Birmingham(35th), and Vanderbilt (50th) are ranked ahead of OU. Vanderbilt? VANDERBILT??? Of all the Big XII teams, only Oklahoma State, Kansas State (how are the mighty fallen...it might get really warm for ol' Bill Snyder very soon), and (of course) Baylor are ranked lower at this point. Tulsa, who OU defeated by 16 points only by the grace of God (and Adrian Peterson) and a late interception return for a touchdown, is ranked 103rd, again out of 119 total teams.
If you don't believe me, try the link here.
Here's what needs to happen next: Bob Stoops needs to find this link. He needs to print out the entire list. He needs to post it in several places: the door to the office of every one of his coaches, and the door to the locker of every one of his players. Time to wake up and get tough, fellas...I've been waiting a long while for you guys to get back to it, and I'm really not ready to pack away my stuff until next season at this point.
No comments:
Post a Comment