1. The big question remains: who will be the starting quarterback? My money (and a lot of the smart money, frankly) is on Sam Bradford. There's been a lot of the typical caginess by Stoops and Co. on this question. Some things have slipped already, though, like the fact that OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson already either sees some separation he won't specify, or he's already leaning one particular way in this three-way race. It's obvious that he's got a favorite, even though there's no telling who he's thinking about, as he has (mostly) followed the company line that it's still an "even" race. Again, my money in on Bradford. Bradford is the only Oklahoma product of the three (while Sam's out of Putnam City North HS in Oklahoma City, while Halzle's a juco transfer out of California, Nichol has great talent but comes out of Michigan), I think there's a lot of folks cheering for him and hoping he'll be The Guy. I'm really OK with whatever way they go; I trust our coaches to make the best decision they can based on what they see. On the other hand, Okies always excite the fans, especially when they play high-profile spots like QB. Since OU's re-emergence onto the college football scene with Bud Wilkinson's hiring in 1947, a great deal of OU's talent has come from out of state, and especially Texas, so any time an Oklahoma boy makes good for the homeland, it's always exciting. So I say, GO SAM!!! That being said, unlike more recent young OU QBs, I predict that whoever comes out on top will surpass all expectations and have an incredible year (relatively speaking), maybe something along the lines of slightly better than Colt McCoy's season last year for Texas.
2. How will the defense shape up this year, with all the losses? The secondary is supposed to be rock-solid, maybe the best defensive secondary OU has fielded in many years, even during Stoops' illustrious tenure. The line has a few questions, though, and the linebacker corps has even more questions. Strangely, though, from the reports I've seen, the secondary has more questions than either the line or the linebackers, with lots of shuffling going on. Ryan Reynolds' return to the linebacker spot, combined with Curtis Lofton and Demarrio Pleasant stepping up, juco transfer Mike Reed coming along nicely, and star Enid freshman Austin Box waiting in the wings, has answered more questions for that area. Along the line, DeMarcus Granger, Gerald McCoy, Cory Bennett, and Steven Coleman are making a big splash in practices and showing their stuff well in the scrimmages. So if the secondary has the most questions right now, even with many saying the shuffling is an improvement...well, it sounds to me like this defense might be one of the best of the Stoops Era, and THAT is saying something.
3. Will OU beat Texas this year? You bet your butt they will. They've got a lot more questions than OU does, and while they seem to be reloading well, I don't know if they'll fill their needs. I don't trust Mack Brown to consistently get his talent in place right. Even with OU's relative lack of experience at quarterback, I can already see the rest of the team more than making up for that. Remember, in the 2001 game that culminated with the legendary Roy Williams play, OU had two relatively new, young quarterbacks: Nate Hybl, who was knocked out of the game in the first half and opened the door for Jason White, who...well, we all know who he is. The OU-Texas game always seems to inspire players to grow beyond their own abilities, and that year showed shades of what would be with Jason's debut and his amazing leadership in a super-tight game. So my prediction is, this game will also be a tight one, but OU will win by a touchdown, with Sam Bradford finally coming into his own, and a late pick by the OU secondary sealing the win.
4. How far will OU go? Is a national championship run feasible? Well, that's a lot tougher question. So many things have to line up just the right way. As much as I loathe USC and despise Pete Carroll, you have to give them credit for their ability to make things happen and be right in the thick of the race this year. The schedule plays out very well to make a run this year, with all the tough, non-Red-River-Shootout games (Miami, Missouri, Texas A&M, OSU) at home. I predict OU will get some of the breaks they failed to get over the past few years, and they'll 13-0 or 12-1 to earn a spot in the BCS Championship game.
So we had an amusing episode this Sunday morning, after we left church. We asked Donovan and Connor what they had learned about, and this was Donovan's version of what his class did:
We talked about how everyone was supposed to bow down and worship this giant bunny, that was like, 90 feet high, and these three guys didn't want to bow down, and so they were thrown into a fire. But they didn't get burned.
"A giant, 90-foot bunny?" I don't know if I'd be able to bow down and worship that with a straight face, even if I believed in it. But I must say I had never heard a more entertaining rendition of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I was fortunate not to crash the van from laughing.
Thanks for reading along.
No comments:
Post a Comment