Some Words For This Week

(DISCLAIMER: This blog post will be entirely about college football. Mostly OU football, and some general college football. So if you're not interested in these subjects, thanks for stopping by and feel free to come back another time.)

Like nearly everyone outside of OU's locker room, I was not expecting to see that game. I was expecting the 48-44 game. Oh sure, I hoped to see the game we saw...perhaps even dreamed of seeing the game we saw. But expected? No way. It was the best crowd I've seen at Owen Field since the 2000 masterpiece between OU and Nebraska, and that's only because I was at that game. It was also the most complete, most dominating effort I've seen out of OU since...well, since OU beat Florida State in the 2001 Orange Bowl to capture their 7th National Championship.

So all that being said, a few thoughts from last week's trouncing of Texas Tech by my Sooners, and this week's game against OSU:

What the H-E-double-hockeysticks is a personal foul for "hitting a defenseless receiver"? This mysterious call came when Nic Harris put a clean-but-solid lick on a Tech receiver and dislodged the ball late in the game. I've been watching football at all levels for as long as I can remember. I also happen to be something of a rules fanatic when it comes to sports, and especially sports I love. I regularly explain rule interpretations to fans around me when I am at games, or to my friends and family when I'm watching with them. I know aspects of the rule books for baseball, golf, and football that guys who've been playing or calling those sports since before I was born don't know. I've seen plays identical to that one countless times over the course of my football-watching life, and I don't ever remember seeing a call like that. Ever. NEVER EVER. So to see call I've never seen or heard of pulled out, a suspect judgment call in a highly-emotionally-charged game, made me angry.

I know how to officiate. I'm not necessarily better (or worse) than other officials. I also know how officials think. I know that officials are guys who prefer games to be honest and fair. Officials (myself included) hate to see games get out of hand to the point of ridiculousness. So I know what that referee was thinking when he saw that clean-but-solid hit delivered by Harris. He saw gratuitous effort and enthusiasm, to the point of unsportsmanlike behavior. However, as an official you are also taught to A) be consistent, and B) officiate "situationally". Everyone in the place knew that OU needed style points in this win. Everyone knew that the crowd and the team were the most hyped-up they've ever been. And as I said, I've never seen that call made in 30 years of watching football. So I can't agree because the official failed the test on both points A and B above: it's not consistent to make a call that has never been made on similar plays, nor to make that call given the situation.

OU will have a big, tough test this week. It's an important game. I want OU to win, and win as big as possible. I happen to believe that OU will win this one by at least 7-14 points. But can we lay off the talk that "Bedlam" is some kind of awesome rivalry and belongs among the greatest in sports? The OU-OSU rivalry game has NEVER meant as much to OU fans and players as it does to OSU fans and players, and it NEVER will. It doesn't matter if you whine and cry to get the game played on Thanksgiving. It doesn't matter if your team is good or not. OU wants to win every game it plays, because OU has championship dreams, not dreams of having its first 10-win season EVER. (Seriously, if OSU happens to win on Saturday, it would be the first time they've won 10 games in a season. It's a shame for them the same can't be said for losses...see the 1991 season record here.) Check out the record of this "rivalry"...OSU would need to win the next 63 straight OU-OSU games to bring the series to even. Ask every OSU fan who their traditional rivals are, and you will get a solitary answer from every fan: OU, and there would be no others. Ask any OU fan who they believe their traditional rivals are, and you'll get two answers: Texas and Nebraska. OSU might come in a distant third...maybe. How can you have a rivalry when the series record is so one-sided, and when only one side actually gives a crap about it?

This being a traditional rivalry week, I've seen two different rankings by two different folks that ranks college football's traditional rivalries. The so-called Bedlam series is nowhere to be found on either list. In fact, on one of the lists, it ranks the top 15 rivalries, and STILL there is no "Bedlam" on the list. What's that tell you?

So sorry, Pokes fans. This week's game is a big game, but there is no special meaning to me. I want OU to pound you into the ground...but not because they're playing OSU. I want OU to pound every team they play into the ground. If OSU fans would ever take football seriously and look at championship rather than just "beat OU" every year, perhaps they'd actually be worthy of regular respect. Win or lose this week, I will feel the same way, and I will feel much like I did after the elections...glad that everyone will shut up about how "big a rivalry" this is.

How pathetically desperate do those Texas fans look? 45-35 signs everywhere? Flying a freaking plane with the OU-Texas score over this week's game in Stillwater?? Why not do what you can to make yourselves look even more classless and idiotic than you already do? So on that note, here are a few jokes we came up with last night during the Texas-Texas A&M game:

What's 45-35? The IQ range of the average Texas fan. (My uncle Glen came up with this one.)

What's 45-35? The average SAT score for a student at UT.

What's 45-35? How long Texas fans will be crying when OU beats OSU and ends up in the Big 12 Championship against Missouri.

What's 45-35? The number of seconds the average college football fan will take to decide that OU is better than Texas.

What's 45-35? The average margin-of-victory range of OU over the teams it's played this year.

Since the Texas people want us all to fixate on scores, let's look at some other scores:

Texas 45, Baylor 21, in Austin. -- OU 49, Baylor 17, at Baylor.
Texas 49, Texas A&M 9, at Austin. -- OU 66, Texas A&M 28, in College Station.
Texas Tech 39, Texas 33, at Lubbock. -- OU 65, Texas Tech 21, in Norman.
Texas 28, OSU 24, at Austin. -- OU ??, OSU ??, in Stillwater.

Oh, and Texas' best road win was against now 6-5 Kansas on Nov. 15th, 35-7.

What happens if OU beats OSU, in Stillwater in what is OSU's most important and coveted game every year, with OSU having two weeks to prepare, by 14 or more? What say you then? How good will that 45-35 from a month and a half ago look then?

And if OU wins, then goes on to blow out Missouri in the Big 12 Championship on a neutral field? Will you still doubt then?

Sure, OU still has to do all this. But they are fully capable. They are focused and humming, I mean REALLY humming, for the first time in a long time. How could you not see the Texas Tech game and believe it's possible? My honest opinion? I think this is OU's year. I think that since the loss to Texas, they are a completely different team, especially on defense. I think Brent Venables has his groove back. I think OU is ready to do what they have failed to do in their last two attempts: win the BCS Championship game. Everything is going the right way. I am concerned, sure. But for some reason, this year just feels differently than those other years. Give us anyone you want. Give us Texas again. Give us Florida. Give us Alabama. Give us Penn State (there's some precedent there, eh?). I think OU does it this year.

Thanks for reading along.