Ten Things I think you think I think about the Fiesta Bowl

1. First of all, I'm relieved the Sooners won. I thought the Sooners got a no-win bowl assignment. Win, and you were expected to. Lose, and it's "Here we go again...". Obviously, winning and being taken for granted is better than the alternative.
2. The Sooners had last won a game in the state of Arizona on Christmas Day, 1976, when they defeated Wyoming 41-7. Since then, they'd lost in 1983 Fiesta Bowl, a 1989 trip to Tucson to play Arizona (first loss of Gary Gibbs HC career), 1994 Copper Bowl (Gary Gibbs last game as HC), 2007 Fiesta Bowl and 2008 Fiesta Bowl.
3. The Sooners did NOT get the "can't win a bowl game" monkey off their back. They played an inferior opponent. Their opponent was 3-4 at one point in the season, and lost to Michigan, Temple, Rutgers and Louisville. Furthermore, their coach was apparently poised to leave for Maryland.
4. One of my thoughts earlier this year, when the Sooners were playing poorly, is that I didn't want them to win the Big 12 championship and end up getting drilled in a BCS bowl game. I still believe the Sooners don't match up well against the SEC, Big 10, Pac 10 or Mountain West champions this year. Had we played any of those, I think we would have lost. Sorry, I just can't look through the crimson colored glasses and declare victory on those prospective contests this year.
5. I am very thankful that ESPN now carries the BCS series. Their coverage is INFINITELY better than the teams that Fox mashes together. The camera work is better, and the personnel are better (even Matt Millen is an improvement over Charles Johnson). I was initailly exasperated that they didn't know anything about Ronnell Lewis' injury, but later they showed why. Fox would have been too busy showing band shots to ever figure it out. I'm praying for a full recovery for Lewis. Reports on Sunday say he should recover, but it's always scary to see someone strapped to one of those boards.
6. I was concerned that UConn's football team would take out the frustration of the women's basketball team losing their win streak on the Sooners. Fortunately, we were able to avoid that.
7. I continue to have a love-hate relationship with Landry Jones. He's maddeningly erratic. Not consistently erratic, but manages to make really bad throws at the worst times it seems. Yes, I'm aware he threw for 429 yards. He gets more reps than anyone. For the year, Landry's 7.6 yards per attempt ranked him 33rd in the country, right behind Baylor's Robert Griffin III and Ohio's Boo Jackson. Landry threw 617 passes this year. Think of any chuck and duck offense you can in college football. June Jones SMU squad? Kyle Padron threw 508 passes. Brandon Weeden executing Dana Holgorson's pass happy offense? 511 passes. Hawaii? Their QB, Bryant Moniz, threw 62 fewer passes.
8. Cameron Kenney really came on at the end of the year. Kenney finished his two year career in Norman with 55 catches for 812 yards. 19 of those catches and 360 yards came in the last three games of his career.
9. The Sooners KR team continues to suck. I reallly don't think it's been the same since Jonathan Hayes left after the 2002 season to coach TEs for the Cincinnati Bengals.
10. Ryan Broyles had a special season. The 1622 receiving yards he tallied this season would have been the 11th best CAREER  in Sooner history. The 131 receptions this year would be the 10th best career total, as would the 14 TDs. That being said, the one salient point Matt Millen made last night was that Ryan hasn't shown top level speed, and the LB chasing him down on the punt was evidence of that. Hopefully he'll come back for a senior year and work on that, but I can't begrudge a guy for chasing the money, if it's available.

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I will dominate.

Murray, Granger out for BCSNCG

Well, that's a bummer. DeMarco Murray is out with a ruptured hamstring, now this.

With the travel industry already ailing, the chances of Granger riding a bus back from Miami, FL to Norman just got a little smaller after DeMarcus had back surgery.

A quick review of the Sooner roster indicated there are no more Demarci on the roster to be ruled out tomorrow, so it should be a quite news day.

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Random Draft Thought for the Day

One of my less-pleasing experiences was watching the 2005 Orange Bowl, where the Men of Troy opened up a full refrigerator of whoop-*** on my Sooners. A friend called me up at halftime of that game pretending to be a fund raiser for SC, offering to call off the dogs if I'd donate to SC. It was such a butt kicking I actually though the call was funny.
Today, I spent a few minutes doing some research of drafts of players from each school. My research is imprecise, because I didn't track each of these kids back to the OB roster, but here's the NFL draft for OU and USC since:

Round 1 Picks - USC 8, OU 4
Round 2 Picks - USC 11, OU 6
Round 3 Picks - USC 2, OU 5
Round 4 Picks - 1 each
Round 5 Picks - USC 4, OU 3
Round 6 Picks - USC 1, OU 2
Round 7 Picks - USC 2, OU 2
Total picks - USC 31, OU 23

I'm not sayin' the 8 pick difference would lead to a 36 point margin of victory - let's not forget the Sooners made a valiant comeback in the 4th quarter to close the gap - but I think we could say the Trojans were more talented.

Now back to work.

You Don't have to outrun the bear...

Congrats to Cliburn, who won the prestigous LandThieves bracket of the Bowl Pick 'em game at espn.com. The prize for such a feat is knowing you beat the largest field in LandTheives contest history. He beat a prestigious field to take the title. I'll be searching for a rematch in March for the NCAA playoffs. And if i ever get around to finishing t-shirts, those will be at stake, too.

To Fans of the Big 10 Conference and College Football, Part Two

My dearest fans,

Many of you have inquired about my thoughts regarding last night's "Championship" game between The Ohio State University and the Louisiana State University for Remedial Learners. Many wanted an update from my previous letter. There has been quite a bit written today about LSU's dominance on the floor of the Superdome last night. In response to these commentaries, I still believe it is premature for us to lower our admission standards. For example, many people saw this picture in their local paper today.

While many see this picture as an LSU player celebrating for the photographers, I believe this "athlete-student" is asking an Ohio State student-athlete to read the paper's headline to him. Clearly this troubled, underprivileged youth is reaching out to the Buckeye football team to help him with his illiteracy.

We here at the Big 10 Conference will continue to hold our universities to the highest of academic standards, so that each year we might help another foe read a newspaper proclaiming them national champion.

Making a difference one student at a time,

Jim Delaney

Ray Gundy's Blackberry

searching text messages across the globe, I was able to locate this message. More info on Pistols Firing!

Couple More West Virginia Items

Congrats to Bill Stewart and WV for promoting from within. Stewart certainly looked more than capable last night, though big time donor Ken Kendrick has his doubts. West By God Virginia is optimistic, but appears to have some doubts. It's a little natural to be a bit reserved on the unproven assistant getting a promotion thing.


Second, here's an interesting item on the RR lawsuit. I've been following that with a little bit of morbid fascination and haven't commented on it. I'm rooting hard for WV to win this. I think if the coaches - whether it's RR or our own HeadVisor - want the security of the multi-million dollar long term deal, millions more thrown into facilities, free tix for coaches and books for kids so that every obstacle is paved over so they can recruit, the coaches need to abide by their end of the deal also.

Now back to work.

At Least we beat 'em in Basketball...

First of all, congrats to the Mountaineers. They played the better game tonight and there was no question about the outcome.

On to various thoughts I had during the game.

• If I never saw another Prison Break preview, I would be fine.
• The sideline reporter was wearing WVU colors, which I thought was a nice touch.
• Fox is awful doing college sports. The teams in the booth have no chemistry. There should be some sort of requirement of the BCS broadcasters that they use teams that have worked together throughout the season. I'd never heard of the dude doing play-by-play. I've seen Donahue do studio work. Pat Haden, lackey for NDBC, hadn't seen that much offense all year.
• OU has an All-American left guard, Duke Robinson, flanked by a 350 pound mountain named Phil Loadholt. We ran right ALL NIGHT. I don't know who is on that side of the 'eer defense, or if they were just loading up that side to force us to the right, but it worked.
• The onside kick was not a good call. Completely killed the momentum...we'd had two three and outs defensively to start the half. WVU's onside recovery not only recovered the ball, but it recovered the momentum and OU never got it back.
• I've begun to despise two point conversions. I disagreed with both choices.
• The Sooners alloweed 349 yard rushing. 8.9 yards per carry. Even if you take out the 4TD runs totalling 169 yards, the 'eers gained 4 per carry on the other 35 runs.
• The Sooners have now lost four straight BCS games.
• Stoops teams just don't play the favorite that well. I don't know why, but if the opposition says something to disprespect the Sooners, or if the foes higher ranked, Stoops can work with that. But an underdog that keeps their mouth shut seems to end up with the advantate.
• I thought Brody Eldridge made a phenomenal catch, but it didn't matter.
• The Sooners had 13 penalties for 115 yards. That's unbelieavable. Several of the penalties negated positive plays. I'd love to say the refs jobbed us, but there were at least two blatant holding calls that the stripes missed.
• Quentin Chaney played well tonight, subbing for an injured Malcolm Kelly.
• I thought Devine's two TD scampers were where I saw the impact most clearly of an injured Reggie Smith and an ineligible Lendy Holmes. Both times DBs overran the play and allowed Devine to cut back for scores. That young man is talented, you don't need to help him out like that.
• As poorly as the Sooners played in the first half, I thought they were in good shape to be down ONLY 20-6 at half. I thought it could have easily been more than that. And it was later.
• The Sooners are 1-3 at the Fiesta Bowl, with their last victory coming in 1976. Old timers will remember the loss in 82 to the Sun Devils. Marcus Dupree was running wild until he pulled a hamstring/blew a tire.
• The Sooners have been notoriously slow starters in bowl games of late. The last time the Sooners led at halftime of a bowl game was 2002 at the Rose Bowl against Washington State.

Fiesta Bowl Limerick

DeMarcus got a bus ride home
‘Cause he ventured out of a dome
Dude needed a coat
For less than a c-note
He’s going where Greyhounds roam

Sugar Bowl Limerick

The undefeated Rainbows
Weren't invited to the Rose
Some folks think that's bad
But I'm kinda glad.
They haven't played many good foes.

Rose Bowl Limerick

Illini travel to the Rose
Trojans will win, everyone knows
John David Booty
Has QB duty
by the fourth quarter, you will dose

Capital One Bowl Limerick

the last game coached by Lloyd Carr
Is the start for Double R
The Florida Gators
Win sooner than later
Tim Tebow will be the star.

Gator Bowl Limerick

Red Raider QB Harrell
Doesn't look like Steve Carrell
In the bowl near the sea
He'll pass through the Cavs D
Like shooting fish in a barrell

Cotton Bowl Limerick

The Tale of Darren McFadden
Starts with a wish from Aladdin
A new Escalade
From wishes he made
Now there's a genie in Madden

Outback Bowl Limerick

Vols travel to Tampa-St Pete
It's there the Badgers they'll meet.
The Outback Bowl game
Was called Hall of Fame
The 10 am start can't be beat.

Granger tries to raise money for WV Athletics

by Joe Huff, Senior Editor
Oklahoma City, OK (LTP) - A contrite DeMarcus Granger issued a statement today through his press agent, Jamelle Holieway, regarding his arrest for allegedly stealing a coat from the Burlington Coat Factory. As a result of various Fiesta bowl events that both teams partcipate in, he felt a special camaraderie with the West Virginia team. After reading reports on espn.com that WV would have to pay upwards of $1 million for tickets not purchased by Mountaineer fans, the Dallas, Texas native decided to take matters in his own hands.

“Being from Texas and playing football, stealing stuff is second nature. I just felt like doing this for a good cause.” As to why he would remove the anti-theft device from the coat and then walk out of the store WITH the anti-theft device in a bag, Granger said, “We go over this sort of things in drills all the time. With the practices leading up to the bowl game, though, the coaches give a lot of reps to the younger players and as a result I got sloppy with my technique. If I get back on the team in spring, I should be able to work through it and be ready for the offseason.”

Chick-Fil-A Bowl Limerick

Auburn's coached by Tuberville
If he gets to leave, he will
This bowl sells chicken
That's not finger lickin'
Who wins? I think the Tigers will

Insight Bowl Limerick

Travel to Tempe with Boone
Go north and you'll see a sand dune
Hoosiers play the Pokes
The team's full of chokes
They'll be losing the game real soon.