Fate Takes A Hand...

As quickly as it began, it was over.

There was a lot of talk this year about OU and how they have managed to beat everyone's expectations, how Sam Bradford has set the world on fire and performed like a certain 5th-year senior who happened to come back from two (TWO!) season-ending knee injuries to win the Heisman Trophy, or like another juco transfer who came in with no name and left holding the crystal football (and who now happens to coach Mr. Bradford).

There was a lot of talk about how OU was full of seasoned veterans, had some serious young talent to back it up, and might have the best team in the fill-in-the-blank-here during the Bob Stoops era.

There was a lot of talk about one of the Sooner players, whose mother happened to mention that OU would be playing for the national championship this year, and that she just felt it, as though it were preordained by God Himself...as though it were fate. Indeed, she herself sadly succumbed to a fatal disease not too long after she made this prediction.

There was an explosion of this talk after Thursday night, when in an amazing stroke of bad luck (good luck for OU), Oregon lost its heart and soul when starting QB Dennis Dixon went down and lost badly to Arizona (coached by Bob Stoops's brother Mike, of course). Sooner fans could feel momentarily the cosmic sense of justice in that, especially after last September's notorious travesty in Eugene. How wondrous that Oregon should fall through bad luck and that it would most help the Sooners, of all teams. How glorious that it was a Stoops luxuriant in victory, helping his brother when he really needed it. It's almost like it really was preordained. I remember reading the articles about the predictions of greatness for this year from that Sooner player's mom. It WAS fate, preordained by God Himself.

And a mere 48 hours later, it was all gone. Over. Done. Fate, it seems, had taken a hand.

In just the same way as Oregon opened the door wide for the Sooners to walk through, our dreams were bitterly dashed yet again, as we lost our own starting quarterback to a concussion on the very first drive of the game. Sam played one more drive, which resulted in a three-and-out, then went to the sideline and told quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel that he couldn't remember what plays they had just run. He took off his helmet, say on the bench, and spent the rest of the first half looking like he had just undergone a frontal lobotomy. Behind the cold and not-very-practiced Joey Halzle, the OU offense sputtered mightily until the fourth quarter, and by then it was too late. Rich Cirminiello over at College Football News congratulates Texas Tech, with these words:

The Red Raiders capped a ragged second half of the year by beating No. 3 Oklahoma 34-27. Tech got a break when Sooner QB Sam Bradford was sidelined early in the game, but you get the feeling this was one of those games it was going to win no matter who was behind center.

Well, sorry, Rich...I love your work, but I have to call BS on that one. I never got that feeling you talk about. In fact, you yourself picked OU to win in your weekly CFN staff picks. Unfortunately, we'll never know. For the second straight game in Lubbock, OU cruelly had a win taken from them. The first time, it was through the sad ineptitude of the Big 12 officials both on and off the field. Indeed, there were moments on Saturday night where I was convinced that after last week's tirade on the part of Tech coach Mike Leach, the squeaky wheel was definitely getting the grease. Tech's line held like they had $1,000 bills in their hands, yet they had only one holding penalty called on them that I saw before I turned the game off in the third quarter. In one stretch, I saw obvious holding on three straight plays, and still nothing. Through the entire first half, Tech had one penalty called on them IN TOTAL, a five-yard false start.

This second time, though, it was even worse. We not only had our win taken away, but it was taken away by God Himself. We'll never know if Tech would've won straight-up, because our best playmaker was taken from us with no chance to show anything. He didn't play beyond the OU's second offensive series! Can you seriously argue that the game was legit? Do you really, truly believe that Tech would've won if there had been no such injury for OU? Was it that much of a slam dunk? Don't go around trying to tell me Texas Tech was "the better team"...OU was missing some key starters most of the way. Given the way that OU's offense slammed the door on Tech's "prolific offense" (Tech scored only 1 touchdown the entire second half, and that was a mere 2-1/2 minutes into the half), things would probably have been much different if Bradford has been healthy for the entire game. Again, we'll never know, and so making ridiculous pronouncements about how well Tech did or how poorly OU did are meaningless at this point. Any team that loses a player as critical as the starting quarterback, unless the guy behind him is just a miracle worker, is probably going to have a VERY rough time. It's happened before...look at Jason White coming off the bench for Nate Hybl in the 2001 Texas game, or Jamelle Holieway breaking in and leading OU to a national championship in 1985 after Troy Aikman broke his leg early in the year. But Joey Halzle is no Jason White or Jamelle Holieway.

And so, no preordained chance to play for a national championship for you, Oklahoma...more mediocrity, perhaps another crappy BCS bowl with nothing at stake but lots of money and the chance to perform another pratfall on national TV. WE PLAY FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS AT OU! We don't care whether the payoff we get is $1 or $10,000,000; we sure don't end up seeing any of that money, because the Athletic Department still calls us for donations every year. So if it ain't for a national championship, we'll watch and we'll cheer, but we really could care less because it means nothing. Stoops has already become the first coach to complete the BCS Grand Slam (i.e., playing in every one of the BCS bowls, including the championship).

Take last year's Fiesta Bowl against Boise State. I still maintain that was the ultimate lose-lose situation for OU, and ultimately it was EXACTLY that. A handjob for wimpy little schools that believe they deserve a place at the big-boy table merely because they happen to have a Division I designation and have 100 football players, at the expense of a storied program (that just happened to be OU). Congratulations...and where are you all this year, again? Your poster boys are all gone, with no one really blowing up anyone's skirts this year. Hawaii? A joke of a schedule makes them a long shot. Boise State (again)? Eh. TCU? They gave up the ghost early on and no one even talks about them now. Who's left? If we have to take our medicine, then so do you. Win like OU does with a REALISTIC chance to get to the national championship game every year, THEN pop off.

And on that topic, congratulations to Texas Tech. You're still 5th in the Big 12, so enjoy that nice meaningless trip to the Alamo Bowl. You're now 4-4 in Big 12 play...nicely done. And congrats to Messrs. Harrell and Crabtree, products of a system that looks great and puts up big numbers but never seems to really get the job done. You've played your bowl game, boys...now got sit back down and eat your veggies and let me know how it looks next year when OU kicks the s*** out of you. Come next season, EXPECT NO QUARTER. There will be no one to turn to when we pound your pitiful butts into the turf at Owen Field.

I do extend heartfelt sorrow to Oregon and its fans, and would have done so regardless of the outcome of Saturday night's game. You guys have an amazing quarterback, and even though I cheered for you to lose, it's obvious you have a great player there and it's always tough to see that happen to anyone. He pouted at first, but in the second half he really showed some great heart, cheering and encouraging his teammates from the sidelines. Kudos (but don't think this gets you off The List).

There's no bitterness here...really, I'm serious. Thanks for reading along.