Pickens puts OSU up for Sale

by Joe Huff, Business Editor

Stillwater, OK (LTP) - T. Boone Pickens, the noted investor, water and wind farmer, is running out of capital. Sources close to the University said that Pickens has approached the State of Oklahoma about buying the university back, but the State is not interested.

Pickens made approximately $89 million in the 80s courtesy of a exquisitely executed greenmail of Phillips Petroleum. He has reverted to this tried and true method of extracting money from others, but so far, there are no takers.

A spokesman for the State of Oklahoma said, “with the struggling economy, we just don’t have the funds available. In addition, there’s just not that many successful graduates of Oklahoma State, so it’s not adding much to the economy. We feel that private enterprise may come up with an alternative that adds more production to the state.

Pickens has sought bids from others, but there are few folks expressing interest. Persons familiar with the requests for bids indicate that the following institutions were sent packages:

• FEMA – with news channels desperately seeking to drive ratings, a new cottage industry has arisen from housing hurricane evacuees. FEMA is considering making the Stillwater campus a permanent relocation center for those seeking shelter from real or imagined hurricanes. Local residents are concerned the plan could increase literacy rates in the area and shatter the fragile education system in Payne County.
• Federal Bureau of Prisons – the Feds issued a prepared statement, “even though the improvements to Lewis Field were dramatic, we don’t believe the facilities at Oklahoma State would be up to our standards of inmate care. I’m not even sure it would make a good prison yard."
• Pawnee Tribe- in a touching bit of irony, the tribe did not offer any cash, but did propose an exchange of the land for whiskey and beads.

Our First Sponsor - Sort of

I drive by this sign occasionally. If I were ever to attend / endorse a spa, a Pizza Inn Salon and Spa would be my kind of spa.

In the interest of not losing my modest savings a la Darth Husker, let me disclose that the Pizza Inn storefront is on the other side of this retail location, and does not appear to be associated with the coming Salon and Spa (btw, terrible location for a salon and spa)

OU - TCU - 5 plays

A random thing I noted while thinking back over the game yesterday. The Sooners forced 4 TCU turnovers. The last one was inconsequential, with less than a minute to go in the game. The Sooners converted those three turnovers earlier in the game into 0 points. In fact, in each instance, the Frogs held OU to a three and out, with the Sooners netting 18 yards on the nine plays in those three possessions.

1. 1st qtr, 1st and 10 from the Sooner 24. An out and up by Iglesias results in the first Sooner score. Nice move by Iglesias and pump fake by Bradford.
2. On the ensuing kickoff, Lendy Holmes chases down Aaron Brown at the Sooner 15. The Sooner D stiffens, and holds TCU to a field goal.
3. 2nd Quarter TCU fumble on the Sooner 35. The turnover stopped an 11 play, 64 yard drive.
4. 2nd Qtr TCU goes on 4th down on 4th and 4 from the Sooner 42. Jeremy Kerley is sacked on a little trickeration that goes awry.
5. 4th and 4 from the Sooner 14, TCU goes for it. An Andy Dalton pass falls incomplete, and another TCU drive yields zero points.

Overall, TCU got the ball into OU territory 9 times, and came up with 10 points. The drives were field goal, punt, fumble, interception, turnover on downs, TD, turnover on downs, punt, interception.

Around the Big 12 Week 5

Texas beat Arkansas 52-10 – My Little Pony led the Horns in rushing again, ran for 2 TDs and threw for 3 TDs, while completing 17-19 passes. This exceeds the stats he had during the off week courtesy of Hurricane Ike. The Hogs were held to less than 200 yards, and their sole score was a fumble returned for touchdown.

Cash Machine U 21-17 over Army – The Aggies struggled offensively again, gaining only 290 yards and needing a defensive score as time expired in the first half to help pierce the 20 point barrier. McGee played well prior to leaving the game after re-injuring his shoulder.

Kansas State beats the Ragin Cajuns 45-37 - Willie and his merry band of men hung on after jumping out to a 28-10 halftime lead. The Ragin Cajuns gained 509 yards, averaging 6.6 yards per carry on 52 carries. Self proclaimed NFL draft pick Josh Freeman threw for 272 yards on 21-28 passing.

The Poor Man’s Texas Tech overwhelms Troy 55-24. Two Pokes rushed for over 100 yards, and Zach Robinson went 16-21 for 254 yards and 3 scores through the air. Troy was not able to recover from Josh Jarboe being ruled ineligible. Boone State is 4-0 for the first time in Coach Hair Gel’s tenure. The last time they were 4-0 was 2004, when Les Miles led them to a 5-0 start and a 2-5 finish, capped off by Les spending the trip in San Antonio negotiating with LSU.

Colorado lost to Florida State 39-21 - At this point, Cody Hawkins may be the worst QB in the Big 12. Not many people go 17-36 in today’s football games. The Buffs were unable to stop the Seminoles run game. Even though FSU’s QB is worse than Hawkins, they weren’t able to stop the run.

The Hokies beat the Bugeaters 35-30 in Lincoln. The Hokies haven’t lost on the road to a Big 12 opponent since 1991, when they lost to the Sooners in Norman. Never mind that the Big 12 didn’t exist then. The Hokies scored 35 points, with TD drives of 3, 33, and 80 yards. Mix in four FGs and a safety, and you have a victory. The Bugeaters were 2-11 on 3rd down, which was the difference in the game.

Lizards vs LandThieves - Q4

TCU ball at the Sooner 48 after a short punt, trailing 35-3. Brian Jackson deflects a pass for Jimmy Young at the Sooner 10. Two completions take it to the Sooner 16. Dalton is now keeping it on the zone read, after giving it to the back for the first two and a half quarters. First and goal at the one for the Frogs. TD Lizards. Sooners lead 35-10.

Demarco Murray returns the ball to the 30. Sooners still can’t run the ball. But keep trying. Dave Lapham just referred to Oklahoma State as a “poor man’s Texas Tech”. Boone State leads Troy 42-10. another 3 and out for the Sooners. Jermaine Gresham only has one catch tonight. A couple of series ago, Gresham was hit hard by a teammate and struggled off the field. TCU touches the punt and a scramble ensues, but TCU gets back on it.

Lizards ball on their 42. Dalton completes two passes and suddenly the Frogs are at the Sooner 29. The Sooners stuff two runs, and it’s 4th and 4 from the 32. Dalton scrambles, throws and it’s incomplete. The receiver got a foot in, but the ball came out when he landed. It’s under review, and Joel Meyers and Dave Lapham keep talking about the completion, how he came down with a foot inbounds. They don’t notice the ball came out when he hit the ground. The Fox announcers finally realized what I told my wife two minutes ago, and agree with the officials, who affirm the call on the field.

Sooners ball on the 32, leading 35-10 with 8:23 to go. Another failed running attempt, and the Sooners throw to Irving native Pooh Tonnell for a first down at midfield. A pass to the 38, then another negative running play. The lack of success AT ALL worries me. There will be a time somewhere along the way we’ll have to run the ball. On the other hand, TCU may be the best defense we see all year. Bradford has not thrown for 400+ yards. 4th and 7 and the Sooners are going for it. Time out Sooners. For the third time in a row, flipping over to ESPN to check out the Bama-Georgia game yields more commercials. There should be a law against this. Bama now leads 34-17. Back to the OU game, Bradford throws it way out of bounds.

Frog ball on their own 35, with 4:44 left, trailing 35-10. Two completions into Sooner territory. A sack by Adrian Taylor, and Dalton is down. It’s never a good sign when the player takes the helmet off. Hopefully he’s ok. Dalton ends up walking off the field, thankfully. Now playing for the Lizards, Marcus Jackson. 4th and 12 for TCU, and they line up to punt.

Sooner ball at the 18, leading 35-10 with 2:30 left. Halzle now at QB. Moses Madu runs for 5 yards, one of the longer runs for the Sooners tonight. Halzle takes a shot, and it’s punting time for the Sooners again. The punt return is taken to the Sooner 28.

TCU ball, with 48 seconds left on the Sooner 28. Marcus Jackson throws towards the middle of the field, across his body, and it’s intercepted by Travis Lewis.

One play should do it. Sooners win, 35-10/

TCU turned the ball over 4 times, but hung in there, particularly after the first quarter onslaught. The Sooners beat by far their toughest foe to date tonight.

Lizards vs LandThieves - Q3

Lizards ball at their 27, trailing 28-3. The Sooners spend too much effort trying to strip the ball, and Turner rushes for a first down on 2nd and 10. The Fox cameraman can’t figure out who has the ball. They apparently don’t have an alternate camera to show you what happened. I think Dalton ran for a yard. TCU runs a pick and trips themselves up, and it’s time to punt.

LandThieves ball at their own 16, leading 28-3. TV timeout. At the start of the night, I thought the Sooners would win, and probably end up ranked second if Georgia beat Bama. I figured a Dawg victory over Bama, which followed a road W over Arizona State, would vault Georgia back over the Sooners. Barring an epic recovery, that’s not happening. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Alabama picked up some votes. Back to the game. A pass to Johnson yields a first down, followed by a 2 yarder. Bradford rolls into a blitz, and it’s punting time again.

Lizards ball at their 45, trailing 28-3. Aside from Sanders slipping late in the first half, TCU has shut down the Sooners since they scored to take a 21-3 lead. Dalton slips throwing the ball. On 2nd and 10, Jimmy Young catches it, breaks a tackle, is out in the open, and trips over the 35 yard line. TCU ball at the Sooner 30, 1st and 10. Dalton actually gains yardage on the zone read, and its 1st and 10 on the 19. After a 6 yard run and a false start, Brian Jackson nearly picks off a Dalton effort into the right corner of the end zone. Dalton keeps it and TCU has 4th and 4 at the Sooners 13. A weakside blitz forces Dalton to throw a desperation pass, and it’s Sooner ball.

LandThieves ball at their own 13, leading 28-3. The Sooners still can’t run, but they finally convert a 3rd down. First one of those in awhile. 3rd and 3 for the Sooners, and a slip screen is a perfect counter to the all out Frog blitz. Manuel Johnson goes the distance for 63 yards, and the score’s 35-3 Sooners. Johnson has 203 yards and 3 TDs so far this evening. He’s been the only offensive weapon the Frogs haven’t contained.

Lizards are held on the return and only get to the 20.A completion for 13 gets TCU to the 33. The Frogs pick up another first down and now they’re near midfield. After two negative plays, Moore (who?) gets up and blocks Dalton’s pass. Punting time for the Lizards. Downed at the 13.

Sooners ball at the 13, leading 35-3. Two miserable attempts at running, courtesy of the quick Frog D, leads to a pass interference call that gets a first down at the 23. An odd 3rd and 11 running call gets 1 yard, and it’s punting time again. TCU is giving a clinic on how to stop the Sooner run game. The highly touted Sooner o-line just can’t open any holes against the Frogs, who are clearly selling out to stop the run. End of the 3rd quarter. Sooners 35, Frogs 3.

Lizards vs Landthieves - Q2

Start of 2nd quarter - A tipped ball - I mean thrown into Henderson’s helmet - is nearly intercepted on the deflection, and the Sooners are forced to punt. A great kick by Mike Knall goes out on the one.

TCU ball on their 1 – Dalton goes deep and its out of bounds. Shotgun snaps into the end zone seem risky. Another 3 and out for the Sooners. On their last three possessions, TCU has run eight plays for 13 yards and one turnover. Check that, the Lizards get a second chance, apparently a last second time out averted the third incompletion, and Dalton completes a pass to convert the 3rd and 10. TCU converts another 3rd down, converting a 3rd and 1 to maintain the ball. Getting their D a rest here is probably huge here. TCU continues to drive downfield. Turner’s 20 yard run is stopped by a forced fumble by the Sooners, and Lendy Holmes recovers his second fumble of the half.

OU ball on their own 35 – The Lizard lineman continue to run circles around the Sooner o-line on running plays…there’s just no room to run the ball. Pass blocking is working much better, but the Sooners are unable to recover from a holding penalty. Time to punt again. The Sooners have 15 carries for 28 yards at this point in the game. Even if you toss out the 12 yard sack on Bradford, 14 carries for 40 yards is not going to impress anyone either. A dribbled punt snap adds some excitement, but the punter gets it away.

Lizard ball on their own 37 – Dalton completes a nice pass to Jimmy Brown for 19 yards to convert the 3rd and 14. 1st and 10 from the Sooner 38. An incompletion and two yard run get to 3rd and 8 from the 36. Dalton throws under pressure, and Brian Jackson intercepts the floater; Sooner ball on their own 5.

Sooners ball at the OU 5. Two Murray rushes make it to the 13. Showing tremendous confidence in the running game, an incomplete pass on 3rd and 2 leads to another Sooner punt. The TCU defense is tightening up. 3 possessions in the second quarter for the Sooners and they have three and outs on each one. Bradford is 2-5 for 27 yards in the second quarter, and 3 rushes have yielded 13 yards.

Lizard ball at their 48 – Dalton runs for his life and averts the sack. 4th and 2 from the Sooners 44. Halfback pass is ont going well, the Sooners stop it for a 12 yard loss.

Sooner ball at TCU’s 42. Another holding call for the Sooners. After a run for Brown, a sack on Bradford, adding injury to insult, Bradford is tackled into Trent Williams and rolls over Williams ankle. This could be serious. Diverting to the Tide-Bulldog game for a moment, Bama is up 17-0 on Georgia. Williams is walking off under his own power, sort of. 4th time in a row, the Sooners go 3 and out.

TCU ball on their 6. 3rd and 10 for the Lizards. A blitz forces Dalton to bring the ball down and is sacked for a 2 yard loss. On the punt return, a STUPID block in the back takes the ball back from midfield into Sooner territory.

Sooner ball on their 41, with 1:20 left. After a 4 yard run and an incompletion, we’ve got 3rd and 6. The Frog defender (Sanders, I think) fell down, and Bradford completes another pass to Johnson at the TCU 38, who scampers the rest of the way in for the score.

TCU ball on the 20 – two runs up the middle and time expires.

Time to sneak in some Georgia - Alabama - except its not a contest. JP Wilson completes a bomb to Julio Jones as I flip over, and Alabama takes a 31-0 lead. The blackout was apparently in fact for the funeral for Georgia's title hopes.

Lizards vs Landthieves - Q1

The HeadThief stayed home this weekend from the game. I decided to forego the family counseling that would have arisen from me bailing out on the Coppell 8U softball contest and heading north. My daughter took ill yesterday, and I coulda went to the game anyway. That’s what I get for not being enthusiastic about staying to watch my daughter play.

Nonetheless, there are my thoughts while watching the Sooners – Horned Lizards game.

Sooners ball at their 26 - TCU’s defense is not a fluke. The d-line is really quick. Bradford just teamed up with Iglesias on a double move for a score. The TCU corners are playing very aggressive, and the eagerness to jump the route cost them a score.

Lizards ball on the OU 11- What can Brown do for you? Well he can run back kicks. Aaron Brown returns the Sooner kick back to the OU 11. Lendy Holmes, displayed his serious wheels by running Brown down from behind. The Sooner D held, and the Frogs kick a FG. Holmes efforts saves 4 points.

Sooners ball on their 20, leading 7-3 – I’m having Fiesta Bowl flashbacks watching the TCU linemen run around the Sooner o-line. The Frog D is really loading the box up to stop the run/pressure Bradford. The Fox coverage early has been awful. They’ve already missed one play courtesy of a replay, and the TCU misdirection completely fooled the Fox Sports cameraman, and they had no replay footage to show what happened on the play. Demarco Murray is special. He just has remarkable balance. Holy cow, how can you leave Murray that wide open. He goes about 30 yards to the 8 on a dump off. Looks like the Sooners got a break on the pass interference call. The TCU line is going to make it tough on the Sooner running game. Brown breaks through f or a TD for the Sooners.

Lizards ball on their 36, trailing 14-3– The kick coverage was able to hold TCU to the Lizard 36. Frogs get a couple of 1st downs then down the punt at the 4.

OU ball on their 4 - The Sooners were able to catch the Frogs a couple of times with 12 men on the field, which was the most effective play on the drive. A 3rd and 1 pass results in Bradford taking a shot, a tipped ball and the Sooners first punt.

Lizards ball on their 41 – The Sooners D asserted themselves on this series, forcing a 3 and out on three Dalton imcompletions. Twice the Sooners were able to get pressure on Dalton, forcing incomplete passes. Ouch! TCU gets called for kick catch interference. The Lizard defender got his money’s worth on Dominque Franks.

Sooners ball on their 29 – the Frogs continue to stuff the run. On 2nd and 10, the Sooners go long to Manuel Johnson, taking a 21-3 lead. With a minute left in the first quarter, Bradford is 8-13 for 199 yards and 2 TDs.

Lizards ball on their 29, trailing 21-3 – ouch. Nic Harris jars the ball loose from Jeremy Kerley, and Lendy Holmes recovers the ball at the TCU 44.

Sooners usually go deep here. They were trying to, but Phillips blitzes and sacks Bradford for a 12 yard loss. End of quarter.

More Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

After a nice six hour cold medicine induced sleep, I'm more concerned about the TCU game. For example, the wiz of odds links to this gentleman's predictions for the upcoming week. After devoting some column space of how the 08 Sooners are not the 05 Sooners, he proceeds to pick USC over Oregon State.

TCU beat Stanford. Who beat Oregon State. Who beat USC. I know the whole transitive logic thing can be ludicrous. You have to acknowledge that USC has demonstrated a weakness for losing to double digit underdogs. The Sooners have demonstrated the same weakness: see Colorado 07, TT 07, several bowl games, and 01 Boone State.

Many folks are spending a lot of time telling us how it's going to be different this year. And there are some differences: Sam Bradford as a sophomore is better than an unproven Paul Thompson / Rhett Bomar. The O-line wasn't as good (by the end of 05, many of the seniors playing today were playing). However, the Sooner D is relatively untested. Sure Jake Locker's a good player, but he had nothing complimenting him. Chattanooga is not even a good FCS team. Cincy moved the ball in the first half. The back seven is still green, and now Granger is injured. You could say it's performing better than expected, but did you really expect the defense to look bad against the three teams we played? I didn't think so.

I'll leave it up to the Head Visor to continue to defuse the spying talk...which is just ludicrous - Patterson has "admitted" to taping the televised spring game. He watched something that was essentially public domain. If TCU - or anyone else for that matter - sent a scout to watch a scrimmage or practice that is open to the public, is that spying? I thought spying involved something sneaky, and perhaps an infringement of rights or broken laws of some sort. The story as it was discussed (only by conspiracy theorists in mainstream media as well as bloggers) was that maybe TCU had people watch a practice that was open to the public. Oh my goodness! That's absolutely devious.

Anyway, I've now posted a "hey, we could lose this thing" post. So if it happens, I can link to this and say, "I told you so." All in all, I'd rather be wrong.

Boomer!

You Can't Lick these Beavers

And you thought SC couldn't beat OSU. You were just thinking the wrong one.

Jacquizz Rodgers is a stud from the Houston, TX area. The most impressive effort, though was from the D. USC has a lot of studs, and the Beavers just surrounded the Trojans all night.

Oregon State was 1-2 heading into the game, losing to Stanford by 8 and by 21 to Penn State. Everyone thought the Pac-10 was down this year. That is either much more true than I would have imagined, or Penn State and Stanford are really, really good.

Hoops State

The excellent college hoops blog Storming the Floor has been doing a State Project ranking the college hoops programs state by state. The Sooners and Oral Roberts combined to vault the Sooner State up to #4. Here's a link.

Signs of the Apocalypse, part 2

Here's a blog of a U Conn football player who praises the speed of Baylor and Robert Griffin.

OU vs TCU

I thought I'd posted this last week, but apparently didn't.

Earlier this year, I'd observed that the Frogs have won the last two contests of this storied series played in Norman. It got me to thinking, what other teams have left their last two contests at Owen Field as victors?


The answer is...Notre Dame and Southern Cal. OU is 2-6-1 against Southern Cal (0-5-1 since 1973) and 1-8 against Notre Dame. The Fish Eaters also were the last team to beat the Sooners before the 47 game win streak, as well as the team to break it.


Anyway, back to the Frogs. The Sooners are 6-4 all-time vs the Frogs, but the last time OU beat TCU in Norman was 1954, when Othol Martian was patrolling the sidelines for the Horned Lizards. The Sooners have never lost in Fort Worth (4-0), are 1-0 playing in OKC, and 1-4 in Norman.


It's not too late to move the location.

Big 12 Predictions - Week 5

Last week's predictions were linked to by the site www.Betfirms.com. I am honored, amused and concerned for their clients.

• Baylor vs Bye - for the first time in years, Baylor is favored in this matchup. Take Baylor and give the points.
• Colorado travels to Florida State - FSU is probably my favorite non-Sooner team (sorry, poopsandwich). They are awful at QB this year. They haven't recovered from Mark Richt taking that Georgia job. That all being said, I'm going with the Buffaloes.
• Kansas State is hosting the Ragin' Cajuns. ULL nearly beat Illinois earlier this year, and is 11th in Rushing offense. Willie and Friends are reeling, getting abused by L'ville and are 86thin rushing defense. I'm predicting a Ragin Cajun victory here, and moving signs planted in Coach Prince's yard.
• Nebraska hosts Virginia Tech on ABC (check your local listings). The Bugeaters have never lost to a team from the state of Virginia (1-0). With the Hokies anemic offense (112ths in D-1a), and I don't see anything changing in the Pelini era. Prediction, Bugeaters.
• Troy University travels to Stillwater to play the Pokes. Troy is 11th in total offense and 20th in total defense. Those stats are a bit distorted since Troy annihilated Alcorn State. Boone State has never beaten the Trojans. I'm predicting another upset here, as the Pokes are decimated by the delaying of new toy building on campus. Also of note is that the under the table payments made to the Poke players were all invested in T Boone's hedge fund, which is down dramatically this year. Pick: Trojans.
• Texas and Arkansas renew their Southwest Conference rivalry this weekend at 230. The Hogs haven't lost to UT in Austin since Oct 20, 1990. That day is also of note as it was the first time Iowa State beat Oklahoma since 1961. But enough about me. I'm hopeful the Arkansas QB will elude the Texas defenders to score a last second, game-winning TD, and the DMN headline reads, "Longhorns can't find Dick, lose to Hogs". But I don't see that happening. Pick: Longhorns.
• Cash Machine U hosts Army. What is more suprising? Aggies are 1-2? Army is 0-3? This game is televised? As a public service message, I must inform you that Care Bears is on CBS at that same time, so use your time wisely. Pick: Aggies.
• Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and Missouri all have byes this week.
• On a national level, the Alabama - Georgia game will be most interesting. Alabama has dominated Arkansas and Clemson. Georgia actually traveled outside the Eastern time zone to beat Arizona State. Georgia is promoting a blackout. Back in the day, that meant whites only in the stands, but now I believe it's intended to suggest attire to the game. Prediction: Alabama

Horned Lizard - Sooners Preview

So you're wondering how TCU matches up to

the Sooners on the gridiron? TCU helmets from
1966, courtesy of a right-click on The Helmet Project.

Offense		The Sooners have the edge here. TCU is rising since Aaron Brown made it on the field last week. Andy Dalton is better as a sophomore, but the Sooners have too many weapons here.
Defense	Tie	TCU has allowed 183 ypg ranking 1st in FBS; their opponents offenses are ranked, in order of appearance, 100, 93 (1-AA), 111, and 98. OU is ranked 10th. Their foes' offenses are 115 (1-AA), 33, and 99. What does this tell us? Nothing, except both have played for the most part really bad teams.
Special Teams		The Sooners special teams haven't been very special this year.
NFL QBs		Sammy Baugh and Davey O'Brien. 'nuff said.
Coaching		I'm a big fan of Patterson. Coach Fran hasn't been any good w/o him. But I'm sticking with the Head Visor here.
Bowl Record		The Horned Lizards are 4-3 under GP with wins over Colorado State, Iowa State, Northern Illinois and Houston. TCU couldn't beat Boise State in a bowl game, either. And it was at home.

TCU - OU Preview; the Mascots

Due to overwhelming popular request, I submit to you a breakdown of the mascots:

First of all, in Texas the Horned Frog is actually a lizard. Horned frogs do exist, however (link NSFW). The Texas Horned Lizard is being monitored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife commission as the THL population has been dwindling over the past 30 yards. Apparently one of the theories surrounding the demise of the Horned Frog has been red ants. TP&W even has a program to "watch" the THL. If you want to read way too much information about the THL, click here.For those of you with young 'uns at home, you can even make your own.

Sooners, on the other hand, are thriving. Cheating continues to thrive in our society 120 years after the first Sooner. See Enron, Martha Stewart, Worldcom, New England Patriots, Notre Dame laptop scandals, Lehman Brothers, any election in Chicago ever.

As it relates to college football, while the Sooners may have been a pioneer in cheating and illegal acts for the student-athlete, the proliferation of domestic abuse, drug trafficking, kidnapping and your basic DUI has taken on a life of its own. In 1989, Charles Thompson made the cover of Sports Illustrated sporting an orange jumpsuit. Fast forward 18 years, and practically every member of the Texas Longhorns was wearing an orange jumpsuit, and not just because it was school colors. Today, for good or bad, an athlete with legal troubles is almost commonplace. In spite of this man's valiant efforts, Jimmy John's is still better known for fabulous sandwiches and not for on campus cocaine distribution. Ellis T Jones III is lesser known as well.

Clearly the Sooner is a superior mascot, as their ilk has thrived in the past 30 years, defying police and the NC2A, while the Texas Horned Lizard is requiring bleeding heart liberal tree huggers to protect their mere existence. Advantage: Sooners

Reveille Speaks Out

Reveille VII has spoken out about Cash Machine U's sluggish start to the season.

Carnac Previews the Frog-Sooners matchup

• Yes, dear, you can watch football all day, I don't mind.
• I just got an email from John McCain.
• I sure hope the Sooners don't get caught looking ahead to the Baylor game.

The envelope please...

Name three things you've never heard before.

TCU Motivational Poster

The Frogs last lost in Norman in the 50s.

Around the Big 12, Week 4

We've already overanalyzed Baylor's L and a little bit of the Aggie's loss to Miami, but here's the rest of our analysis:

• Texas Tech beat Massachusetts 56-14. The game was well in hand after the Minutemen emerged from the locker room just before gametime.
• Colorado beat West Virginia in OT Thursday night. From many accounts, WV appears to be in disarray. The only reason I mention this is the same coaching staff that made OU look like idiots a mere four games ago. Just makes that Fiesta Bowl loss look even more puzzling.
• Missouri beat Buffalo 42-21. The game was closer than it should have been.
• Texas dominated Rice 52-10. Colt McCoy was UT's leading rusher. Long term, that's not a good thing.
• Rhett Bomar threw for 340 yards, but also three picks, as Kansas beat Sam Houston State 38-14.
• Iowa State scored with 3 seconds left to tie the score after spotting UNLV a 21 point halftime lead, but lost in on the road in OT, 34-31.

Overall, this was just a dull week of college football. The Tennessee-Florida game didn't measure up, thought the LSU-Auburn game appears to have been a classic.

Next week's slate should be a bit more interesting.

Aggies Breaking Records, but not in a good way

I read the DMN today where the Aggies hadn't opened 0-2 at Kyle Field since 1972, during Emory Ballard's first year. That year, the Aggies went on to start 0-3 at home, as they lost to Army, Texas Tech and Texas Christian before beating Arkansas. As a matter of historical reference, in 1972, the movies nominated for best picture included The Godfather and Deliverance. Since Deliverance brought a whole new meaning to squeal like a pig, it's only fitting that the Aggies snapped this streak against Arkansas. The Aggies finished 3-8 that year.

The Aggies host Army next Saturday in an effort to not repeat 1972. Since Army has played Temple, New Hampshire and Akron while going 0-3 and being outscored 85-20, the prospects for an Aggie W are good.

Collegiate Bass Fishing Returns

The National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship was held on Lake Lewisville again this past week, and Arkansas atoned for its football team sucking by taking the championship.

the Sooners choked, and came away 22nd.

Five teams made the final day, Arkansas, Cash Machine U, Texas Tech, TAMU-Kingsville, and Baylor. Robert Griffin was of no use to the fishing team however, and they caught only 2 fish totalling 3.3 pounds, compared to 5 fish for 17 pounds for Arkansas.

Arkansas claimed Baylor stole their bait bucket to get 2 fish of that size. The Baylor duo denied the accusation, prayed over the fish and fed the entire gathering.

The Iron Skillet Series

Serious, what the **** is a battle for an iron skillet? Who thought that idea up?
My five minutes of research on the web did not indicate the reason for an iron skillet. So, I came up with my own theories.

a) My wife will hit me up side of the head with an iron skillet if I watch this football game.
b) Justin Willis' throwing motion looks as if he's flipping pancakes from an Iron Skillet.
c) You'd have to be as dumb as an iron skillet to watch this game if you weren't friends/family of the players.

Purdue - Indiana plays for an Oak Bucket, Minnesota - Wisconsin is for Paul Bunyan's axe. Washington - Washington State is for the Apple cup (pretty rotten apples this year).

I guess an Iron Skillet isn't so bad.

Job 1:20

Back when President Red Andrews covered the B over at Bearmeat, he often related his coverage of the football game to Scripture. Out of respect for Red, we're doing the same tonight. Job 1:21 says "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

Twice the Bears made defensive stops in their own territory, picking UConn passes off to avert a score. Early in the fourth quarter, the Bears were given a new life with a roughing the passer penalty that erased a Robert Griffin interception. The Bears marched the rest of the way to the end zone, capped off by Griffin's third TD pass of the night to take a 28-24 lead. The Bears even held the Huskies to a three and out on their next possession, but a 55 yard punt pinned the Bears in the shadow of their own goalposts. Three plays and a near safety later, the Bears punted from their own 9. A 35 yard punt was fumbled by the Huskies, but Jordan Lake was penalized for kick catch interference. A replay of the play showed a Husky attempting to block Lake was the one to run into his own player, causing the melee that pushed the ball back into Connecticut territory. Nonetheless, the penalty stood. Instead of a Husky drive starting on their side of the field, they were now starting on the Bear 29.

The B defense had made necessary stops all night, but wasn't able to on this occasion, and UConn took a lead they would never relinquish. Griffin drove the Bears to the UConn 29 late in the fourth, but a fourth down pass to Kendall Wright fell incomplete and Connecticutt ran out the clock.

Robert Griffin has to be exceeding all expectations. I had figured the Cream, as Art Briles calls him, would be starting QB this year, but I had estimated he would be a typical freshman, with a maddening mix of phenomenal plays and astoundingly inept plays. His inept plays are few and far between, and the superior plays by far outweigh them.

Griffin is not the only good football player on this team. Pawelek is a force as a linebacker while Wright, Gettis and Finley are genuine offensive threats and are benefiting tremendously from Griffin on the field and Briles pulling the strings on the sideline.

UConn is a good football team. This team went 9-4 in 2007, and beat Rutgers and South Florida last year. The Bears nearly pulled off a road win against a team of this caliber, and they've definitely shown they're going to cause some trouble in the Big 12 this year.

Maybe that writer who picked them ahead of the Aggie in the Big 12 South new something after all.

Stolen Thoughts 9-18-08

The Big Televen went undefeated a couple of weeks ago. Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star has the analogy of the season - "That's like saying you went to a sex addiction meeting and walked out with a date." The Big 11 defeated Bowling Green, Duke, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Florida International, Marshall, Miami-Ohio, Murray State, Northern Colorado, Ohio University and Oregon State.

For the Big 12's undefeated slate a couple of weeks ago, the conference members scheduled Cincinnati, Houston, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico, Northwestern State, San Jose State, Montana State, Eastern Washington, Kent State, UTEP, Southeast Missouri. There's more victories scheduled than won in both lists.

A Louisville columnist blames Bill Snyder for this.

Joe Kines was killing 'em on Monday.

Replay Photos and Erin Andrews

Someone keeps managing to find my site by search for "Erin Andrews lawsuit Iowa". I have no doubt they are usually disappointed. As a tribute to this futile, anonymous reader of this blog, I present to you a special offer by Replay Photos, which came to me via OU.

I googled Replay Photos Erin Andrews and came up with 49 hits on Yahoo! It's hard to have that few hits for something.

Baylor Motivational Poster Revisited

Upon further consideration of the Baylor season, I have revised my Baylor motivational poster. This is done for two reasons: 1) to see if poopsandwich is still alive; and 2) the forbidden mancrush I have on Coach Art Briles.

Big 12 Predictions - week 4

We have Big 12 football on Wednesday evening this week. Why? the WWL has programming spots to fill. Just be glad it's not a rerun of the 2005 World Series of Poker.

• Kansas State at Louisville - Willie and Friends played on Wed night in an effort to avenge their 2006 loss to Bobby Petrino's final Cardinals squad. The Cards seem to be in the ditch with Steve Kragthorpe as coach, which is puzzling considering how he turned around Tulsa. Pick: K State
• Cash Machine U hosts Miami (Fl) – this game is the showcase Big 12 game on ABC at 230. Both teams are ugly offensively. I’m thankful there’s a girls 8U softball game in Coppell conflicting with this telecast. On the other hand, I’ll be missing a great SEC matchup in Tennessee-Florida. The Canes defense is not their problem. The Aggies offense is their problem. I don’t see this turning out well for Coach Sherman, even though I’ll pull for the Aggies, I’m picking the ‘Canes.
• Baylor at Connecticut – There's not many matchups where you can say, "The girls basketball matchup is more interesting than the football matchup." If Art Briles and Robert Griffin weren't in Waco this year, this matchup would definitely be the case. Robert Griffin and his band of merry men travel to Storrs, CT to take on the UConn Huskies. The Bears are playing there second Fri night game in a row. The Huskies are undefeated against the Big 12. Their victory over the Cyclones in 2002 stands as their lone game against the Big 12. Connecticut is known as a “fundamental” team. Baylor is more of a charismatic team. Go with the Pentecostals. Pick: Baylor
• Colorado hosts West Virginia – the Mountaineers travel to Boulder to play on ESPN on Thursday night. The Mountaineers will be challenged by the high altitude and puzzled by the lack of moonshine near all those mountains. Nonethess, they should prevail. Pick: West Virginia.
• Iowa State at UNLV –the Cyclones own the Rebels, with a 4-0 record dating all the way back to 1995. We’ll see how they do with someone other than Dan McCarney leading the charge. UNLV surprised Arizona State last week. Iowa State surprised no one. This is the Saturday night game on the mtn network this weekend. I’d rather watch a PBS special extolling the virtues of bead art. Pick: UNLV.
• Sam Houston State at Kansas – Rhett Bomar takes the high rolling Bearkats to Lawrence, Kansas to play Phog U. The Bearkats (“where we thank the folks from Cincinnati spel reel good”) are 0-15 against Big 12 teams and have been outscored 68-687. Let that sink in for a minute. Pick: Kansas
• Buffalo host Missouri – Turner Gill gets the restraining order lifted and is allowed to travel to the Big 12. Buffalo is 0-2 against Big 12 schools, losing once each to Iowa State and Baylor. Missouri has been lighting up its nonconference foes this year. I don’t think this will be any exception. Pick: Missouri.
• Rice at Texas – Rice is 8-40 against UT in Austin. The last victory came in Oct 1965 when I was embryonic. I could be dead before it happens again. It’s the circle of life…Pick: Texas
• Massachusetts at Dust Pirates - The Minutemen travel to Lubbock for some unforeseen reason. They haven’t seen terrain that flat and ugly since they left the women’s dorms at Amherst. Pick: Dust Pirates.
• Nebraska, Boone State and the Sooners all have byes this week.

Rednecks vs Hillbillies

Today we're continuing our rundown of the 1978 season. for backstory, click here.

Opponent: West Virginia Mountaineers, coached by the legendary Frank Cignetti. The reason he's legendary is that with the exception of Thomas Gawthrop "Doggie" Trenchard, coach of the 1896 team, Cignetti has the worst w/l percentage in 'Eer history. He succeeded Bobby Bowden and preceded Don Nehlen. According to http://www.pro-footbal-referenece.com/, there wasn't a WVU player drafted in 1979 or 1980, so there were no future NFLers playing as upperclassmen on the squad. Oliver Luck was their backup QB that day as a freshman, played a little, and was drafted in the 82 draft by the Houston Oilers.

The Game: the Sooners breezed to a 52-10 victory. The Sooners led 31-0 with 8:23 remaining in the second quarter, and had outgained WVU 231-18 at the time.

Sims broke the 100 yard barrier with 114 yards on 8 carries, and senior Jimmy Rogers scored the first three TDs of his career. Thomas Lott was a workman like 4-12 throwing the ball.

West Virginia finished the 78 season 2-9, defeated the Richmond Spiders and the Virginia Cavaliers. The Mountaineers wore these stylish helmets that year, which just screamed "kick me".

Random note of the day: This is the last time the Sooners have defeated WV, as Nehlen brought the Mountaineers to Norman in 1982 and a kid named Hostetler QB'd the team to an upset, and we know what happened in the Fiesta Bowl last year.

Carnac Reviews the U-Dub game

The answer is:

Oklahoma Sooners, a veterinarian and Ty Willngham

The envelope please...

Name three things that have neutered Huskies.

Around the Big 12

Robert Griffin led the Baylor Bears to a victory over the Wazzuu, and broke the single game rushing record while he was at it. It was the first time since 1994 that the Bears scored 40+ points two games in a row.

Kansas coughed up a 20-3 lead against the South Florida Bulls Friday night, losing 37-34 on a last second FG. The missus thought the Bulls logo was phallic.

Nevada dominated time of possession against the Missouri, holding the ball for 13 more minutes, but lost to the Tigers 69-17. Apparently the Tigers thought you were supposed to score with the ball.

The Dust Pirates must have been slowed down by the flooded Jones field, as the Red Raiders only scored 43 points against SMU. SMU threw five picks and the Tech gained 693 yards. I didn’t watch this game, but I can’t fathom how they only scored 43 points with those numbers. Michael Crabtree had his typical outstanding game, 8 catches 164 yards and 3 scores.

Iowa State lost to Iowa 17-5. The Cyclones outgained the Hawkeyes (325-244) and had more first downs (18-11). However, ISU went 1-4 on FG attempts and had three picks.

Boone State beat Missouri State 57-13. The Pokes had 3 backs rush for over 130 yards, and all had over 10 yards/carry. After Mizzou State scored a TD with 1:50 left in the game, the Pokes marched downfield to score a TD with 50 seconds left, figuring beating a 1-AA school by 44 instead of 37 was crucial in the polls.

Nebraska beat New Mexico State 38-7.

OU-UW; 5 Plays that Made a Difference

1. Sam Bradford TD pass to Iglesias; facing 3rd and goal from the 13 and a blitzing UW defender, Bradford throws a strike to Juaqain Iglesias, who races into the end zone to start the scoring.
2. Jake Locker breaks into the open field for the Huskies, but is stripped from behind by Brian Jackson near midfield. Jackson recovered the fumble as well. The Sooners converted the turnover into a score two plays later when Bradford hit Jermaine Gresham for a 22 yard score.
3. Facing 4th and 12 from the Sooner 30, Jared Ballman misses badly on a 47 yard field goal. The brief sign of life from the Huskies was choked from them, and the Sooners methodically marched down the field for their third TD.
4. Trailing 20-0 and just inside of OU territory, Locker completes a pass to D’Andre Goodwin. Goodwin coughs up the ball, and the Sooners avert another surge by the Huskies. The Sooners marched 79 yards in 10 plays to take a 27-0 lead.
5. Just three plays into the second half, Ryan Broyles slips a couple of poor tackle attempts by the Huskies, and races 77 yards for a score, making the score 41-0. Frankly, the game was in hand at this point, but the yards after catch by Broyles were a perfect snapshot of the poor tackling and talent mismatch in this game.

Sooners-Husky review limerick

The Sooners cremated U-dub
The faithful want a coaching sub
The Huskies are spayed
Ty's severance is paid
We'll celebrate the win in a pub

The Big 10

ND beat up Michigan. Holy cow. When asked this week if Cal Poly - SLO was a tougher opponent than ND, San Diego State coach Chuck Long said, "That's a good question." The same ND team beat Michigan by double digits today.

So, here's my prediction for the Ohio State Buckeyes for 2008. They get drilled by the Trojans tonight. They squeak by Troy next week, then proceed to walk through the Big Televen the rest of the year, and in November, they are declared "one of the hottest teams in the country". We must all pray that Wisconsin beats the Buckeyes in Madison in a few weeks and stops this from happening. We'll find out more about Wisconsin tonight when they play Fresno State.

The Big Televen is just awful this year. Through three weeks of games, here are the teams from the BCS conferences that Big Ten teams have beaten: Syracuse, Iowa State, Oregon State, Duke. Duke and Syracuse will be the worst teams in their conferences. The only thing that will keep Oregon State from being the worst team in the Pac 10 is Washington State.

Alright, the Sooner game is starting. Boomer.

So you're wondering how Washington matches up to the

Sooners on the gridiron?

 

Offense		The Huskies are led by Jake Locker, who many people compare to Tim Tebow. He's more like a white man's Bret Meyer.
Defense		Washington has allowed 72 points in two games; they are near the bottom in rushing yards allowed and passing yards allowed. OU shutdown Chattanooga! And they did alright against Cincy.
Special Teams		The Huskies probably have a better kickoff coverage unit, but through two games, the Sooners have the edge in returns and net punting.
NFL QBs		the following QBs have been drafted in the NFL draft for the Huskies: Stanback (08); Cody Pickett (04); Marques Tuiasosopo (01); Brock Huard (99); Billy Joe Hobert (93); Mark Brunell (93); Cary Conklin (90); Chris Chandler (88); Hugh Millen (86); Steve Pelluer (84); Tom Flick (81); Warren Moon and Damon Huard went undrafted and played in the NFL. On the OU side, Josh Heupel was drafted.
Coaching		Ty Willingham vs Bob Stoops. Willingham has been under fire since he got there. Last year, a donor pledged $200k if Ty was fired. The Sooners are paying Stoopsie $3 mil to stay.
Bowl Record		Ty is 1-5 all time in bowl games; his Stanford team won the Sun Bowl in 1996. Bob is 2-4 in his last six bowl games.

While the Sooners hold the edge in most categories, real or imagined. The Sooners will roll. 

Weekend Previews

Here is my insightful analysis of the more traditionally scheduled games (those on Saturday):

Missouri State at Oklahoma State – Missouri State travels to Stillwater this week and looks to rebound from a loss to Washburn. This is not going to turn out well for the Bears. The Bears are coached by Terry Allen, whose had quite a bit of success at D1-AA schools. However, his biggest checks were cashed at Kansas, where he was the transitional coach between Glen Mason and Mark Mangino. Pick: Boone State

Iowa State at Iowa – this rivalry is a lot like the Oklahoma intrastate rivalry. Both states have significant agrarian economies, both states don’t have any pro teams (wink, wink) and both states have natural disaster problems…tornadoes in Oklahoma, river flooding in Iowa. Both rivalries have a school with a decided advantage in the historical series. Based upon criminal activity alone, the Hawkeyes should win this matchup. However, I’m picking the ‘Clones.

Nevada at Missouri – the Wolfpack couldn’t beat Texas Tech in Nevada. I don’t think they’ll have more success in Columbia, MO. Chase should be picking his nose on the sideline by the fourth quarter. Pick: Boogers - I mean Tigers

SMU at Texas Tech – June Jones has revitalized the SMU offense – and apparently sacrificed any defensive talent in a private ceremony inside Ford Field this summer. I think the over/under on this game is 100, and the Dust Pirates will be getting most of those. During the Leach era, the Dust Pirates have played the Mustangs 5 times, going 5-0 and outscoring the Ponies 193-49. Pick: Dust Pirates.

New Mexico State at Nebraska – the NMSU Aggies are 0-2 against the Bugeaters and haven’t scored a point on the Blackshirts D since Genesis 1. In the previous two games, played in 1979 and 1982, the Huskers won by a combined score of 125-0. Nebraska has not lost to a WAC team since 1955, when Hawaii travelled to Lincoln and beat the Huskers 6-0. These are not your grandfather's Huskers. Pick: Bugeaters

Texas A&M vs Bye – The Aggies look to get untracked against a foe no one knows much about. Bye’s offense lacks imagination, and the defense can’t stop anyone. Look for the Aggies to pull away for the victory in the second half. Pick: Cash Machine U

Ohio State at USC – The last time Ohio State beat SC the Coliseum was 1946. Back then, Truman was a president, not a Jim Carrey movie. I hear all the hype of a blowout, etc, but I think the Buckeyes will fare better than that. Don’t get my wrong, they’ll still lose, and I’d still take the Trojans and give the points. Pick: Trojans.

Huskies Movitational Poster

Today we publish the 2008 motivational poster for the Washington Huskies. I believe the person being smothered on this play is former Huskies QB and present Dallas WR Isaiah Stanback. Also, this pic will look odd to the Sooner faithful, as the OU jerseys did not have names on the back in 2006. Common sense was restored in 2007.

Fri Game Previews

I’m not sure I’m going to get this post up before the Friday games, but I promise I typed this on my lunch hour.

Kansas at South Florida – The Jayhawk-Bull rivalry dates back to 2006, and Kansas owns a 1-0 lead in this historic series. Mangino and Leavitt coached together at Kansas State under Bill Snyder in the early 90s. Leavitt was continually bullied and had his lunch money stolen from him repeatedly by Mangino, so he left Manhattan in search of food, and found himself shortly thereafter leading the South Florida Bulls program. Other historians believe he bailed out of Manhattan when Bob Stoops left. Pick: South Florida

Wazzuu at Baylor – this game has been rescheduled to Friday due to some threats of weather from Hurricane Ike. This is annoying. In 1983, I played in a golf tourney in Bristow, Oklahoma in harsher elements than Waco will experience. Enough about me. Baylor last won a non-conference game against a BCS eligible foe in 1998, when the Bears beat North Carolina State. Unfortunately for Coach Roberts, that victory was one of two for the season, and the Bears upgraded their coaching situation by firing Roberts and hiring Kevin Steele. Today is the day they recover from that, and beat the Cougars. Pick: Baylor

UW - The Avenger Series continues

Back when Barry Switzer was the coach, OU never got blown out in bowl games. Except in 1978 by Arkansas. And 1984. And 1985. In the '85 game, the Washington Huskies dominated the Oklahoma Sooners in the fourth quarter and roared to a 28-17 victory. "Highlights" of the game are found here, along with some fabulous 80s fashion. I've given up on finding the box score, but here's a U-Dub perspective.

We may have beaten them in 2006, but once is not enough.

Carnac reviews the Bearcat blowout

The answers are:

a) Ryan Broyles
b) Norman police department
c) a glass bottle

The question is:
Name three things that are faster than or inflict damage on the Cincinnati Bearcats.

West Coast meets Pot Roast

One of the things I've decided to do this year is wind the clock back 30 years and reminisce about the Sooners 1978 season. The Sooners finished 11-1 that year, losing one game to Nebraska and avenging that loss in a weird Orange Bowl rematch. I'll be doing this from personal memory (I was 12 at the time, but attended every home game) as well as from various books and internet research, most of which will start at http://www.soonerstats.com and http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com, and a book I picked up off of the soonerstats.com site titled, "Oklahoma Football", by Danny Hartley.

The Sooners that year were loaded offensively. They returned 16 starters from the 77 Big 8 championship team that went undefeated in Big 8 play, and finished the year 10-2, with losses to #3 Texas and #4 Arkansas. Thomas Lott quarterbacked the Wishbone attack, and alternated handing off or pitching it to Kenny King (6 yrs in NFL), Billy Sims (5 yrs, injury shortened), David Overstreet (1 yr NFL, died in car accident), Freddie Nixon and Jimmy Rogers (5 yrs in the NFL) in the backfield. Uwe Von Schamann was kicking it through the uprights on kickoffs, and making every XP available. OL Greg Roberts, DL Reggie Kinlaw and Daryl Hunt, and RB Billy Sims all made All-American that year. Sims won the Heisman.

Without further ado, we'll kick it off with the game played by OU on Sep 9, 1978 in Palo Alto, CA against the Stanford Cardinal.

Opponent: Stanford Cardinal, coached by some crackpot named Bill Walsh. Walsh had led the Cardinal to a 9-3 record the previous year, capped off by a win over LSU in the Sun Bowl. Random fact: Stanford is 3-1-1 against the current members of the SEC, and haven't played an SEC member since 1978. Stanford was led by QB Steve Dils, RB Darrin Nelson and WR Ken Margerum. Dils was backed up by Turk Schonert, who also went on to play in the NFL. Dils who went on to play for 10 years in the NFL, Nelson played 11 and Margerum played 7 years. You don't find many national championship contenders teams opening the season on the road against a team of Stanford's caliber in today's football world.

The Game: The Sooners defeated the Cardinal 35-29. The Sooners jumped out to a 28-10 halftime lead, but faltered in the second half. Dils was using this newfangled short pass offense engineered by Walsh, amassing 299 yards passing on 32 completions in 48 attempts. At the time, it was a Sooner defensive record for most passing yards allowed in a game. We thought this passing offense was some sort of sissy football at the time. A late Cardinal TD closed the gap to 35-27, and the subsequent onside kick was recovered at the OU 36 by Larry Harris. OU DB Darrol Ray intercepted a last second pass by Dils to secure the victory, and Von Schamann intentionally downed the ball for a safety with 8 seconds left in the game to account for the final points.

Sims and King led the Sooners rushing attack, each nudging past the 100 yard mark on 19 carries. Lott had a feast or famine day passing the ball, completing 5 of 12 passes for 121 yards and two scores. It was the only game that year where Lott broke the 100 yard passing mark. The Sooners intercepted 4 passes that day, but also turned the ball over 5 times, including four fumbles.

Stanford would finish the season 8-4 and ranked 17th in the country. Walsh would move up the road and have moderate success as a head football coach with the San Francisco 49ers before coming back to Stanford in 1992.

From the LandThieves Research Dept

JayDou asked the question today if the Big 12 had even gone undefeated in a week before. The answer is...no!

First of all, it's somewhat unusual for all 12 teams to play a nonconference game the same week. Second, the Big 12's storied history dates back to 1996. Back in the day, some of the teams had preseason kickoff classics, so you had uneven start dates as well.

The closest the conference had come to a clean sheet was in week 2 of 2001, when they went 11-1. Before you jump all over Baylor, I'd like to note that the Bears beat Arkansas State that day, while the Kansas Jayhawks fell to the UCLA Bruins 41-17.

The conference was 10-2 on four occasions (week 1 in 04 and 06, week 2 in 06 and 07) and went 10-1 on three occasions in week 2 (02, 03 and 05).

This info was pretty easy to get to courtesy of James Howell's excellent research.

Around the Big 12 - Week 2

It's a little lame this wk. The weekend trip was tiresome this time around, with about 10 hours in the car in a 30 hour period, and 4 hours in a stadium with 85,000 of my closest friends. Nonetheless, here goes - the best is saved for last:

• Boone State beat the Houston Cougars 56-37. The new, improved Cowboys defense held Houston QB Casey Keenum to 387 yards and 4 TDs passing, and 81 yards rushing. Casey set a personal career record for total yards. California beat Washington State 66-3 this week, so last week’s victory is a little less impressive.
• Phog U defeated the La Tech Bulldogs 29-0.
• The Dust Pirates beat Nevada 35-19. Some articles I read on the net that i'm too tired to link to proclaim this a dominating defensive performance.
• Stephen McGee was injured, but the Aggies beat New Mexico 28-22. Reveille VIII can rest easy now.
• Robert Griffin led the Baylor Bears over Northwestern State.
• The Bugeaters struggled early, but pulled away from the San Jose State Spartans, 35-13.
• Kansas State defeated Montana State. Someone had to.
• The Buffaloes needed a late TD followed by a pick-six to beat the Eastern Washington Eagles. I was following this closely with JayDou's iphone and we were extremely disappointed when the Buffs pulled out the W.
• Iowa State avenged last year’s loss to Kent State.
• Texas beat El Paso.
• Missouri scheduled a win against SEMO.
• In other college sports news The Nittaly Lions beat Oregon State.

Gas Cards

You know how ESPN gives out helmet stickers, and every broadcast game has some poor sponsor with a player of the game.

We're giving out gas cards, in honor of our new favorite player, Ryan Broyles. So without further ado, we give out the LandThieves Gas Cards for:

Offense: Ryan Broyles. His 7 catches for 141 yards and one score were much appreciated.
Defense: Jeremy Beal. He was all over the place on defense.
Special Teams: no cards awarded. The cards are only good in the state of Oklahoma.

Five Plays that made the game

Sooner assistant coach Mack Brown often says 5 plays make the difference in the game. From the South End Zone, here is my view of the five game changing plays.

1. Dominique Franks interception in end zone- Deep in Oklahoma territory, Cincy QB Dustin Grutza was looking to put the Bearcats into the end zone and shave the Sooner lead to 21-14. With Sooner defenders hot in pursuit, Grutza threw into the left corner of the end zone, and the pass was intercepted by Franks.
2. Ryan Broyles Catch – with the Sooners leading 28-20 and facing 3 and 9 from their own 23, Sam Bradford throws it deep down the left side and Broyles makes a leaping catch, taking the ball away from the Cincinnati defender. The Sooners went on to score a TD.
3. Fake punt stopped – the Bearcats attempted a fake punt from their own 23 after the Sooners had taken a 35-20 lead. Most of the Sooner punt return team were not prepared for such a play, but J.R. Bryant, sniffed out the play and reached up to bat All-American punter Kevin Huber’s pass away. As a passer, Huber is quite a punter.
4. Pump fake by Bradford – immediately after the fake punt, OU went for the jugular. Juaqain Iglesias made a nice double move, and Bearcat defender Mike Mickens jumped on the first move after Bradford’s pump fake, allowing Sam to loft a nice ball into the right corner of the end zone that Iglesias could run under.
5. 4th down defensive stand – midway through the first quarter, after one of many outstanding kickoff returns, the Bearcats went for it on 4th and 5 from the OU 26. The Sooners pressured Grutza into a hurried throw along the right sideline. Dominick Goodman made the catch for a four yard gain, inches short of the mark and the Sooners dodged a bullet and took possession.
   
   Other observations…the hurry-up offense allows for a lot of plays; also can put team at a serious time of possession disadvantage. The Sooners only had the ball for 11 minutes and change in the first half, and clearly looked tired at the end of the first half. The Sooners ended up with 82 plays, compared to the Bearcats 71; I looked at five other games in the top 25 and no one else had more combined plays….Ryan Broyles was amazing; he’s got some wiggle, made some big plays, and showed great hands…Special teams are not very special right now.

Stat of the Week

After two weeks in the season, 11 Big 12 teams have broken out for a 20 point or more quarter. The sole squad not to break that barrier? Cash Machine U.

Predictions - Week 2

• Baylor plays Northwestern State in Robert Griffin's first start of many, I hope. Pick - Baylor.
• The Eastern Washington Eagles complete their two-fer special with a game against the Buffaloes. Two years ago, the Buffs lost to 1-AA Montana State. My exhaustive research of Eastern Washington identified that this is the team that lost to Appy State in the 1-AA Championship game. Pick: Colorado.
• Iowa State looks to avenge last year's loss to Kent State. The Kent State - Iowa State rivalry has been played every year since...last year. ISU is 4-1 against KSU. Since the Cyclones looked so good against the JackRabbits of South Dakota State, I'm picking Iowa State this weekend.
• Kansas is a 20-point favorite against Louisiana Tech this weekend, who is coming off an upset of Mississippi State. La Tech is 1-1 against the Jayhawks; with the W coming with the legendary Carl Torbush as the head coach in 1987, and the loss coming last year. I'm not sure I'd take the points (though I'm sure I wouldn't actually bet money as I'm too scared to lose it), but I expect a Jayhawk W.
• Willie and Friends host Montana State, where they'll hopefully be the second Big XII team in a row to beat the Bobcats. In 2007, TAMU avenged the 06 Buffalo loss. Kansas State has never lost to a team from the state of Montana. FWIW, the Wildcats are also undefeated against the Kansas City Veterinary team, with the lone W coming in 1907. If Chattanooga backed out, the Sooners would have kicked some KC Vet but last week. Pick: K State
• Missouri takes on SEMO. The Redhawks, who copied Miami of Ohio while fleeing from Native American names, were 3-8 last year in 1-AA. This has the makings of a OU-Chattanooga rout. Tiger fans, pray for rain.
• The Bugeaters play San Jose State. The Spartans are looking to avenge their 2000 loss to the Huskers. I don't see that happening. Pick: Bugeaters
• Boone State hosts former Sooner and Cash Machine assistant coach Kevin Sumlin and his Houston Cougars. The Pokes are a 16.5 pt favorite. I'd take the points. I think this will be a scoring fest...the Pokes are potent on offense, and I think the Cougars will fare well against the "rebuilt" Poke defense. Pick: Boone State, while cheering heavily for the Cougars.
• Cash Machine U travels to New Mexico. The Aggies are reeling from the loss to the Red Wolves, but I expect them to rebound. The Lobos are still bitter about the Aggies running up the score when the teams last met in 1926. Mike Lupica's grandfather was p***** until the day he died. Pick: Aggies.
• Texas Tech travels to Nevada in a game that is more intriguing than one would think. Nonetheless, I'm going with Leach and the Dust Pirates. The Wolfpack have never beaten a current Big XII conference member.
• Texas travels to El Paso to play the Miners. The teams have not met since 1933. Mike Price didn't even know what strippers were back then. Pick: Longhorns.