Sunday, November 27, 2011

Ten Things I think you think I think

  1. First of all, I was disappointed in the turnout in Norman for Senior Day. This was a great senior class that deserved a full house and a standing ovation. The class includes, but is not limited to:
    1. Travis Lewis - Travis finished the game as tied for the fourth leading tackler in Sooner history (and should pass Rocky Calmus in the next two games). Had he not had a broken foot this year, he easily would have made it to number three trailing only Jackie Shippp and Daryl Hunt
    2. Jimmy Stevens - the diminutive Stevens, who Drew Allen claims was an Oompa Loompa is one of the more prolific kickers in OU history. Stevens is the second most accurate FG kicker in Sooner history, and fourth highest scoring kicker.
    3. Austin Box - Austin Box's parents were out there with Austin's jersey. There shoulda been more people there to see that. Touching moment.
    4. Corey Wilson - Corey was paralyzed from the waist down in an auto accident. I enjoyed seeing him out there as well, and pray a miracle occurs in his rehabilitation.
    5. Ryan Broyles - Broyles knee injury prevented him from completely rewriting the Sooner record receiving book and much of the NCAA receiving book. Ryan, we wish you a speedy recovery and a successful NFL career.
    6. Frank Alexander - Alexander has been a beast during his career as a defensive end. Plus, he follows me on twitter.
  2. The wind, persistent sprinkles and temperature made for a miserable environment at Owen Field. But I was glad I was there to see the aforementioned gents off to their future endeavors.
  3. Just saw the College Gameday commerical with Corso and Herbie driving the Schooner. Love it. Don't know how long that's been out.
  4. JaMarkus McFarland's clip cost Travis Lewis a pick six on Senior Day. Bummed for Travis. The return indicated his foot injury still bothers him. He would've easily scored, and clip would not have been an issue.
  5. Mike Sherman's Aggies have won 25 games in his first four seasons. With a bowl win, he will get to 26. Coach Fran got 25 his first four, and 28 in his final four seasons. RC Slocum's lowest four season total: 34. 
  6. Texas Tech fired Mike Leach to give the program a new direction. Well, they won only five games this year. First time the win total's been that low since 1988. Tuberville was going to bring a defensive mentality to Lubbock. They allowed 472 points this year. Tuberville has 13 victories in his first two seasons. Leach had 14, then followed that up with 8 seasons of 8 wins or more. I don't see Tubs duplicating that feat.
  7. Baylor and Vanderbilt both have 6 or more wins this year. First time since 1974, and only the second time in the last sixty years. If either wins another game (bowl or BU's regular season finale against Texas), it'll be the first time they've combined for 15 or more wins since 1935.
  8. Some published reports last week indicated the defense lost the Baylor game, that Landry Jones had a good game. I beg to differ. One of the ways you put pressure on Baylor's offense is to force them to score TD's. That's what OSU did, and what A&M did. There were three teams this year (so far) to score ten points or less in a half against Baylor. The list:
    1. Kansas scored seven in the second half (they picked up another six in OT)
    2. Stephen F. Austin, an FBS team was shutout in both halves.
    3. Oklahoma in the first half last weekend.
  9. I keep hearing that Andrew Luck should be a Heisman finalist. Why? If you compare him to Weeden and RG3, he's got  a lower QB rating, fewer yards, one more TD, lower yards per attempt. Only thing he has is a better marketing campaign and higher NFL prospects. It's not about NFL prospects.
  10. The discussion on the internet is whether Alabama should play LSU or should Oklahoma State in the BCS championship game. I hope the Sooners take care of that question next weekend in Stillwater. but I'm not optimistic.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

10 Things I don't think you think I think about loss to Baylor

  1. When Baylor hired Art Briles as their head coach. I told several Baylor alums they would beat OU while he was head coach. This prediction was much more accurate than my high school bewilderment about why Troy Aikman was considered an elite quarterback at Henryetta High.
  2. In the past two days I told two Baylor alums they could win this game. They didn't believe me. They will probably gloat anyway tomorrow. On to the game...
  3. Worst thing: Bob Stoops timeout call after Baylor is folding up to go to OT. We hadn't stopped them all night. I had tweeted that I thought we scored too early. 
  4. We held Baylor to a three and out THREE times prior to this point.We had allowed 7 plays of more than 20 yards.
  5. Second worst thing: going for it on 4th and 14 with 10 minutes left in the game. I would have taken my chances with Hunicutt from 42 yards.
  6. Third worst thing: going for two trailing one with a minute left. I was ag'in it. Ended up not mattering.
  7. Landry's pick on a throw to James Hanna was just a horrible throw. Not as bad as the double clutch off his back foot into quadruple coverage late in the game, but close. 
  8. Worst DB performance of the year: Gabe Lynn against TT or Javon Harris against Baylor? Discuss.
  9. If you want to lose a game:
    1. give up 600 yards
    2. Go -3 in turnover margin
    3. Have 9 penalties for 90 yards
    4. I have hunch no one has ever accomplished those three feats and won the ball game. 
  10. RG3 passed for more yards tonight (479) than in any other game this year.  Previous highs of 430 and 425 were in losses to Cash Machine U and Boone State, respectively.
  11. John Blake never lost to Baylor. I don't want him back. But I had to say it.
  12. I guess we've solved my concern over playing LSU in New Orleans for the NCG. I didn't think we were a top team this year. This game proved it.Congrats to the Baylor Bears.

10 Things I think after OSU's loss to Iowa State

  1. I don't really think this loss hurts our BCS title game chances. Reasons why:
  2. Well, I don't think they have a chance at the title game.
  3. First, OU has to beat two top 25 teams on the road, plus beat a respectable Iowa State team at home before this is even an issue. Iowa State beat Texas Tech in Lubbock by 34 the week after the Red Raiders upset OU in Norman.
  4. Second, OU has BY FAR the weakest loss of any of the one loss teams.The one loss teams and their losses
    1. Alabama - in OT against LSU
    2. Oregon - neutral field against LSU
    3. Arkansas - against Bama
    4. Clemson - lost to 7-3 Georgia Tech
    5. Virginia Tech - lost by 20 at home to Clemson
    6. Stanford - lost to Oregon
    7. Boise - lost to 8-2 TCU by one point.
    8. Oklahoma - lost to 5-5 Texas Tech. Tech's only win in their past six games was against OU. Texas Tech's points allowed in their last 6 games: 45, 41, 38, 41, 52, 66
  5. Clay Travis does a great job of breaking this down, but basically one LSU loss in the next three games will not disqualify them from the BCS title game. I think this is even more true after OSU's loss to the Cyclones last night.
  6. If you believe that, and I do, then OU needs at least two of the following things to happen in the next three weeks (I've ordered in :
    1. Alabama to lose at Auburn. Nick Saban coached LSU/Bama teams are 1-4 at Auburn.
    2. Oregon to lose to one of the following (I've placed in order of likelihood)
      1. at home against Southern Cal this evening
      2. at home against intrastate rival (but 2-8) Oregon State
      3. in Pac 12 Title game against Arizona State or UCLA.
    3. Arkansas and Georgia beat LSU. You would also need Arkansas to not jump ahead of OU after this victory.
  7. Reasons all this could happen, or we could get there anyway:
  8. Stoops is 28-2 against the three teams left on our schedule.
  9. Human polls could decide that a rematch of the following games is not desirable. 
    1. LSU-Arkansas
    2. Arkansas-Alabama
    3. Oregon-LSU
  10. One of the things I dread is ending up playing LSU in New Orleans for the title. 
    1. I think the defense is just too good. 
    2. Broyles is out
    3. Our defense keeps getting nicked.
    4. Les Miles is the only coach to play three or more games against Stoops and have a non-losing record against Stoops.
    5. Mike Stoops still isn't our defensive coordinator.

Friday, November 11, 2011

11 Things I think you think I think about Sandusky situation


  1. I read the 23 page grand jury document. It’s revolting. Actually I didn’t read all 23 pages. I had to skip some paragraphs due to their nature. 
  2. My heart grieves for the children – many who are now adults - who were abused by Sandusky. I pray they somehow find peace. 
  3. I think Joe Paterno had to be relieved of his duties. I think it’s impossible to gracefully fire someone in that situation. The man had served the university for 60 years. He did a lot of good things and had a wonderful impact on many people. The man’s not perfect (only one was). I doubt this was his only mistake, but it was most likely his most egregious one. Put yourself in the PSU Board’s shoes: 
  4. You’ve got a long term employee and a beloved public figure. Some have contended for a few years that his time is past. But ignore that piece. Focus on the beloved and faithful employee. 
  5.  You find out that at least 9 years ago – and probably 13 - he found out about a legal issue. He didn’t do the right thing. As an enabler, he enabled a continued cycle of sexual abuse for years to come. His inaction in his role led to tens of millions of dollars of potential exposure to the institution. 
  6. You just cannot ignore the inaction that exposed your organization to millions of dollars of losses. Factor in the child sexual abuse that was enabled, and you cannot have a big going away party for the guy with 100,000 of his closest friends on Saturday. You have to pull the plug. 
  7. My thoughts regarding McQueary’s role in this are confused. A quick story about myself: When I was 28 years old (17 years ago) I was working a new job as an accountant. The company had recently gone public. My wife of 1 year and I had just poured every cent we had into a down payment on a modest suburban home. We had no cash left. No financial reserves. After a few months, I realized the company was misstating their financial position. Now, the ethical thing to do is to report the malfeasance, right? Well, let’s throw some other dynamics in there. As I said, I was cash poor. The auditing firm, who would get sued if the financial misstatement were uncovered, was my former employer. If I go all whistleblower on everyone, my concern was that I would never get a job in accounting again. Whistleblowers don’t have good job prospects going forward. What did I do. I talked to the General counsel of the company. He blew me off. I found a job and was out the door in less than a month. I did not take my beef to the SEC. In hindsight, I chickened out.  The company collapsed under the weight of its financial problems 2 years later. 
  8.  So, how does this relate to McQueary. He’s 28 years old, as a graduate assistant at his alma mater and where he grew up. Sandusky was the d-coordinator when McQueary was QB. So, McQ’s trying to climb the coaching ladder, making no money as a GA and he catches Sandusky in the shower with a kid. He probably figures if he takes this too far he loses his job, potentially his career. We can all say he would have been a hero, and that’s true. But sometimes heroes die. Or their careers take seismic career shifts. In our nature, we seek self preservation. It is only through self discipline or deference to a higher power that we look out for others. It took some level of courage to even tell Paterno. Yes, he should have done more. But I understand at some level the conflicting emotions that McQueary went through. I can tell you I had many sleepless nights as I went through my comparatively simple issue, and I would imagine he’s had a few as well. 
  9.  The Penn State fans who are angry at the Board of Trustees are just making themselves and their university look stupid. You have to get rid of the President and the Coach for what they knew and didn’t do. 1989 was the year of rapin’ dopin’ shootin’ at OU, as well as NCAA investigation, I had just moved to Texas the previous year. I was embarrassed to be a Sooner grad. I had busted my butt at college to get a diploma and then some student-athletes, who lacked proper moral leadership from their coach, made some pretty idiotic decisions. As a Sooner expatriate in Texas, it was frustrating. Penn State fans, I can assure you, the “us against the world/media/board of trustees” mindset is just silly. You’ve lost perspective at that point. Kids were sexually assaulted. This was identified several times. You should be humbled, not defiant.  If you're one of those kids that was assaulted, or parent of that kid, what's going through your mind as you watch hundreds of people deify a man who enabled a monster?
  10.  ESPN’s coverage of this was absolutely awful. It’s like they were the apologist for Penn State from the beginning. Twisting the coverage to “did PSU Board of Trustees do the right thing by firing Joe by phone” and "it was only a few students rioting" bit is insulting. They had no presence on site. 
  11.  The rush to judgment on this is appalling. We’ve all failed somewhere along the way. Some of us fail in socially acceptable ways, some don’t. Let’s let the facts come out in a normal course of legal proceedings.The rumor mill is not going to solve things.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Landry Jones October season

Landry Jones threw for 2,072 yards in October, completing 148 of 233 passes for 21 TDs, and an NCAA efficiency rating of 163.7. If that month were a season, here’s where it would rank in the OU passing records:
 
  • Yards – 13th, just ahead of Rhett Bomar’s freshman season and just behind Cale Gundy’s senior season
  • Completions and Attempts – 16th, just ahead of Cale Gundy’s junior season
  • TDs – 11th, just ahead of Josh Heupel’s national championship senior season
  • Efficiency rating – 3rd, beating out Jason White’s Heisman campaign and trailing Sam Bradford’s two healthy seasons as a starter. 
This during a month where a QB that used to struggle away from Norman played three of the five games outside of the state.

Also during the month, Landry managed to overtake current Sooner coaches and former OU QBs Cale Gundy and Josh Heupel with most interceptions thrown in a career. Landry current has 35, and passed Cale's 32 and Josh's 31. 
With a good finish to this season, Landry could break the OU season passing yards record of 4,720 set by Sam Bradford in 2008. As a frame of reference to show you how far we've come as a passing school, in the three years of the Blake era, we passed for a combined 4,754 yards.

My, how times have changed.